The Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Tour Operators (CATO) has announced the appointment of TICO veteran and distinguished executive Jean Hébert as its Executive Director effective immediately.

Hébert has had a varied career across many industries including the travel industry.

Most recently, between 2011 and 2021 Hébert served on the board of the Travel Industry Council of Ontario, both a board member and Chair (elected and re-elected December 2015 to May 2021). He was also a member of the Governance & Human Resources, Audit, Technology and Risk Management, Legislations & Regulations and Business Strategy committees.

Previously, Hébert spent almost eight years at Canada Post’s head office as a special advisor to the Chairman of the Board and as Director of Business Development for Canada’s largest network of customer service outlets, and then worked for Quebec and federal governments in a variety of senior staff and policy roles.

“Jean is a wonderful person and brings incredible talent to our board, our members and industry,” says CATO Chair Brett Walker. “We know he will make a huge contribution in raising awareness of issues that matter most and working with governments of all levels as well as other stakeholders to achieve our goals.”

The CATO Board of directors includes Walker (Collette); David Green, Vice Chair (G Adventures); Richard Edwards, Treasurer (The Travel Corp.); Nicole Bursey, TICO Director, CATO appointed (Transat); Joanne Dhue, TICO Director, CATO appointed (Sunwing); and Emma Cottis, Chair Sustainability Committee (Goway).