Daniel Lamarre (born 1953) is a Canadian former journalist and former

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the Canadian entertainment company

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

. Born in

Grand-Mère, Quebec Grand-Mère (, ) is a settlement and former municipality in central Quebec, Canada on the Saint-Maurice River. As a result of the municipal reorganization in Quebec which took effect at the beginning of 2002, Grand-Mère now forms part of the ...

, he graduated from the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in communications in 1976. He has been honored with Doctorates from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, and his alma mater the University of Ottawa. Lamarre began his career as a journalist, then moved on to become the communications director for the Fédération des Caisses Populaires du Centre du Québec. In 1977 he became public relations director for the Canadian media company

Cogeco Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezeline ( ...

. He worked with the public relations firms

Burson-Marsteller Burson Cohn & Wolfe is a multinational public relations and communications firm, headquartered in New York City. In February 2018, parent WPP Group PLC announced that it had merged its subsidiaries Cohn & Wolfe with Burson-Marsteller. The comb ...

(from 1981) and National Public Relations (1984-1997) in various leadership roles including president, and then served as president and CEO of

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a Federal government of the United States, federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, an ...

television network,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

’s largest private

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

broadcaster, from 1997 to 2000. He joined Cirque du Soleil in January 2001 at the request of company founder

Guy Laliberté Guy Laliberté, (born 2 September 1959) is a Canadian billionaire businessman, and poker player. Along with Gilles Ste-Croix, he is the co-founder of Cirque du Soleil. In January 2018, Laliberté was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the 11th wealthiest ...

, whom he had previously encountered while working with National Public Relations. At Cirque du Soleil, Lamarre's responsibilities include developing strategies related to business development, operations, sales, the company's financial sustainability, and the perpetuation of its "culture and values". In 2012 he collaborated on the creation of C2MTL Conference, a one-of-a-kind coming together of the creative and business elite of the world. Daniel Lamarre supports several charities, notably the

One Drop Foundation One Drop is an international non-profit organization based in Montreal, created in 2007 by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, which is focused on water initiatives. Arts and culture One Drop uses circus arts, folklore, popular theatre, musi ...

, with its mission to fight poverty by providing access to safe water, as well as Cirque du Monde, a worldwide social circus program targeting at-risk youth. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the

Montreal Heart Institute The Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) (French: ''Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal''), in Montreal, Quebec, is a specialty hospital dedicated to the development of cardiology, which is affiliated with the Université de Montréal. The MHI is found ...

Foundation since 1994.

Awards

In 2019, Lamarre, on behalf of Cirque du Soleil, received the Distinguished Leadership Award for Corporate Citizenship from the Inter-American Dialogue in recognition of the organization's work with at risk youth in Latin America using an innovative methodology structured around the arts, as well as their support of the One Drop Foundation in their effort to grant access to safe water to some of the region's most vulnerable communities.

References

External links

Official website

Daniel Lamarre – President & COO “Joining the Circus”
(interview from 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamarre, Daniel 1953 births Living people Businesspeople from Quebec Canadian chief executives Canadian journalists Canadian philanthropists People from Shawinigan University of Ottawa alumni Officers of the Order of Canada