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The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport, has announced the appointment of Paul Benoit to the board of directors of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) for a term of three years.
Benoit was the president and the chief executive officer of the Ottawa International Airport Authority from its creation in 1996 to 2013, the year of his retirement. Prior to that, he held the positions of vice president of marketing and operations at Dorval and Mirabel airports.
He holds certificates in management practices from both the University of Virginia and Concordia University, and a certificate in aviation practices from the London Business School. He also has a homeland security executive accreditation from Tel Aviv University in Israel.
In 2011, his team won the Airports Council International Service Quality Award as the number one airport in North America. They have been in the top three since the creation of the award in 2006. In 2012, Benoit was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to wounded Canadian Forces members returning from Afghanistan. He was also named Tourism Leader of the Year by Ottawa Tourism in 2002, and Community Builder of the Year by the United Way Ottawa in 2012.
Benoit created and chaired the airport authority charitable organisation: Project Clear Skies, which has given more than $1 million to support local projects since 2004.
He is also a past chair of the Canadian Airports Council, and has been a board member of Ottawa Tourism, the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, the Canadian Science and Technology Museum, and Vintage Wings of Canada.
“I am very pleased that Mr. Benoit has accepted this position. His deep knowledge and distinguished corporate experience in the aviation sector will be valuable assets to the authority,” said The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport.
