In 1998, Penner joined Richelieu Group, a company that manufactures and imports legwear, and then acquired the company in 2006. The company expanded into the US in 2011 through the acquisition of certain assets of International Legwear Group (ILG), which included the brands PEDS and MediPEDS. On November 17, 2014, PEDS opened a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Hildebran, North Carolina with Governor
Pat McCrory in attendance. U.S. President
Barack Obama invited Penner to talk about PEDS' investment at a roundtable discussion at the White House in 2014. In 2016,
Gildan Activewear Inc. purchased PEDS for US$55 million. Penner was instrumental in establishing the multi-disciplinary “Michael D. Penner Initiative on ESG” at the Universite de Montreal. This initiative serves as a multidisciplinary research hub to study a broad range of environmental, social and governance issues, with focus on bringing academic rigor to an increasingly fierce debate about corporate responsibilities in areas such as climate control and diversity. He currently serves on the board of directors of Scotia Bank, the Toronto headquartered financial services company with 88,000 employees serving 23 million customers in over 55 countries worldwide, with a stronghold in Canada and Latin America. In his function as a Lead Operating Director for Partners Group based in Zug Switzerland), Penner serves as the Chairman of the United States Infrastructure Corporation (USIC) and EnfraGen Power. USIC is the largest underground telecommunications, power and water utility line locating and damage prevention company in North America. EnfraGen is a leading developer, owner and operator of renewable power generation assets in Chile, Colombia and Panama. EnfraGen's power portfolio includes solar, hydro, and gas generation assets. ==Chairman of the board of Hydro-Québec==