Communications and
Leadership Award

Nicole Beaudoin,
Communications and
Leadership Honoree

Recognized in 2006 as one of Canada’s 100 most powerful women by Toronto’s Women’s Executive Network, Nicole Beaudoin excels in both business and human relationships. She is a respected leader, an enthusiastic advocate of networking and a popular speaker, making
a remarkable contribution to the cause of women’s advancement in Quebec and throughout the world.

As President and CEO of two networks devoted to the success of businesswomen (the Quebec Business Women’s Network and the Women Entrepreneurial Center of Quebec), she maintains links with many women’s groups in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa and organizes trade missions, in particular to Africa.

Ms. Beaudoin holds a BA from the Université de Montréal and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and an MBA from HEC Montréal. She is also a Fellow of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec.

An experienced manager and a pioneer in many areas, she has held numerous senior management positions, including Vice-President, Finance and Administration with VIA Rail Canada and General Manager, Eastern Manufacturing Division with Scott Paper Limited.

In 1993 she purchased the Quebec Business Women’s Network, the only province-wide privately owned network for businesswomen. The Network, founded in 1981, is devoted to helping
its members succeed and prosper, while encouraging emerging women entrepreneurs.

In 2004, she launched the Women Entrepreneurial Center of Quebec, the only one-stop centre for Quebec female entrepreneurs. Since 2001, the awards competition and gala she established has been celebrating excellence among Quebec businesswomen.

Ms. Beaudoin is thoroughly committed to her roles in associations and in social and cultural life, and has been a board member of numerous organizations, ranging from the HEC Montréal graduates’ association to the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, the Fondation de l’entrepreneurship, the Montreal YWCA Foundation and the Société d’investissement jeunesse. She is Honorary Chair of the Quebec section of the Mother Daughter Walk and of the
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, and Treasurer of the major 2006-2011 fundraising campaign for the Théâtre du Rideau Vert.

Honoured at the occasion of the 100th  anniversary of  HEC - Montréal, she received an honorary doctorate from the  Université de Montréal (2007), she is also an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec (2006), a Distinguished Graduate of the Université de Montréal (2003), a YWCA Woman of Distinction (2001) and Distinguished HEC Montréal MBA (1991). In addition, she was presented with the 1999 Leadership Award from The Business Women’s Network, an umbrella group of 2,300 women’s organizations in NAFTA member countries.