In December 2012, Monique Leroux, Chair of the Board,

In December 2012, Monique Leroux, Chair of the Board, President, and CEO of Desjardins Group, took a few moments to look out the window of her 40th floor office in Montreal to reflect on nearly five years of effort as President i , which included weathering the global financial crisis. She had accelerated the transformation of Desjardins begun in 2001, when she joined the financial group as president of the holding company that oversaw the Group’s subsidiaries after a distinguished career in accounting and banking. She knew she had just three years ahead as Desjardins President, and she wondered whether she had laid the foundation for meeting the next challenges of change. Desjardins was Canada’s sixth largest deposit – taking institution, holding the leading market share in Quebec but competing against Canada’s major national banks that were also rapidly globalizing. It traced its origins to 1900 when it was founded by Alphonse and Dorimene Desjardins as the first financial cooperative in North America, a type of credit union (called “caisse” in French, pronounced “kess”) designed to maximize benefits to members, who often began as underserved populations. Earnings were distributed to members through patronage dividends proportional t o each member’s use of services , with member boards electing officers . As the number of caisses expanded, so did central offices (“federations”) serving the network of caisses. By 1944, 11 federations offered shared services such as administering surplus funds to help caisses with liquidity and offering technology, risk management, product development, and HR functions. The federations also acquired private financial services subsidiaries . The b ig change in 2001 was the merger of the 11 federations into one, a process easier said than done, especially in light of the autonomous and legally independent caisses devoted to their local members. By 2007, Leroux had decided to run for President, saying that her goal was to increase collaboration across functions to leverage the power of their collective resources, especially in light of greater competition in Quebec and financial industry consolidation. She was elected in March 2008 and immediately became one of Canada’s most powerful women, while Desjardins was emerging as a less provincial and more significant financial group ……..