MONTREAL – The Logistics and Transportation Metropolitan Cluster of Montreal, CargoM, is marking the retirement of Ms. Sylvie Vachon, the Chair of its Board of Directors and a founding member. At its last meeting, the Board of Directors elected Ms. Madeleine Paquin, President and CEO of Logistec Corporation, as its new Chair.
Ms. Vachon successfully united the transportation and logistics sector around common projects to strengthen our supply chain. It is worthwhile to remember that the founding of CargoM called for a great deal of work and involvement. Following the creation of industry clusters by the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC), the drive to bring together players in the transportation and logistics sector took shape. The first steps, initiated by Ms. Vachon and her team, included creating a working committee and incorporating the Cluster in 2012. The next step was a consultation process by means of surveys and forums that made it possible to establish a strategic diagnosis, identifying the strengths, opportunities, challenges and issues of the industry. Since Greater Montreal has many assets, including a port, an airport and well-developed rail and road infrastructures, establishing a cluster for this sector was a natural fit. To roll out this innovative approach, we had to reach a consensus on the main actions to be taken, and only a figure with leadership, such as Ms. Vachon, could rally the commitment of private companies, associations, sectoral committees and university and educational centres.
“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Ms. Vachon for spearheading the CargoM initiative. Under her leadership, we pulled together a somewhat fragmented industry to work on developing a more competitive, intelligent and service-oriented supply chain. This fostered innovation and the development of a collaborative approach, providing us with the agility and resilience we need to survive in today’s world. We can unequivocally state that we have created tremendous value with Mathieu and his team through CargoM as we face complex logistical challenges. We are now a model of success, renowned across Canada and even in Europe. In my opinion, CargoM perfectly illustrates the culmination of a vision, resulting in coherent projects that make concrete measures possible,” said Madeleine Paquin, President and CEO of Logistec Corporation and Chair of the Board of Directors of CargoM.
“When CargoM was being set up, Ms. Vachon ensured the participation of supply chain partners such as Canadian National, Logistec Corporation and Groupe Robert. Since then, the cluster has seen its activities and the scope of its actions expand, its workforce double and the volunteer involvement of its committee members steadily increase. This rapid growth through structured achievements has enabled us to acquire solid expertise, ever-growing recognition from our sector and our elected officials, and the confidence of our funders who have supported us financially since our inception. We owe the accelerated development of CargoM to the unifying governance and unfailing support of our outgoing chair, Sylvie Vachon,” said Mathieu Charbonneau, Executive Director of CargoM.
The Board of Directors is pleased to announce the following appointments: Mr. Michael Grier, Vice-President, Global Logistics, Dorel Industries Inc. takes the helm as Vice-Chair and Mr. Darren Reynolds, Director, Business Development, Sales and Marketing, Canadian National, is now Treasurer. In closing, we congratulate Ms. Madeleine Paquin and her colleagues in their new roles.
About CargoM
Created in 2012, CargoM (www.cargo-montreal.ca – @CargoMtl) brings together the players in Greater Montreal’slogistics and freight transport industry, educational institutions, research centres and sector associations around shared objectives in order to increase cohesiveness, competitiveness, growth and reach. The logistics and transportation industry in Greater Montreal represents 120,000 transportation and warehousing jobs, 6,000 businesses and over $4.3 billion in economic benefits for Greater Montreal.
CargoM’s activities receive financial support from the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC), the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation (MAMH), the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation (MEI) and all its members.
SOURCE Metropolitan Cluster of logistics and transportation in Montreal
