Frank Pullia, MBA, CMA, CPA

Frank was born in Italy and moved to Canada at age 17. He has worked and lived in Northern Ontario for most of his life but his inquisitive nature, knowledge seeking and lifelong learning approach to life, called him to travel extensively internationally from a young age. He has practiced and incorporated the traditional aspect and ancient wisdom of martial arts from age 14 into the holistic approach of body-mind-spirit to achieve outstanding results in his personal and professional life.

Work experience and transformational insights

Throughout his career Frank has focused on effectively managing change and ensuring that individuals and organizations were and continue to be well positioned to deal with both internal and external challenges. He continues to play a successful role in helping leaders, companies, community-based organizations, social enterprises, municipalities, and First Nations with their life management, strategic and business plans, operational reviews, re-organizations and expansion plans, economic and community development, and marketing plans.

Political life and dynamics

He was elected on Thunder Bay City Council where he served eleven years over three terms. He represented the city at both the regional (Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association) and federal levels (Federation of Canadian Municipalities) where he served on the Standing Committee on Transportation, International Programs, and Municipal-Aboriginal Relations. He was also a Director on the Community Economic Development Commission spearheading many job-creation projects.

During his last term from 2014-2018, he filled the role of Budget and Finance Chair as well as the Children and Youth Advocate.  His most rewarding achievement was bringing the city from three years of losses to four years of surpluses and enabling investments in needed services like an extra ambulance and seven paramedics, a LIFT bus for seniors with mobility issues, four new splashpads for kids, crossovers across the city to keep pedestrians save, and many more.

Community and consumer advocacy

He sits on the Board of numerous community organizations and has extensive experience with organizational governance and contacts with all levels of government. His keen interest and strategic and tactical abilities in transformational change, have allowed him to turn around companies and organizations from the brink of bankruptcies into leading edge, and award-winning enterprises now operating on the forefront of their industries.

In 2020 he was commissioned by a regional Economic Development Corporation to write a “how to” booklet for Not-for-Profit organizations on how to incorporate, set up their governance model, manage their business, and meet statutory requirements.

He is a strong believer in giving of one’s talents and over the years has volunteered in over 50 organizations. Most recently, he was appointed and served for over three years as a director on the board of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre of Canada, advocating for consumer interests in the areas of energy, aviation, telecom, transportation, financial services, broadcasting, and consumer privacy.

Frank’s lifelong involvement and dedication to community and society, was recognized by the Province or Ontario through the 10-Year Ontario Volunteer Service Award.

On February 7-8, 2015 he also received an international award in recognition of contribution in the cultural, social and humanitarian fields and was appointed as the Cultural Ambassador to Canada in the City of Pescara, in the Abbruzzi region of Italy during the International Congress of the Universum Academy of Switzerland.

The Universum Academy is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to promote culture, history and traditions of nations, affirmation and sharing of common values, including the respect of life and of the family, peace among the nations, the promotion of human rights, of justice and solidarity. More information can be found on www.universumacademy.eu

Reaching your audience through effective communication

Frank has been a member of Toastmasters International for over 13 years and has achieved first level certification in Public Speaking. From time to time he acted as Host/Interviewer on community channel programs, and a speaker at the International Dinner Series and Profit Edge seminars at Confederation College.

In his role of political representative, he has brought the city to the people by hosting many town hall meetings, been interviewed across multiple media channels, and has successfully used the power of digital media to massively scale his social media presence and reach a vast audience with multiple and varied interests.

He has also taught Accounting at Lakehead University, International Business at Confederation College and Business Ethics and Strategic Planning   for the Nipissing/Confederation Commerce Program on a part-time basis. He has written over 300 articles through a monthly column on the Northern Ontario Business magazine, a weekly column on the Thunder Bay Source called a "Window on the City", and digital media companies covering trends and issues of social, economic, financial and political nature for the city and region within a global perspective (think local, act global).  

His philosophy of life is centered on the concept of giving and being of service to others (including one’s self as you cannot give what you do not have, so be healthy in mind-body-spirit), to our families, and community in which we live, including our global community. He is now sharing a lifetime of experiences and learning of esoteric principles through his first book “The Art of Life Management” and his blog “Frankly Frank”.