Bombardier, UTC and the French (Canadian) Connection

Bombardier has unveiled a plan to raise new financing that includes the appointment of a new president and CEO, Alain Bellemare. The name certainly should ring a bell: until last month Bellemare ran United Technologies Corp.’s (UTC) Propulsion & Aerospace Systems. During his 18-year career at UTC he had also led two of the company’s other signature businesses, Hamilton Sundstrand and Pratt & Whitney Canada.

Bellemare parted ways with UTC less than two months after the sudden “retirement” of another French Canadian, Louis Chenevert, as the company’s chairman and CEO.  One of Chenevert’s close friends and mentors was (French Canadian) Guy Hachey, who ran Bombardier’s aerospace business for six years until he was ousted in a July 2014 corporate restructuring. 

With Hachey’s departure, oversight of the Montreal-based transportation giant’s aviation businesses shifted to Bombardier President and CEO Pierre Beaudoin. Now, with today’s announcement, Beaudoin will hand over the day-to-day job of running the company to Bellemare. Beaudoin will become executive chairman, replacing his legendary father, Laurent Beaudoin.

The move to tap Bellemare appears aimed at reassuring investors who are worried that Bombardier will run out of cash as it funds development of the CSeries passenger jet and Global 7000/8000 business jets.

My first interview with Bellemare was supposed to occur in the fall of 2005, when I was Aviation Week’s business editor and he was the president of Pratt Canada. I arrived at the company’s Montreal headquarters at the appointed time, only to be told brusquely that he was “too busy” to see me. Luckily, I had an appointment with another aerospace executive across town who was very generous with his time – Pierre Beaudoin.