Marianne Berthelot, Vice-President, Operations at Trigenex Inc.
Marianne is a civil engineer with twenty years of experience, seventeen in telecommunications, and Vice-President, Operations at Trigenex. She built her expertise in senior roles at two of Canada’s largest operators — Bell and Vidéotron — leading wireless network engineering, deployment, and operations. Known for pairing technical rigor with inclusive leadership, she is also a dedicated mentor and advocate for women in engineering and construction.
What do you think are the best skills that you bring to your job?
Honestly? My sense of humor, my curiosity, and my rigor. I know that’s an odd little trio to bring to an engineering job. But hear me out: if you’ve ever worked somewhere chaotic or high-stress (and in engineering, honestly, who hasn’t?), you know these three will carry you a surprisingly long way. Humor keeps the room human when everything’s on fire. Curiosity means I’m always poking at why things work or why they suddenly, mysteriously, don’t. And rigor makes sure that once we’ve had a good laugh about the mess, it actually gets fixed properly and stays fixed. Put them together and you get someone who keeps her cool, asks the right questions, and still delivers work that holds up.
What advice would you give to women coming into the industry?
Stay yourself. You’ll grow and sharpen your edges over the years, we all need to do evolve but who you are at your core isn’t a rough draft for other people to edit. Bubbly, blunt, passionate, serious, or all at once: none of those hands your colleagues a permit to tell you you’re “too much of this” and “not enough of that.” And while we’re at it : emotions? Everyone has them. The goal was never to have fewer; it’s to stop thinking they’re a flaw only women get called out for. So bring your whole self to work!
What does true leadership mean to you?
I could easily hop on LinkedIn and pull a few inspirational quotes, but let me be concrete instead :
1- Take care of your people, all of them. Your employees, your colleagues, your suppliers. Leadership isn’t a title you wear; it’s whether the people around you are better off for having you there.
2- You’re allowed to disagree, passionately even. But when standing your ground starts blocking a whole project, strategy, deployment, or initiative that’s bigger than any one of us, real leadership is knowing when to bend so the work can keep moving. In the end, the goal matters more than being right.
What are you happiest doing, when you are not working?
Family time with my husband and our two daughters: officially the most exhausting thing on my calendar, and the one I’d never trade. Twice a year, we usually travel back to Carleton-sur-mer, where I’m from, so the girls get a solid dose of coastline, salt air, and their mother’s roots. Hiking, stand-up paddle, and just being lazy on the beach are my favorite things to do with them!