 | | Monique F. Leroux has been Chair of the Board, President and CEO of Desjardins Group since March 29, 2008. As its elected President, she represents all of Desjardins Group’s caisses and directs the largest cooperative financial group in Canada. With overall assets of over $165 billion as at December 31, 2009, Desjardins comprises a network of caisses, credit unions and business centres in Quebec and Ontario, as well as over twenty insurance, securities, venture capital and asset management subsidiaries, many of which operate Canada-wide. She chairs the Board of Directors and the Management Committee and acts as President and CEO of Desjardins Group and its subsidiaries. She also chairs the boards of directors of the Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, Caisse centrale Desjardins, Desjardins Trust and Desjardins Venture Capital. |
A member of senior management since 2001, Ms. Leroux was President of Desjardins Financial Corporation and Chief Executive Officer of the subsidiaries, which include: Desjardins Financial Security (personal insurance), Desjardins General Insurance Group (property and casualty insurance), Desjardins Specialized Financial Management Services (trust and investment fund services), and Desjardins Asset Management, where she was Division Manager and Administrator. Under her direction, the company and its subsidiaries have achieved both significant growth in the Canadian market and substantial improvements in terms of financial performance.
Before joining Desjardins Group, Ms. Leroux was Senior Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Quebecor Inc. after an impressive stint with the Royal Bank, where she was the Senior Vice-President, Quebec Division, from 1997 to 2000, and Senior Vice-President of Finance for the Financial Group from 1995 to 1997.
From 1978 to 1995, She rose through the ranks at the Ernst & Young accounting firm, holding such positions as Associate Director of Quebec Financial Services, while also teaching accounting and taxes for several years at the École des Hautes études commerciales de Montréal (HEC).
Her expertise and achievements in management, finance, accounting and governance have been widely recognized, she is Fellow of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec (order of chartered accountants of Quebec) and the Certified Management Accountants of Canada, she was named Person of the Year for 2008 by Les Affaires, has received the 2007 Leadership Prize from the Association of Quebec Women in Finance and was named “2007 Female CFO of the year” by CFO Canada. She was named “Personnalité de la Francophonie économique” by the Canadian chapter of the Forum francophone des affaires (FFA) also ranked among the 25 most influential personalities in the Québec financial services industry and one of “Canada’s (top 100) Most Powerful Women” by the Women’s Executive Network. A sought-after speaker, she has lead many public forums here and in Europe.
Beyond her work with the Desjardins Group boards she chairs, Ms. Leroux is currently a member of the boards of directors of the European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB), the Conference Board of Canada, the Governing Board of Montréal International and the Canadian advisory board of Catalyst. She has also been the director of a number of public and private companies and institutions, including Rona, the University of Montréal, the Société des Alcools du Québec (SAQ), Fiera Capital, Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, HEC Montréal and Siparex Group in France. Ms. Leroux is also a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.
Ms. Leroux is as involved with and committed to her professional sphere as she is to her community. She is past President of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec and has served on the Board of Governors of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. She also devotes a great deal of her time and energy to a number of not-for-profit organizations.
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