Our team of organizational psychologists
Organizations that partner with Shaffer | Organizational Psychologists gain access to the full spectrum of industrial-organizational psychology. Our team is composed exclusively of members of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec, ensuring guidance rooted in specialized, consistent, and rigorous expertise.
Maryse Shaffer, M. Ps., IMC™
President and Organizational Psychologist
An organizational psychologist since 2008, Maryse Shaffer helps managers and organizations integrate high-performance, sustainable practices. She is known for her understanding of human dynamics at work and her entrepreneurial perspective. Her dual expertise in organizational psychology and psychotherapy allows her to provide deep insight into the dynamics and obstacles that hinder the development of individuals, groups, and organizations. She is also frequently called upon to intervene in traumatic situations.
Trained by Integral Coaching Canada, she holds the Integral Master Coach™ certification, the highest level offered by this international school. Her executive coaching practice, spanning over 15 years, has seen her support more than a thousand leaders through individual and group coaching. Her expertise in assessing potential and management competencies is a distinctive pillar of her practice.
As the founder of Shaffer | Psychologues organisationnels, she leads the firm she built, which allows her to personally experience the realities of the executives and managers she supports in her clients' daily operations.
Degrees, certifications, and specializations:
- Doctoral studies and Master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- Certified Integral Master Coach™ in management, the highest certification from Integral Coaching Canada
Publications, conferences, and media appearances:
- Professional affiliations: Ordre des psychologues du Québec, Association des psychologues du Québec, Société québécoise de psychologie du travail et des organisations (SQPTO)
- Years of experience: Graduated in 2008
- Featured in Les Affaires regarding management rights and employee perceptions of autonomy (2026)
- Featured in La Presse regarding employee well-being in management contexts, during a conference organized by BonBoss (2021)
Mélianne Cloutier, D. Ps (cand).
Candidate for the profession of organizational psychologist
There is what you know about yourself. And there is what you don't see yet. This isn't for lack of ability, but because no one has yet created the conditions to show it to you with precision.
This is where Mélianne Cloutier, Int., D. Ps., a candidate for the profession of psychologist and doctoral student at the Université de Sherbrooke, comes in. She supports managers and professionals who want to better read what is happening in their relationships, master their impact, and communicate with greater accuracy. Her work also extends to teams, which she guides in developing healthy and productive group dynamics.
Organizational diagnosis and conflict management are also among her core mandates.
Her work is based on a deep understanding of human behavior in the workplace. She creates the conditions favorable for reflection and taking action, adjusting to the unique realities of each environment to support lasting change. Formerly a psychology teacher and now a corporate trainer, she knows how to make the complex accessible. Her time as an interventionist in employee assistance programs has forged a perspective that is both practical and clinical regarding what an individual experiences when facing difficulties.
Her goal: to enable you to see yourself more clearly, so you can develop new reflexes and act with greater impact.
Degrees, certifications, and specializations:
Doctorate in Psychology, specialization in Work and Organizational Psychology
Publications, conferences, and media appearances:
- Ba, A., Dumas, C., François-Sévigny, J., Hui, O., Cloutier, M., Lelièvre, G., & Pilon, M. (2026). Academic motivation in gifted-only and twice-exceptional elementary students with ADHD or SLD. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 49(2).
- Cloutier, M. & Malo, M. (2025). Giving women a voice: exploring resources to face the challenges of the hormonal cycle at work [Doctoral dissertation, Université de Sherbrooke].
- Cloutier, M., Malo, M., & Nicolas, C. (2025, June). Hormonal challenges and the professional environment: exploring resources to support women throughout their professional careers [Oral presentation]. International Association of French-Language Work Psychology, Nice, France.
- Cloutier, M., Malo, M., & Nicolas, C. (2025). Hormonal challenges and well-being at work: understanding and taking action to support women throughout their professional careers [Poster presentation]. Quebec Society for Work and Organizational Psychology, Montreal, Canada.
- Ba, A., Cloutier, M., Dumas, C., Hui, O., & Pilon, M. (2022). Academic motivation, twice-exceptionality, and giftedness [Poster presentation]. Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas), Montreal, Canada.
Professional affiliations: Ordre des psychologues du Québec (candidate), Association of Psychologists of Quebec, Quebec Society for Work and Organizational Psychology (SQPTO)
Years of experience: Practicing since 2024
Expertise enriched by affiliated organizational psychologists
Our network also includes affiliated organizational psychologists across Quebec—notably in Quebec City and the Lac-Saint-Jean region—with an average of 15 to 30 years of experience, mobilized according to the specific needs of each mandate.
A high-performing firm with consistent growth needs a solid team to remain at the cutting edge of its expertise. That is why the Shaffer firm also relies on a network of trusted and experienced organizational psychologists, each bringing their own depth of experience.
Claudia Marcotte, Psy.D.
Organizational Psychologist
A member of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec, Claudia Marcotte, Psy.D., has been collaborating with the firm for several years.
For the past 15 years, she has worked in industrial-organizational psychology across a variety of sectors. Her background combines experience as a human resources director with several years as an organizational psychology consultant in a consulting firm, including 10 years of experience in potential assessment for both private companies and large public organizations. Early in her career, she also developed expertise in leadership and skills development.
Today, she continues her work in potential assessment and leverages her expertise in learning and development, while also dedicating time to facilitating groups of entrepreneurs and providing individual coaching to leaders, entrepreneurs, and managers. She teaches at Université Laval and also supervises doctoral students in organizational psychology at the Université de Sherbrooke.
Her way of working, which aligns with the firm's culture and approach, makes her a natural collaborator for mandates requiring an additional senior consultant, particularly in assessment, training, and individual coaching.
Valérie Gagnon, M. Ps.
Organizational Psychologist and Psychotherapist
Valérie Gagnon has been a psychologist and a member of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec for nearly 30 years.
Formerly a human resources director in the healthcare sector, she left that role to establish her own psychology and mental health clinic—a project born from her desire to combine clinical rigor with a more hands-on, human-centered approach. Active in psychotherapy, coaching, and executive training, she stands out for her storytelling talent, her ability to captivate an audience, and her sense of humor, which make complex concepts immediately tangible.
Her experience as an investigator, particularly in cases involving harassment complaints, also makes her an ideal choice for mediation and conflict management mandates. Her background as a human resources director gives her rare, practical credibility. Over the past few years, she has traveled across Quebec, from Montreal to Sept-Îles, to facilitate training sessions for managers and executive teams.
Valérie brings a distinctive experience, perspective, and energy to the firm.
Organizational psychologists