Francois has worked in media for over 20 years.  In 1996 he was the president of Canada’s largest consumer publishing company (titles such as TV Guide and Elle).  As co-CEO of Telemedia he oversaw the creation of one of Canada’s largest Radio companies (over 80 radio stations).  He and his siblings sold all their media properties (magazines and radio) by the end of 2002 in order to focus on the growing billboard industry, specifically indoor billboards with their acquisition of Zoom Media in its entirety in 2003 (having been shareholders since 1995).  He has been the Chairman of Zoom since 2001 and the Chairman and CEO since 2003.  He has identified the future of the company as “going digital”.  Zoom currently owns over 80,000 targeted billboards (mostly in North America) of which over 26,000 are digital screens.

Francois is the Executive Chairman of Ayuda Media Systems, builders of BMS.net (Billboard Management System), a software that caters to all the operational needs of the Out Of Home (OOH) industry. 

He is also a Board Member of the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB), the US governing body which regulates the $7.4 billion spent on the OOH industry.  He chaired the TAB’s 2006 Conference and chaired the TAB’s 2008 Conference Committee.    

He co-chaired the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) TAB-OOH Conference in 2005 as well as chairing the ANA OOH Conference Committee for 2007.

Additionally he is the Chairman of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) Street, Transit and Alternative Board (STAR).  He is also a member of the OAAA’s Board, a member of the Marketing Committee and is on the 2009 Conference Committee.    

He is a Board member of the Out Of Home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB), chairs their Client Event Committee and co-chaired the Digital Media Summit in the fall of 2008. 

He represented the OOH industry on a media panel addressing “How Digital is Affecting Other Media” at the American Advertising Agency Association (AAAA) conference in 2008.