Dennis Cliche was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Yarra Trams in September 2005.

Mr Cliche was formerly the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer.

He holds a Bachelor of Metallurgical Engineering from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and a Master of Business Administration from Concordia University.

Mr Cliche started his career with Air Liquide Canada and spent 22 years with the Air Liquide Group in a variety of executive, sales and technical roles in Canada, France and Australia.

This included five years as Managing Director of the Australian subsidiary of Air Liquide in Melbourne.

He joined Transdev, SA in May 2003 and was seconded to the Yarra Trams executive team in July 2003.

Mr Cliche played a key role in the negotiation with the State Government of the new Yarra Trams franchise and the subsequent integration of M>Tram.

Since April 18 2004 Yarra Trams has operated Melbourne's entire tram network.

Mr Cliche was a member of the Board of the French-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for six years and was President for four years from 1998 to 2003.

For promoting French interests in Australia, he was awarded the Ordre National du Mérite by the French Government in 2004.