Investissement Québec flatly refuses to say how much the process which led to the hiring of Bicha Ngo as new CEO cost it last year.
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In response to a request for access to information from Newspaperthe state-owned company limited itself to indicating that two private firms offered it their services in order to solicit external candidates for the position.
Investissement Québec (IQ) finally accepted the offer from the Montreal office of the Swiss multinational Egon Zehnder.
The financial arm of the State, however, did not want to reveal the value of the contract awarded to the latter. To justify his position, he notably argued that such disclosure “would likely hinder a negotiation with a view to concluding a contract, cause a loss to a third party, provide an appreciable advantage to another person […]”.
Requested by The newspaperIQ’s communications department hasn’t been much more transparent.
- Listen to the interview with Dominique Cambron-Goulet, investigative journalist at Journal de Montréal on the microphone of Alexandre Dubé via QUB radio :
“Objective process”
“The board of directors of Investissement Québec had, as with any state corporation, the obligation to follow an objective process which ensures that we retain the best possible candidate in order to fill the most important position in our organization,” wrote a spokesperson, Catherine Salvail, in an email.
“Several external applications, in addition to that of Mme Ngo, were received and analyzed. It is finally that of Mme Ngo who stood out,” she added.
Bicha Ngo was appointed head of IQ in December. She took office on 1er FEBRUARY.
Mme Ngo succeeded Guy LeBlanc, a friend of Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon who had been CEO of IQ since April 2019. Mr. LeBlanc’s mandate had expired in April 2023.
The former CEO of Investissement Québec, Guy LeBlanc, the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, and the new CEO of IQ, Bicha Ngo, during a virtual press conference in December 2023.
Screenshot
Employed by IQ since November 2019, Mme Ngo held the position of vice-president of private placements. She previously worked for Domtar, CIBC and Merrill Lynch.
Last year, Bicha Ngo earned $1.15 million while IQ posted a record net loss of more than $224 million.