BUSINESSMAN BERNARD POULIN HONOURED BY NEW JERSEY CITY UNIVERSITY

MONTREAL, Nov. 1 /CNW Telbec/ - Mr. Bernard Poulin, president and CEO of The S.M. Group International Inc. (SMi), was honoured with the NJCU's Global Leadership Award, presented during a ceremony celebrating the University's 80^th anniversary, on Thursday October 29^th, 2010.

Before delivering the award, Dr. Carlos Hernandez, chairman of the NJCU, highlighted Mr. Poulin's amazing career and praised his exceptional contributions in promoting higher education.

A noted businessman, Bernard Poulin heads up the S.M. Group International Inc. (SMi), an internationally renowned project development, engineering and design, project management, asset management, systems and networks integration firm.

His entrepreneurial talent surfaced in 1972 while he was still an undergraduate engineering student, when he founded Labo S.M. Inc. with Gérard Laganière in Sherbrooke, which offered geotechnical engineering and materials testing services.

Through numerous acquisitions and the hiring of highly qualified people, Bernard Poulin successfully managed the company's controlled expansion, making SMi one of the most respected companies in Canada. It is a thriving enterprise with more than 1,400 employees operating in more than 30 countries across North America, Central and South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

In 2007, Mr. Poulin was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the Technology and Communication category for the province of Quebec. He was also the first Canadian appointed to the Board of Regents of the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations.

Mr. Poulin holds a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering (1973) as well a master's degree in Civil Engineering (1980) from the University of Sherbrooke. He also holds a diploma from Harvard University's Graduate School of Business Administration's OMP Program (1982). Moreover, he has pursued additional studies in finance and international business at George Washington University and Harvard Business School. Mr. Poulin received a degree honoris causa in literature from New Jersey City University in December 2009.

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