Jean-Marc Eustache, president & CEO, Transat

Transat’s president and CEO Jean-Marc Eustache has been appointed an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec, announced today by the Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest.

Each year, the Ordre national du Québec rewards outstanding men and women who contribute in an exemplary way to Quebec’s development and its influence.

Eustache was selected by the Order for his distinguished entrepreneurial career; he was the main architect in the creation of Transat in 1987, and he has transformed it into North America’s largest international tour operator – and the world’s sixth-biggest – with 6,500 employees and 18 business units in eight countries.

Eustache has also contributed to the development of mass tourism and championed the promotion of Quebec and Canada as tourism destinations. He continues to campaign for the development and recognition of the country’s tourism industry.

Eustache was inducted into the Canadian Tourism Hall of Fame in 2008. Prior to that, he won the 2006 Grand Ulysse trophy awarded by Tourisme Montréal, Ernst and Young’s 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Quebec, and the 2000 Performance Award from the Réseau gestion de l’UQÀM. In 2000, the daily newspaper La Presse named him “CEO of the Year.”

The insignia will be presented officially on June 15 in a ceremony at the provincial parliament buildings in Quebec City.