Lévis, Que.-based Desjardins Group, Canada’s largest financial co-operative, formally begins the process of electing a new president on Monday to replace Monique Leroux, who is stepping down after two terms at the helm.
Desjardins chooses its leader by means of an electoral college that votes by secret ballot as opposed to an election by a board of directors. Desjardins’ electoral college consists of 256 delegates, including caisse representatives — elected officers and general managers — who are members of the Quebec and Ontario regional councils and the Group Caisse Council.
The deadline for submitting a nomination for the position runs until Feb. 1; candidates will be interviewed by electoral college delegates between Feb. 2 and March 18; and the vote for president will occur March 19. The new president takes over on April 9.
Leroux was first elected to lead Desjardins in March 2008, after having served as the co-operative’s chief financial officer since 2004. She was re-elected by acclamation for a second term in January 2012. Under her leadership, Desjardins has grown to the fifth-largest co-operative financial services institution in the world with assets of $251 billion, up from $144 billion from 2008.
In November 2015, Leroux was elected president of the Brussels-based International Co-operative Alliance, the first Canadian head of the organization.
In 2012, Leroux was named Quebec’s financial person of the year by Finance et Investissement (FI), the Montreal-based sister publication of Investment Executive. The announcement was made as part of FI‘s annual ranking of the top 25 most influential financial services leaders in the province.