Stéphane Paquet is President and CEO of Montréal International, the economic development agency tasked with attracting foreign direct investment, international organizations and qualified foreign talent to Greater Montréal. He has held the position since January 2020.
Mr. Paquet joined Montréal International in 2015 as Vice-President, Foreign Investment. While in that role, he led a team of professionals dedicated to assisting foreign companies in Montréal. In 2017, as his role expanded to include attracting and retaining international organizations, he stepped into the newly created position of Vice-President, Foreign Investment and International Organizations.
Under his leadership, the inflow of foreign investment facilitated by Montréal International has tripled—almost quadrupled. What’s more, in 2020, the agency won two international awards: “Best Economic Development Agency,” from the International Economic Development Council, and “Top Investment Promotion Agency,” from fDi Intelligence, a division of The Financial Times Ltd.
Prior to joining Montréal International, Mr. Paquet served as Québec Delegate General in London for two years.
From 1991 to 2001, Mr. Paquet worked as a reporter, copy editor, and assignment editor for broadcasting company Radio-Canada. He then moved into print journalism, first with the daily Le Soleil in Québec City and later with La Presse in Montréal. While at La Presse, he was in charge of the newspaper’s business section for two years and oversaw the internship program for young journalists.
In September 2010, Mr. Paquet was appointed Deputy Publisher and Editor in Chief of Les Affaires Group. In that capacity, he was in charge of the Les Affaires newspaper, the A+ personal finance magazine, and the LesAffaires.com website and actively participated in strategy discussions affecting the entire Group.
A recipient of a fellowship under the U.S. State Department’s Young Leaders Program, Mr. Paquet holds a graduate diploma in World Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a master’s degree in Communications from the University of Québec at Montréal. Mr. Paquet also taught as a lecturer at the University of Montréal and the University of Regina.
Mr. Paquet is also Chair of Consider Canada, an alliance uniting the largest municipal regions in their efforts to develop a sustainable and competitive national economy.
Mr. Paquet and his partner have two children.