Centraide Outaouais appoints Émilie Gorin-Denois as executive director

Tashi Farmilo

Émilie Gorin-Denois has taken over as executive director of Centraide Outaouais, stepping into the top job at one of the region's most relied-upon charities on June 22, days after her predecessor left to join the Gatineau mayor's inner circle.

Gorin-Denois succeeds Cédric Tessier, the former municipal councillor who had led the organization since late 2022 and stepped down on June 19. Tessier did not stay on the sidelines for long. Le Droit reported that he was joining the office of Gatineau Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette as a strategic adviser, with a June 22 start date, a role expected to involve files such as housing, homelessness and infrastructure, the same pressures Centraide works to ease.

Centraide Outaouais’ Board chair Sébastien Fugère said the board is confident that Gorin-Denois will guide the organization with ambition and compassion as it carries out its 2026-2029 strategic plan. "Émilie stands out for her inspiring leadership, professional rigour and unwavering commitment," he said.

She is no stranger to the work. Gorin-Denois has spent the past five years with Centraide, first as director of communications and marketing and then as director of philanthropic development. Over five fundraising campaigns, she worked alongside the volunteers, donors and community organizations that keep the charity running, building a close understanding of what it means to families across the Outaouais. She was also elected to the board of the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.

The stakes of the job are concrete. Centraide Outaouais has been part of the region's social fabric for 82 years, funding a network of community organizations across Gatineau and the four MRCs of the Outaouais. Its social development strategy concentrates investments on four regional priorities: housing, homelessness, food security and the educational success of young people. Each winter, the charity also helps provide snowsuits to thousands of local children, and in its most recent campaign, it set out to reinvest roughly $3.4 million in the region.

Gorin-Denois said she accepted the appointment "with great pride, humility and enthusiasm," describing the new strategic plan as a chance to strengthen the charity's collective impact. Social challenges and community needs are growing, she said, but so is the region's capacity to respond, and she wants to build an organization that is inclusive, innovative and rooted in its community.