2014 INDUCTEE
Luc Beauregard was founding chairman of RES PUBLICA Consulting Group, headquartered in Montreal. RES PUBLICA is a holding and management company of professional services firms that provide strategic public relations counsel to a wide range of businesses. The Group employs 450 people across Canada and elsewhere in the world. As such, it is the third largest independent public relations firm (i.e. not associated with an advertising group) in the world.
RES PUBLICA owns NATIONAL Public Relations Inc., Canada’s largest public relations firm, with offices in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Saint-John, Halifax, St. John’s, New York, London and Copenhagen. NATIONAL offers medical communications and clinical trial services under the name AXON. In 2006, the company was named Firm of the Year by Marketing magazine, and, in 2008, Canadian Firm of the Year by the prestigious international publication The Holmes Report. NATIONAL is a member of Burson-Marsteller’s international network. RES PUBLICA also owns Cohn & Wolfe | Canada, another industry leader with its own offices in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary and an affiliation with the worldwide Cohn & Wolfe network. Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe are both subsidiaries of WPP Group, a world leader in marketing communications. RES PUBLICA also owns Sonic Boom, A Customer Experience Agency specialized in digital communications with offices in Toronto and Montreal.
These strategic communications consulting firms serve large private-sector companies as well as large public-sector organizations. During his career, Mr. Beauregard completed major assignments for companies that include Pechiney, BioChem Pharma, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Bombardier, Provigo, Molson Inc., Molson Coors and the Montreal Canadiens hockey team.
Early years
Mr. Beauregard was born and educated in Montreal. Before founding NATIONAL, he was president and publisher of a daily newspaper, Montréal-Matin. He began his career as a journalist, Ottawa parliamentary correspondent and city editor at La Presse, from 1961 to 1968. He served on a task force on government information for the Privy Council in Ottawa and as special advisor and press secretary to Quebec’s Minister of Education.
Professional activities
Very active professionally, Mr. Beauregard was a former president of the Canadian Public Relations Consultants Institute (1979), former president of the Canadian Public Relations Society (1984) and former chairman of the North American Public Relations Council (1985). He received the President’s Award (1985-86) from the Quebec Public Relations Society and was named PR Executive of the Year by an industry publication in Toronto. He was honoured with the Philip A. Novikoff Award (1996) from the Canadian Public Relations Society, in recognition of his contribution to society, and the Equinoxe Award (2006) from the Société des professionnels en relations publiques du Québec. From 2000 to 2007, he was chairman of the CPRS College of Fellows and was a director of the Communications + Public Relations Foundation (2007 – 2013), a major Canadian foundation based in Toronto. He was also founding chairman (2007 – 2013) of Public Relations Without Borders, leveraging the discipline of public relations for the benefit of populations in developing countries. PRWB has completed several missions aimed at eliminating violence against women and children in countries such as Uganda, Niger, Burkina Faso, Tunisia and Bolivia; its Canadian volunteer professionals raise the profile of their discipline around the world.
Activities in the cultural sector
Mr. Beauregard was also actively involved in many cultural, social and community organizations. He was chairman of the arts magazine Vie des arts, president of the Fondation du Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and served for 12 years on the board of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. He also spent 12 years on the board of the Nouvelle compagnie théâtrale (Théâtre Denise-Pelletier). As well, he served on the advisory committee for Premières en affaires magazine (2008 – 2012). He chaired the 2009 corporate campaign committee for the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and was a member of OSM’s Public Affairs Committee.
Activities in the social sector
Mr. Beauregard was the founding chairman of the Montreal Island School Council Foundation. In 1994, he chaired Centraide of Greater Montreal’s communications committee and, in 2001 and 2002, was the campaign committee member responsible for the communications sector. He served on the board and executive committee of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec and the board of Intégration-jeunesse. He participated in fundraisers for these organizations as well as for the Cystic Fibrosis Association, the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, the Perkins Brome-Missisquoi Hospital Foundation, the Sainte-Justine Hospital Foundation and the Special Olympics. He was president of Year X of the Ordre des jeux du Québec and participated in this organization’s other activities.
In 2006, Mr. Beauregard jointly headed the Nature Conservancy’s fundraising campaign for the perpetual preservation of the Sutton mountain range. Since 2000, he served on the advisory board of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (the Neuro) and was a member of the Neuro’s major campaign committee. He was also a board member (2004 – 2012) and was a governor of PROCURE, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting prostate cancer. He was a board member of L’Appui (2011 – 2013), a joint private-public organization devoted to helping natural caregivers of persons suffering of Alzheimer’s disease. He was a member of Les Amis de la montagne (2001 – 2006) and was a governor of the Fondation de la tolerance since 2009. He was a member and chair of the executive committee of the CHUM Foundation Campaign Cabinet (2010 – 2013).
Activities in the business sector
In 1984, Mr. Beauregard chaired the board of the Bureau d’éthique commerciale de Montréal and, from 1982 to 1986, chaired AMARC, the city of Montreal’s paramuncipal corporation that managed Man and His World and La Ronde. It was during his tenure there that the Montreal International Fireworks Competition was developed and launched. For more than 20 years, he served on the St-Hubert Group’s board. He spent eight years on the board of Molson Inc. and four years on the board of 3-Soft (2001 – 2005) as well as LIPSO (2006 – 2010), two companies active in the technology sector. He was chairman of the board of Metix and Metix Capital, which helps technology-sector companies achieve the next level of growth (2013).
Mr. Beauregard served on the board of governors of the Conseil du patronat du Québec (Quebec Employers Council), where he was also a long-time member of the board (1992 – 1996) and executive committee. He was the cofounder of the Centre patronal de l’environnement du Québec, and served on its board of governors.
He served on the board of the Council for Canadian Unity and was a member of the board of governors and board of directors of The Federal Idea, a think-tank promoting federalism as a mode of government. Mr. Beauregard was also a member of the board and the executive committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce from 2002 to 2005.
He was a member of the Mount Royal Club, Club 357c, the Knowlton Golf Club and Club des 15.
Awards and honours
Mr. Beauregard was appointed member of the Order of Canada in January 1996. In June 1999, the Conseil du patronat du Québec honoured his contribution to business and economic development, admitting him to its Entrepreneurs Club. In 2006, the Cercle Entreprendre appointed him Lauréat de la réussite Entreprendre.
In 2007, the Canadian Public Relations Society presented him with its Award of Attainment, the highest honour for a public relations professional in Canada. In 2011, Mr. Beauregard received the Award of Outstanding Volunteer from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Quebec chapter. In May 2013, he received the ACRPQ Distinction en consultation award and, in June, the Ordre national du Québec named him Knight. In July 2013, Mr. Beauregard was promoted to the rank of Officer of the Order of Canada. In April 2014, the Conseil du patronat du Québec posthumously bestowed its prestigious Career Award on Luc Beauregard.
