Corporate Governance

President of the Board of Directors
Corporate Director

Ms. Susan Kudzman is a corporate director and actuary. She was Executive Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer and Corporate Affairs of the Laurentian Bank of Canada from 2015 to 2018. Previously, she was Executive Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec from 2005 to 2010.

Ms. Kudzman is currently chair of the Board of Directors of Yellow Pages, and has served on the Board since November 2014. In 2020, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of PSP Investments, a Canadian Crown corporation that invests funds for the pension plans of the federal public service. Since 2018, she has also been a member of the Board of Directors of Medavie, an organization operating in the areas of insurance (Blue Cross) and health.

She has also been a member of various organizations and associations including Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal (2000-2015) and Montreal’s International District (2006-2013). She was Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation from 2012 to 2020. Ms. Kudzman is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Festival du nouveau cinéma as well as the Board of the ICD (Institute of Corporate Directors).

Ms. Kudzman holds a bachelor’s degree in actuarial sciences from Université Laval (1984) and the titles of Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA) (1987), Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) (1987) and Certified Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA) (2009).

Corporate director

Ms. Geneviève Brouillette is a corporate director. She was Chief Financial Officer of Aldo, a global fashion retailer, from 2019 to December 2024. With over 30 years’ experience in finance and general management, she has contributed to the growth of many renowned companies, such as Keurig Dr Pepper, St-Hubert, Reader’s Digest and Kraft Foods, which has helped her gain a reputation that transcends borders. In 2022, she received the title of Fellow by the Québec CPA Order. 

Ms. Brouillette has also served for nearly 25 years on the board of directors of various organizations, including a Crown corporation, private businesses and non-profit organizations.

She has been a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of Previan since 2022. She has also been serving on Hydro-Québec's Board of Directors since 2017, where she currently holds the positions of Chair of the Audit Committee and member of the Investment and Major Projects Committee. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada from 2001 to 2010.

Ms. Brouillette obtained a Bachelor of Accounting Science from the Université du Québec à Montréal in 1987 and a Bachelor of Commerce, with distinction, from McGill University in 1986.

Corporate Director

Ms. Lucie Chabot is a corporate director. Since April 2020, she has been a member of the Board of Directors and a member of the Audit Committee of Richelieu Hardware Ltd, an importer, distributor and manufacturer of specialty hardware and complementary products.

Since May 2019, she has been a director and the chair of the Audit Committee of Albecour Inc., a company in the aluminum smelter industry and a subsidiary of Investissement Québec. From May 2019 to May 2022, she was a director as well as the chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Governance Committee of Tourisme Montréal, a Montréal-based organization engaged in the promotion of tourism for the City of Montréal.

Ms. Chabot was Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of SAIL Outdoors Inc., a major Canadian retailer of sporting goods and outdoor equipment, from 2014 to 2018, and as such was responsible for the firm’s accounting and financial services, human resources and information technology. She previously served as President of Distribution Vinearius Inc., a wine accessories distributor she founded. She also worked at Intertrade Systems Inc. from 2004 to 2007 as General Manager, Operations and Managed Services, after having served as the company’s Vice-President, Finance and Human Resources. She was a co-shareholder of Strator Consulting Group Inc., a consulting firm in the retail, distribution and services field. From 1986 to 1994, she worked as Director and Vice-President, Finance, of Sports Experts Inc., the Canadian leader in sporting goods and sportswear retailing.

She began her career at Clarkson Gordon (EY) as an auditor in 1981 and joined the Provigo Group in 1984. Ms. Chabot is a graduate of Université Laval and a member of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec. She was named to the National Honour Roll of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, ranking 11th in Canada in 1982.

Corporate Director

Ms. Valérie Chort is a corporate director. From 2015 until her departure in January 2023, she was Vice President, Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability for RBC and Executive Director of the RBC Foundation where she was responsible for developing an integrated citizenship strategy aligned with RBC’s purpose and business objectives, and creating positive social, economic and environmental impacts in the community.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Chort has held senior consulting, industry and government roles. Most recently she was Americas Leader for Sustainability & Climate Change with Deloitte, and Partner with Deloitte’s Enterprise Risk Services as well as Vice-President of Environment, Health and Product Safety with Husky IMS.

Ms. Chort serves on the Boards of North West Rubber Ltd, the Women’s College Hospital Foundation and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, is a member of the Privy Council’s Impact Canada Advisory Council and a founding member of Women for Nature. In 2021, she was named as one of 26 Climate Champions in Canada by the British High Commission in Canada and the Canada Climate Law Initiative. She is also a mentor to an extensive roster of young leaders.

Ms. Chort earned a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ottawa. She also has a certificate in Executive Education from Darden School of Business.

Corporate Director

Mr. Robert Coallier is a corporate director. Mr. Coallier was Chief Executive Officer of Agropur Cooperative, a dairy processor, from 2012 to 2019. He has over 30 years’ experience in, among other things, creating and managing businesses, organizational development, human resources management, business and financial turnaround and the development of customized IT and technology solutions.

Mr. Coallier also held senior management positions, including Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, at Dollarama L.P. from 2005 to 2010, at Molson Coors from 2000 to 2005, at C-MAC Industries Inc. from 1996 to 2000 and at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec from 1988 to 1996.

Mr. Coallier has been a member and the Chair of the Board of Sanimax since 2020, and has been serving on the Board of Stella-Jones and acting as a member of the Audit Committee and the Human Resources Committee since 2020. Previously, he served as a member of the Board of Directors, Chair of the Human Resources Committee, Chair of the Special Committee appointing the new Chief Executive Officer and member of the Audit Committee and member of the Corporate Governance Committee of Industrial Alliance from 2008 to 2019.

Mr. Coallier graduated from McGill University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and also holds an MBA from Concordia University.

Corporate Director

Mr. Desjardins is an independent director. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Velan Inc. since 2024. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Noranda Income Fund and a member of its Audit Committee and Independent Committee of the Board until the privatization of the Fund in March 2023. Since October 2023, Mr. Desjardins is a member of the Advisory Committee of Northvolt North America. Mr. Desjardins is an accomplished business lawyer and executive with extensive expertise in business law, compliance and risk management as well as decades of experience in financing and complex mergers and acquisitions. For more than 20 years, until December 2019, Mr. Desjardins was Senior Vice-President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Bombardier Inc. In this role, he was responsible for legal affairs, compliance, internal audit, insurance and risk management for the entire company. From 2018 to January 2021, he served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Bombardier Transportation. Prior to joining Bombardier, Mr. Desjardins was a partner at a Quebec law firm for 15 years. He began his career at National Bank of Canada.

He has been Chair of the Board of the Legal Leaders for Diversity Trust Fund since 2014 and is Chair of the Board of the Pointe-à-Callière Museum. Mr. Desjardins has received numerous professional awards and has twice been named one of Canada’s 25 most influential lawyers. In 2017, the Barreau du Québec awarded him the Advocatus Emeritus distinction in recognition of his exceptional professional career.

Mr. Desjardins holds a law degree from the Université de Montréal and a Master of Laws degree from McGill University.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Transat

Annick Guérard was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Transat and joined the Company's Board of Directors on May 27, 2021.

Between November 2017 and her latest appointment, Annick was Chief Operating Officer, heading all of the Company’s operations and commercial activities. With her extensive knowledge of the industry and its issues, combined with her qualities of vision, leadership and effectiveness, she plays a key role in Transat’s development and success.

Annick joined Transat in 2002 and has served in numerous senior management posts involving strategy, operations, sales and marketing, the digital shift, revenue management, customer service and product development, for several of the company’s business units. Annick previously had a career in engineering consulting in the transportation industry, then served as a senior consultant in operations management for Deloitte Consulting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Polytechnique Montréal and an MBA from HEC Montréal, as well as the designation ICD.D. from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Since October 2021, Annick has been Chair of the Board of Directors of Espace Go theatre, after serving as a director from 2019 to 2021. She also sits on the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Canada since 2023.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Cirque du Soleil

In December 2021, Mr. Lefebvre was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Cirque du Soleil, a global entertainment company, and has held many executive positions with the company since 2016, including Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. He oversaw Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group’s finances, information technology, global procurement and risk management, as well as capital deployment in its strategic areas of growth.

Mr. Lefebvre has over 30 years of experience in strategic repositioning and in change management, having led several large-scale initiatives including turnarounds, acquisitions, integrations, restructurings and financings. He also has experience with Canadian and US capital markets and corporate governance.

Mr. Lefebvre was previously Chief Financial Officer at CAE Inc., a Canadian manufacturer of simulation technologies, modelling technologies and training services to airlines, aircraft manufacturers, healthcare specialists, and defence customers, where he worked for 20 years. Mr. Lefebvre began his career as a chartered accountant at Price Waterhouse, first working in auditing, then consulting, specifically on merger/acquisition and insolvency cases.

Since 2017, Mr. Lefebvre has been a director on the Board of C2 Montréal, a non-profit organization. He is also a director on the Board of Financial Executives International (FEI) Canada, Quebec Chapter.

Mr. Lefebvre holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from École des Hautes Études Commerciales in Montréal and is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CloudOps 

Mr. Ian Rae holds a Bachelor of Sciences (Honours) in biology, with a major in Evolutionary Genetics from McGill University and is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of CloudOps Inc., a company offering cloud computing services, solutions and products since 2005. Mr. Rae is also the founder of cloud.ca, a Canadian cloud infrastructure platform. Prior to CloudOps, Mr. Rae was chief engineering at Coradiant and, prior thereto, manager of IT systems at Canderel, a real estate developer.

Mr. Rae has been a member of the Board of Directors of Genome Canada since 2017. He is also involved in the startup community as an advisor and angel investor and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Council of Canadian Innovators, the Entrepreneur’s Organization and the Government of Canada’s Economic Strategy – Digital Industries Table.

Mr. Rae is an experienced entrepreneur in the aviation and travel technology industries. He was, among other things, a partner in the travel start-ups Localmind (acquired by AirBnB) and Raikey Technologies (raikey.com, railagent.com, italiarail.com, italiatours.com), and is an advisor at On Board Data Systems (OBDS), a provider of EFB (electronic flight bag) and cloud-based aircraft maintenance software.

Corporate Director

Ms. Julie Tremblay was the President and Chief Executive Officer of TVA Group Inc. and Quebecor Media Group, a business unit of Quebecor Media Inc., a media leader in broadcasting, film and television production, news media, magazines and book publishing, from July 2014 until her retirement in October 2017. Between 1989 and 2014, she held various senior positions within Quebecor Inc., a Canadian leader in telecommunications, entertainment, news media and culture. She served as Vice President, Human Resources of Quebecor Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc. for more than eight years and then as Chief Operating Officer of Sun Media Corporation from June 2011 to September 2013. In September 2013, she was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Sun Media Corporation, until it was folded into the Quebecor Media Group. Prior to joining Quebecor Inc., Ms. Tremblay practiced labor and employment law in a prominent law firm in Montreal. She was a director of TVA Group Inc. (TSX:TVA.B) from 2014 to 2017. She was also a director of Fondation Montréal (2015-2017), Society for the Celebrations of Montréal's 375th Anniversary (2016-2017) and Trade of Metropolitan Montreal (2016-2017).

Ms. Tremblay is a Director, member of the Nominating and Governance Committee and of the Compensation Committee of Haivision Systems Inc. (TSX: HAI), a leading provider of real-time IP video solutions since January 2021. She is also Chair and member of the Human Resources and Governance Committee of a private company Attraction Media Inc., a leader in Quebec’s media and entertainment industry since December 2020.

Ms. Tremblay holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from McGill University and a Bachelor's degree in Civil Law from Sherbrooke University. She has been a member of the Québec Bar since 1984.