Quebec Auditor General Renaud Lachance named a Distinguished Alumnus
October 28, 2011
Today, during the annual alumni reunion, Quebec Auditor General Renaud Lachance (BBA 1982) was named a Distinguished Alumnus, an honour granted jointly by the School and the HEC Montréal alumni network (Réseau HEC Montréal). This distinction comes as recognition of his exceptional professional career as a professor and manager at HEC Montréal for over 20 years and as Quebec’s Auditor General since 2004.
As part of the tribute to Mr. Lachance, three people spoke fondly of their friendship and respect for him: Professor Daniel Racette, a friend and former colleague, Jean Campeau, who served as President and CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec for 10 years and, over the course of his political career, as Minister of Financ
e, Minister of Revenue and Minister of Transport, and Sylvain Simard, MNA for Richelieu, who attended the event in his capacity as Chair of the Committee on Public Administration.
As close observers of different parts of Mr. Lachance’s career, the three all agreed on his great qualities: his discipline, professionalism, ethics, intellectual curiosity, analytical skills and ability to rally large teams. They also testified to the respect accorded him by MNAs, the media and the public in his role as Auditor General. Sylvain Simard said that he believed that Renaud Lachance would go down in history, for the man was “so perfectly matched to the institution.”
At HEC Montréal, Mr. Lachance taught accounting, taxation and economics at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He helped create and directed the Specialized Graduate Diploma in Taxation, and later the Master of Laws, taxation option, offered jointly with the Université de Montréal Faculty of Law. During a period of unpaid leave, in 1995-1996, he acted as an advisor to the Quebec Ministère des Finances. He directed the BBA program in the early 2000s, at which time he introduced a program of company internships. He also established the preparatory year for the BBA, with the result that the number of international students in the program doubled. At the time of his appointment as Auditor General in August 2004, he was Director of Executive and Continuing Education at the School.
Mr. Lachance’s interest in and many connections within the business and taxation communities have led him to sit on many committees. He has sat on the committee on public policy of the Association des économistes québécois, chaired the committee on public finances of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec, and was a guest expert for the commission on tax policy and the funding of public services. He also sat on the Quebec Commission on Fiscal Imbalance and on the committee on the pertinence and feasibility of a universal drug insurance scheme in Quebec, and was a Governor of the Canadian Tax Foundation. In 2010, the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec awarded him its most prestigious title, making him a Fellow of the Order.
Renaud Lachance holds a Master’s in Tax Policy from the Université de Sherbrooke and a Master’s in Economics from the London School of Economics, as well as a BBA from HEC Montréal.