TEAM

OUR TEAM

Hewitt Group Inc. was formed in late 2017 following the sale of Hewitt Equipment Limited, the operating company of the Hewitt family since 1952.

Jim Hewitt and his son David determined that forming a direct private equity group was the best way to remain active investors and builders in the Eastern Canadian economy.

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

JIM HEWITT

CHAIRMAN & CEO

In November 2017, Jim became Chairman and CEO of the Hewitt Group Inc. and of the Hewitt Foundation following the sale of Hewitt Equipment Limited, the Caterpillar dealer for Québec and Labrador West, which was founded in 1952 by Jim’s father, the late Robert Hewitt. Jim joined the company in 1968 and worked in various positions in Sales, Product Support and Marketing in Montréal, the Eastern Townships and Québec City.

In 1980, he became Vice President and General Manager of the Material Handling Division headquartered in St-Laurent, Québec. In 1983, he was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Hewitt Equipment Limited and a Director of the Company. In addition to his role as President and CEO, Jim became Chairman of the Company in 1992.

In 1995, under his leadership, the Company acquired Atlantic Tractors & Equipment Limited, the Caterpillar dealer for the Maritimes and then assumed the role of President and CEO of Atlantic, until 2007 when he became Chairman and CEO.

Following the creation of Hewitt Rentals Inc. and of Hewitt Material Handling Inc. in 1999 and 2001 respectively, he also became President and CEO of these two companies. In 2012, Jim became Chairman and CEO of Hewitt Equipment Limited and of its subsidiaries. At the time of the sale of the Company, Hewitt Equipment and its subsidiaries had over 2,100 employees and 48 branches across Québec, Ontario, the Maritimes and Labrador West.

Throughout his career, Jim has been active in both industry and community affairs. In 2007, he was inducted into the Conseil du Patronat’s Club des Entrepreneurs and in 2009, he was awarded the Centenary Medal from the Boy Scouts of Canada recognizing Hewitt Equipment’s many contributions to the Scouts.

In 2012 was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and most recently, in 2018, Jim and his son David were honoured by the Fraser Institute.

DAVID L. MCAUSLAND

VICE CHAIRMAN

David McAusland, Ad.E. is a partner in the firm of McCarthy Tétrault. He advises corporations, shareholders and entrepreneurs focusing on business development strategies, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, financings, governance matters and complex negotiations.

A graduate of McGill University (BCL ’76, LLB ’77), David is a respected member of the Canadian business community and recognized as a leading corporate lawyer and business advisor with broad international experience. He has been at the centre of numerous large, innovative and precedent setting corporate transactions and development strategies.

David is a highly experienced corporate director, and has been a strong advocate over many years on behalf of community and non-for-profit organizations and business causes.

DAVID HEWITT

PRESIDENT

After completing a BA History at Simon Fraser University and a year of Graduate Studies at Hebrew University in Israel, David worked in the US office of Glencore’s Commodity Trading Group. In 2007, David joined Hewitt Equipment Limited, the Caterpillar dealer for Québec, holding multiple roles in the following years. In 2017, he joined the Company’s Executive, with responsibilities for Product Support in Québec as well as several divisions and subsidiaries.

Following the sale of Hewitt Equipment in late 2017, David and his father Jim established Hewitt Group Inc. and the Hewitt Foundation with the objective of building long term active investments and giving back to the communities in which Hewitt Equipment and its subsidiaries operated. The focus will be primarily on Eastern Canada.

David is a Member of YPO (Young President’s Organization), sits on the Board of the McGill University Health Center Foundation, and is an alumni of Harvard Business School, having graduated from the Owner President Manager Program in 2018.

RONI FARAH

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CFO

Roni joined Hewitt Equipment Limited as Treasurer in July 2010 and was promoted to Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in February 2011 and Executive Vice President in 2017. Roni played a pivotal role in the sale of the Hewitt family business in 2017 and subsequently joined Jim and David Hewitt to establish Hewitt Group Inc. and the Hewitt Foundation.

Over the last 20 years, he gained in-depth experience in various areas of finance, including mergers and acquisitions, budgeting, reporting and treasury. He led multiple merger and acquisition transactions in South America and Asia in the telecommunications industry while working for Bell Canada International and Telesystems. He also held various corporate finance positions at Air Canada and was the Treasurer at Aveos Fleet Performance between 2005 and 2010.

Roni’s experience includes running large finance and IT organizations, ERP implementation, structuring financing and M&A transactions.

Roni has a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce as well as an MBA from McGill University.  He joined the Board of the Tyndale St-Georges Community Centre Foundation in 2021.

KIM ANDERSON

VICE PRESIDENT

After graduating from Concordia University in 2003 with a Bachelor’s Degree in French/English Translation and a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish, Kim fulfilled a life-long dream of working abroad and was fortunate enough to travel for over two years before coming back to her hometown of Montréal. This experience helped her gain a different perspective and challenged her to live and work outside her comfort zone.

After a career in Sales at Yellow Pages Group, she started a new chapter working at Hewitt Equipment Limited in January 2011 in Marketing. Combining her knowledge of Sales with the world of Marketing and Events in the construction industry was a new challenge Kim was ready to take on. Working her way through different positions, she was named Communications Director in July 2017.

Kim was appointed Vice President for the Hewitt Group Inc. following the sale of Hewitt Equipment Limited in October 2017. She was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Hewitt Foundation in June 2018.

In 2018, she joined the Board of the Montreal General Hospital Foundation, and is member of the Marketing and Communications Committee.  She has also co-chaired the Cedars Golf Classic since 2019 to help raise funds and awareness for surgical priorities in oncology.  She has been a member of Royal Montreal Golf Club since 2013, and volunteered on the Communications Committee for 4 years .  In 2022, she was appointed Honorary Secretary of the Ladies’ Branch for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

THE TEAM

In alphabetical order

SUZANNE BERGERON-HEWITT

DIRECTOR

Suzanne joined Hewitt Equipment Limited as Secretary in 1984 and retired as Executive Assistant in July 2017 after 33 years of service. She played a pivotal role in the sale of the Hewitt family business in 2017 and subsequently in establishing the Hewitt Foundation with Jim. Prior to working at Hewitt Equipment, Suzanne worked for Redpath, in the offices, both in Montreal and in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Although Suzanne is passionate about her work and helped Hewitt reach many of its milestones over the years, she is best known for her compassion and her attentiveness. While at Hewitt, she would not only donate to the Centraide fundraising campaign, but advocate for its invaluable importance. Establishing the Hewitt Foundation is a chance to make a holistic change, have an impact, get involved and really help those in need.

CHANTAL BOURGEOIS

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Chantal graduated with a diploma in paralegal studies from Collège de Secrétariat Moderne (CSM) de Montréal in 1982 and worked for several law offices in Montréal, Laval and City of Lorraine and, as of 1994, worked as Assistant to Me Pierre Dupras, the only civil rights lawyer. In this role, she greatly improved her knowledge in accounting. In 2005, as Me Dupras was easing into retirement, she joined the Finance Department at Hewitt Equipment Limited as Secretary. In 2008, she was appointed to Assistant to the Corporate Controller until the sale of the Company in October 2017. She joined the Hewitt Group as Executive Assistant in 2017.

CHARLES CARAZATO

ANALYST, INVESTMENTS

Charles holds both a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in Finance from Université de Sherbrooke, with a Specialization in Corporate Finance. He completed his final review on corporate development strategies for a growing public company in their early expansion stage. He also gained important experience in the investment world when working as an Intern in mergers and acquisitions for a public firm.
Charles joined Hewitt Group as an Investment Analyst in April 2022, bringing with him his knowledge acquired from his previous role as a Commercial Banking Analyst, where he worked on multiple credit transactions, and real estate financing deals. He is actively involved in the due diligence process and investment analysis, and implementation of different investment strategies spanning multiple asset classes.

JONATHAN CHABOT

DIRECTOR, INVESTMENTS

Jonathan has a Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of Sherbrooke, with a final project touching upon the creation of performance attribution measures adjusted to different risk metrics and received his CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation in 2013. He increased his knowledge of processes and procedures working at Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec. His career led him to spend over five years working for a prominent Québec family foundation where he managed a diversified portfolio on top of managing the risk. Moreover, Jonathan also worked for Venture Capital arm of Investissement Québec, where he participated the due diligence process of investments and in analyzing private transactions. Jonathan joined the Hewitt Group in October 2018 as Senior Investment Analyst and appointed to Director, Investments in July 2021. He is responsible for the due diligence process and investment analysis for real estate, private companies and public funds.

JULIE DESSUREAULT

CHIEF ACCOUNTANT & TREASURY ANALYST

Julie graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the Université de Québec à Montréal.  She gained experience working for multiple large companies as a Financial/Treasury Analyst, such as SNC-Lavalin, Guillevin International, Rolls-Royce Canada and Aveos.  She joined the Finance team at Hewitt Equipment Limited in September 2010 as Financial Analyst, and then the Treasury department in 2012, all the while continuing to offer support to the Finance Department.  She was also very involved in a variety of special projects including changing banks, replacing and implementing a new accounting system, as well as implementing a credit card purchasing service throughout the various subsidiaries of the Company.  Following the sale of Hewitt Equipment Limited to Toromont Industries, Julie was promoted to Supervisor, Treasury, for all divisions including the American division. She jointed the Hewitt Group in April 2020 as Chief Accountant and Treasury Analyst.

HENRY DIAZ

SUPERINTENDENT

Graduate from École des métiers d’auto, Henry started his career as a mechanic at Garage Autopro in 1990. In 2007, after a successful career running his own company in maintenance and auto mechanic, Henry joined Canderel, a Montreal-based real estate company. He spent 12 years as Building Superintendent, putting his many acquired skills to use, including general maintenance, plumbing, plastering, painting, basic electricity, woodworking, just to name a few.  He joined Alluvia Real Estate in March 2021 as Superintendent.  He is responsible for all maintenance relating to the property Le Fénelon.

JOHN RAKOTONDRAJAONA

SENIOR INVESTMENT ANALYST

John holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of Sherbrooke where his final writing reviews and quantifies the cost of hedging against currency risk in an internationally diversified portfolio. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) since 2015 and is a member of the Montreal CFA Society and has passed all the exams towards obtaining the title of Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). He spent nine years working for an asset management firm based in Montreal where he played a significant role in leading the fundamental research team. Using a quality value and long-term orientation approach, he conducted deep fundamental analysis to uncover potentially profitable investment ideas. John joined Hewitt Group in April 2021 as a Senior Investment Analyst.  He is actively involved in the due diligence process and investment analysis, and implementation of different investment strategies spanning multiple asset classes.

CECILY RANGER

DIRECTOR, PROPERTY AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Graduate from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Arts, Cecily started her career at CN Rail in the Real Estate Department. Developing skills over six years as a Facility Manager, her responsibilities ranged from small office relocations to overseeing major projects in both Montréal and Chicago. She then became a Third-Party Manager for the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Contract in Facility Management for BLJC and CBRE, managing over 30 branch bank locations in the Greater Montréal Area. Over the years, Cecily has also worked for RBC as Private Suite Manager and at SBM Site Services as Regional Manager, Canada, for custodial services for such clients as Merck Frosst, Hewlett Packard and Microsoft. In 2011, Cecily joined Hewitt Equipment Limited and spent seven years overseeing all construction projects. Her responsibilities started with conceptualization until delivery of the project, overseeing all personnel involved, including suppliers and managing budgets and timelines. Cecily understands the importance of a budget and  always maximizes resources in order to minimize costs and is committed to every project. Cecily joined Hewitt Group in 2018 and was appointed Director, Property & Project Management  in January 2021.

RODRIGO RIDANO

ANALYST, INVESTMENTS

Rodrigo Ridano, M.Sc, CFA, joined Hewitt Group in 2023, bringing with him seven years of professional experience in Finance. Prior to joining our team, he served as Internal Audit Advisor at Ivanhoe Cambridge, Financial Analyst at BMO Capital Markets, and Stockbroker at CIBC, in addition to multiple internships during his academic studies. His areas of expertise include data and financial analysis, risk management, and investments. Rodrigo holds two Bachelor’s Degrees, in Management and in Finance, from the University of Sherbrooke and a Master of Science in Finance from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, where he earned a membership to the Golden Key Honour Society. His Master's thesis focused on an empirical and quantitative analysis of ESG and institutional ownership data. In 2023, Rodrigo achieved the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. On a personal note, Rodrigo is passionate about health, culture and the environment. He enjoys maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and listening to numerous audiobooks each year. Additionally, he is committed to adopting green and sustainable habits in his daily life.

THE ADVISORY BOARD

JIM HEWITT

Throughout his career, Jim has been active in both industry and community affairs. He has been a Board member of the Association de Construction de Montréal et Québec (ACMQ), the Canadian Construction Association (ACC), the Montréal Board of Trade and La Chambre de Commerce de Montréal Métropolitain. He is a Past President of the Canadian Association of Equipment Distributors and served on the Board and as a Vice President on the Executive of the Associated Equipment Distributors in the United States. For many years, he was on the Board and the Executive of the Conseil du Patronat du Québec (CPQ) and was Chairman from 1994 to 1997.

He currently serves on the Boards of the Ste Anne’s Hospital Foundation, previously Québec Veterans Foundation, and Pointe-à-Callière Museum Foundation. He is also a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York.

DAVID L. MCAUSLAND

David McAusland, Ad.E. is a partner in the firm of McCarthy Tétrault. He advises corporations, shareholders and entrepreneurs focusing on business development strategies, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, financings, governance matters and complex negotiations. A graduate of McGill University (BCL ’76, LLB ’77), David is a respected member of the Canadian business community and recognized as a leading corporate lawyer and business advisor with broad international experience. He has been at the centre of numerous large, innovative and precedent setting corporate transactions and development strategies.

David is a highly experienced corporate director, and has been a strong advocate over many years on behalf of community and non-for-profit organizations and business causes.

MICHAEL F. MACEY

Mike obtained his Bachelor of Commerce – Honours Accounting from Loyola College of the University of Montréal and his CPA CA from McGill University. He joined the Montréal office of PricewaterhouseCoopers (then McDonald Currie, Coopers & Lybrand) to start a 43-year career in public accounting. A specialist in income tax Mike has provided advice to corporations on tax efficient operations, acquisitions and divestitures as well as strategic reorganizations and financing acquisitions and expansions on a national and international level. As a leader in the High Net Worth practice, he was involved in estate and succession planning for many of the wealthiest families in Canada. A former lecturer in accounting and tax at McGill and Concordia universities, Mike has taught at the CICA (Canadian Institute of Chartered Accounts) tax course for accountants and lawyers specializing in taxation as well as at the Society of Estate and Tax Practitioners. Mike is currently Chairman of Coopers & Lybrand where he has been on the Board since 1988 and acts as a Trustee of The Louis G. Johnson Foundation. Over the years he has served on the Board of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Boards and Executive Committees of Lower Canada College, Royal Montreal Curling Club and Pointe-Claire Curling Club and Catholic Community Services where he served as President and Treasurer. He also served on the Boards of the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation and the Lower Canada College Foundation.

GÉRALD DESOURDY

Gérald is a graduate from Ottawa University with a Bachelor’s in Commerce, specialization in Finance. In 1969, he joined the family business, Désourdy Construction, where he held several positions and was appointed President of Groupe Désourdy Inc. in 1981 up until its sale in 1992. Following the sale of the company in 1992, he established Désourdy International, a company specializing in large-scale engineering projects, from civil engineering to building engineering. This new business operated in Russia and China until 1998. In 1999, the engineering firm Agra delegated him as representative on the Cross Israel Highway Board of Directors, a $1.3 billion-dollar contract. In 2002, he left Israel and established HLT Énergies, a company specializing in solar energy. HLT, in partnership with the Wallon Regional Corporation, became a shareholder of the company Ekowatt based in Belgium. Since 2008, he has been overseeing the Parc sur Rivière Bromont Limited Partnership and the Samara Corporation, who build residential real estate developments. He has been a member of several Board of Directors including Conseil du Patronat, the Cross Israel Highway Consortium, the Canadian engineering firm Agra Engineering, Hewitt Equipment Limited and President of Advisory Boards Association des constructeurs des routes et grands travaux du Québec (ACRGTQ) and Association Canadienne de la Construction (ACC).

HEWITT GROUP

The Hewitt Team in 2017.

Standing (from left to right): Chantal Bourgeois, Jonathan Chabot, David Hewitt, Suzanne Bergeron-Hewitt, Roni Farah, Cecily Ranger.

Seated (from left to right): David McAusland, Kim Anderson, Jim Hewitt, Russell Hiscock.

CHANTAL BOURGEOIS

JONATHAN CHABOT

DAVID HEWITT

SUZANNE BERGERON-HEWITT

RONI FARAH

CECILY RANGER

DAVID L. MCAUSLAND

KIM ANDERSON

JIM HEWITT

RUSSELL HISCOCK

LUC HOULE

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