Biography

Richard Lord was born in Saint-Damase-de-L’Islet and moved to Montreal in the 1970s to pursue his university education. Over the next 15 years, he held management positions with various companies including Rona, Mark Hot and Bombardier while taking evening courses at the university.

In 1983, Richard Lord was accepted as a member of the Ordre des comptables en management accrédités du Québec (C.M.A.).

It was in 1988 that Richard Lord was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of at Richelieu Hardware Ltd. and became a major shareholder. At the time, Richelieu was a distributor of hardware products, achieving sales of approximately $27 million.
In 2004, Richard Lord was honoured as a Fellow C.M.A. and Fellow C.P.A. in 2012.

Under the leadership of Richard Lord, Richelieu became a leading North American distributor, importer and manufacturer of specialty hardware and complementary products. The Company reported sales of more than a billion in 2018. Its products are targeted to an extensive customer base of kitchen and bathroom cabinet, furniture, and window and door manufacturers and the residentials and commercials woodworking industries, as well as a large customer base of hardware retailers, including renovation superstores. Richelieu offers customers a broad mix of high-end products sourced from manufacturers around the world. Its product selection consists of more than 110,000 different items targeted to more than 80,000 customers. They are served through 75 centres in North America – 37 distribution centres across Canada, 36 in the United States and two Canadian manufacturing plants, specifically Cedan Industries Inc., specializing in the manufacture of a wide variety of veneer sheets and edgebanding products, and Menuiserie des Pins Ltée which manufactures components for the window and door industry and a broad selection of decorative mouldings. Richelieu also stands apart in its market through its trilingual website www.richelieu.com.

Mr. Lord also serves on these Boards of Directors : Familiprix and Deschênes Group.

Richard Lord was honoured CEO of the year in 2015, awarded by the newsmagazine Les Affaires.

Richelieu’s shares have been listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 1993 (RCH/TSX).