Jacques has retired after more than 40 years in Canadian industry and business.  Born in Belgium, he grew up in England and attended the University of London, where he earned a B.Sc. with Honours in Geology and Chemistry at Chelsea College of Science and Technology and a Ph.D. in Geology at University College London.

He was recruited as a Geologist for  Canadian Pacific Oil and Gas in Calgary, and later, after running the company’s computer department, he joined Computer Sciences Canada, (CSC) a joint venture of CP, CN and CS Corporation of Los Angeles as Manager of Technical Services for the Western Region. After serving as CSC’s Assistant VP of Marketing he joined  the corporate offices of Canadian Pacific Limited (CPL) in Montreal, where  held a number of CPL positions including Director, Corporate Development; Director Special Projects: Director Financial and Bushiness Analysis and Assistant Vice President Telecommunications.  

Concurrently he held positions in several CPL affiliated companies and subsidiaries including Project Manager for Lorneterm LNG and Exec. VP CP Telecommunications Holding, and he was a Board Member of Can Pak Terminals, Lornterm LNG, Telecommunications Terminals Systems and Unitel Communications Holdings Inc.

He retired early when CPL moved their corporate offices to Calgary, and joined Advance Planning and Communications, one of Canada’s leading PR and Corporate Communications practitioners as a Vice President, where he consulted to both corporate and governmental organisations across Canada, and from which he finally retired.

He has held the designations of M.R.S.C.  (Member, Royal Society of  Chemistry, England),

C. Chem.  (Chartered Chemist, England) and F.G.S.  (Fellow, Geological Society, England) and is a past member of the Data Processing Management Association, Canadian Information Processing Society, Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, Geological Information Society, and the National Committee on Data Banks

Over the years he has served on community, charitable and sports boards including the Calgary Allied Arts Center: Bronfman Center and John Abbot College/CEGEP in Montreal, and the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network and the Centre for Global Research on Health and Environment in Toronto.

His soccer service has included coaching for Beaconsfield  in Montreal and North Toronto and the United Soccer Club in Toronto, where he also served as President. He  also served as League Director, Vice President and President of the Toronto Soccer Association.

In 2017, following his nomination by The Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, he was awarded the Senate Sesquicentennial Medal in recognition of his contributions to Canadian Society.