The CEO Speaker Series provides an interactive opportunity for Desautels MBA & Masters students to learn more about the businesses and life philosophies of prominent leaders.
To suggest speakers for the series, please contact Professor Karl Moore.
2022
November 25: Beno卯t Schultz
CEO, Airbus Canada Limited Partnership
Mr. Schultz joined Airbus in 2002, first in Engineering, where he contributed to the transnational integration of the Airbus Design Office. He then held different leadership positions in Finance before joining Airbus Procurement in 2012.
In 2015 he became Vice President Procurement Seats and Electronics and contributed to the A350 XWB Programme ramp-up. In September 2016, he was appointed Senior Vice President Procurement Systems, Equipment and Services. In 2018, his responsibility was extended to include the strategic and commercial procurement of the A220 aircraft systems, a mission he retained until his nomination as the head of Airbus Canada Limited Partnership in Mirabel, Quebec.
Mr. Schultz holds a degree in Engineering from the Ecole Nationale Sup茅rieure de Constructions A茅ronautiques (ENSICA) and received a postgraduate degree (DEA) in Economics of Transportation, Aeronautics and Space in Toulouse, France.
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October 28, 2022: Monika Ille (EMBA'20)
CEO, Aboriginal Peoples鈥� Television Network (APTN)
Monika Ille is a member of the Abenaki First Nation of Odanak. She has built a rich and diverse portfolio over the course of 30 years in the broadcasting industry. After graduating with distinction from the Universit茅 du Qu茅bec 脿 Montr茅al, she entered the industry by working for the Soci茅t茅 Radio-Canada and then, for the National Film Board (NFB).
During her time at the NFB, she was instrumental in the development of a new training program for Indigenous filmmakers. This experience introduced her to the world of film production, eventually inspiring her to film her first documentary, French Man, Native Son. She has also worked with Quebec Native Women in Montr茅al and the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa.
Monika brought her strong creative vision to APTN in 2003. She joined the team as the Quebec liaison officer before moving into the programming department. Most recently, she served as the executive director of programming and scheduling. Her accomplishments at the network led to her appointment as chief executive officer of APTN on Dec. 16, 2019.
Monika sits on the Boards of Universit茅 de Montr茅al and Canadian Museum of Nature and is also on the council of the Ordre de Montr茅al. She is also an industry adjudicator on the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council 鈥� Quebec Regional Panel. In 2019, Monika was named one of Maison Saint-Gabriel鈥檚 Exceptional Women and in 2022 received the Desautels Management Achievement Award from 海角社区. In 2020, she completed the 海角社区-HEC Montr茅al Executive MBA program.
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September 9, 2022: Frantz Saintellemy (EMBA鈥�20)
CEO,听LeddarTech
Chancellor of the Universit茅 de Montr茅al
Mr. Saintellemy is currently President and Chief Operating Officer at Leddartech.
LeddarTech is a leader in environmental sensing solutions for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles. LeddarTech delivers an end-to-end environmental sensing solution that solves critical fusion and perception challenges across the automotive value chain.
In addition to his current functions at LeddarTech, he has been appointed the 14th Chancellor and Chair of the Board of Universit茅 de Montr茅al. He holds an EMBA from 海角社区 and HEC (Montreal).
Groupe 3737 is a not-for-profit accelerator and incubator focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, with an emphasis on gender agnostic, women, youth, and migrant entrepreneurs.
2021
September 27, 2021: Antonio Park
World-renowned chef and restauranteur
Antonio Park is a world-renowned chef who started cooking in his mother鈥檚 South Korean kitchen, in Argentina/Paraguay. Thanks to a fresh garden that spanned acres, and his Mom鈥檚 insistence on creating everything from scratch, the drive for perfection, sustainability, and farm-to-table cooking became his raison d鈥櫭猼re. This mantra carried him through years of training under Japan鈥檚 most revered cooking masters, fed his ambition to work his way up from a dishwashing station to running two of the most noted restaurants in Montreal, and moonlighting as a judge on one of Food Network Canada鈥檚 top-rated programs, 鈥楥hopped鈥�.
Image of Antonio Park by Eva Blue
October 29, 2021: Andr茅 Gremillet,听MBA鈥�00
President and CEO, The Cleveland Orchestra
Andr茅 Gremillet began his tenure in January 2016 as the ninth Executive Director of The Cleveland Orchestra and was appointed its first President & CEO in 2018. Under his leadership, The Orchestra celebrated its 2018 Centennial with critically-acclaimed performances in Cleveland, New York, Tokyo and Vienna, and reached an audience of 2.3 million through two live streamed performances from Bejing in 2019. Since Gremillet began his tenure, The Cleveland Orchestra has gained even wider recognition, being referred to by The New York Times as 鈥淎merica鈥檚 most understatedly amazing orchestra鈥� (2018) and 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Finest, Still鈥� (2020). Gremillet has also overseen a significant expansion of the Orchestra鈥檚 education programs, the creation of the Orchestra鈥檚 own record label, and the launch of its new streaming platform. Prior to joining The Cleveland Orchestra, M. Gremillet served as Managing Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), and as President and CEO of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Born near Montr茅al, and a conservatory-trained pianist, Gremillet holds a master鈥檚 degree from the Mannes College of Music and an MBA from 海角社区.
March 26,听2021: Jordan Owen, BCom'16
Co-Founder & CEO of SquareFeet.ai
听is the Co-Founder & CEO of SquareFeet.ai, a Proptech startup that provides dynamic tools based on real time data to various players in the real estate sector, revolutionizing the way developers and brokers work.
Fascinated by the real estate industry, Jordan began his career as a broker at Colliers. He quickly migrated to real estate development, working for his family business, one of the largest developers in Montreal. Here, Jordan acquired critical expertise in the development of multi-residential projects, and created a model to optimize pricing that generated tremendous value for the business. Realizing the potential technology could have in enhancing real estate practice, he decided to continue his studies in the field. Jordan recently launched his entrepreneurial career with two startups:听听&听.
Jordan has a Bachelor of Finance from 海角社区, a Masters in Real Estate Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is currently completing a Masters in City Planning at MIT.
February 19, 2021: Tabatha Bull
President & CEO, Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business
Tabatha Bull is the President & CEO of Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, working with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal businesses to help strengthen a prosperous Indigenous economy and Canadian market. Also, a member of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce board, Tabatha is committed to working with members to improve business competitiveness across all industry sectors.
Tabatha joined CCAB in the fall of 2018 as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to this, she led the First Nations and M茅tis Relations team at the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), Ontario鈥檚 electricity system operator. She continues to support Canada鈥檚 energy sector as a member of the Positive Energy Advisory Council and the C.D. Howe Institute鈥檚 Energy Policy program.
Tabatha is Anishinaabe and a proud member of Nipissing First Nation near North Bay, Ontario. She has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
January 22, 2021: Maria Della Posta, BCom鈥�85, MBA鈥�91
President, Pratt & Whitney Canada
Maria Della Posta is the President of Pratt & Whitney Canada and has served in this role since June 2019. She leads all global operations, engineering, customer service, sales, marketing, and business development organizations, and a team of more than 10,000 employees worldwide.
Maria joined Pratt & Whitney in 1985 and progressed through roles of increasing leadership in various functions including supply chain, finance, and customer service. She was named Vice President, Customer Support in 2001, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing in 2010, and Senior Vice President, Pratt & Whitney Canada in 2012.
Maria holds a BCom and an MBA degree from the Desautels Faculty of Management and a听Desautels Management Achievement Award.
2020
November 13, 2020: Mirko Bibic
President & Chief Executive Officer
BCE Inc. and Bell Canada
Mirko Bibic is the President & Chief Executive Officer of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada, and has served in this role since January 2020. He leads the Bell group of companies with a strategy to deliver the best networks, drive service and content innovation, operate with agility and efficiency, and champion customer experience.听
Prior to his current post, Mirko was the Chief Operating Officer from October 2018, and was responsible for all operations of Bell Mobility, Bell Business Markets, and Bell Residential and Small Business. From 2012 to 2018, he served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development & Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer. He joined Bell in 2004 as Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs. Before entering the telecommunications space, Mirko was a Partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP, a global leader in Canadian business law. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from 海角社区 and a Law degree from the University of Toronto.听
October 23, 2020: Dominique Anglade
Leader of the Quebec Liberal Party and
Leader of the Official Opposition of Quebec
Dominique Anglade has more than twenty years of experience working across different industries in various leadership roles, before she became leader of the Quebec Liberal Party on May 11, 2020.
Dominique holds a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from l鈥櫭塩ole Polytechnique de Montr茅al and an MBA from HEC Montr茅al. She began her career in 1996 as an engineer with Procter & Gamble and was promoted shortly thereafter to head a business unit. From 2000 to 2003, she worked for Nortel Networks as Senior Manager, then in 2004, was named Director of External and Governmental Affairs for Quebec. From 2005 to 2012, she worked at McKinsey & Company leading organizational transformation project teams in aerospace, not-for-profit, and finance sectors. Between 2012 and 2015, Dominique served as President and CEO of Montr茅al International, an economic development agency, until her election as Member of the National Assembly for Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne.
Dominique is the first woman to lead the Quebec Liberal Party and the first black woman to lead a provincial party in Quebec.
September 11, 2020: Benjamin Smith
Chief Executive Officer, Air France-KLM
Benjamin Smith is a senior airline industry veteran, having spent twenty years at Air Canada before joining Air France-KLM as Chief Executive Officer.
In 1990, while at university, he started part time as a Customer Service Agent at Air Ontario. In 1992 he followed an entrepreneurial path and established his own retail corporate travel agency, successfully running this business for eight years. In 2002 he joined Air Canada, envisioning and subsequently leading its Tango subsidiary.
Benjamin later became Vice President, Network Planning, followed by Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer in 2007, and subsequently President, Airlines (Air Canada, Rouge, Express, Cargo) and Chief Operating Officer in 2014. He assumed overall responsibility for commercial, operations, and customer service functions, and spearheaded their commercial growth strategy, resulting in impressive financial performance.
In August 2018 Benjamin Smith was appointed CEO of Air France-KLM, and in December, a member of the Air France-KLM Board of Directors.
February 14, 2020: Louis Vachon
CEO of National Bank
Mr. Louis Vachon is CEO of National Bank, the sixth largest bank in Canada. Named CEO of the Year by Canadian Business magazine, as well as Financial Personality of the Year, 2014, by Quebec business publication Finance et Investissement, Mr. Vachon began his career in 1985 at Citibank. He joined Le虂vesque Beaubien Geoffrion in 1986. From 1990 to 1996, he worked for Bankers Trust, where he was ultimately appointed President and CEO of the Canadian subsidiary, BT Bank of Canada. Mr. Vachon is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Ordre de Montre虂al as well as a recipient of the Global Citizens Award from the United Nations Association in Canada. Mr. Vachon also serves on the Boards of Molson Coors Brewing Company and Groupe CH Inc. and is involved with a number of social and cultural organizations.
January 17, 2020: Heather Chalmers
President & CEO, GE Canada
Heather Chalmers is the CEO of GE Canada and Country Leader for GE Healthcare, one of Canada鈥檚 iconic names. She has been with GE for over 23 years and has led high-performing teams that are industry leaders in innovation to solve complex challenges both locally and globally. Heather joined GE Plastics in 1995 where she took on multiple commercial roles. In 2007, she took a leadership role at GE Healthcare and was promoted to Country Leader of the Healthcare business in 2014. In addition, Heather is Vice-Chair of the MEDEC Board and Treasurer of the St. Elizabeth Foundation Board.
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