Marina Charriere is CEO of Star Drug Testing Services and First Defence Face Masks, both based in Winnipeg. She spent more than 25 years in the education sector before moving into business, carrying over skills in leadership, mentoring, and active listening that now shape how she runs her companies, which provide drug and alcohol testing services across Canada using cloud-based reporting systems.
Charriere's leadership style is built around embracing diversity, treating failure as a learning opportunity, and giving her team real trust and input into decisions. She mentors emerging entrepreneurs through the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce and has watched two of her own three children go on to start their own businesses.
Her companies emphasize Canadian-made products and services that meet domestic regulatory standards, something she highlights as especially valuable for clients in cross-border commercial transport and healthcare settings.
