Special Board

Pierre-Maurice Vachon is a well-known personality in the Beauce region where he is both a businessman and a political figure. He has worn several hats, first as CEO, then corporate director, followed by prefect and mayor. To this day, he remains interested in business and management.

Between 1990 and 2003, Mr. Vachon was CEO and chairman of Cartem, a company he helped found in 1977. He served as mayor of Sainte-Marie for 16 years as well as prefect of the Nouvelle-Beauce CMA and president of the Fédération québécoise des municipalités (FQM). Earlier in his career, Mr. Vachon was the manager of production-related administrative services at the family company, Les Gâteaux Vachon, where he remained for 10 years.

Mr. Vachon has been a board member of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ since 2005 and a member of the Turnaround Board since 2004. He also serves on the boards of, among others, SSQ General Insurance Company, P.H. Tech and the Fonds régional de solidarité FTQ – Chaudière-Appalaches.

Pierre-Maurice Vachon holds a business administration degree from Université Laval.

After serving as secretary general of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec for three years, Daniel Boyer was elected president during the organization’s 30th convention in November 2013.

Mr. Boyer became actively involved in the Syndicat québécois des employées et employés de service in the early 1980s and became union advisor in 1985. He was elected secretary general in 1999, a position he held until 2007 when he became the union’s president. He worked intensively on, among other things, achieving pay equity for female public sector employees.

Mr. Boyer serves on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Labour Congress and on the General Council of the International Trade Union Confederation. He is also a member of the Office québécois de la langue française and of the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail.

Daniel Boyer holds a degree in physical education and industrial relations from Université de Montréal.

With over 30 years’ experience in information technology, finance and international business, Christine Beaubien is a financial angel who invests in start-ups and provides strategic consulting to SMEs through her company, Groupe BSC.

Ms. Beaubien has held senior positions in a variety of organizations, including Anges Québec, Société générale de financement du Québec (SGF), Bombardier Capital, Export Development Canada (EDC), Desjardins and the Ministère des Affaires internationales du Québec. She also worked at Banque Paribas in Paris and at Versus, an e-commerce firm she co-owned.

Christine Beaubien serves on the boards of Héma-Québec, Oxfam-Québec, the Centre de Collaboration MiQro Innovation (C2MI) and Expansion Québec.

Holder of an MBA from HEC Montréal and a Bachelor of Computer Science from Université de Sherbrooke, Ms. Beaubien also holds the ICD.D designation with the McGill-Rotman Institute of Corporate Directors.

Serge Cadieux has been actively involved in the labour movement both in the private and public sectors since 1979. He is currently secretary general of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ).

Mr. Cadieux’s first exposure to the labour movement was as a student working evenings in a garage whose employees were members of the United Autoworkers Union (UAW), now called Unifor. In May 1983, he joined the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE) as a union advisor. He subsequently held various positions before becoming its executive director in 2004. Since 2007 he has also been national president and vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress.

In addition to representing the FTQ on the Comité consultatif du travail et de la main-d’œuvre (CCTM) since 2009, Mr. Cadieux sits on the boards of the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) and the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail.

Serge Cadieux holds a Bachelor of Law from Université du Québec à Montréal and was admitted to the Barreau du Québec in 1992. He also holds a diploma in industrial relations and occupational health and safety from Université de Montréal.

Active and respected in her profession for over 25 years, Michèle Colpron has 10 years of international business experience. She has been a board member of the Barreau du Québec’s Fonds d’assurance responsabilité professionnelle since 2012. She also chairs its Investment Committee and sits on its Audit Committee.

During her 12 years at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Ms. Colpron served as senior vice-president, Financial Management, ensuring sound management of the organization’s treasury and coordinating its financing activities on bond markets. In that role, she was also accountable for the Caisse’s performance. Prior to that, she oversaw operations as vice-president, Investment Administration. In a previous position as vice-president, Private Equity & Administration, Ms. Colpron was in charge of the Caisse’s private equity investments.

Prior to joining the Caisse, Ms. Colpron was with Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) and before that served as CFO at Standard Chartered Bank in Switzerland. Her foray into the international began as an audit manager for Ernst & Young in London and Hong Kong.

Michèle Colpron is a certified corporate director, duly accredited by Université Laval, and a member of the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from HEC Montréal.

An experienced manager, Marcel Gagnon has over 30 years of experience in private equity working with growing businesses and businesses in turnaround in numerous industries.

He started his career in financing at Scotiabank and Caisse centrale Desjardins, and then became private equity portfolio manager at the Fonds de solidarité FTQ. Afterwards, he joined the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, where he held several positions, from Senior Manager, Private Equity to Vice-President, Risk Management, Private Equity and Infrastructure, until 2014. His role involved leading a team responsible for reviewing major private equity and infrastructure projects and making recommendations in the form of risk analyses.

He served as director of many companies, including Transat, BioChem Pharma and Tembec, and several businesses in the manufacturing and consumer goods industries. He was also a member of the advisory committee of investment funds in America and Europe.

A graduate in education and business administration, M. Gagnon also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and the CPA designation.

Denis Labrèche has over 30 years’ experience in business valuation, financial disputes and M&As in various industries. As a partner at Ernst & Young from 1978 to 2011, he was involved in key mandates and transactions and was frequently called to give expert testimony. He was also tasked with many venture capital mandates for the Government of Québec, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Société générale de financement du Québec. He also acted as financial advisor to large organizations including Provigo, Métro, Rona, Bell Canada and the Canadian Red Cross.

Very active throughout his career, Mr. Labrèche has given speeches, led countless seminars on business valuation and financing and written articles on the topic for the business magazine Commerce and the La Presse newspaper.

Mr. Labrèche has served on the boards of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators and of Réseau Capital.

Denis Labrèche is a Chartered Business Valuator (CBV – 1984) and a Chartered Accountant who made the prestigious Honour Roll of the Chartered Accountants 1978 Uniform Exam (UFE).

Pierre-Maurice Vachon is a well-known personality in the Beauce region where he is both a businessman and a political figure. He has worn several hats, first as CEO, then corporate director, followed by prefect and mayor. To this day, he remains interested in business and management.

Between 1990 and 2003, Mr. Vachon was CEO and chairman of Cartem, a company he helped found in 1977. He served as mayor of Sainte-Marie for 16 years as well as prefect of the Nouvelle-Beauce CMA and president of the Fédération québécoise des municipalités (FQM). Earlier in his career, Mr. Vachon was the manager of production-related administrative services at the family company, Les Gâteaux Vachon, where he remained for 10 years.

Mr. Vachon has been a board member of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ since 2005 and a member of the Turnaround Board since 2004. He also serves on the boards of, among others, SSQ General Insurance Company, P.H. Tech and the Fonds régional de solidarité FTQ – Chaudière-Appalaches.

Pierre-Maurice Vachon holds a business administration degree from Université Laval.

Having close to 35 years’ experience in the labour movement, Alain Croteau was appointed Québec Director by the Executive Board of United Steelworkers in December 2015.

A long-time steelworker, Mr. Croteau started his career as a coremaker at Mitchell Aerospace in 1978. He was elected for the first time as Unit Officer in 1983, and joined United Steelworkers on a full-time basis in 1994 as Vice-President of Local 8990. He sat on various committees, including the Recruitment Committee and the Advisory Committees on apprenticeship and qualifications for several trades in the metal sector.

Afterwards he became a union representative, then Coordinator of the North-Shore regional office, in Sept-Îles, and finally Assistant to the Québec Director in 2014, before stepping into the position of Québec Director.

A geologist by training, Denis Landry has spent the better part of his career, or almost 40 years, in the mining industry before retiring as Board chairman and director of Gestion Sodémex (Société de développement des entreprises minières et d’exploration).

Mr. Landry began his career at Société québécoise d’exploration minière (SOQUEM) where over a period of almost 20 years he served in turn as exploration geologist, regional exploration manager, and assistant general manager. Mr. Landry also was the manager of a mining investment fund created at the government’s request and which spawned Sodémex, a limited partnership in 1996. Next came the creation of general partner Gestion Sodémex with limited partner SOQUEM and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Denis Landry was actively involved in this company’s growth for the last 20 years, serving on its Board as a director and Chairman, and contributed, in particular, to the creation of Sodémex II s.e.c. in 1998 and Sodémex Développement in 2013, again with the Caisse.

Mr. Landry has been involved in many financing projects, including numerous joint investments with the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Sidex and the SDBJ’s mining fund. In addition to forging business partnerships with gold and diamond mining companies, including Virginia, Osisko and Stornoway Diamant, he has mentored several junior mining companies with projects in the development phase in Québec.

Denis Landry holds a Bachelor of Science in geology from Université Laval.

Jean-Claude Scraire is an independant consultant in strategic development. Since 2002, he has worked for different organizations and businesses in Asia, Europe and Québec.

Mr. Scraire previously worked for 22 years at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec where he served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer from 1995 to 2002. He also held various positions in Québec public administration from 1974 to 1981, including at the Ministère de la Justice.

Committed to economic development and strongly believing in the importance of entrepreneurship while respecting the local communities, Jean-Claude Scraire has recently chaired the board of directors of Investissement Québec and the Fondation de l’entrepreneurship.

Member of the Barreau du Québec since 1970, Mr. Scraire is also a member of the Fondation de l’entrepreneurship and the University Club.

With over 30 years’ experience in information technology, finance and international business, Christine Beaubien is a financial angel who invests in start-ups and provides strategic consulting to SMEs through her company, Groupe BSC.

Ms. Beaubien has held senior positions in a variety of organizations, including Anges Québec, Société générale de financement du Québec (SGF), Bombardier Capital, Export Development Canada (EDC), Desjardins and the Ministère des Affaires internationales du Québec. She also worked at Banque Paribas in Paris and at Versus, an e-commerce firm she co-owned.

Christine Beaubien serves on the boards of Héma-Québec, Oxfam-Québec, the Centre de Collaboration MiQro Innovation (C2MI) and Expansion Québec.

Holder of an MBA from HEC Montréal and a Bachelor of Computer Science from Université de Sherbrooke, Ms. Beaubien also holds the ICD.D designation with the McGill-Rotman Institute of Corporate Directors.

Building on over 30 years of experience in business, Chantal Laberge is currently a corporate director and management consultant, assisting business executives with strategic development, investments, risk management and governance implementation.

She previously held the positions of auditor at Deloitte, Senior Relationship Manager at the Bank of Montreal Innovation and Technology Centre, Senior Manager, Investment, Medium-Sized Enterprises at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Senior Manager and co-founder of the Québec Manufacturing Fund, a $100 million fund established by the Caisse that contributes to the financing and active management of businesses.

Ms. Laberge served as director of more than a dozen of private companies and several not-for-profit organizations. She chaired or was a member of various audit, investment, governance, strategic development and human resources committees. She currently sits on the board of directors of the Professional Liability Insurance Fund of the Chambre des notaires du Québec and the Y des femmes de Montréal, and is a member of the board of directors and advisory committee of SMEs.

A graduate in business administration from the University of Alberta, Ms. Laberge is a Chartered Professional Accountant member of the Ordre des CPA du Québec and holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

A graduate of Université de Montréal (1984) with a degree in industrial relations, Kateri Lefebvre has been Executive Director of the Syndicat des employées et employés professionnels-les et de bureau (SEPB-Québec) since August 1, 2016. She is also Vice-President of the FTQ office.

Ms. Lefebvre has over 30 years of experience in labour relations. She has served as a labour consultant in various workplaces, both in the area of bargaining and defence of worker rights before decision-making bodies. In June 2016, she was elected National Secretary-Treasurer of COPE-SEPB, the national union with which SEPB-Québec is affiliated.

An experienced manager, Hubert Manseau is the Founding President of Multiple Capital inc., a venture capital management firm that offers venture capital, financing, governance and strategic planning advisory services.

He previously was President and Chief Executive Officer of Innovatech du Grand Montréal, a major player in the development of the Canadian venture capital industry. He also served as Executive Vice-President of the Computer Research Institute of Montreal (CRIM), and occupied various executive positions in information technology, both in the academic (Université du Québec) and private (Videotron, DTI Telecom) sectors.

Mr. Manseau is Governor and former President of Réseau Capital, the Québec venture capital association. He chairs the NRC-IRAC Advisory Board and sits on the advisory committee of two start-up companies in the information technology sector. He chaired three boards of directors and served as director of over fifteen high-tech companies. In addition, he was a member of the advisory committee of seven private information technology, biotechnology and clean technologies venture capital funds. He also was a founding member of RISQ, the first Internet service provider in Québec, and was involved the start-up of two information technology companies, one of which was bought back by Télémédia and the other, by Microsoft.

Mr. Manseau holds Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Université de Montréal. He was named honorary graduate of his class by Université de Montréal and honoured as Great Builder by the Fédération de l’informatique du Québec. Since 2009, he has been a trainer with the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations, conducting sessions on chairing SMEs’ boards of directors, governance best practices and strategic planning.

Drawing on her extensive expertise in entrepreneurship, information technologies and life sciences, Josée Morin offers strategy, governance and risk management consulting services.

After launching and selling two IT firms, Ms. Morin went on to serve as operations and then marketing vice-president at Cardinal Health Canada. She also served as vice-president of governance at Myca Santé.

Ms. Morin has over 15 years’ experience as a corporate director and is a board member of Caristix and Handyem, as well as of the Fonds d’investissement Fier Succès and Centre québécois de valorisation des biotechnologies.

Josée Morin holds university accreditation from the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés. She also holds an MBA and Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Université Laval.

Holder of the Canada Research Chair in Oncogenetics since 2001, Jacques Simard, PhD, has been an independent investigator for almost 25 years. He is also a professor with the Department of Molecular Medicine of Université Laval and deputy director of basic research at the CHU de Québec Research Centre.

He has been chair of the Genome Canada Science and Industry Advisory Committee since 2010. Dr. Simard has been a board member of, among others, the Medical Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative, Health Canada’s Science Advisory Board and Genome Canada.

Dr. Simard has authored over 340 original publications, peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on specialized topics. He has received numerous awards and distinctions in his field.

Jacques Simard holds a PhD in physiology (molecular endocrinology) and a Master of Biology from Université Laval. In 2010, he earned a university certificate in corporate governance.