Minister Ng announces appointments to BDC Board of Directors

July 7, 2023 – Ottawa, Ontario

The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is the nation’s leading bank for Canadian entrepreneurs. It provides access to financing, as well as advisory services, to help Canadian businesses grow and succeed.

Today, The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development and Minister responsible for the BDC, announced the appointment of Marie-Soleil Lacoursiere and Stéphane Therrien, and the reappointment of Suzanne Trottier, to the BDC’s Board of Directors, effective June 22, 2023.

“These candidates have a wealth of business experience from which BDC will benefit,” said Minister Ng. “Their experience will be invaluable to BDC as it continues to play a vital role in delivering critical advisory and financial supports to Canadian entrepreneurs. These supports position small business owners to achieve sustainable and inclusive long-term growth, help with the transition to net zero, and adopt digital technologies to compete now and into the future.”

Ms. Lacoursiere is a northerner and an accomplished businesswoman with a successful career in the private sector, predominantly in the mining, IT and energy sectors. She is a third-generation entrepreneur with over 15 years of management experience, 10 of which have been in Canada’s north. She is currently a partner in Morin’s Fisheries, an innovative commercial fishery located on Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. Ms. Lacoursiere also has significant experience serving on boards of directors for the Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation, the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines, Dene Fur Clouds, and Fort McPherson Tent and Canvas, among others.

Mr. Therrien is a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience at senior levels. Most recently, he acted as interim CEO while in the role of Executive Vice President, Personal & Commercial Banking, at Laurentian Bank of Canada after serving in other senior management positions beginning in 2012. Previously, a 20-year career at GE Capital saw Mr. Therrien rise to become Chief Commercial Officer reporting to the CEO.

Ms. Trottier, a BDC board member since 2019, has considerable senior management experience. She is currently the President of First Nations Bank of Canada Trust. Previously, she held a number of positions at Ernst & Young, most recently as Vice-President in its Corporate Finance group, and subsequently, she was the Director of Capacity Development and Intervention at the First Nations Financial Management Board.

These appointments are the result of an open, transparent and merit-based selection process. These three appointees will help grow and expand the success of the BDC even further with their expertise.