The board of Aéro Montréal, Greater
Montréal's aerospace cluster, is pleased to announce the appointment of
Marc Parent, Group President, Simulation Products and Military Training &
Services at CAE, as chairman of the board of directors of Aéro Montréal.
In this position, Parent will be responsible for the strategic
direction of the Québec aerospace sector think tank, for strengthening
mobilization around common objectives and for ensuring the coherence of the
actions it takes to accelerate and optimize the performance, growth and
expansion of Greater Montréal's aerospace cluster.
"I am proud to be joining the Greater Montréal aerospace cluster, an
initiative that brings together all the players in our industrial sector to
enable us to respond more effectively and quickly to the strategic issues
facing us," said Parent.
"Aéro Montréal reflects the desire of all players in Québec's aerospace
sector to work together and is a development tool for our industry, one that
allows the various organizations in our sector to better seize new
opportunities."
Parent succeeds Jacques St-Laurent, until recently president of
Bell Helicopter Textron Canada. "On behalf of the board of directors of Aéro
Montréal, I would like to thank St-Laurent. He was elected chairman of the
board of directors of Aéro Montréal when the cluster was created in 2006 and
performed his duties with passion, constantly seeking consensus and concrete
results for the industry," said Parent.
Parent, who has nearly 25 years of experience in the aerospace
industry, began his career at Bombardier Aerospace where he held senior
positions of increasing responsibility in engineering, management, product
development and operations at Bombardier's facilities in Montréal, Toronto,
Wichita and Tucson in the United States. He joined CAE in February 2005 and as
Group President, Simulation Products and Military Training & Services, is
responsible for the design and manufacture of simulation products for the
civil and military markets as well as military training businesses.
Parent is vice-chairman of the board of directors of the Aerospace
Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) and a member of the board of directors
of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI). He is
a graduate in mechanical engineering from Montréal's École Polytechnique and
of the Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. In 1999, he was
honoured as one of "Canada's Top 40 under 40" leaders and received an
Aerospace Engineering Leadership Award from the Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE) in 2005.
Greater Montréal is one of world's leading aerospace centres, along with
Seattle and Toulouse.
The Québec aerospace industry, present on five continents, includes four
aerospace prime contrators - Bell Helicopter Textron Canada, Bombardier
Aerospace, CAE and Pratt & Whitney Canada - and 15 world-class equipment
integrators supported by a large network of sub-contractors and suppliers of
specialized products.
Today, the Québec aerospace industry has sales of more than $12 billion,
accounting for about 60 per cent of Canada's total aerospace production. It
contributes significantly to the trade balance since more than 80% of its
sales are exported. It ranks third among Québec industries and first in terms
of manufacturing exports. The Québec aerospace sector is the 5th largest in
the world in terms of sales behind the United States, the United Kingdom,
France and Germany
About Aéro Montréal
Aéro Montréal, Greater Montréal's aerospace cluster, is a think tank that
brings together all the major decision makers in the region's aerospace
sector, including companies, educational and research institutions,
associations and unions.
Aéro Montréal's mission is to mobilize industry players around common
goals and focused actions to increase cohesion and optimize
competitiveness.
By fostering the growth and expansion of Greater Montréal's aerospace
cluster,
it intends to make this industry an increasingly important source of
wealth
creation for the Montréal region, Québec and Canada.
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