Sue McDonald

Sue began her career in the Trade and Customs industry in 1992 as a customs release agent at the Ontario frontier border crossing office of a customs brokerage firm. After passing the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers Qualification Course in 1996, she moved to Alberta, where her responsibilities were expanded to include tariff classification, advisory and compliance services.

Recognizing that the implementation of the Administrative Monetary Penalty System (“AMPS”) would place many importers and exporters at risk for AMPS penalty assessments Sue focused her career in the area of customs consulting and education.  In 2002, she accepted a position as a Customs Specialist in the Regions Trade and Customs Practice of KPMG, one of the largest Canadian accounting firms; drawing on her substantial customs experience and familiarity with trade legislation, she assisted clients with the recovery of overpaid customs duties and taxes.

During her six years with KPMG, she developed strategic duty recovery opportunities which resulted in recovered customs duties of over $ 1.5 million dollars for her clients and a reduction in their ongoing duty costs by another million. She left her position of Senior Manager in 2009 to launch her own private trade and customs advisory practice, PERSEUS Trade Solutions Inc.

Sue is a Certified Customs Specialist holding memberships in the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers and the Forum for International Trade Training ("FITT"). She instructs companies in their obligations under Canadian trade legislation at I.E. Canada workshops and training seminars, and has been invited by the Academy of Learning-Edmonton South to instruct the Canadian customs component of the FITT training module, "The Legal Aspects of International Trade".