The Team at Toast

Brigadier-General (Ret’d) Richard Giguère joined the Canadian Forces in 1979. Between 1980 and 1991, he served with the three battalions of the Royal 22e Régiment (R22eR) in various command and staff positions from Lahr, Germany to the Oka crisis in 1990. He was transferred to the Royal Military College (RMC) in Saint-Jean in 1991 and to Paris in 1993. After graduating from the École de Guerre, he left France in 1995 to join the 1st Battalion R22eR as Deputy Commander of the unit. With this unit, he went to Haiti from March to October 1996 as a Blue Helmet on a United Nations mission. Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1997, he was posted to Kingston, Ontario to the Directorate of Land Force Strategic Concepts where he worked on the development of the Army of the Future. He returned to Quebec City in July 1998 and took command of the 2nd Battalion R22eR and the Citadel in Quebec City.

At the end of his command, he was sent to Université Laval to pursue doctoral studies in political science while holding a research position at the Institut québécois des hautes études internationales. He was transferred to the Royal Military College in Kingston in the summer of 2001 as a professor in the Department of Political Science and Economics. Transferred to Montreal in July 2002, he became Chief of Operations for the Secteur du Québec de la Force Terrestre. From January to July 2004, he deployed to Kabul as Chief of Staff of the Multinational Brigade. At the end of this mission, he was assigned to the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., as the Canadian Forces Military Attaché. Assigned to National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa in 2008, he served as Director of Current Operations within the Strategic Joint Staff. In September 2010, he deployed to Kandahar as Deputy Commander of the Joint Task Force in Afghanistan. Upon his return to Canada in August 2011, he assumed command of the Secteur du Québec de la Force terrestre et de la Force opérationnelle interarmées (Est), a military formation now known as 2nd Canadian Division. He was subsequently appointed Commandant of the Canadian Forces College in Toronto in July 2013. He retired from the Armed Forces in July 2015 after more than thirty-five years of service.

He immediately reoriented himself in the world of university education. An associate professor at the École nationale d’administration publique, a guest professor at Université Laval and a lecturer at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, he teaches the broadening of the concept of security, the foundations and mutations of war, the strategy of organizations, the principles and issues of public administration and results-based management.

He is the President of the Institut militaire de Québec, the Deputy Director of the Centre on International Security (CSI) and an associate member of the Hautes études internationales (HEI) at Université Laval. He is President of the General Vanier Foundation, executive at Développement international Desjardins (DID) and a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of ADGA Consultants Group.

He holds an Honours Bachelor’s degree in Military and Strategic Studies from RMC Saint-Jean and a Diplôme d’études supérieures spécialisées in strategic studies from Université Paris-Nord.

Over the past twenty years, Catherine has held marketing management positions with local and international organizations such as Johnson & Johnson, Danone Canada, Fromageries Bel and Kamik.

Her extensive experience includes product innovation, marketing research, commercialization, e-commerce, pricing strategies, international brand expansion and business transformation. Among other things, she orchestrated the launch of the Oikos yogurt brand in Canada and at Kamik, managed communication campaigns in Canada, the United States, Germany and Norway.

Well known for her dynamism, she likes to make things happen and challenge the status quo, while having fun. Catherine is currently a marketing strategy consultant and supports business managers in the challenges of marketing management, commercialization and international expansion.

Catherine holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University, is a certified professional coach from the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching and is currently pursuing an Executive MBA part-time at UQAM.