Yesterday, Luc Desjardins was named CEO of Transcontinental (Press Release). He has been President and Chief Operating Officer of Transcontinental since May 2000. Transcontinental is one of the ten largest commercial printers in North America, and is Canada's leading printer of flyers, direct marketing products, books and newspapers, and a strong second in magazines, catalogues and directories. Don Monkerud conducted this interview recently while Mr. Desjardins was still President.

Along with printing, Transcontinental offers door-to-door distribution of advertising material as well as web development and integration solutions such as the electronic aggregation of news and business information. As the fourth largest print media group in Canada, Transcontinental's media sector owns 157 community newspapers, 10 of which are dailies, in eight provinces, as well as 83 related publications. It is also Canada's leading publisher of consumer magazines with 37 titles, including Canadian Living, Elle Canada, Style at Home, and TV Guide.

Rémi Marcoux, an accountant and Harvard Business School graduate, founded Transcontinental Inc. in 1976 when he bought a small printing plant in Saint-Laurent that had yearly revenues of $3 million. Mr. Maracoux has grown the company to 44 printing plants in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico with over 12,000 employees and revenues of $1.9 billion (CAN) in 2003. (Mr. Marcoux is now the Executive Chairman of the Board and retains his controlling interest in the Corporation.)