| Isabelle Hudon | |
| Term Start1: | August 1, 2021 |
| Term1: | President an CEO, Business Development Bank of Canada |
Isabelle Hudon (born 1967) is a Canadian businesswoman and diplomat. After a long tenure as President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, she took the helm of Montreal-based Marketel in the fall of 2008. In August 2010, she was appointed President of Sun Life Financial.[1] in Quebec. From 2017-2021, she served as Canadian Ambassador to France and Monaco. She was the first female Canadian Ambassador to France.[2]
In August 2021, she becomes the first woman to hold the position of President and CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada[3] .
Isabelle Hudon began her professional career in several federal political offices, including the office of the Minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Isabelle Hudon's mother was a mathematics teacher and her father, Jean-Guy Hudon, the former mayor of Beauharnois. Hudon worked seven years with her father who was a member of the House of Commons of Canada. In 1990, she became the press attaché of Monique Landry. In 1993, she became the assistant of the former Prime Minister's wife Mila Mulroney (Hudon's husband Paul Smith was the assistant of Brian Mulroney). Her husband moved to Fontaineblau to study at the INSEAD and she followed him there.[4]
She worked in various federal political offices, including in the office of the Minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency. She then held strategic positions in the private sector at Bell Global Solutions, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Bombardier Aerospace and BCE Media.
Isabelle Hudon has also sat on the boards of Hydro-Québec, Groupe Marcelle, Holt Renfrew and the Canada Council for the Arts, and is co-founder of L'effet A.
Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitain Montreal
She joined the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal in 2002 and became Executive Vice-President in 2004. She became President and CEO of the Board in 2005 following the departure of Benoit Labonté. She then sat on several boards of directors, became an influential woman and was a regular guest on many Montreal forums.
In 2005, she was named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40, and in 2006 was recognized as one of Canada's 100 most influential women by Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100. In October 2008, she made the surprise announcement that she was leaving the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal to head up the Montreal firm Marketel, where she spent 18 months.
Sun Life Financial
She was appointed President of Sun Life Financial Quebec in August 2010. During her tenure, she has helped restore the reputation of the insurance and financial services company in Quebec, tarnished since the move of its head office from Montreal to Toronto in 1978. To achieve this, she drew on her extensive knowledge of the Quebec business community and her extensive network. Under her leadership, the insurer experienced impressive growth in all business lines in Quebec and became a more prominent brand within that marketplace.[5]
Embassy of Canada to France
On September 29, 2017, she was appointed as Canadian Ambassador to France and Monaco by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.[6] She became the first woman to hold this position[7] . She took office on November 6, 2017. In this role, she played a key role in strengthening ties between Canada and France, particularly in the areas of economic, cultural and feminist diplomacy. In June 2018, Hudon served as co-chair of the Gender Equality Advisory Council at the G7 summit meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec.[8]
On October 29, 2019, following the 2019 Canadian federal election, in which the Liberal Party lost seats in Quebec, the Prime Minister's Office announced that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had hired Hudon as an adviser. [9] [10]
She stepped down from her role of Ambassador on July 30, 2021.
Business Development Bank of Canada
Hudon became the first woman President and CEO of Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) on August 10th 2021.[11] Since taking office, she has been committed to emphasizing the development role of BDC in the organization's activities and priorities. Driven by the desire to increase the organization's contribution to the country's economic development through its business owners, she is overseeing the accelerated implementation of multiple initiatives throughout the organization. These measures are designed to enable BDC to have an even greater impact and contribute to fair, inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Since she took office, BDC has seen the number of business owners it supports reach an all-time high, rising from 72,000 in 2021[12] to 100,000 in 2023. While maintaining a solid financial performance, the organization has also significantly strengthened its support for greater diversity, equity and inclusion in the Canadian economy.