News > 2008 > HEC Montréal Signs a Major Executive Training Agreement with the Electricity Industry in Brazil

HEC Montréal Signs a Major Executive Training Agreement with the Electricity Industry in Brazil

November 3, 2008

HEC Montréal has just signed a long-term partnership agreement with the COGE Foundation (FUNCOGE), an umbrella group whose 63 member companies represent over 90% of all electricity generated, transmitted and distributed in Brazil. The agreement, concerning training activities to be offered by the School for executives and managers over a five-year period, was signed during a HEC Montréal mission to São Paulo in mid-October.

The COGE Foundation, created in 1998, is a non-profit organization involved in various research, training, consultation and institutional development activities, as part of which it enters into agreements with international partners.

“In Brazil, as in Quebec, hydroelectricity is the cornerstone of energy production,” explains Claude Desranleau, Regional Director with International Projects. “The member companies of the Foundation intend to promote entrepreneurial management in this sector, so as to encourage its vitality and help it face new challenges. The School’s international reputation and its more than 25 years of experience in offering executive training in the energy sector around the world opened the door to this agreement. I should also mention the key role played by  , Professor of Information Technology and Pedagogical Director – Brazil, in the rapid development of training and research activities with a number of Brazilian organizations.”

The discussions, begun in late 2006, led to a visit to HEC Montréal by senior representatives of member companies of the Foundation, which together represented 75% of the electricity industry in Brazil. The study tour last May involved seminars and a tour of Hydro-Québec and the Quebec energy board (Régie de l'énergie). The Foundation representatives were clearly interested by what they saw, and said they would like HEC Montréal professors to come to Brazil to offer seminars.

During this recent mission, in mid-October, two seminars led by Paul Lanoie and Pierre-Olivier Pineau, professors of Economics and of Management Sciences, respectively, were given for some twenty senior managers in charge of training at different firms. Claude Desranleau and Marlei Pozzebon, who is currently on a sabbatical year in Brazil, were also present.

The agreement between the Foundation and HEC Montréal was signed by José Affonso da Silva Jardim, President of FUNCOGE, and Paul Lanoie, in his capacity as the School’s Assistant Director – Academic Affairs and Strategic Planning.

The exact training and development programs to be offered under this agreement will be decided on in the coming months. Discussions are now underway to organize a study trip to Montreal for executives and senior managers, on the theme of managing sustainable development, with seminars and company visits. The idea of a complete training program in electricity sector management, for high-potential middle managers, will also be examined.

Brazil thus becomes the seventh country where the School will be offering its training programs in energy sector management, after China, Mexico, Algeria, Tunisia, Malaysia and Singapore. And that is not to mention all its graduates in this discipline who came from many other countries to study in Montreal.