“It’s good to be a service company, but I think we create the little bit more value to our
business by being a manufacturing company and owning our own designs.”
Nancy Simoneau, president
Located in the Greater Montreal Area, the
company caters to a number of industries,
including municipal government buildings,
universities and hospitals.
Nancy Simoneau, the company’s presi-
dent, became involved in its day to day
operations even before she finished her
university studies. She joined the family
business in 1988, supporting her father, a
high pressure welder and boilermaker, in
every way she could. As a chartered man-
agement accountant by trade, her special-
ty was numbers and so she focused her
efforts on accounting and procurement.
At that time, the company specialized in
boiler repair. But Nancy had a bold new
vision for Groupe Simoneau. She wanted
to design and manufacture boilers. In the
1990s, she approached her father with the
idea of becoming a manufacturing com-
52 business elite canada
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FEBRUARY 2017
