Following a distinguished career of 33 years at Prevost, the last 11 as President/CEO, Gaétan Bolduc is retiring at the end of 2015.

During his time with the company, Prevost has grown from a small-but-respected operation with 280 employees that was a fairly minor player in the industry, to 1,500 employees and an industry leader in seated-coach sales.

Bolduc learned the business from the ground up over his three-plus decades. He joined Prevost in 1982 as a process technician. Four years later he became manager, industrial engineering, methods and tooling, before moving up to VP, production and material in 1993; executive VP, operations in 1998; and president/CEO in 2004.

Bolduc credits a supportive company environment and the people he worked with for giving him the training and opportunities to grow and advance.

“At the time I became president, the leaders of the company were taking a big risk,” Bolduc said. “I didn’t come with a big list of achievements; I came from within the ranks, with nothing else to offer but what I had done previously at Prevost.”

Bolduc shaped the thinking of Prevost’s business as not being just about manufacturing coaches, but rather about how those coaches are used by the owners and operators in their business, and how Prevost could best support that business with its products and its service network.

“I don’t think we’re selling a product,” he said. “I think we’re selling a partnership for the future — entering a long-term relationship with our customers. We are there to help their businesses succeed, and doing whatever it takes — anything we can do to honor our part of the relationship. That’s our mission, and we have a fantastic team that keeps doing it better every day.”

Prevost also announced the appointment of Glen Gendron as director, pre-owned sales. Gendron takes over for Dann Wiltgen, who retired earlier this year.