Laurent Beaudoin

Education and Career

After earning a BA at Nova Scotia's Collège Sainte-Anne, Laurent Beaudoin became a chartered accountant, and graduated with a Master of Commerce from the Université de Sherbrooke. It was there that he would meet his future wife, Claire, daughter of Joseph-Armand Bombardier. Joseph-Armand Bombardier was the inventor of tracked vehicles for transport on snowy terrain. (See Snowmobiles in Canada.)Laurent Beaudoin began his career in Quebec in 1961 in the accounting firm of Beaudoin & Blais, later Beaudoin, Morin, Dufresne & Associés, where he built up a practice over a two-year period. He joined Auto-Neige Bombardier in 1963 as comptroller, became General Manager the following year, and President in 1966 (see Bombardier Inc.). A trail blazer, he saw a future in snowmobiling as a sport, and as of 1967 reoriented the company.

In 1974, he initiated diversification in rail passenger transport thanks to a Montreal metro contract and subsequent contracts in New York and for the tunnel under the English Channel. In 1986, he oversaw Bombardier’s entry into aeronautics through acquisitions: Canadair in Montreal; Learjet in the United States; De Havilland in Ontario; and Shorts in Northern Ireland. Bombardier became the third manufacturer of civil aircraft after Boeing and Airbus and increased the launching of regional and more comfortable business aircraft in a market that was undergoing massive changes.

In 2003, Beaudoin became chairman of the Board for Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. Later in 2008, he ceded his role as president of Bombardier but remained on the board of directors. After 55 years with Bombardier, he retired from the board of directors in 2018.

Honours and Awards

During his career, Laurent Beaudoin received numerous national and international prizes as well as honorary doctorates. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1973 and promoted to Companion in 1988. In 1990 he was designated an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec. In April 1992, the International Chamber of Commerce gave him the title of International Businessman of the Year for Canada, and in October, the World Trade Institute inducted him into the World Trade Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 1997 and Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame in 1999. Laurent Beaudoin also received the Lifetime Achievement Award by Ernst & Young in 2000 and the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation in 2006.