Lina Mayrand
A native of Montreal, Lina Mayrand has lived there for the past 23 years. Her family has a long history in the food services sector, and Lina took marketing courses at the Collège Maisonneuve while working in the family business.
From its beginnings as a neigbourhood business founded in 1910 by her grandfather, to a group of supermarkets managed by four of his brothers in the 1960s, Mayrand Ltée grew to become a well known food products wholesaler in the 1980s. It is in this field where Lina honed her management skills.
In 1995, the third generation of Mayrands went into the import and export of fresh fruits and vegetables and founded the company Global M.J.L. Ltée which Lina joined in 1996. Hired at first to manage accounts payable, she later became involved in all aspects of running the company.
After 16 years in business, Global M.J.L. Ltée, run by Sylvain Mayrand and Alain Jacques, is a well known import/export company in the Quebec, Ontario and U.S. markets (with $24 million in annual transactions, 90% of sales in Canada, 10% in the U.S., 50% of purchases in Canada, 40% in the U.S. and 10% overseas).
As a wife and mother of three children, Lina chairs various school committees. She is also very involved with Leucan, an organization devoted to helping children with cancer. In the last decade, she joined Tel-Aide; after training as a crisis line operator, she now acts as a volunteer counselor lending a sympathetic ear to people's problems.
As a sports and exercise enthusiast, for the past 15 years she has participated in the annual 20k Maski-Courons race. As well, she works out regularly at the gym, goes downhill skiing with her daughter, and hikes 10k a day with her husband. In July 2011, she looks forward to being grandmother to a wonderful baby boy!
