Paul Desmarais Jr.

Paul is Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Power Corporation and Executive Co-Chairman of Power Financial. He is a director of a number of Power group companies in North America, including Great-West Life, London Life, Canada Life, Putnam Investments, Investors Group, and Mackenzie. In Europe, he is Chairman of Pargesa Holding and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, and a director of LafargeHolcim and SGS.

He is Chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Economic Forum of the Americas (Canada), a Trustee of the Brookings Institution and Co-Chairman of the International Advisory Board, a member of the Business Council (United States), and a member and past Chairman of the Business Council of Canada. Paul is also on the advisory boards of the Council on Foreign Relations and Harvard University. He is also active on a number of philanthropic advisory councils.

He is involved with the United Way of Greater Montréal; he founded the Major Donors Circle in 1997 and has been its Honorary Chairman for many years. He is also one of the Honorary Chairs of the Healing More Better campaign of the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation.

In 2014, he participated in a ski expedition to the North Magnetic Pole, organized by True Patriot Love, Canada’s largest charity supporting military families. He was Co-Chair of the “A Force of Nature” national campaign of Nature Conservancy Canada. The national campaign raised more than $500 million and protected 752,000 acres of at-risk natural habitat across Canada.

Paul obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University and an MBA from INSEAD. He has received the Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of International Business, the Insigne d’Officier de l’Ordre de la Couronne of Belgium, and the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in France. He is also an Officer of the Order of Canada, and an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec.