A View From The Top

Norman E. Hébert Jr. has scaled impressive heights in both his career and personal life. He attributes the achievements to a family legacy of hard work, innovative thinking and paying it forward while never looking back.

Six years ago, the President and CEO of Groupe Park Avenue Inc. celebrated his 55th birthday by ascending Mount Everest to Base Camp.

Hébert Jr. realized the lofty personal dream with his wife, son, daughter, and their daughter’s then fiancé by his side.

The trip, along with another family adventure last year to India to commemorate his 60th birthday, are part of a personal vision. “I’m still relatively active. I love to ski, play golf and tennis,” Hébert Jr. said, adding he feels compelled “more and more” to pursue adventure travel.

Along with that comes a growing passion for he and his wife, Diane Dunlop-Hébert, who was named the 109th president of Golf Canada in 2012, to seek out and indulgein hidden-gem restaurants and wines while traveling.

When they’re home in Québec, Dunlop-Hébert, an accountant by trade, is in charge of infrastructure and renovation projects for Groupe Park Avenue Inc., while Hébert Jr. attends to his many daily duties.

Their son, Norman John Hébert, joined the now third generation family company five years ago. Hébert Jr. says he grew up immersed in the business that was founded in 1959 by his father, Norman Sr. “Our business started 60 years ago, when we had one General Motors dealership on Park Avenue in Montreal,” Hébert Jr. explained.

The Park Avenue locale was the inspiration for the company name. Expansion came in the ’80s when GM green-lighted the owning of more than one dealership. “We began to diversify and grow… today we operate more than 20 car dealerships, mostly in Montréal, Québec City and Sherbrooke,” he said. Hébert Jr. joined the family business in the early 1980s, after completing a law degree and passing the bar. Prior to that, he spent several summers while in school working for his father.

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By Kristine Edson