ST. HYACINTHE, QUEBEC – Yanick Gervais was appointed president and chief executive officer of Olymel LLP. He succeeds Réjean Nadeau, died of cancer on Oct. 14. Gervais was promoted interim CEO on Oct. 7 after Nadeau was unable to perform his duties.

Before his promotion, Gervais was senior vice president, Operations at Olymel and was responsible for managing more than 30 pork and poultry processing plants, mostly in Quebec but also in Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick. He was also overseeing the company’s logistics and engineering departments.

“I humbly accept to take over Olymel’s leadership, Canada’s leading agri-processing company, to further its growth and success, which my predecessor Réjean Nadeau did with such passion,” Gervais said. “What I learned over the past few years from this outstanding entrepreneur will undoubtedly guide me.

“I want to thank the members of Olymel’s board of directors for their trust,” he added. “It will be my duty to preserve the legacy of what has been built in Quebec over the past 30 years, which then spread throughout Canada and made our products travel around the world. I will have the privilege and assurance of being able to rely on the wise counsel of our owners and on the valuable experience and skills of my fellow management colleagues.

“I will be attentive to our 14,000 employees who are critical to our success. I will also strive to keep having constructive discussions with our suppliers and partners in both the pork and poultry sectors in the future, while pursuing what I hope will be mutually fruitful business relationships with our customers.”

A native of Trois-Rivières, Gervais, 42, is married and has three daughters. He is trained as an accountant and tax specialist, CPA, CA, and holds a graduate diploma and a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, as well as a master’s degree in Taxation (MTax) from the Université de Sherbrooke.

“It is with great confidence that we welcome Yanick Gervais. This exceptionally talented and experienced executive joined Olymel in 2016 following the acquisition of La Fernandière, a company based in Trois-Rivières specializing in sausage production, of which he had been co-owner and CEO since 2005,” said Ghislain Gervais, chairman of the Board of directors of Olymel and Sollio Cooperative Group, Olymel’s primary shareholder. “Yanick Gervais is the ideal person to meet the challenges of the agro-processing industry thanks to his organizational skills, his knowledge of operational issues, domestic and foreign markets, his understanding of customer needs, his team spirit and strategic vision for the company’s growth. I want to assure him that he has the support of Olymel’s board of directors in achieving our objectives as an industry leader in Quebec and Canada.”