When Shirley Chenier, Senior Director of Investor Relations at Bombardier Inc., examines the calendar for the coming year, she knows what she’ll be doing each and every week; (mid-March brings the company’s Manhattan investor day while August is always the month she takes her annual vacation). Having been IRO at this Montreal-based aircraft and railway manufacturing company for the past 12 years, Chenier has carefully choreographed her schedule.

Good organization is more than a habit; it’s central to Chenier’s professional creed. “Even if we’re getting many calls, I make it a point to return calls that same day,” she says.

A Life of Travel

Chenier, who received an MBA from l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) while working as Manager of Strategic Initiatives at Bombardier, made the transition to IR easily.

While her first IR assignment consisted of identifying and purchasing various IR databases, such as Thomson and Bloomberg, today her job is far more peripatetic. “On an average week, I’m traveling somewhere,” says Chenier, who is adept at living out of a suitcase. “It’s very seldom that I’m at the office for a full week except during the preparations for our financials.” Due to travel demands, she relies on an IR team that includes Manager Yan Lapointe, an assistant, and a long-term contract worker.

Four years ago, Chenier reinstated the company’s investor day after a long hiatus. Bombardier, which has nearly 40% American investors, hosts this event in New York to “spruce up knowledge of the company and improve its visibility.”  She notes that Bombardier’s analysts generally attend, while many larger Canadian shareholders also make the trip. In the future, Chenier anticipates that Bombardier might pursue a dual listing on the New York Stock Exchange to further expand its presence.

Each year, Bombardier’s IR team attends a number of international air shows. “Senior management is there and a lot of investors go because that’s where they can meet all of the supply chain and our customers,” she explains.

Chenier also actively courts Asian investors and visited Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore in the spring. She is constantly revising her Asian itinerary to reach more long-term investors and plans to discontinue her visit to Hong Kong because too many managers there have short investment horizons. That said, in Asia, and especially Japan, Chenier has found an abundance of long-term investors willing to take sizeable stakes. In 2013, five of Bombardier’s largest investors were Japanese.

Chenier is extremely proud of having won four IR Magazine awards last year. “All the time that senior management allocates to investor relations doing roadshows is paying off,” she says. “The awards show the world that you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing.”

A Softer Side

In addition to traveling to nearly 15 conferences a year and completing a number of international roadshows, Chenier has a very long commute to work. She lives in a house on the Ottawa River, 110 kilometres from her office in downtown Montreal. Since the commute can easily take two hours in traffic, she rents an apartment in Montreal for the workweek.

Born in Quebec and a native French speaker, Chenier feels Quebecois even though her house is in Ontario. She and her husband love living on the water and have taught themselves carpentry. “All the houses we’ve bought were cheap houses that needed a lot of love,” she says. “My husband and I rebuilt them together; it’s a passion that we have. During the weekends, you can see me with a drill and a saw in my hands.”

Chenier and her husband share their home with their adult son, who lives in an upstairs apartment, and with a beagle and two cats. “We really have to refrain from buying more pets,” she says. “If we didn’t, I’d have a full zoo by now.”

Since Chenier is so disciplined and focused at work, she believes that coworkers and colleagues usually don’t glimpse her true self. “I’m extremely sensitive,” she concludes. “I’m a real softy – I just hide it very well.”