Francis
Vaillancourt
Executive in Residence
I am a water and wastewater Engineer with business acumen. A strategic thinker, I excel at solving complex problems and I am a subject matter expert in the environment.
For the last 20 years, I have been helping cities and industries meet their needs for water quality and quantity. I am fluent in English, French and Spanish and understand Portuguese.
A bit about my background
I studied Mechanical Engineering at the Montréal Polytechnic School and at the Monterrey Institute of Technology, Mexico. After working in construction in northern Québec and traveling to Argentina, my desire to change people’s lives pushed me to pursue a master’s degree in applied science from Montréal’s Polytechnic. There I learnt water and wastewater treatment technologies and researched water disinfection by-products in distribution systems.
My first job was in R&D and in Montreal; improving water treatment plant performance. Later, I moved to the Toronto area to pursue greater challenges and continue my career in water. After traveling to Africa, the Himalayas and a career in startup, construction, and design of Water and Wastewater treatment plants, I got an MBA from the Sauder School of Business in Vancouver. This training helped me become an accomplished sales and business development professional. I now focus on developing solutions to the current and future challenges the water industry is facing.