Air Canada’s Lisa Pierce to retire; François Choquette named senior executive, sales

Air Canada’s François Choquette, general manager – revenue management, has been appointed to the new position of senior executive – sales, according to a notice that was sent to partners on Wednesday (Nov. 26).

Choquette will take on the commercial responsibilities of Lisa Pierce, vice-president – global sales, who will be retiring at the end of this year after a nearly 40-year career with Air Canada.

With an engineering background, Choquette started his career in aviation more than 25 years ago at Air Canada within the maintenance department.

He then moved to the commercial side of the company, where he worked on alliances and the Aeroplan program, before moving to France to lead sales for Air Canada in southern Europe for several years.

Upon returning to Canada, Choquette held the position of e-commerce and international sales manager at a tour operator for a few years before joining the Air Canada Sales team again, where he was responsible for specialized agencies, online travel agencies and Quebec agencies.

He then moved to revenue management, where he was responsible for our Transatlantic Network team and most recently all of the revenue management teams – international network in the Trans-Pacific and South American networks.

Choquette holds a master’s degree in business administration from Concordia University and is a chartered director of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

He also sits on the board of directors of Tourisme Montréal, the France-Canada Chamber of Commerce in Paris and small non-profit organizations in Montreal.

He will report to Alexandre Lefèvre, recently appointed vice-president – network planning and global sales.

"Thank you, Lisa Pierce, for your exceptional leadership and remarkable contribution over nearly 40 years of service. You've been an extraordinary leader and boss for me for more than a decade, and I'm truly grateful," wrote Vincent Gauthier-Doré, managing director, Canada and USA sales for Air Canada, in a LinkedIn post.

"Welcome to François Choquette in the role of Head of Global Sales! We're excited to collaborate with you and keep driving our projects forward together."   

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