A venerable institution that has guided some 3,000 entrepreneurs each year since 1980, the Mentoring Network has a new president at the head of its board of directors since Thursday: the CEO and co-founder of Hopper, Frédéric Lalonde.
Mr. Lalonde, who has been with the organization since 2019, takes over from businessman Charles Sirois, who has held this position for nine years. “The pandemic was two years when mentoring was more difficult in person,” says Mr. Lalonde in an interview. I got to know the Mentoring Network through the good years and the tough ones, I was completely knocked down by the quality of the organization and its individuals. »
Himself at the head of a prosperous Montreal company, valued at more than 5 billion and active in the fields of travel and financial technologies, the new president wants to better “connect” the Mentoring Network with the world of techno. Its guideline is “the obsession with the customer”, in this case entrepreneurs supported by volunteer mentors who guide them in the growth of their project.
We are doing it, and it started in 2019, this obsession with what the entrepreneur needs, how we measure progress. We have the opportunity to reinvent that.
Frédéric Lalonde, CEO and co-founder of Hopper
It also wishes to help raise awareness of the Mentoring Network, stemming from the Fondation de l’entrepreneurship created in 1980, which counts on the support of the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy, the Banque Nationale, Desjardins and a dozen leading partners.
“The Mentoring Network is truly unique in Quebec, I have no comparable,” said Mr. Lalonde. The fact that it is less well known shows that we have work to do. »
New director
“Frédéric will take over the presidency of an organization which has a clear mission, financial sustainability, and which can face the challenges of the future, declared in a press release the outgoing president, Charles Sirois. Frédéric is from a new generation, he will know how to take the Mentoring Network to the next stage of its development. »
For the first time, it is also a woman who has been appointed to the general management.
This is Karyne Alstream, who held the position of Assistant General Manager and Senior Director of Mentoring Programs. “We are at a crossroads and we have the talent and the resources to go even further,” Ms.me Alstream. I am proud that the Mentoring Network accompanies nearly 3,000 mentees per year, but we must do better, considering the existing pool of entrepreneurs and the economic and demographic issues facing Quebec. »