Creating a positive corporate culture that encourages personal development is important to Yvon Charest. That’s why the president and CEO of Quebec City-based Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. hosts breakfasts for all employees once they have one year with IA under their belts. It gives him a chance to talk about the company, hear his employees’ concerns and encourage them to take on new roles and challenges at the firm.

The breakfasts are but a small part of an overall management approach that is paying dividends. Charest was recently named — for the second time in his career — Quebec Financial Person of the Year. The award, says Charest, is recognition that managers and staff “have worked hard, together as a team, to keep our reputation high in 2008.”

The honour, bestowed annually by Finance et Investissement, Investment Executive’s Montreal-based sister publication, recognizes individuals who set outstanding objectives and achieve them. Along with producing strong financial results for the company, the honouree must also make Quebec his or her main place of residence.

“It’s a totally subjective process,” says Stephane Desjardins, editor-in-chief of Finance et Investissement, “in which we seek an individual who not only has exceptional financial results but who has also been a huge influence on Quebec’s financial world.”

Charest also headed the newspaper’s “Top 25 Economic and Financial Newsmakers of the Year” in 2004.

The current award recognizes Charest’s ability to keep his company on a growth path — despite a fourth-quarter loss — at a time when many companies have been hit hard by gruesome financial markets.

Over the past year, IA has made acquisitions that not only increased the company’s status in both the Canadian life and health insurance and investment products markets, but included the company’s first acquisition in the U.S.

“It was an important objective for us at IA,” Charest says, “to continue to work hard so that we could become a true Canada-wide organization.”

It was 25 years ago that IA realized the importance of growing outside of Quebec, Charest says. Today, 57% of IA’s operations are outside the province and that portion of the company’s business is growing by 1% to 2% on an annual basis. Charest’s objective is for sales outside of Quebec to account for two-thirds of the company’s overall sales within the next four years.

That is why the string of acquisitions IA has completed over the past year — five since January 2008 — is so important. The acquisitions are keeping IA on course to meet those objectives.

Montreal-based L’Excellence, a company that specializes in health insurance, was the first; that deal was completed in January 2008. Then, in July 2008, IA added 400 advisors and $2.1 billion in assets under management when it acquired National Financial Corp, a holding company for a number of business units, including mutual fund dealer Money Concepts Canada Ltd.; National Financial Insurance Agency Inc. , the managing general agent through which Money Concepts advisors filed their insurance business; and AEGON Dealer Services Inc., a smaller mutual fund dealer.

As a result of these acquisitions, IA subsidiaryInvestia Financial Services Inc. now has $8.8 billion in AUM and more than 2,000 advisors.

Also in July, IA reinforced its position in the mutual fund manufacturing sector with the acquisition of Winnipeg-based Sarbit Asset Management Inc.Sarbit, with its $130 million in AUM, has been integrated into another IA subsidiary, Toronto-based IA Clarington Investments Inc.

But the acquisitions didn’t stop there. In December 2008, IA acquired Toronto-based DundeeWealth Inc. ’s mutual fund advi-sory and insurance network of financial advi-sors in Quebec, merging DundeeWealth’s 300 Quebec-based advisors and $2.4 billion in AUM into Investia.

With ambitions to grow beyond Canada’s borders, Charest announced in May 2008 that IA had completed its first acquisition in the U.S., with the purchase of United Family Life Insurance Co. , an insurance company based in New York, from Assurant Inc. United Family Life has been renamed IA American Life Insurance Co. , and IA has now obtained operating licences in 49 of 50 states.

“All I can say is that IA is very well recognized within Quebec,” says Charest. “I hope that all the acquisitions that we are making in all the different sectors will lead to an increase in recognition outside of Quebec.”

@page_break@After such a busy 2008, Charest doesn’t plan to slow down in 2009, but realizes that companies have to be mindful of how they spend their money during these tough times. “Future acquisitions are what we always hope for. But, at the same time, we try to be disciplined on where we are spending our money,” he says.

“We don’t want to jump on an acquisition just for the sake of it, so that we can say we have delivered more deals.”

Charest believes that keeping his employees’ morale high in this recessionary economy is a top priority. IA has 1,600 full-time agents and advisors, and a staff of 3,300 employees.

“When you talk to people right now in financial circles, the mood is rather negative,” he adds. “We have to think of things to bring in some positivity.”

Charest and his management team are working on that. They are in the process of improving the firm’s employee recognition program.

“Our co-ordinators, managers and even our vice presidents are all going to be recognizing an accomplishment,” he says, “and communicating it to the rest of the company.”

Charest is proof that hard work pays off. He joined IA almost 30 years ago as a recent university graduate. He started in a junior position in the actuarial department, but was quick to move around and gain experience in other areas.

“That was the structure of the company back then — and we are trying to keep that same philosophy,” he says. “We try to move people around as early as possible in their careers. We find that because they are relatively young, they are less afraid of change.”

After 18 months with the firm, Charest was given the responsibility of managing a team and, from there, he took every opportunity to learn about the services provided by the company.

He eventually helped with a significant acquisition for IA — the takeover of Toronto-based National Life Assurance Co. of Canada in 1988.

Charest continued to move around the firm and spent two years in the marketing department in Toronto. When he returned to Quebec, he worked his way up to become chief actuary in 1992, executive vice president and chief operating officer in 1996, and president and CEO in 2000.

When Charest is not in the office, he enjoys participating in winter activities with his wife and three children, including skiing and snowshoeing.

Also, in a nod to Quebec’s cold winters, Charest decided to build his own skating rink at his cottage in Tremblant this past year.

“The only way to enjoy the city,” he says, “is to enjoy the winter — because it seems to last forever.” IE