Gaétan Desroches joined La Coop fédérée in 1983 and was recently appointed as the co-operative’s CEO.
For Gaétan Desroches, newly appointed CEO of La Coop fédérée, Quebec's leading agri-food organization, looking back is as important as looking ahead.
He knows that his vision for the future of the 92-year-old co-op must draw on the lessons and experience of leaders in the nine decades that came before him. They provide a solid foundation to build on.
Established in the 1920s when two-thirds of Quebecers participated in some form of agriculture, La Coop was the obvious answer to their need for supplies and product processing. It filled the need then and has continued to do so ever since, growing into a formidable business organization.
Its primary operations today are in crop production, animal feed, hardware and machinery, and energy. La Coop is also involved in meat processing with its subsidiary Olymel, the largest pork and poultry processor in Canada.
At the end of 2013, the La Coop fédérée network had 97 affiliated co-operatives throughout Quebec, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan that employed almost 16,000 people. La Coop's growth – particularly over the past eight years – has been strong, but now demands discipline. While record sales of $5.2 billion were achieved in the financial year ended October 2013 – up 5 per cent on 2012 – earnings were down by 71 per cent and no dividends were paid compared to $32.2 million in 2012.
Mr. Desroches knows what he needs to do and sees consolidation of operations in all La Coop's divisions as a top priority.
"We must capture the synergies within our system and ensure that each group is achieving maximum return on investment," he says.
The agriculture group in particular, he believes, must adapt to meet the changing needs of farmers and the farming sector as a whole.
"Farms are getting bigger and bigger, and technology is playing an increasingly important part in farming operations. We need to adapt our own operations to meet that challenge." Before taking over as CEO last month from Claude Lafleur, Mr. Desroches was chief operating officer for La Coop fédérée. His career within La Coop's network spans more than 30 years and has, he says, given him an intimate knowledge of the organization and its issues.
In announcing the appointment, La Coop fédérée president Denis Richard said the organization was convinced that Mr. Desroches' experience and vision would be two major strengths to help La Coop to successfully meet the challenges ahead. Mr. Desroches has an Agricultural Sciences degree from Université Laval and an MBA from the Université de Sherbrooke. After serving in various positions in La Coop's network from 1983, he was appointed COO in 2006.
