A CMA with energy to give back!

“What have you done today to help the company and the price of my share grow?” This was the question that Pierre Despars, Executive Vice President, Finance and Business Development at Gaz Métro, had to answer practically every day for a year because he was hounded by one of the most demanding shareholders of this gas distributor: his son, who was just nine years old at the time! “My youngest son will definitely go into finance,” says Pierre Despars, as he looks tenderly at the many photos of his three sons which decorate his desk.

One thing is certain: the efforts that Despars has made to improve the company’s situation never cease to win over its senior management. In fact, ever since he joined Gaz Métro in 1991, he has been given a promotion almost every year. With an impressive career record, Pierre Despars is now in his fourth vice presidency, after holding the positions of Vice President, Administration and Regulatory Affairs, from 1996 to 1998, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, from 1998 to 2002, and Vice President, Finance and Corporate Affairs, from 2002 to 2005.

With more than $2.6 billion in assets, nearly 10,000 kilometres of underground networks, some 167,000 clients in Quebec and 1,500 employees, Gaz Métro is one of the largest distributors of natural gas in Canada. It would be a euphemism to say that Pierre Despars knows Gaz Métro, his third employer after KPMG and Quebecor Printing, practically from top to bottom. Since 2005, Pierre Despars oversees business development and all financial and tax activities of Gaz Métro and all its subsidiaries. That includes Vermont Gas Systems, which has some 115 employees and supplies approximately 37,000 customers by itself. His greatest challenge is now to find opportunities for growth in a regulated context.

“Around 80% of our profit comes from gas distribution in Quebec,” he explains. “Yet, the profitability of that activity depends on the rate of return authorized by the Régie de l’énergie, which is affected by long-term interest rate trends. Right now, we are going through a period of falling rates, and therefore falling profits, combined with an increase in the value of the natural gas, which puts a lot of pressure on our deliveries. Since the situation has been especially difficult in the last two years, we had to develop strategies to face the music, by turning specifically to by-product development, targeted development in new residential projects and broader diversification in regulated energy, including wind energy.” As a matter of fact, the penetration rate of natural gas is currently around 15% of the Quebec energy portfolio, mainly in the commercial, industrial and institutional sectors. Gaz Métro distributes around 97% of the gas consumed in Quebec and its subsidiary Vermont Gas Systems, all natural gas in the state of Vermont. Rare are professionals who, like Pierre Despars, can claim they have completed… four different academic programs! First, he finished a bachelor of physical education at Université de Sherbrooke in 1982, then a bachelor of business administration at HEC Montréal in 1985. Next he earned his CA and CMA designations in 1987 and finally his MBA in 1995. An extraordinary combination! Pierre Despars freely acknowledges that.

“I had to change my career right at the beginning of my professional life,” he says in explanation of his first university degree. I have always been a fervent sports enthusiast. I have tried every sport from baseball to underwater diving. There was a time when I was on the ice rink almost six days a week, since I was doing both figure skating and hockey. I paid for school by being a swimming instructor. I have always loved teaching and being a coach.” But destiny would have it otherwise. Joining the workforce right after the massive personnel cuts in education, Pierre Despars had to face the hard, cold facts.

With a shortage of jobs in his field, he went back to university. He chose finance, a world that he learned to appreciate by negotiating with various suppliers, including one that went bankrupt, when organizing promotional sports activities. Thus, at 24, he began his career and feels no regret or bitterness about it. “It was a good thing because it gave me more time to mature,” he waxes philosophically.

For Pierre Despars, there is a clear relationship between management accounting and team sports. “Both require the same rigor and same communication skills. By the way, throughout my career others have often pointed out to me that I like to take time to explain things. Just like in team sports, practicing management accounting requires both attention to detail and a total vision to attain objectives,” explains Pierre Despars like a hockey player, which he no longer is, and a coach, which he was for a long time for his sons.

And are they daredevils like their father? “Much more so,” he answers. “Let’s just say that their father has settled down a lot. And he is more modest now!” In fact, his three teenagers have left hockey for snowboarding, a sport that Pierre Despars intends to try sometime this winter. Passion for sports is without a doubt still alive in Pierre Despars.

Furthermore, during a presentation to the entire staff at Gaz Métro some years ago, Pierre Despars showed up in a Canadiens jersey to explain his management philosophy based on participation in the search for possible solutions and the achievement of objectives.

“On that occasion,” he emphasizes, “I defined myself as a defenceman, because in our position, you have to manage risks and support sales and operations. At times, you have to play defensively when you must measure the risks, and then offensively to move things forward.” Serge Savard, for instance, would never disagree with that definition of a good hockey defenceman, a fast-skating player. The life of Pierre Despars can be summed up as a balanced triangle of work, family and friends. He wishes that everyone could enjoy such a balance, including future CMAs. “I have one piece of advice to give the next generation of CMAs,” he concludes, “try to achieve excellence in everything you undertake. Contenting yourself with being average may work at CEGEP, but definitely not in a company!”

The other Pierre Despars, in a few questions

His main character trait
Demanding of himself and his friends and family

Qualities he likes in others
Open-mindedness and perseverance.

Who he would like to be
Although he obviously feels good about himself, he wouldn’t turn his nose up at a little more talent!

A natural gift he would like to have
The gift of speaking well and eloquence.

His life philosophy
Maintain balance. In business, between client, employee and shareholder needs; in life, between work, family and friends.