Bernard Poulin (businessman)

Bernard Poulin is a Canadian businessman. He is best known as the president and CEO of the construction and engineering company SM Group International,[1] which employs more than 1,200 professionals and is active in more than 39 countries, with US$11 billion in projects under management.

Poulin was arrested on September 19, 2017 with seven others as part of a police investigation on the sharing of municipal contracts in exchange for political contributions by engineering firms in Montreal between 2001 and 2009.[2][3][4] The Montreal Gazette says that Poulin is facing a combination of fraud, abuse of confidence, conspiracy to commit fraud and municipal corruption charges by Quebec's anti-corruption unit (UPAC).

On September 21, 2020, the Commissioner of Canada Elections charged Poulin with five counts of illegally soliciting monies from his employees to support partisan political activities and obscuring or attempting to obscure the source of the funds in contravention of the Canada Elections Act.[5]

Education

Bernard Poulin earned a bachelor's and master's degree in civil engineering from the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada. He is also a 1982 alumnus of Harvard Business School's Owner/President Management Program (OPM) and subsequently a member of the Harvard University Alumni Association, Montreal Chapter.[6] In October 2010, New Jersey City University presented Poulin with an honorary doctor of human letters degree.

Career

In 1972, Poulin founded a construction company, Labo SM Inc., and served as president and CEO for more than 40 years as it grew to be SM Group, a large international conglomerate.

He served on the Board of Overseers of Seton Hall University's John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations.[7] He was a member of the advisory committee of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Quebec.[8]

Poulin assisted New Jersey City University (NJCU) to form a partnership with the French company Dassault Systèmes S.A. and others to create opportunities for NJCU students; he was subsequently presented in 2010 with the university's Global Leadership Award.[9]

Poulin served as a member of the board of directors of the Fondation Hôpital Charles-LeMoyne,[10] and the Jewish General Hospital of Montreal.[11] In 2009, he co-chaired the first cyclo-challenge against cancer, which raised approximately US$6 million to benefit the Jewish General Hospital of Montreal, the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec (CHUQ) in Trois-Rivières.[12]

Poulin co-founded the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Sherbrooke. He served as a regional judge for the Entrepreneur of the Year award in Canada.[13]

Poulin headed up the 2010-11 fundraising campaign for the "Youth Quebec Mission 2010-2013" project.[14][15] He later became a major fund-raiser for the Union Montreal municipal political party.[16] He was appointed to the Charbonneau Commission by Marc Lalonde.[17] In 2011, Pouline was recorded discussing ways of financially influencing political appointments to the Port Authority.[18][19] On September 19, 2017 he was arrested by the UPAC for his alleged role in a municipal contract scheme.[17][20][21]

SM Group International

SM Group International, formerly known as Labo SM Inc., was established in 1972 and is based in Montreal, Canada. Poulin is the company's current president and CEO. SM Group International provides engineering, environmental, and project management services, and operates in about than 35 countries around the world.[22]

In Algeria, SM Group International operates as a subcontractor for the multinational Chinese CITIC Group, which won the contract to build one of the sections of the East-West Highway.[23] The firm opened an office in Saudi Arabia, and created a consortium with a local company, Gulf Construction.[24]

SM Group International received the Armatura Award for the commercial innovation category for its work on the Montreal Herald Building – W Hotel, the same award for excellence in steel construction for the Centre CDP Capital Glass Wall, and the Award of Excellence in Architecture from the Association of Consulting Engineers of Quebec for Headquarters for the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

See also
Main article: Index of Quebec-related articles

Notes and references
  1. Poulin, Bernard. "Group SM". Groupe SM Web Site. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  2. "Quebec corruption unit arrests 8 in alleged municipal contract scheme". Toronto Star, The Canadian Press, Sept. 19, 2017
  3. "City hall contracts: Names have changed but key industry players haven't". Kathleen Lévesque, Linda Gyulai, Thomas De Lorimier and Katia Gagnon / Montreal Gazette and La Presse. October 31, 2017
  4. "Abus de confiance: le jury a acquitté Tony Accurso". Le Devoir, Améli Pineda, with Jeanne Corriveau, and Guillaume Bourgault-Côté, 7 February 2018
  5. "Commissioner of Canada Elections Announces the Laying of Canada Elections Act Charges". Commissioner of Canada Elections. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  6. NJCU 80th Anniversary Gala Archived October 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, October 28, 2010.
  7. Board of Overseers, Seton Hall University.
  8. Conseil d?administration AICQ 2006-2007, AICQ, June 12.
  9. Bernard Poulin honoured by NJCU Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, October 2010.
  10. Conseil d'administration, Fondation Hôpital Charles-Lemoyne, 2008.
  11. CONSEIL D'ADMINISTRATION 2009/2010 Archived January 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Jewish General Hospital.
  12. Cyclistes recherchés pour participer au deuxième Cyclo-défi contre le cancer Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, Québec Hebdo, February 25, 2010.
  13. Judges Archived October 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Ernst & Young.
  14. CIME Musique, 2010.
  15. Lancement de la campagne "Mission jeunesse Québec 2010-2013" Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, November 15, 2010.
  16. "Quebec's construction enquiry scrutinizes meetings involving a federal senator". Medicine Hat News, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. November 29, 2012
  17. "Accusés d’avoir « arrangé » 160 M$ de contrats".. Journal de Montreal, Jean-Louis Fortin, March 19, 2017
  18. "Key Harper aide denies kickbacks over port authority job". Toronto Star - Toronto, Ont., Woods, Allan. Apr 22, 2011 p. A.7
  19. "UPAC arrests Frank Zampino, Mr. 3%, and others for fraud". CTV News Montreal, Kevin Gould, September 19, 2017
  20. "Frank Zampino among 8 arrested in alleged municipal contract scheme". Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  21. "L’UPAC arrête huit personnes pour des malversations à la Ville de Montréal". L'actualité, La Presse canadienne 19 septembre 2017
  22. The S.M. Group International Inc., Investing Businessweek, September 25, 2010.
  23. "S. M. I taps into lucretive Algerian market". PressReader - Montreal Gazette, 2006-08-23.
  24. À la jonction du génie et des sciences, LesAffaires.com, October 9th, 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.