François Bégin brings 30 years of extensive experience in both domestic and international markets. Mr. Bégin has spent his entire professional career accessing and optimizing public and private sector opportunities, both as a consultant and as a senior executive. As a Principal with Catalyst Partners, Mr. Bégin continues to identify opportunities, build critical relationships, and provide access and guidance to a variety of small and large businesses to help them broaden their footprint.

Mr. Bégin came to Catalyst Partners from Alion Science and Technology, where he served as Senior Program Manager and Director of Business Development. While at Alion, he helped develop a Critical Infrastructure Protection business practice that continues to support the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, other federal agencies, state and local governments and major private sector players. In six years at Alion, Mr. Bégin identified and helped win several large scale government opportunities, by building or joining solid teams and offering innovative solutions.

During the preceding fifteen years, Mr. Bégin had founded the Marketing/Communications Group, a consulting firm that assisted domestic and foreign clients in their business development efforts. Key sectors were telecommunications, software, travel, international finance, and publishing. Noteworthy clients included: Aerospatiale, Airbus, Alcan, BAE, Cogema, Fairchild, Microsoft, Exxon/Mobil, Nortel, Thomson-CSF (Thales) and the World Bank. Mr. Bégin participated in the preparation and negotiation of the World Bank-financed [Russian] Enterprise Restructuring Services Project. This project was developed to help over 250 enterprises adopt western management practices and generally become more competitive in world markets.

Prior to establishing the Marketing/Communications Group, Mr. Bégin had been creating marketing and business development strategies for various clients as an Account Manager at Bozell Jacobs and Sun Communications in Montréal.

Mr. Bégin received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from McGill University, and subsequently completed a Graduate Degree in Management.  Mr. Bégin wrote several articles in trade publications on European Integration and its effect on U.S. High Technology Companies, specifically Aerospace and Telecommunications.