Consumer >> CEO Interviews >> January 17, 2005
CLAUDE LESSARD is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of
Cossette Communication Group Inc., an organization he joined the year of
its founding in 1972. Under the guidance of Mr. Lessard and a handful of
colleagues, the small Qubec City graphic design firm recruited other
talented, passionate creatives and grew rapidly to become Canada's
largest advertising and communications organization. After going public
in 1999, Cossette more recently acquired offices in New York and London,
thus achieving international status. Today, with more than 30 years of
experience in his field and at Cossette, Mr. Lessard is an acknowledged
communications industry leader. Mr. Lessard is the driving force behind
Cossette's vision, having not only promoted its integrated approach to
communications from the very start, but also presided over the
implementation of a structure that has facilitated, and continues to
facilitate the Group's rapid geographic expansion. L'Actualit magazine
includes Mr. Lessard among Qubec's new generation of builders in the
field of business. He has been widely recognized in the industry for his
innovative, even non-conformist, management philosophy, based on an
integrated approach to communications and three basic values ' respect,
loyalty and openness. These acknowledgements reflect the esteem that Mr.
Lessard inspires, not only in Canada but also internationally, where he
is currently expanding his firm in order to realize his dream to make
Cossette 'a communications and marketing multinational'. Mr. Lessard's
professional achievements have been acknowledged with numerous awards
and honors, among them the Prix Herms de carrire (1984) from
Universit Laval's Facult des sciences de l'administration and the
Dimensions award (1987) from the Corporation professionnelle des
administrateurs agrs du Qubec. In 1993, he received the Spiess Award
from the Television Bureau of Canada for 'his continuous leadership in
the Canadian advertising industry', and a year later a Gold Medal from
the Association of Canadian Advertising. In 1998, the Association des
diplms de l'Universit Laval honored him with its Gloire de l'Escolle
medal. In October 2001, he was honoured with both the Grand Prix de
l'Entrepreneur provincial (media and entertainment category) and the
Grand Prix de l'Entrepreneur national (service excellence category) from
Ernst & Young. Finally, in 2002, he received an honorary doctorate in
Management Science from Universit Laval. Mr. Lessard, who holds a
Bachelor's degree in Administration (with a specialization in Marketing
and Finance) from Universit Laval, is a very active member of the
business community. He sits on the Boards of Directors of a number of
companies and organizations, including Ronald McDonald Children's
Charities of Canada, the Institut de cardiologie de Qubec, and
Universit Laval's Facult des sciences de l'administration. Profile
picture of the things you are doing at the present time.
Mr. Lessard: We started the business in 1972, so we have been
