BESTECH among nation’s best – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 14, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Marc Boudreau’s parents, Roger and Solange Boudreau, were skeptical when he and lifelong friend Denis Pitre left secure jobs at Falconbridge Ltd. about 17 years ago to start their own company.

Monday, the co-owners of BESTECH announced that the company they started in 1995 was named by Queen’s University’s School of Business as one of Canada’s 50 Best Small and Medium Employers.

The company was ranked No. 41 on the list, which appears in the March issue of Profit magazine, now on newsstands.

Boudreau told a small crowd of employees, dignitaries and his proud parents that his company has become a success because it has lived up to its mission statement.

“We’re here, we’re part of the community, the community is important and that is the focus” of BESTECH, Boudreau said after a short ceremony.

The company was selected based on criteria such as employee retention, decreased absenteeism, better employee health and lower job stress, enhanced customer services and better business results.

That formula has clearly worked for the two men who started as sole employees of the company that now employs more than 100 people.

The two have been friends since the age of three, growing up together in Hanmer and attending the University of Ottawa, where they both studied engineering. Boudreau returned to work at what was then Falconbridge and encouraged his childhood chum to join him there.

One day, the men decided: “Why don’t we do what we hire people to do for us when we were at Falconbridge?” they said.

Boudreau is proud of the impact his company has had on the local economy.

“We’re always thinking at that level,” he said.
Pitre said he and his business partner believe in their employees.

“It’s about their future and our future, the future of the companies that are around us. It’s very important to us,” he said.

BESTECH provides engineering consulting services and produces software for mining companies.

Boudreau said his parents were aghast when he walked away from a “30 and out” pension and good benefits at Falconbridge.

“What are you guys doing? Are you crazy?” they asked the men, who were then 28.

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