David Lindsay

President and CEO

David Lindsay became the President and CEO of FPAC in September 2012.  He was most recently a senior Deputy Minister in the Government of Ontario serving in the portfolios of Energy and Infrastructure, Northern Development, Mines and Forestry, Natural Resources, and Tourism and Culture.

Before this, he served as President and CEO of the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario.  Lindsay was the founding President of the Ontario SuperBuild Corporation and the Ontario Jobs and Investment Board.  He also served as Principal Secretary and Chief of Staff to the Premier of Ontario.

He is a Fellow of the Queen’s University School of Policy Studies and past Director of the Ireland Park Foundation, the Ontario Innovation Trust, the World Wildlife Fund, the Canadian Tourism Commission, the Public Policy Forum and the Empire Club of Canada.

A Graduate of Queen’s University School of Business (Commerce ’81), David is married to Charmaine and they have two adult children Tim and Sarah.

Mark Hubert

Vice President, Environmental Leadership

As the Vice President of Environmental Leadership, Mark is committed to finding collaborative solutions between the industry and key stakeholders to consider the balanced importance of both environmental conservation and economic prosperity. He is the lead industry negotiator on the historic Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement and works closely with FPAC members to strategically position the sector as a world leader. He is the former Director, Sustainable Forest Management for FPAC, and before joining FPAC was an advisor with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests Economics and Trade division, International Relations Unit.

Mark has an operational forestry background in fire management, and also holds a degree in International Relations from the University of British Columbia.

Paul Lansbergen

Vice President, Regulations and Partnerships, Corp Secretary

Paul joined FPAC in February 2002 as Director, Taxation and Business Issues, and was appointed Association Secretary later in the same year. Since joining FPAC, Paul has helped secure federal tax policy changes related to bioenergy and played an integral role in climate change negotiations with the federal government. Paul is also deeply involved in FPAC’s efforts on industry transformation and leads the Association’s management of the Bio-pathways Partnership Network. Paul’s role at FPAC has expanded to include more focus on water, air, energy and climate change issues and he was promoted to Vice President Regulations and Partnerships. Paul has two degrees in Economics.

Robert Larocque

Director, Environment

Robert Larocque joined FPAC in April 2011 as Director, Environment.  Bob works with members companies on policy and technical issues relating to environmental regulations.  He is also responsible for environmental data collection and sustainability reporting for the pulp and paper and wood products sectors.

Before joining FPAC, Bob held several positions at Environment Canada in regard to mitigating the risk of toxic substances on the environment.  He also worked previously as a process engineer in a large pulp mill.

Bob holds a B.Sc. in chemical engineering from the University of Ottawa.

Francesca Iacurto

Director, Government and External Relations

Francesca joined FPAC in 2013 as Director of Government and External Relations.  She brings to FPAC over 20 years of government relations and related work experience, and has in-depth knowledge of government/public affairs, policy and advocacy matters.  Before joining FPAC, Francesca worked for the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), a federal Crown corporation.  Her earlier experience spans the range of the government relations arena as she held positions with two national business associations, a financial services company and a national consulting firm.  She also served 5 years in the federal government.  

Francesca holds an M.A. in Public Administration from Carleton University, a B.A. in Economics from McGill University and is fluently bilingual (French and English).

Étienne Bélanger

Director, Forestry

Etienne Bélanger joined FPAC in 2008 after completing a master’s degree on the topic of forest certification at Université Laval. He works with FPAC members and their partners on the issues of sustainable forest management, recovery of species at risk and adaptation to climate change.

Etienne took part in the discussions that led to the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) announcement in 2010 as well as being a part of the CBFA secretariat since its beginning. Today, Etienne is the Secretariat’s knowledge manager as well as the coordinator for the Québec regional working group.

Etienne is a forest engineer and a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs forestiers du Québec.

Cheryl Miltimore

Project Coordinator

Cheryl Miltimore has worked at FPAC in a variety of roles since 2002. She currently works with members on issues related to market access of Canadian forest products. Before working at FPAC she worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in the International Education Marketing Department.

Catherine Cobden

Executive Vice President

Catherine Cobden is the Executive Vice President of FPAC who continues to be a passionate and strategic voice for the forest products sector.

She has worked to advance the industry’s competitive position and environmental performance for the past 22 years.  Catherine played a key role in developing the Canadian Forest Sector Transformation Strategy, shepherded the landmark Bio-pathways study and led the 2012 launch of a new Vision to chart a dynamic direction for the sector.

Before joining FPAC, Catherine was a lobbyist with Fleishman Hillard and she also held several corporate positions within forest products companies including a global newsprint producer.

Catherine is a chemical engineer from the University of Toronto and a graduate of its Pulp and Paper Centre.

Isabelle Des Chênes

Vice President Market Relations and International Trade

Isabelle Des Chênes manages FPAC’s market relations and international trade files and works closely with members, customers, and governments on issues related to market access in North America, Europe and Asia.

Previously, she was Vice President, Market Relations with Forestry Innovation Investment’s (FII) Market Outreach program of the government of British Columbia. Isabelle brings nearly 20 years public relations and communications experience in both the private and public sectors. Prior to FII, she was director of communications with FPAC and the Canadian Tourism Commission. She managed public relations and communications for technology firms Cognos and Fulcrum Technologies, and with the House of Commons Public Information Office in Ottawa.

Susan Murray

Executive Director Public Relations

Susan is responsible for media outreach, communications and public relations. Susan brings three decades of journalistic and international experience to FPAC. She worked for CBC throughout Canada and as a foreign correspondent, served as a political commentator for TV networks including TVO and won the Charles Lynch Award in recognition of her successful career in journalism. Susan was also Director of Communications for a federal minister and most recently served as senior communications strategist for the International Development Research Centre.

Jean Francois Larue

Chief Economist

As the Chief Economist at FPAC, Jean Francois provides insights into the industry’s competitiveness and global outlook. He works on the sector’s Vision2020 mandate, and collaborates closely with FPAC staff on data collection and reporting for members and governments in order to effectively craft intelligent policy solutions.

Before joining FPAC, Jean Francois held several positions with the Government of Canada, including Director General of the LMI Directorate with HRSDC, and policy analyst with PCO and Finance.

Jean Francois holds a Master’s of Science degree in economics from the University of Montreal.

Joel Neuheimer

Director, Transportation

Joel has almost two decades of both federal government and industry experience working with the Canadian forest industry and its partners worldwide.

In his current role, Joel works with FPAC members and their partners to continually improve the global cost competitiveness of transportation issues for FPAC members. This includes changes to transportation legislation and regulations to reduce costs and improve service, and to accelerate port and border infrastructure improvements.

Joel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from McGill University and a Master of Arts in Communications from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

Monica Bailey

Director, Communications

Monica is responsible for the strategic development, branding and implementation of all of FPAC’s communications, new media, marketing and promotions activities. Previously Monica was responsible for FPAC’s communications, media and public relations.  Monica has also worked for a public relations firm as a communications and government relations advisor on community and stakeholder engagement issues; as a ministerial aid for Industry Canada; as a project manager for the department of Industry Canada; and as a policy analyst and researcher for a national association.

Monica holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Ottawa and is working on her MA in Environmental Education and Communication.