François Beauchesne (EMBA McGill-HEC Montréal 2013): New President of NUDURA

François Beauchesne, a 2013 McGill-HEC Montréal Executive MBA alumnus, was recently promoted from Vice President of Operations and Technology to President of NUDURA, a global supplier of insulated formwork.

In his new role, François will be responsible for strategic leadership and management of the company. With various previous roles in business development and manufacturing, he brings more than 30 years of experience in the expanded polystyrene industry, as well as more than 20 years in the insulated formwork industry.

“I look forward to helping NUDURA to reach the next level of growth and leading the team to new successes,” said François.

When asked about the role of the McGill-HEC Montréal EMBA in his new role, François answered:

“The EMBA was the academic element that I lacked to unblock the process of evaluating our business alternatives.  What I learned during the program contributed significantly to the decision, at my previous company, to start the sales process which included the NUDURA division. My business knowledge combined with the tools I acquired in the EMBA also influenced the buyer to demand that I be part of the transaction in order to ensure the sustainability of the business.

Although François graduated from the McGill-HEC Montréal EMBA in 2013, he believes that the EMBA is still very relevant to him today:

“I use my knowledge developed at EMBA on a daily basis! My ability to better understand the financial aspects and the concepts of Value Creation allow me to “challenge” the sales team and the marketing group. On the manufacturing side, identifying and measuring relevant KPIs are fundamental to how we operate.  The directors of the company that acquired NUDURA explained that their decision to offer me the role of president in order to implement the next growth phases was largely based on my managerial style, which comes from the principles taught in EMBA program!”

Finally, François even highlighted another important impact of the program in his career:

“One of the positive aspects of the McGill – HEC EMBA is the fact that it is a bilingual program. In the past, my daily life was mainly in French, but now that we have been acquired by an American public company, I almost 80% of my work is in English! What an advantage to develop a familiarity with the relevant English vocabulary! ”