News > 2013 > Monique F. Leroux Receives an Honorary Doctorate

Monique F. Leroux Receives an Honorary Doctorate

May 6, 2013

Monique_LerouxConvocation ceremonies were held on May 5, at Place des Arts, for 964 HEC Montréal BBA graduates (100 of them in the trilingual stream). At that time the Université de Montréal, at the recommendation of HEC Montréal, conferred an honorary doctorate on Monique F. Leroux, President and CEO of Mouvement Desjardins, to recognize her exceptional contribution to the financial industry in Quebec and her community involvement.

Ms. Leroux is the first woman to head a financial institution in Canada. She is at the helm of a co-operative managing $200 billion in assets, with 5,300 elected directors and close to 45,000 employees, making Desjardins one of the 20 largest employers in Canada. Desjardins has enjoyed sustained growth under her leadership and her forward-looking vision focused on education, co-operation and creating sustainable prosperity.

“Monique Leroux is an exceptional model for our students, alumni and staff at HEC Montréal, and indeed for the entire university community,” explains HEC Montréal Director Michel Patry. “She is living proof that by combining skill, commitment, vision and integrity it is possible to achieve great things – for oneself, for those around us and, above all, for society as a whole.”

In addition to being a member of the HEC Montréal board of directors from 2002 to 2009, Ms. Leroux has served on committees, foundations and boards of directors of many leading Quebec companies and institutions, both public and private, all of them jewels in the crown of Quebec society: Fiera Capital, Rona, the Société des alcools du Québec, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Les Grands ballets canadiens, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Montreal Heart Institute.

Ms. Leroux is a Member of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, a Chevalier of the Ordre de la Pléiade, and a recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Award and the Centre Jacques Cartier Medal. She holds honorary degrees from several universities. She is a Fellow of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec (FCPA, FCA), and has also served as President of the Ordre and Governor of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

She is highly involved in the community, and gives generously of her time to a host of non-profit organizations. In particular, she is President of the Desjardins Foundation and the 2013 Canada Summer Games, in Sherbrooke.