Diversity can have very personal meaning at StandardAero

Jeff Poirier was already the leader of StandardAero Ltd.’s substantial aircraft-engine repair operation in Summerside, P.E.I., when he learned first-hand about his company’s diversity commitment to people with disabilities – he suddenly became one. A freak accident in 2022 in an all-terrain vehicle, unrelated to his work, left him paralyzed from the chest down and facing a long and painful journey back over some 18 months.

But Poirier, vice-president and general manager of a unit maintaining turboprop engines for regional and corporate aircraft, did not have to give up his job as head of one of the largest employers in P.E.I. and a part of the global aircraft maintenance company headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz. “The executive team at StandardAero continued to check in on me on a very frequent basis to make sure that I was getting along well,” says Poirier. “They continued to remind me that they wanted me back and my position was there. And when I became ready to start back, they allowed me to choose the pace at which I wanted to return. There was never any pressure on me.”

Poirier now uses a motorized wheelchair to get around and, with sensation having returned to his arms, is able to operate a computer. But his headquarters started in the 1950s as a less-than-accessible military hangar, so the company further retrofitted it and provided the assistive devices he needed. And not because he was the boss – any employee would have received such support, Poirier says. “I was the first employee to use a wheelchair.”

In fact, support for diversity, equity and inclusion is a big part of StandardAero operations in multicultural Summerside. “It’s talked about at every session and has cascaded well through the organization,” says Poirier. It’s a male-dominated industry, he notes, so the company does considerable mentoring of female employees. Summerside also has an employee relations committee where staff can raise issues to management. Poirier himself has addressed staff about his own dramatic situation, and also speaks to outside groups about disability.

Poirier’s unit is known as a centre of excellence, employing more than 500 people with additional locations in the U.S., France, South Africa, Singapore and Australia. The company’s other Canadian centre of excellence is a network of facilities in Winnipeg, where the original company was founded in 1911 as Standard Machine Works.

That’s where Caroline Sicat, a senior learning and development specialist, carries out training for people working on the repair and overhaul of gas turbine engines. “Culture-wise, the company is really fantastic,” she says. “It’s a very inclusive and diverse organization.”

In fact, having done a brief stint at StandardAero following college graduation, Sicat chose to return after eight years working for an airline that moved its operations away. “There’s a reason why I wanted to come back,” she says. “When I first started, they treated me very, very well. And from the beginning, they’ve always said, ‘hey, we like to grow our people, we want to see you progress and get ahead.’”

Sicat is closely involved with a program that partners with the Manitoba Institute for Trades and Technology and provincial and industry agencies to train 15 women annually from diverse backgrounds for entry-level careers in aerospace. In the past two years, StandardAero has hired 96 per cent of the graduates.

Sicat also works with Girls in Aviation and the in-house Women in Aerospace group, and, like Poirier, often speaks to community groups. “It’s great to be part of something that I’m really passionate about,” says Sicat, “especially when it comes to diversity.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Top 100 Employers winners, published November 15, 2024 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.

StandardAero flies high in training Manitobans

When she applied for a job at Winnipeg-based StandardAero Ltd. three years ago, Hannah Leslie was working in a senior’s home, having graduated from high school in the automotive program. That mechanic’s diploma suited StandardAero, one of Canada’s leading aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) firms, and today Leslie is testing big, loud turbofan jet engines as a test technician.

It’s a lot different than going under the hood of a car. “It’s fantastic. It’s different every day, and I get to constantly learn, so that’s big for me,” says Leslie.

She learned quickly, going through the company’s Gas Turbine Repair and Overhaul (GTRO) technical training program. “I came here not knowing even the basic operation of a jet engine,” she says. “And everyone being patient with me and teaching me was huge. People were even taking extra time and showing me things they didn’t have to, just so I’d have a broader understanding of the whole engine and even different product lines.”

In her current job, the General Electric engines arrive detached from the aircraft and are rigged up in her test-cell area, where she and her colleagues fire them up from behind a soundproof concrete wall to check readings on screen. But it doesn’t have to be her last job.

“You can start out in one department, and if you decide it’s no longer for you, you can always talk to someone and they can move you along to try something else,” she says. “You’re never stuck in one position if you don’t want to be.”

That thought is seconded by Neena Gill, who sits a few buildings away as vice-president and general manager of the helicopter division, overseeing helicopter MRO across North America. Gill herself did not expect to be in charge of a highly technical area when she joined the company in the finance department in 2007 with a commerce degree.

“The good thing about working at StandardAero is you can be in a role where you can get a lot of other experience,” she says. “For me, working in finance doesn’t mean that I was just restricted to finance. I was able to help run the business for many years alongside whoever my VP was at the time.”

There are about 1,400 employees in Winnipeg, with up to 60 per cent or so working in MRO on commercial airlines, component repair, helicopters, industrial energy, and government and military aviation. The company mainly hires locally, drawing from college aircraft maintenance programs and training its own mechanically-inclined recruits from other industries, such as Leslie. “If they’re really good, we’ll hire them right out of high school sometimes,” says Gill. In terms of diversity, an entire all-female cohort from a local college recently went through the GTRO training program, and most were hired afterward.

Some of those hires become members of the fabled StandardAero families. Gill’s husband works for the company, as does Leslie’s mother. “We’ve got several family groupings here right now,” says Gill. “It’s pretty common. At times, we’ve had three generations working here from the same family.”

The family atmosphere extends to events and charitable work. “In the summer, they bring in food trucks,” says Leslie. “There’s also a steak lunch that upper management makes for us.” In winter, there is ice fishing and at Christmas, by long tradition, every employee gets a turkey. Employees also pitch in to work for Habitat for Humanity, which StandardAero supports, along with United Way.

Leslie hopes to gain more qualifications as her career progresses, “but there’s still a lot to learn here,” she says. “I love this company.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing the winners of this year's Manitoba's Top Employers competition, published March 11, 2025 in the Winnipeg Free Press. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, who did not write or review the content.