I have worked as a growth management consultant since 2015. My career has mostly been spent in innovative, rapid-growth markets and companies.  I began in China during the early days of its unbridled growth, which continues today. While I’m still active in this market, more than 50% of my work is now in North America. The bulk of my experience is in packaged food products and logistics.

 

Years in business development and operations improvement have helped me gain exposure to the best (and some not-so-good!) practices in growth and change management. I quickly discovered that business development was most often conducted as a process of trial and error, with minimal rigour and yielding random results. I then set out to identify and document approaches that more often led to positive results.

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EXPERIENCE
 I approached my career as a series of learning processes, first training with consulting firms in  the U.S. and Asia.  I learned there from clients who were world-leaders - Unilever, SC Johnson, Kraft General Foods, Duracell and Heineken among others – with whom I worked on planning and executing new market penetration.

 

I then joined the corporate sector. At Heineken, I set up a sales, marketing, and distribution subsidiary for Heineken in China. In North America, I expanded distribution of Van Houtte coffees from Quebec to the rest of Canada and the U.S. East Coast. I also launched Dobra Tea, a Czech Republic-based chain, in the U.S. Northeast. Next, I managed Eastern Canada operations for Schenker, a German logistics services multi-national. My last position was General Manager at Laniel Canada, a family-owned distributor and service company for commercial coffee equipment. Our clients included Starbucks, McDonald’s and Tim Hortons nationwide.

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SERVICES

Clients usually first approach me for strategic planning or for launching in a new market. The business relationship generally extends to other projects such as:
 

• organizational development

• recruitment

• performance management

• interim management

• operations optimization

• due diligence in acquisitions

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MY APPROACH

I always use a structured approach grounded in best practices. This method starts with disciplined strategic planning that leads to focus on a limited number of priorities. Surprisingly, these steps are still rarely used in business development. While my approach requires more time upfront, the exercise ultimately yields less random results that materialize more quickly. More details on the best practices I recommend can be found in my blog.

 

I attach great importance to the rigour that leads to quality decisions. For me, this includes listening to every team member’s viewpoint, whatever their rank within the organization. I pay a lot of attention to what motivates the internal teams and external partners.

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Because of my past experience as general manager, I tackle problems from an owner’s perspective, with 360 degrees view of the business and financial results.

 

CORE VALUES

Integrity, transparency, humility, and generosity are key values to me.

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HOBBIES

I’m a lucky man. I share my life with an exceptional woman. I’m the father of two young adults and responsible for a golden doodle. I cycle or cross-country ski on Mont-Royal almost every morning. I’m a nature lover and like to decompress on a pristine lake or on a beach in the Magdalen’s Islands. Single-origin teas are my passion.

 

LANGUAGES 

French, English, Mandarin, and Spanish.

 

EDUCATION  

After 18 months in medical school at Laval University in Quebec City, I switched programs and completed a master’s degree in Chinese History at York University in Toronto. I then spent a year and a half studying Mandarin at Nanjing University in China – an experience that had a significant impact on my life.

 

OTHER TRAINING

• Accounting and finance at McGill University, Montreal

• Operations management, human resource management and IT management at HEC Montréal

• Supply chain management at Penn State University

• SME governance at the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations (IGOPP)

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