CHL Leaders: Francois Levesque realizes dream in becoming business owner
Francois Levesque enjoys cool environments.
Spending much of his formative years at the rink, the former QMJHL netminder put together a four-year junior career with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and P.E.I. Rocket that counted 42 total victories.
When his playing days wrapped, the native of Baie-Comeau, Que., then elected to attend Laval University, where he obtained his law degree, an educational opportunity that became possible thanks to the CHL scholarship program. That background helped Levesque join Norton Rose Fulbright, a local firm where he practiced for more than three years before finding his next true passion – leading his own company.
“I always cherished the dream of buying a business,” Levesque told Junior Hockey Magazine. “I decided with my colleagues to buy a business here in Quebec City. It’s a refrigeration business at the commercial and industrial level. We really enjoy it.”
As the president of Picard Refrigeration, Levesque uses many of the life lessons he learned during his days in the junior hockey circuit to build a thriving enterprise and surround himself with dedicated teammates.
“What I learned in the QMJHL helps me a lot in my business because I try to work a lot on work ethic and the concept of a team,” Levesque detailed. “It’s helped me work with my employees and to improve and make a better business.”
A focused student during his days in the QMJHL, Levesque recognized how success in the classroom would prove critical in paving his way forward.
“Sometimes you need to be a realist, and I figured out that my chance to go to a higher level (in hockey) was maybe more narrow,” Levesque added. “I focused on school when I was 19 years old when I figured I wouldn’t have everything to go on to a higher level.
“For me, it was very important to combine sports and school because in sports you have very good moments and sometimes very bad moments, so it’s pretty up and down, but with my schooling, it was my place where I could be on the opposite end and evolve as a student and also as an athlete so I think that balance was very important to me.”