Issues and Challenges
of a Value-Creating Governance®

Michel Magnan, PhD, FCPA, FCA, ASC, C.Dir
Professor, Accountancy
Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair in Corporate Governance

Hubert Manseau
Corporate Director

Hubert Manseau is a seasoned bilingual Corporate Director with 24 years of experience in information technology and 20 years in venture capital. He is also a regular lecturer at the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations and a mentor at the EcoFuel Accelerator.

Mr. Manseau was the President and Founder of Multiple Capital Inc, where he saw to the management and monetization of three venture capital portfolios and offered consulting services in venture capital, financing, governance and strategic and business planning to venture capital and high-tech companies until 2017. From 1997 to 2004 he was President and CEO of Innovatech, a major Canadian high-tech government backed venture capital firm. He was, prior to 1997, Executive Vice President of the Computer Research Institute of Montreal, and served different senior executive positions in information technology, both in academia (University of Québec) and industry (Vidéotron, DTI Telecom), and was also co-founder of two software start-ups of which one was sold to Télémédia and the other to Microsoft.

Mr. Manseau is Governor and Former President of Reseau Capital, the Quebec Venture Capital Association. He currently sits on the New Economy Investment Committee of the Solidarity Fund and on the Board of three high-tech start-ups. He was chairman of the NRC-IRAP Advisory Board and of three Boards of Directors of high-tech firms and has been director of fifteen others, and was a member of the Advisory Board of seven Venture Capital funds. Mr. Manseau was a director of the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education, a director and Chairman of College Edouard-Montpetit, and a Board member of the Royal Military College of Saint-Jean. He was also a founding member of the first Internet Service Provider in Quebec (RISQ).
Mr. Manseau is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, of the Quebec Venture Capital Association, and of the Quebec IT Network.

Jean-Daniel Brisson
President and founder of Groupe conseil Stratexec Inc.

With more than 20 years of experience, in consultancy as well as business, Jean-Daniel Brisson is a specialist of strategy and of its implementation. He was in charge of coordinating the strategic planning process within the divisions of Ciment St-Laurent for almost six years and also led various planning exercises across North America. He also conducted the strategic planning process at Royal Trust at the beginning of his career.

In consultancy, he was the manager of strategic consulting at Ernst & Young and responsible of strategic implementation at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton during nearly 10 years.

Mr. Brisson accompanied numerous management teams in their strategic reflection. In a significant number of initiatives, he oversees the strategic planning process, the methodological support as well as animating strategic sessions with senior management, management teams, in addition of workshops on specific themes. He has assisted many businesses in their organizational transformation. He is currently a trainer on behalf of the Institute of governance (IGOPP) and the Collège des administrateurs (CAS).

He realized numerous strategic plans for state-owned enterprises, he intervenes on behalf of leading organizations, including many SME in the field of strategy, management and governance. Finally, Mr. Brisson also has several experiences as director. Most notably, he was the chairman of The Lighthouse, Children and Families and of Quebec’s chapter the Canadian Association of Management Consultants (CMC-Quebec).

Me André Laurin
Partner, Lavery

André Laurin specializes in business law. He has broad experience in diverse areas of the law, enabling him to assist clients from a wide range of businesses, most notably in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. He also has extensive experience in corporate management, and as a corporate director and project manager.

He represents large businesses, multinationals, SMEs, government corporations and non-profit organizations in such fields as the food industry, communications, travel, health, professional services, insurance, new technologies, transportation, real estate, mining, finance and investment, pulp and paper, energy and philanthropy.

Mr. Laurin handles a variety of business law mandates, including the sale and acquisition of businesses, takeover bids, mergers and arrangements, various commercial transactions, financing and the drafting of specialized commercial contracts (strategy, conception, advice and negotiation). He also acts as an arbitrator in commercial disputes.

He regularly gives specialized advice, training and courses on corporate governance, directors’ liability and professional and business ethics not only to such clients as public and private corporations, Crown corporations, public bodies, professional orders, self-regulatory bodies and non-profit organizations, but also to corporate executives, members of boards of directors and committees and corporate counsel. These services are available where the client is reviewing its existing practices, implementing new practices or corporate safeguards and also in connection with specific transactions or special events, such as takeover bids, share redemptions, business combinations, conflicts of interest, etc.

Mr. Laurin is regularly invited to speak at conferences primarily in the fields of contracts, meeting management, governance, business integrity risk management and ethics. In addition to the private seminars and training given to boards of directors, corporate management of legal persons, corporate counsels, attorneys in private practice as well as at l’École du Barreau, he also teaches at HEC as part of the seminar on governance as well as those offered by the Institute for governance of public and private organizations (IGOPP).

Pascale Gaudreault, CPA, CA, CBV, CFF
Partner, Deloitte

Pascale Gaudreault is a Partner in Deloitte’s Financial Advisory group. She is a chartered professional accountant, chartered business valuator and is certified in financial forensics with 20 years’ experience in the field of forensic accounting.

Ms. Gaudreault has led many cases of commercial disputes involving complex financial situations, particularly in engagements requiring her to calculate the loss of earnings or financial damage relating to breaches of contract, professional or other forms of misconduct, abuse, physical injury, or fraud.

Ms. Gaudreault has participated in a number of major financial fraud investigations. She carries out engagements requiring investigations into noncompliance with laws, regulations or contracts, as well as investigations of fraud and other irregularities. Pascale determines the economic substance and effects of specific transactions, and summarizes the information in a precise, well-organized and efficient manner.

She has also valued ownership interests and tangible and intangible assets, particularly relating to shareholder or matrimonial disputes. She has testified on many occasions as a forensic accounting expert or as a business valuation expert before the Superior Court of Quebec, arbitration courts and the Tax Court of Canada.

Johanne Brunet 
Chair of the SAQ-SQDC and Associate Professor, HEC Montreal

A member of the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec, Johanne Brunet has a doctorate in industrial and business studies from the University of Warwick (United Kingdom) and an MBA in marketing and international management from HEC Montréal. She also holds a certificate in corporate governance from the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés of Université Laval, qualifying her for the title Administratice de sociétés certifiée.

Ms. Brunet received the 1999 Action femmes d’affaires award from the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal and was a finalist for the 2013 Business Professor of the Year award conferred by the renowned weekly The Economist. She worked as head of external production and acquisitions at Société Radio-Canada before becoming Senior Vice-President at TV5-Amériques. She also holds a seat on the boards of the Théâtre du Rideau Vert and the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM) as well as others in England.

Mirella Pisciuneri
Partner, Beyond Numbers Financial Services Inc.

Financial advisor with a strong grasp of today’s fast evolving business environment. Solid experience in the development and assessment of strategic business plans and assistance in the development and implementation of comprehensive strategies to achieve meaningful results. Attentive listener, creative thinker and results-driven. Dependable, no matter how complex a situation. An authentic, responsive and involved leader, the embodiment of “What you see is what you get”. With Richter from 1999 to 2019, she is now self-employed at Beyond Numbers Financial Services and, as an independent director, she sits on the board of the Financière agricole du Québec (FADQ) since 2015.