Richard Sanfaçon holds a Bachelor's degree in Geography from Laval University in 1978. He received his professional certification as Canada's Federal Surveyor (AF) in 1990. From 1979 to 2014, he worked for the Canadian Hydrographic Service, Quebec Region. Quebec first as a cartographer, then hydrographer, hydrographer in charge, manager, and finally acting director of the office of the Quebec Region. He was elected President of the Canadian Hydrographic Association in September 2016.

Captain Alain Richard holds a Master mariner license, in addition to a bachelor's degree in economics from Laval University and a Diploma in navigation from the Institut maritime du Québec.  Captain Richard has more than 40 years of maritime experience as a captain on various types of vessels, teaching at the Institut maritime du Québec, a researcher and project manager at Maritime Innovation, where he was notably distinguished in developing a software to reduce fuel consumption of merchant ships using tides.