Getting to know me. As a business executive, Chairman of the Board of a startup accelerator and executive mentor to entrepreneurs, I have been responsible for defining and executing growth strategies, repositioning businesses, conducting business turn-arounds, and reengineering large organizations. I eventually transitioned from leading large corporate organizations to launching new businesses. My ability to adapt to any business context led me to be exposed to different industries including the aviation, defense, software, healthare, and academic sectors. This allowed me to further refine my approach and methodologies for strategic planning, intrapreneurship, and successfully turning strategies into winning action plans.
It is during that period that I realized that little information existed to help business leaders like myself transition ideas from a strategy or the innovation development cycle to the realm of new business initiatives and corporate start-ups. In other words, very little expertize was available on how to successfully deal with the business end of corporate strategies and the launch of new businesses within corporations. This intrapreneurial work also exposed me to lead more than a dozen new business launches, joint ventures, and partnerships, and to conduct and/or lead the integration of several acquisitions.
Guillaume Hervé
Founder and President
BEng, MSc (Business)
I started my career as an officer in the Canadian Air Force. Following a very rewarding twelve years, I entered the private sector where I became a successful business executive and serial intrapreneur (corporate entrepreneur). Throughout my career, what set me apart were my abilities to question old paradigms and establish new ones, lead change, establish clear strategies and engage the hearts and minds of people, coach and mentor my teams, and develop future leaders. I developed a strong operational foundation that was acquired running complex military aircraft maintenance operations, running international large scale program management activities, leading large corporate engineering organizations, and leading operations world wide. This provided me with real world experiences on what it takes to make things happen on the front lines, drive change throughout an organization, and align organizations towards achieving a common goal.
I recently published a book on the subject of intrapreneurship. Titled, "Winning at Intrapreneurship: 12 Labors to Overcome Corporate Culture and Achieve Startup Success," this book addresses the challenges of corporate entrepreneurship and and how to overcome the internal issues that must be addressed to successfully transform innovations into market successes.
I am a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering. I have a Masters of Science Degree in Business and Management from the State University of New York (SUNY), and a post-graduate degree in Program Management and Equipment Acquisition from the Canadian Forces School Of Aerospace Studies. Always keen to learn, I have attended many executive training programs throughout my career, including programs on leadership, finance and economic value creation, strategic visioning and planning, change management, team facilitation, Six Sigma, and organizational performance.
For a more detailed description of my business experience, please visit my LinkedIn profile.