2011 Winners – Pierre Matuszewski and Victor Wells
Pierre Matuszewski
FEI Canada is pleased to honour Pierre Matuszewski of the Quebec Chapter and Victor Wells of the Southern Golden Horseshoe Chapter as the co-recipients of the 2011 Frank S. Capon Distinguished Service Award.
Mr. Matuszewski, a member of FEI Canada’s Quebec Chapter, is Chief Executive Officer, Société Générale (Canada). He became the first Canadian to be appointed Country Head of Société Générale in Canada in 2009. Mr. Matuszewski has a long track record with Société Générale. Initially, he was the Head of Mergers and Acquisitions and then Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Operations for the bank’s Canadian branch.
Over his 30-year career, Mr. Matuszewski has been involved in a large number of domestic and cross-border equity and debt transactions as well as mergers, acquisitions, and financial advisory transactions, with Société Générale and other leading Canadian investment banks.
While national chair of FEI Canada, Mr. Matuszewski initiated significant changes in FEI Canada’s mission and organization, as well as supervising the transition to a new CEO in 2000. He also upgraded and harmonized relations with the FEI U.S. organization and supervised the launch of the FEI Canada website.
Members have remarked on how Mr. Matuszewski appears to be a born leader with great charisma. As president of the Quebec chapter, Mr. Matuszewski assembled a great team of volunteers and achieved great success in membership retention and gaining higher visibility for the chapter.
Victor Wells
Mr. Wells, a member of FEI Canada’s Southern Golden Horseshoe Chapter, is a veteran business leader and now serves on boards of Canadian public companies with an emphasis on audit committees.
He has expertise in corporate governance, strategic bottom-line management, and assessing the balance between risk and reward in complex corporate finance strategies.
He has experience in a wide scope of industries, including transportation, health care, investment property, and mining. Boards Mr. Wells serves or has served on include: MagIndustries; Student Transportation Inc.; GT Canada Medical Properties Inc.; Northstar Healthcare Inc.; TriNorth Capital Inc.; and Canada Cartage Income Fund.
At FEI Canada, Mr. Wells was nominated as chair of CFERF in 2010 and has been a trustee since 2008. A tireless promoter of the research institute, he has been instrumental in developing and launching the corporate donations program.
Mr. Wells was also Chair of the Committee on Corporate Reporting (CCR) from 2008 until 2010, and has been a CCR member since 2002. He took leadership of FEI Canada on an interim basis in 2007 and managed the operation successfully until a new chief executive was appointed. As chair of CCR, he expanded the reach of the committee from 25 to 44 members and ensured a successor to replace him.
He also led the Southern Golden Horseshoe Chapter to a record level of membership and engagement. Fellow members have said Mr. Wells’ knowledge of and devotion to FEI Canada is unparalleled. He is a hard worker who knows how to surround himself with qualified and enthusiastic colleagues. He is described as a humble, yet inspiring leader who is known for his integrity and honesty.