Calin Rovinescu is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of CAE and is expected to become Executive Chairman immediately after the Company’s 2025 Annual General Meeting. He is or has previously been a member of the board of directors of several other leading corporations in Canada in diverse industries.
He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada from 2009 until his retirement in 2021, leading Air Canada’s transformation into one of the world’s leading airlines and a Canadian global champion, expanding its network worldwide and producing record results and stock market performance. In the ten years following his appointment, Air Canada's shares had appreciated more than 4,000%, amongst the best performance on the TSX, and the airline had achieved record revenues, record profitability and carried a record number of passengers. During his tenure, Air Canada was recognized by Skytrax as the Best Airline in North America in eight out of ten years, and as the only four-star network carrier in North America.
Experience, Qualifications, Attributes, and Skills
From June 2014 to June 2015, while leading Air Canada, Mr. Rovinescu served as Chair of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association that currently represents 340 airlines comprising more than 80 percent of global air traffic. From 2012 to 2016 he also served as Chair of the Star Alliance chief executive board, the controlling body of Star Alliance, the world's largest global airline alliance. From 2004 to 2009, he was a co-founder and principal of Genuity Capital Markets, an independent investment bank. Before 2000, he was the Managing Partner of the law firm Stikeman Elliott in Montréal, where he practised corporate law for over 20 years. Mr. Rovinescu holds Bachelor of Law degrees from Université de Montréal and the University of Ottawa. He was recognized as Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year by Financial Post Magazine in 2016 and as CEO of the Year and Strategist of the Year by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine in 2019. Mr. Rovinescu is a member of the Order of Canada and was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2021.
