MONTREAL, Oct. 4 -- Transcontinental announced today the appointment of Francois Olivier as president of the Information Products Printing Sector, effective November 1, 2005. His new position also puts him on the Corporation's executive management committee and he will be reporting to Luc Desjardins, president and chief executive officer. Mr. Olivier is replacing Serge Bragdon, who will leave Transcontinental on October 31, 2005. The Information Products Printing Sector, which mainly handles printing for publishers, has 25 plants and 9 service centres in Canada and Mexico and employs close to 5000 people. The sector reported revenues of $714 million in 2004. Francois Olivier has an impressive track record at Transcontinental. He joined the company in 1993 as general manager of one of the printing plants in Montreal, then was put in charge of a group of four printing plants in the Montreal and Toronto areas. Since November 1999 he has been senior vice president of the Newspaper Group in the Information Products Printing Sector, overseeing a coast-to-coast network of 17 printing plants. Mr. Olivier has been key to the success of the project to print the daily paper La Presse at the new Transcontinental Metropolitan plant since October 2003, as well as the solid partnership with The Globe and Mail - which recently resulted in a renewed contract to print the paper until 2015 - not to mention the contract to print The New York Times for the Ontario and Upstate New York markets starting this fall. Age 40, Francois Olivier has a B.Sc from McGill University and completed the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. "With more than 12 years of experience at Transcontinental and his knowledge of our industry across North America, Francois will continue to move the company forward at this important stage in its development," said Luc Desjardins, president and CEO. "He has risen through the ranks and his determination and leadership skills have enabled him to create a stimulating environment for those he works with. He belongs to the new breed of managers focused on innovation and customer satisfaction. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Serge Bragdon for his contribution to the growth of Transcontinental since 1998. On behalf of the management committee, I wish him all the best in the future."