Until recently she was the Director of the International MBA (IMBA) Program at Schulich (2000-2005). She is an academic entrepreneur, being the founding director (1992-2000) of the Centre for Canada-Asia Business Relations at Queen's University and also the co-founder (1997) of the Asian Business Consortium, which included Queen’s University, York University, the University of Toronto, and Ivey School of Business.
She received her B.A. in psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada; M.A. in applied linguistics from University of Essex, U.K.; PGCE (education in developing countries) from University of London, Institute of Education, U.K.; M.I.M. (international management) from the American Graduate School of International Management (now called Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management), USA; and PhD in business administration from The University of Western ontario, Canada.
She is a sought after speaker on doing business across borders and achieving international success, particularly for SMEs. She has conducted seminars, given guest lectures and conference presentations around the world in countries such as Japan, Korea, Chile, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, New Zealand, Dubai, France, Switzerland, Spain, Botswana, Uruguay, UK, and the USA. She also maintains an active international consulting practice in cross-cultural management and negotiations.
She spent fifteen years working for various organizations in Thailand, Indonesia and Japan before returning to Canada.She speaks Thai and Indonesian fluently, has a working knowledge of Japanese and Spanish, and a basic knowledge of several other languages.She is a member of various boards, including the editorial board of the Journal of Asian Business (University of Michigan) and the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Canada Business Association. She is also the Canadian Academe Focal Point for the APEC Women Leaders' Network (WLN), and has been a member of the Advisory Councils of the McRae Institute of International Management at Capilano College (2002-2005), the Canada ASEAN Centre in Singapore (1990-1993), Business Information Exchange International, Belleville (1992-1993); AIESEC-Queen’s, Kingston (1987-2000); an honorary patron of the Asia Pacific Management Cooperative Program of Capilano College, Vancouver (1997); and was National Chair of the Canada Indonesia Business Council (1988-90). She has been cited in Canadian Women Doing Business in Asia, Who’s Who in Canadian Business, Canadian Who’s Who, The World’s Who’s Who of Women, and International Businessmen’s Who’s Who.
Dr. Wright's research interests are in the areas of conditions for SME business success internationally, cross-cultural management, international negotiations and strategic alliances. She has written papers on the use of electronic networks by SMEs to go international, the process of international research, negotiating in Asia and cases on international management, including a series on Canadian success stories in Japan. Recent projects include examining partnership possibilities between Canadian and Japanese firms for third market entry; exploring the impact of culture on the use of international electronic networks by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada, Japan, China and Mexico; and investigating the situation of women-owned SMEs in the digital economy in the APEC region.
