Conquering the Divide

When Montreal was selected to host the 25th Anniversary Annual Meeting in 1997, many members were skeptical about the French-speaking location. To further the strides he had made with the Can/Am chapter, Benoit, his wife, and Renaldo and Johann Gualtieri volunteered to head the Host Committee for the meeting. Asked to give the salutary address, Benoit delivered an eloquent welcome, again in both English and French. The meeting took international relations within the die industry to a higher level; as Benoit recalls, "It was fantastic to look at the 23 flags of the countries where IADD has member companies."