In 2000, Trudeau & Associates began a series of mining-related assignments in the U.S. Initially focused on strategy development, the assignments the Firm now handles have grown to include diagnostics and substantial business performance enhancement briefs. Says Benoit: “This development coincided with an emerging desire on our part to tap different sources of intellectual and professional knowledge, experience and expertise. It helped us lay the seeds of our ‘Blueprint 2000’, a plan that calls for us to establish a viable presence in the United States and in Europe, sufficient to have us participate in meaningful and challenging assignments in those environments in which we choose to operate.”

The first steps towards the fulfilment of that Blueprint have now been taken, with operations in the United States being placed on a firmer footing in 2003. Concludes Benoit: “Our business is an immensely rewarding one. It allows us to participate in important debates, make contributions towards positive change and, in the process, evolve and enjoy stimulating relationships with great people. It would be difficult to ask for more.”