CreeCo. is going through a miniperestroika in an attempt to meet concerns over its operations and turn around its food wholesaler arm, Servinor.
Abel Kitchen is stepping down as president of CreeCo., the job he’s held since 1991, to devote all his time to putting Servinor Food Wholesaler Inc. squarely on its feet Servinor has big plans to boost its revenues from $21 million in 1994 to $36 million this year by dramatically expanding its operations.
“I’m glad because it will give me more time at Servinor,” said Kitchen, who is also looking forward to a less hectic schedule.
Last year, Servinor took a beating for spending $8.5 million of Board of Compensation money in a move some said wasn’t properly authorized. Most of that money went to build a 67,000-sq-ft warehouse in Val d’Or the company didn’t have the business to fill.
CreeCo. will no longer have a full-time president of its own. Matthew Happyjack, who has taken over from Rod Pachano as chair of the Board of Compensation, will also be CreeCo.’s new president.
CreeCo. is also sharing an office manager with the Board of Compensation in a new office in Ouje-Bougoumou. The presidents of the five CreeCo. subsidiaries report to CreeCo.’s board of directors, which is appointed by the nine communities.
The job of controller of the Board of Compensation has also been abolished. It was held by Richard Brouillard for 14 years, making him the longest-serving consultant working for the Crees. Brouillard was seen as the main figure behind the Servinor cash controversy and was criticized for conflict-of-interest because he was also an advisor to Servinor.
CRA representatives to the Board of Compensation demanded his head in a letter that caused some waves last summer.
“I still feel to put it mildly that I’ve been very unjustly treated,” said Brouillard. “I was just caught in the crossfire. I happened to be a visible target”
Brouillard isn’t getting a compensation package and isn’t planning to sue, but he is plainly bitter. “The first 12 years working for the Crees were interesting,” he said. “The last two were disappointing. There was no feeling that you could bring in new plans. It was more like everybody was there protecting the status quo.
“It has to do with the global situation where the Crees have no specific plans or outlook on where they would want to go from a business point of view, or a social point of view for that matter.”
Another problem at CreeCo. has yet to be resolved. About a third of CreeCo. board members never show up for board meetings, which means the board often can’t get a quorum. As a result CreeCo. lost some big contracts because the board never got around to authorizing them. CreeCo. also didn’t get much direction from the communities on Servinor. As a result last year the Board of Compensation’s management committee stepped in as CreeCo.’s interim board. Communities are now being asked to find new reps to the CreeCo. board.
Brouillard said five or six of the 15 members never showed up due to a variety of personal, political and business conflicts with other board members. Another problem, he said, was that community reps sometimes used information from CreeCo. board meetings to help businesses at the local level compete against CreeCo.
