Placide Poulin (born 1938 in

Saint-Jules, Quebec Saint-Jules () is a parish municipality in the Beauce-Centre Regional County Municipality in the Chaudière-Appalaches region of Quebec, Canada. Its population was 547 as of the Canada 2021 Census. It is named after Pope Julius I. Demographic ...

, Canada) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

businessman. He was the founder of MAAX Inc., a company producing bathroom products, kitchen cabinets and outdoor spas. An influential man in the Beauce, Poulin is a member of the

Parti libéral du Québec The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; , PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has traditionally supported a form of Quebec federalist ideology with nuan ...

. In 1969, he established Modern Fibreglass Inc. in

Tring-Jonction Tring-Jonction () is a village in the Beauce-Centre Regional County Municipality in the Chaudière-Appalaches region of Quebec, Canada. Its population is 1,526 as of 2021. It is named after Tring, a town in Hertfordshire, England. "Jonction" ref ...

, which specialized in the manufacture of

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. Their engines normally ...

cabs, molded swimming pools and

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

components for the transportation industry. The introduction of acrylic as a new manufacturing material led him to establish Acrylica Inc. in Ste-Marie-de-Beauce, which specialized in acrylic bathtubs and whirlpools. In 1987, all the companies were regrouped into one holding, MAAX Inc., with a research and development centre. Today, MAAX is a North American leader in bathroom products. On March 11, 2004, MAAX was sold to a group of investors comprising J.W. Childs Equity Funding III, Inc., Borealis Private Equity Limited Partnership, Borealis (QLP) Private Equity Limited Partnership and

Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) is a Canadian public pension fund, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. OMERS is a defined benefit, jointly sponsored, multi-employer public pension plan created in 1962 by Ontario provinci ...

. In December 2015, Poulin was appointed as a

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In 2016, he was made a Knight of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

References

External links

Biography from the Journal de Montréal
(in French)
Canadian hot tub maker up for saleMAAX website
1938 births Canadian businesspeople Members of the Order of Canada People from Beauce, Quebec Living people Knights of the National Order of Quebec {{canada-business-bio-stub