Yanik Deschênes is retiring as president and general manager of the Association des agencies de publicité du Québec (AAPQ), a move he announced at the organization’s board of directors meeting on Jan. 17.
According to Ann Bouthillier, vice-president of the board and CEO of Palm + Havas, Deschênes is leaving “to pursue other challenges within the industry.”
Deschênes had occupied the presidency for three years, representing the interests of the AAPQ’s 68 member agencies and tackling such tasks as negotiating with the Union des artistes (UDA) regarding collective agreements in the advertising industry.
Dominique Villeneuve has assumed the role of interim general manager, having spent four years as director of corporate affairs for the industry group.
Benoit Cartier of Agence Cartier said he was “quite surprised” by Deschênes’ announcement, but understands that he “received an offer he couldn’t refuse.” Deschênes has not publicly announced his next steps, but will do so at the end of the month.
“Yanik was so amazing in launching Montreal.ad, which showcases Quebec member-agency ad campaigns,” Cartier said, “as well as YulLab.com, a creative hub that allows agencies to test their campaigns.
“We’ll miss Yanik because he was such an energetic guy,” he said.
