Louis Chênevert is an accomplished executive who has spent his career leading the world’s most successful manufacturing companies. A Montréal native, he started his career with General Motors, working at its Sainte-Thérèse factory in the area. He joined aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in 1993 and eventually served as president from 1999-2006, a period of growth and product innovation.
At Pratt’s parent company, United Technologies Corporation (UTC), Mr. Chênevert served as COO, president, and a director before being named CEO in 2008 and Chairman in 2010. By the time he retired in December 2014, the multinational corporation had grown to revenues approaching $70 billion and a market cap of $105 billion.
Before all these accomplishments, however, Louis Chênevert studied at HEC Montréal, earning a bachelor’s degree in production management. The university later bestowed an honorary doctorate on him in 2010, in recognition of his successful business career and commitment to his alma mater. He is one of the school’s most prominent graduates. Over the decades, Mr. Chênevert has remained a dedicated supporter of HEC Montréal, contributing his time, leadership, and resources to advance the university’s mission.
About HEC Montréal
HEC Montréal—the Ecole des hautes études commerciales de Montréal—is the graduate business school of the Universite de Montréal. One of the top business schools in Canada and the foremost in Quebec, HEC Montréal was established in 1907 as the country’s first business school. It offers undergraduate, MBA and other master’s degrees, PhD, and executive education programs in French as well as English. Uniquely, the school holds three international business accreditations: AACSB, EQUIS, and AMBA. Fewer than 1 percent of all business schools can claim this distinction.
International Advisory Board
Mr. Chênevert serves as chairman of the HEC Montréal International Advisory Board, which includes executives from around the world who help to steer the school’s globalization strategy and strengthen its international network. HEC Montréal draws students not only from across Canada, but from around the world. It also maintains 198 partner institutions on five continents, including Tsinghua University in China, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), IAE France, and more.
Mr. Chênevert is joined on the board by other business leaders such as Alain Batty, Hélène Desmarais, Paul Desmarais, Jr., Berthe Latreille, Michel Patry, Thierry Vandal, and Charles Sirois.
Friends of HEC Montréal
Mr. Chênevert is also chairman and a founding director of the Friends of HEC Montréal, an organization based in the United States that encourages US financial support for the school, especially among US-based alumni in the business world. The Friends work to make it easier to provide cross-border tax-deductible donations and set up corporate gift-matching programs to benefit the school.
In 2023, the Friends of HEC Montréal helped the school’s foundation amass over $14 million in contributions from thousands of alumni and donors. Of that total, $2.7 million went to scholarships for students, $9.5 million was allocated as management research funding, and $2.1 million was invested in the Hélène Desmarais building project.
EMBA Class Patron
In 2014, Mr. Chênevert was invited to serve as class patron of the McGill-HEC Montréal executive MBA class. The program extended this honor to a leading business executive every year, inviting them to share their knowledge and experiences with the cohort.
A speech he gave at the orientation for the class shared some of the hallmarks of his leadership style:
· Be willing to take risks.
· Be willing to take on jobs others shy away from.
· Never neglect problems. Take action to solve them when they arise.
· Talk to the front lines. These workers know the real problems and have good ideas for solutions.
· Don’t be afraid to hire people smarter than you.
· Motivate and inspire employees by being inspired and motivated yourself.
Support for a Modern New Campus
The Hélène Desmarais building project began in 2022 and involved the construction of a new HEC Montréal facility in the center of Montréal’s business district. To support the project, Mr. Chênevert and his family donated $500,000 through the Chênevert Family Foundation, noting that the new, modern building would provide a one-of-kind hub for people from all backgrounds to come together, learn, and find their passions—just as Mr. Chênevert did himself when he was a student.
In recognition of the donation, the school named one of the building’s large auditoriums the Louis R. Chênevert Auditorium.
Michel Patry, president and CEO of the HEC Montréal Foundation, acknowledged the donation, saying, “Mr. Chênevert is a valuable ally for HEC Montréal and has been for a long time. Through this generous donation by way of his foundation, he is showing us once again how much he believes in us. I am sincerely grateful to him for his support, which will help provide a unique, and uniquely compelling, platform for sharing ideas and experiences.”
The Hélène Desmarais building is named after another esteemed graduate of HEC Montréal, who serves as chair of the HEC Montréal Board of Directors and provided a generous donation jointly with Paul Desmarais.
The building was inaugurated in September 2023, with the event celebrated in person by Quebec Premier François Legault, Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, and nearly 300 other dignitaries, stakeholders, donors, and Montréal business leaders.
