Laforest is the new general manager at Bel Canada

June 9, 2020, Montreal, Que. – Bel Group has announced that Cristine Laforest has been appointed as general manager of Bel Canada. She assumed the role Feb. 1, 2020.

With 20 years of experience in the agri-food industry, including 12 with the Bel Group, 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, she has contributed to the exceptional growth of the Canadian subsidiary, developing its core brands such as The Laughing Cow®, Mini Babybel® and Boursin®.

She 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,” she said. “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.”

As general manager at Bel Canada, Laforest leads the development of the subsidiary, which will soon have 200 employees across the country.

She succeeds Catherine Thomas, who was head of the Canadian subsidiary for 10 years and is now retiring.