Board of Directors and its committees
The Board of Directors and its committees oversee the activities of the Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal in accordance with its constitutive law and regulations.
The Board of Directors
The Board consists of eleven (11) members appointed by the government with previous consultation with Ville de Montréal and with socio-economic and cultural bodies active throughout Québec or at a regional level. The Chair of the Board is an ex-officio member of all committees.
In order to assist the government in appointing the best candidates, the Place des Arts has set out a profile of the expertise and experience required for its directors (in French only):
The main role of the Board of Directors is to advise and support management in complex operational and strategic matters, in addition to day-to-day affairs.
The committees of the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is supported by four (4) committees who oversee the management and administration of the Société and assist its management team:
- the Governance, Ethics, and Social Responsibility Committee;
- the Audit and Risk Management Policies Committee;
- the Human Resources Committee;
- the Capital Assets and Business Affairs Committee.
Louise St-Pierre is Chair of the Board of Société de la Place des Arts, Director of Transat A.T. and Vins Arterra Canada and a Business Angel at Anges Québec. She has sat on several boards in Canada and chaired that of Domaine Forget de Charlevoix (2017 to 2020). She made her career in the field of information technologies at IBM, then at DMR, before joining Cogeco Connexion where she held, over a period of 17 years, several positions of vice-president and that of president and CEO. She was recognized as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women's Executive Network (2015 and 2016) and received the Mercure Leadership Germaine-Gibara Leadership award from the Quebec’s Federation of Chambers of Commerce (2014). She holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Marketing from McGill University. She sponsored the 2018 cohort of the McGill-HEC EMBA program, received an honorary doctorate from Loyalist College of Ontario (2016) and obtained her ICD.D certification from Institute of Corporate Directors (2020).
Éric Gosselin is a lawyer and Partner in the Business Law Group of the McCarthy Tétrault law firm in Montréal. Chairman of the Board of Culture pour tous, he is also a member of the Boards of Directors of the Fondation de la Place des Arts and Festival TransAmériques. Mr. Gosselin was one of the three mentors of the Go-C.A. project, a peer-matching program that seeks to enhance the boards of directors of arts & culture organizations with new members from the fields of business and communications. Mr. Gosselin was called to the Québec Bar in 1995 and has been a member of the Ordre des agronomes du Québec since 1998.
Pierre Bernier is Vice-President of Finance and Corporate Services with Processia Solutions. In the cultural sector, he sat on the Board of Directors of SODEC from 2009 to 2013, where he held the positions of Vice-President of the Board of Directors and President of the Audit Committee. He was President of the Consultation Committee of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations (IGOPP) and Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the West Island of Montreal Chamber of Commerce. In the business community, he previously served as CEO of JJ Buckley Fine Wines, CEO of Intelligent Cellars Inc., Executive Vice-President, Operations with the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Vice-President, Finance and Administration of Airborne Entertainment Inc., and Vice-President and CFO of Yellow Pages Group.
Andrée Noël was a member of the Québec Bar from 1974 to 2018. She began her career as in-house counsel for various private corporations such as A. Janin and Company Limited, Henry Birks and Sons Limited, Transcontinental Group G.T.C. Limited and Fonorola Inc. Ms. Noël has more than twenty-five years of experience in supervising broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada. She was President of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council and acted as Regional Advisor for Quebec on the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). She sits on the Board of Maison Saint-Gabriel and has served as Director on the Boards of Canal Savoir, Bureau du cinéma et de la television du Québec, Jean-Talon Hospital and Philippe-Pinel Institute. Ms. Noël holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Law Degree from the University of Montréal.
Nancy Cleman is a lawyer and partner with the firm Lapointe Rosenstein Marchand Melançon LLP, where she practices corporate commercial law with a focus on intellectual property and information technology. A member of the Quebec Bar since 1983 and of the Ontario Bar since 1990, she is an accredited mediator and trademark agent. As an active member of her community, she sits on the board of directors of the Canadian Technology Law Association. She has also been a board member at several arts organizations dedicated to dance, theatre, and visual arts, including the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perrault and the Saidye Bronfman Centre. Ms. Cleman holds a B.Sc. (Genetics) and a B.C.L./LL.B. from McGill University.
Ms. Stacy Cavery is a Senior Consultant, Digital Marketing, at public relations firm CASACOM. She has developed an extensive base of experience in digital strategy development and her vast knowledge of this world has given her an integrated view of current digital issues. She also sits on the communications committee at the IRCM Foundation and holds a Master’s degree in e-commerce from the Université de Montréal, as well as a Master’s degree in international commerce.
Annie Derome is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Producer at the firm GSM Project. She previously worked for Cirque du Soleil, where she was actively involved in the development of several shows and partnerships in various countries. Trained as an actuary, she has worked for such companies as Videotron, RBC Dominion Securities and Aon, where she acquired significant experience in the area of international business development. She sits on the board of directors of X3 Productions, the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, and Au Sommet Place Ville Marie. She has also been a member of the board at the Société de développement Angus and Filaction. Ms. Derome holds a Bachelor of Actuarial Science degree from Université Laval.
Marie-Josée Desrochers is the President and CEO of the Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal. With over twenty years of management experience in arts and culture, she has held executive roles with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, actively taking part in the organization’s growth and the implementation of new initiatives, successively leading the Marketing-Communications and the Artistic Planning and Operations’ departments, before being appointed Chief Operating Officer from 2015 to 2019. Actively involved in her field, she is Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership and a member of the Board of Directors of CORIM (Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal) and of Synapse C. She also sat on the Board of Orchestras Canada, was President of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal’s Pedagogical Orientation Committee, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Conseil québécois de la musique. She holds a Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from McGill University-HEC Montréal. (Photo : Caroline Bergeron)
Danielle Laramée is a Partner and Leader of Human Capital in the firm Ernst & Young. She is a Fellow of the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec. As a leader in her field in Canada, she has been very active in the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the Association de planification fiscale et financière. She was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Standards Council of Canada. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the UQAM Foundation and a Chartered Administrator.
Michel Ohayon is a Senior Consultant with Shore & Associates, Executive and Legal Search. He has worked in the professional services and human resources industry since 2003, beginning his career with Willis Towers Watson, a global human resources consultancy. He sits on the board of directors of non-profit organization Hillel Montreal and is a former board member of the Caisse du Complexe Desjardins (2013-2019). He has been involved with the Segal Centre for Performing Arts for several years and was very active with the Jewish Chamber of Commerce (2011-2015) and the Regroupement des jeunes chambres de commerce du Québec (2011-2017). Mr. Ohayon holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from HEC Montréal, a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Concordia University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University.
Louise Poissant is the Scientific Director of Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture (FRQSC) since 2015. She was Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) from 2006 to 2015. She was professor of aesthetics and theory at the École des arts visuels et médiatiques at UQAM from 1989 to 2006 where she led the Groupe de recherche en arts médiatiques (GRAM). From 2001 to 2006, she led the Centre interuniversitaire des arts médiatiques, Hexagram-CIAM. Ms. Poissant is a member of The Royal Society of Canada and sits on the board of directors of Savoir. média, Synapse C, and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture. She is the author of numerous books and articles in the field of media arts published in various journals in Canada, France, Brazil and the United States. She has also been a member of the board of the Fondation de l’UQAM and the Agora de la danse. Ms. Poissant holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Université de Montréal.