Ms. Isabelle Hudon was appointed ambassador of Canada to France and Monaco by the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, on September 29th, 2017. She presented her letters of credence to President Emmanuel Macron on December 18th, 2017 and to H.S.H. Prince Albert II on April 24th 2018. In June, 2019, Ambassador Hudon was appointed personal representative of the Prime Minister of Canada for La Francophonie.

Prior to her appointment as ambassador, Ms. Hudon successively assumed the responsibilities of President and Chief Executive Officer for Sun Life Financial, Quebec while leading one of the four business lines as Senior Vice President for Sun Life Financial Canada.  Under her leadership, Sun Life Financial experienced impressive growth in all business lines in Quebec and returned to a place of prominence in the community.

Ms. Hudon is well known as a businesswoman with outstanding leadership skills. Her strong business experience, boundless energy and deep community involvement have made her the centre of many networks. From 2004 to 2008, Ms. Hudon was president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, where she contributed to expanding the organization’s influence and confirming its relevance. She then served as president of Marketel.

In March 2016, Ms. Hudon was awarded the Province of Quebec’s Medal of the National Assembly for her commitment to the cause of women’s ambition. In 2015 and 2016, the business journal Finance et Investissement [Finance and Investment] placed Ms. Hudon among the top five in its annual ranking of the “Top 25” in Quebec’s financial industry. She has been named several times (2006, 2012, 2013 and 2014) to the “Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100” Hall of Fame.

Whether as president of the Montreal Festival collective or as the initiator of the ambitious Montréal Métropole culturelle project, or as a leader in the promotion of corporate philanthropy, Ms. Hudon made promotion of Canadian culture one of her personal priorities. From 2013 to 2017, she sat on the Board of the Canada Council for the Arts. She also received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work in raising awareness of the importance of culture in Canada.

Ms. Hudon’s active dedication to the business community has seen her sit on the boards of a number of organizations, including Hydro-Québec, the Mount Royal Club, Holt Renfrew and Groupe Marcelle. She was enrolled in the corporate governance program at the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés [college of corporate directors], which is affiliated with Université Laval [Laval University], and completed the financial literacy program at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Ms Hudon was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Concordia University in November 2017.

In 2018, Ms. Hudon was appointed by the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honorable Justin Trudeau, co-chair of the Gender Equality Advisory Council for Canada’s G7 Presidency. At the Charlevoix Summit in June 2018, Ms. Hudon shared with the G7 leaders the recommendations of the Advisory Council. She was also a member of the federal government’s advisory council created to promote the participation of women on corporate boards. She is the co-founder of L’Effet A, a movement that aims to help women achieve their professional ambitions.