Snc-lavalin installs new top managers
Changes made as firm struggles to overcome financial controversy
SNC-Lavalin is shaking up its senior management team and creating a new organizational structure for the global engineering company as it tries to turn the page on a controversy that has sullied its reputation.
The most significant change is a new Resources and Environment unit to be headed by Neil Bruce, a former operations chief at AMEC.
London-based AMEC is a rival to SNC-Lavalin as one of the world’s leading engineering, project management and consultancy companies, with 29,000 employees and customers in the oil and gas, mining, clean energy, environment and infrastructure sectors.
Bruce will be based in London and oversee SNC-Lavalin’s largest and most diverse business unit focused
Key segments of the business will shift to
London, but the company will remain
based in Montreal.
on hydrocarbons and chemicals, mining and metallurgy, environment and water — with about 38 per cent of total company revenues.
SNC-Lavalin International becomes the Global Operations group, headed by Christian Jacqui, formerly executive vice-president, Europe. He will oversee the globalization of the company’s operations.
Patrick Lamarre, who has been executive vice-president of SNC’s Global Power division, has resigned but will remain available to the company until June 1. Lamarre will be replaced on an interim basis by Scott Thon, president of its AltaLink subsidiary.
The changes were announced by Robert Card, an American who was appointed CEO in October, as the engineering giant struggles with a series of financial scandals.
“These changes represent part of our ongoing effort to further strengthen the company’s management structure and extend its scope,” Card said in a news release.
The organizational changes announced Friday come more than a month after SNC-Lavalin suspended payments to former CEO Pierre Duhaime and said there would be changes to its board of directors.
Duhaime initially received a $5-million payout after he stepped down as president and CEO last March amid an internal accounting investigation. Most of the payments were due to be paid over two years, including $1.9 million in salary continuance and benefits and $1.7 million in incentives.
He was arrested in connection with alleged fraud involving one of Montreal’s new superhospitals. The arrest warrant alleged Duhaime and Riadh Ben Aissa, another former top executive, conspired to commit fraud and falsified documents in connection with a contract pertaining to the multibillion-dollar McGill University Health Centre.
On the Toronto Stock Exchange, SNC-Lavalin’s shares briefly reached their highest level Friday since it first disclosed $35 million in questionable payments to foreign agents last February. The shares hit $44.91 before closing at $44.36, up 33 cents from Thursday’s close.
Even though key segments of the business will shift to London, SNCLavalin will remain headquartered in Montreal.
Spokeswoman Leslie Quinton said SNC-Lavalin will remain a Quebec-based company with a “strong” francophone presence.
Four of the 13 members of the office of the president are francophone Quebecers, including chief financial officer Gilles Laramee, who will head a new business unit overseeing infrastructure, concessions and investments. The others are Jean Beaudoin of integrated management systems, general counsel Rejean Goulet and human resources chief Darleen Caron.