Louis Audet

Louis Audet is Board Chair of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications inc. since September 01, 2021. Prior to that, he was executive Chair of the Board during a three year transition period that has led to the successful transfer of the responsibility of President and Chief Executive Officer to his successor on September 01, 2018. Louis had held that position for 25 years, starting in 1994, having received the mantel from his father and company founder Henri Audet.

He joined Cogeco in 1981 and took on a variety of responsibilities as Vice President of sales, marketing and strategic planning before becoming Executive Vice President and eventually President and Chief Executive Officer in 1994. Prior to joining Cogeco, he held engineering positions in outside plant and central office equipment at Bell Canada from 1974 to 1977 and marketing positions at Cable TV Ltd from 1979 to 1981.

Louis obtained his Collegiate Studies Diploma from College Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal (1970), he holds a BSc and Professional Engineer diploma from École Polytechnique de Montreal (1974). He also holds a Master in business administration (MBA) from Harvard University (1979).

Having taken Cogeco public in 1985, Cogeco has grown through a series of some 40 acquisitions for the most part in the wireline telecommunication (cable) sector. Under Louis’s leadership, Cogeco has become a leading North American Telecommunications Company delivering high speed internet, land line telephony and video services to some 1.6 million customers in Québec, Ontario and 13 states of Eastern USA.

Louis Audet is currently Chair of the board of the Old Brewery Mission, a leading organization which provides emergency and housing services for homeless people in the Montreal area. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of CableLabs, of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and of the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations (IGOPP). He previously sat on the Boards of Directors of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, Clarica, Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, Corporation de l’École Polytechnique de Montréal, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Association Canadienne de la radio et de la television de langue française, Fondation du Centre Hospitalier de L’Université de Montréal (CHUM) and he served as Governor of the Council on Canadian Unity and chaired the Fondation et Alumni de l ’école Polytechnique de Montréal. He was also Chairman of the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf Development Fund for 10 years.

Over the years, Louis has often been recognized by both the business and philanthropic communities for his numerous achievements. Amongst his contributions, he acted as co-Chair of the 2017 campaign for Centraide of Greater Montréal and as Chair of the 2015-2021 fundraising campaign for the Old Brewery Mission Foundation. He is currently co-Chair of the 50 million $ 2024-2029 campaign of the Old Brewery Mission.

Louis was named Member of the Order of Canada in 2013 and Officier de l’Ordre National du Québec in 2022. In 2018, he was chosen by the United Nations Association in Canda as it’s annual Global Citizens Laureate. That same year, he received two Honorary Doctorates from Université de Montréal and Université du Québec in Trois-Rivières. He has also been inducted in the Club des entrepreneurs du Conseil du patronat du Québec and was awarded the Order of Merit from the Université de Montréal Alumni Association, as well as the Merit Award from École Polytechnique Alumni Association.

In 1983, Louis married Jocelyne Francoeur his wife of 40 years and they are blessed to have a daughter, Émilie, who joined Cogeco in 2020 where she is growing professionally.
Jocelyne and Louis enjoy travelling, in addition to Europe and Eastern Europe, defining destinations have been India and the Middle East.

Other interests include classical music and the learning of languages, none of which he masters well! At age 68, he undertook learning the piano, which likely will forever remain a work in progress!