The uOttawa alumni are partners in both business and life: Andreea is President and CEO of ANDY and Franck was appointed Vice President, Legal and Corporate Development in 2021. Headquartered in Montreal, ANDY Corporation oversees a range of services, from transportation and logistics to distribution, warehousing, and fleet management. With Andreea at the helm, the company is one of North America’s largest woman-owned fleets, employing over 400 people in Canada and Europe.
ANDY was founded in 2001 by Andreea’s father, Ilie, when the family immigrated from Romania to Montreal. The business started as a means to pay the bills, and employed 1.5 people—Ilie, and a pre-teen Andreea who would field payphone calls from her father at roadside stops, helping him to translate the terms of his trucking subcontracts. To this day, the company’s name is a direct reference to the family's nickname for Andreea.
Formally joining the company as a teenager and working her way to the C-suite, ANDY has been a constant presence throughout Andreea’s life, including during her studies at uOttawa.
Experiencing all uOttawa has to offer—and paying it forward
Reflecting on their time at uOttawa, Andreea and Franck point to the importance of the relationships formed during their studies.
One of those relationships was with each other—Andreea noticed Franck on the first day of their civil law study group when he sheepishly confessed to having not done the reading material. A friendship and, following law school, a romantic relationship sparked from there.
As uOttawa students, Andreea and Franck took full advantage of their campus experience. Andreea was drawn to the international co-op program and exchange opportunities, and completed placements with a law office in Shanghai and at the New York City Criminal Court.
“I wanted to travel and live in different places as much as I could during those study years since I didn’t know if it would be possible later with life and work commitments,” reflects Andreea. “These experiences abroad broadened my viewpoint and allowed me to check a lot of boxes from both a professional and personal standpoint.
Franck’s extracurricular experience was as a running back on the Gee-Gees football field. Balancing his law studies and daily training was not an easy task, but Franck says the uOttawa environment made all the difference. “My teammates and atmosphere were really important,” says Franck. “You can really thrive in a great environment, whether it’s at university or at work, even if what you have to do is hard.”
In recognition of the impact Gee-Gees football had on his life, Franck recently created the Ngandui Gee-Gees Football Scholarship. Having benefited from financial aid during his time at uOttawa, Franck hopes the scholarship can help financially-strapped football players who may otherwise need to drop off the team to pursue part-time work to pay for their studies—a trend he noticed during his time at the university.
In addition to the scholarship, Franck is also generous with his time. As a member of uOttawa’s Montreal Alumni Council, he is trying to change individual perceptions of philanthropy in Quebec, so his fellow alumni feel compelled to attend events and give back to their alma mater. “My hope is to continue giving back a lot more,” adds Franck.
Moving forward with ANDY
Entrepreneurship has been part of Andreea’s life since she was a child. Numerous top honours have brought attention to both Andreea’s leadership and ANDY’s growth, including the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2019.
Looking forward, Andreea is excited for what comes next. The pandemic and her father’s retirement in 2021 presented a lengthy transition period, but Andreea says the company has reached a point where they have a solid executive team and a plan for the future.
Though details have yet to be announced, that plan involves business growth into new industries and broader markets. “My motto is that I want us to be more than truckers,” says Andreea. “Trucking is at the core of what we do, but it’s not the thing that defines what we will be in the future.”
In recent years, Andreea and Franck have also taken on another form of leadership: becoming parents to two young daughters. While Franck says he is still learning to compartmentalize work and home, the couple agree that parenting would be a lot more difficult if not for the business.
And fortunately, Andreea says they work well together: “Going back to that study group at uOttawa, we always got along no matter how intense life got. It’s the same thing with the business. The stress and the pressure are very different because it’s your money and jobs that are at stake, but the company also gives us the flexibility to build a family around it and to enjoy the journey together.”
