MONTREAL – Bel Group is proud to announce the appointment of Cristine Laforest as General Manager of Bel Canada. She assumed her new role on February 1, 2020.
With 20 years of experience in the agri-food industry, including 12 with the Bel Group, Cristine Laforest has developed her sales and marketing expertise in the consumer goods sector, notably at Procter & Gamble, and more specifically, in dairy products at Yoplait and Saputo.
After joining the Bel Group in 2008 in the marketing department, she was promoted to the position of Vice-President Marketing and Sales for Bel Canada in 2013. Throughout her career with the company, her bold vision has contributed significantly to the exceptional growth of the Canadian subsidiary, developing its core brands such as The Laughing Cow®, Mini Babybel® and Boursin®. Cristine Laforest has been a key player in the company’s transformation and, since 2017, has been supporting its reorganization and the redesign of its business model, with the implementation of a new sales structure with recognized brokers and distributors throughout the country.
“I am extremely enthusiastic about this new challenge and am thrilled to lead the Canadian subsidiary of an international company at a crucial time in its expansion. We are taking an important step forward with the opening of our first plant in Canada, in Sorel-Tracy, this year. We are proud to establish ourselves in a community that is part of an important ecosystem in our industry,” said Cristine Laforest, General Manager of Bel Canada.
As General Manager at Bel Canada, Cristine Laforest leads the development of the subsidiary, which will soon have 200 employees across the country. She relies on the expertise of her management committee, established following her appointment, and intends to continue to build her teams in a context of growth, but also a time during which the food sector faces major challenges. Ms. Laforest succeeds Catherine Thomas, whom the Bel Group thanks for her work over more than 10 years at the head of the Canadian subsidiary and wishes a well-deserved retirement.
About Bel Group and Bel Canada
Bel is a global family-run company piloted by its fifth generation of family leadership. Now over 150 years old, Bel is the world’s top player in the cheese portions category and a major player in the healthy snacking market.
The Group’s mission of “championing healthier and responsible food for all” guides Bel’s 12,600 employees in the deployment of a responsible and profitable business model that creates shared value and places the consumer at the heart of its decisions.
Bel wishes to contribute to building a positive agro-industrial model with all its stakeholders, one that favours healthy, sustainable and inclusive eating.
Bel’s business model is based on the geographical distribution of its activities. Its innovation strategy aims at making positive and locally relevant brands.
Through its portfolio of iconic and international brands, such as The Laughing Cow®, Mini Babybel®, Boursin® and more than 20 other brands that are leaders in their local markets, Bel offers consumers in more than 120 countries a range of healthy snacks and culinary solutions, enabling everyone to enjoy the benefits of dairy and fruit products.
The Bel Canada subsidiary was established in 2005 to push the development of the Group’s activities in Canada. Two of its main brands—Boursin® and The Laughing Cow®—are produced in Canada through subcontracting partnership agreements with local dairy processors. The Mini Babybel® plant in Sorel-Tracy, opening later in 2020, will be the first production facility operated directly by Bel in Canada. For more information, visit www.bel-canada.ca.
