IMC - Key Persons
Al has extensive environmental regulatory expertise having worked in several public and private sector roles over the last 40 years. This work included direct experience in the public sector, working with increasing responsibility in air quality control, environmental monitoring, standard setting, approvals, investigation and enforcement and emergency response, culminating for almost 5 years as the Assistant Deputy Minister with broad responsibility for the Environmental Regulatory Service in the Department of Environment. He then spent over 15 years as the Regional Director for the Canadian Chemical Producers' Association / Chemistry Industry Association of Canada where he continued his focus on managing environmental issues. Al also spent 6 years as a member of the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board. Al has a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and an M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta.
Allan has over thirty years of experience in the telecommunications industry as a communications engineer, project manager, trainer, and consultant. During the course of his career, Allan has travelled worldwide teaching and consulting for major telecommunication companies including: Nortel, Cisco, Bell Labs, Bellcore, SaskTel, TELUS, and Bell Canada. For the past eight years, Allan's primary focus has been working with Alberta rural municipalities to develop and implement rural communication implementation plans, which are then used to obtain capital infrastructure funds from the Federal and Provincial Governments. He also has vast expertise in the Internet of Things and has completed projects which are related to the installation and setup of systems for remote monitoring of oil field sites. Allan is currently working as the project manager in the construction of five utility towers in two Counties-two of the five sites include the planning, design, and construction of a fibre backhaul to either a SuperNet PoP or a TELUS central office.
Amit is a tech entrepreneur with 20+ years global experience in banking, Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS), and heavy construction industries. He is the CEO and co-founder of Braintoy Inc., an Artificial Intelligence technology firm that does real-time load prediction of utilities. He also founded Veerum, a Calgary-based industrial internet of things (IoT). Start-up experience also includes Adventity, a financial services ITeS firm in India, recognized as the Emerging Company of the Year. He has a master's degree in management science from the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya and is an alum of the Indian School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management.
Anne has worked with over 60 Indigenous groups across Canada since 2005. She led stakeholder engagement planning and execution for conventional and unconventional oil and gas, pipelines, facilities, refining, and renewable energy projects at Petro-Canada and Suncor. In addition, Anne's work has resulted in the creation of a common values-based approach to Indigenous business development and workforce development in Suncor's upstream, downstream, and renewable energy businesses across Canada. Anne has a Master of Arts in Corporate-Aboriginal Relations and is a Certified Public Participation Professional (CP3) through the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). Her research and practice have identified key criteria for effective Indigenous-corporate collaboration, based on the evolution of Suncor's approach to Indigenous engagement in the oil sands.
With over 50 years of financial, operational, and general management experience, Bill brings an extensive background in leadership and real-world expertise. Bill's areas of expertise include financial restructuring, corporate turnarounds, general management, and complex business transactions, particularly in Europe, Brazil, Japan, and Canada. Serving as a CFO for several companies between 1988 - 2003, Bill helped in the successful transition and growth of these companies. Between 2013 to 2016, Bill worked with Alberta Innovates as special advisor to the CEO, focusing primarily on small and medium-size enterprises. He is currently an investor, board member and president of Agents of Discovery - a digital education gaming platform. Bill is a retired U.S. Army Infantry Officer, a Vietnam Veteran and graduate of Bucknell University in Economics. Over the years, Bill has served as chairman and trustee of Southern New Hampshire Regional Medical Centre and on boards of several companies.
After receiving Engineering and MBA degrees from the University of Alberta, Bob spent the next 37 years with ATCO, including acting as Vice President of Government Affairs, Communications, and Corporate Initiatives. His experience included diverse technical and business areas, with a focus on major facilities planning, strategic business planning, regulatory proceedings, and project economic evaluation. A key area of expertise was working closely with external parties to arrive at mutually agreeable solutions. Bob is experienced at developing key relationships and executing advocacy plans in the context of new government policy and regulations, involving industry and government stakeholders.
Bob has over 40 years' experience in the Canadian forestry industry. He recently retired as Vice-President Woodlands with Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac). He managed Al-Pac's Forestry Management Agreement (FMA) which encompassed 6.37 million hectares in North Eastern Alberta, and had operational and financial responsibility for a woodlands operations that provided the pulp mill with 3.5 million cubic meters of fiber annually. Bob's career has had a focus on environmental sustainability and he has particular expertise supporting the development of sound environmental policies. Bob was a Board Member for the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) and more recently chaired the Forest Operations Advisory Committee with FPInnovations. He served as a task force member with the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE), and also sat on the Board for the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry. Until recently Bob chaired the Forestry Committee of the Forest Products Association of Canada and has been keenly involved in the implementation of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement.
Bob Savage joins IMC after working for the past few years with Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) where he was the Executive Director responsible for Planning and Performance Management. Bob brings to IMC more than 30 years of experience in government, where he spent the majority of his career in Climate Change policy and integrated resource management and planning. As Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM), Bob was responsible for Alberta's Climate Change Office (ACCO) within the Ministry of Environment and Parks. Prior to his role as an ADM, he was an Executive Director for the Regulatory and Compliance Branch and was a central figure in the development of Alberta's Climate Change policy, legislation, and greenhouse gas regulatory and emission trading systems. This work also included the establishment of ERA. In addition to climate change, Bob has held senior management and executive management roles in the Ministry leading Air and Water policy, as well as Land Use Planning. Bob's education is focused on land use planning and resource economics, and he holds an MBA specializing in Project Management.
Previously Managing Partner, Edmonton and former Head of the National Tax Practice at Dentons Canada LLP, Carman is now Senior Counsel in the Edmonton Office. Carman's law practice combines tax planning and litigation expertise with strategic advice to Boards and executives of corporations and non-profit organizations. This includes matters such as First Nation enterprises, cross-border investment into and from Canada, private and public transactions, structures and taxation issues, acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations, transfer pricing and withholding taxes. He is also an experienced director and have chaired a number of corporate and non-profit boards. He currently serves as Chair of the Bee Clean (West) Group of Companies, as well as being a director on the Board of the Edmonton Regional Airports Authority. Previous positions in include past Chair of the Edmonton Screen Industries Office, director of Bitcoin Well, as well as on the boards of several private companies
Charles has over 25 years of experience in the retail sector. He was the COO of the United Farmers of Alberta and a senior executive with Kmart Canada and Zellers. He was also the International President of Wholesale Sports and Interim President of Sportsman's Warehouse, both of which are large international retail chains. He has expertise and a strong track record of creating shareholder value through marketing prowess and operational excellence. He was responsible for significant increase in revenue and earnings for a large retail chain, successfully opened many new store locations, and managed and financed acquisitions. In addition, he has demonstrated skills in identifying opportunities, negotiating transactions, directing due diligence and managing operations. Charles held Board positions with large international organizations such as Universal Co-op and Wholesale Sports.
Chowdary is an entrepreneur and management professional with 15+ years of experience in implementing customer facing IT and operational technology systems. He has led various large-scale projects ($400M+) and ran the global sales activity for a S&P 200 management consulting firm. Chowdary is CEO of NTwist, an Alberta based AI company that uses ML and AI techniques to optimize production and manufacturing processes and reduce cost.
Chris, born and raised in Edmonton, AB. Now living in Fort Saskatchewan with his wife and two boys. Chris has 15 years of supervisory and management experience. Also experience in personal insurance and investments. Dealing with project management, delegation and organizational planning. Specializing in problem solving, proposals and time management.
Chris has over 10 years of experience in business development and project management. He has over 4 years of private equity experience in the oil and gas sector. Chris has held top positions in companies like Capwest Equity Partners and Nor-Chris Holdings. He has a strong mergers and acquisitions background with focus on post-transaction integration in varied sectors including oilfield services, industrials and construction.
Colin has extensive background in and knowledge of the oil industry from a 30 year career at Petro-Canada. He has worked in a variety of planning, marketing and development roles in the areas of refining and marketing, upstream production, and corporate groups. Colin led the strategic, planning, marketing and commercial components of Petro-Canada's oil sands strategy, including negotiating numerous large contracts and strategic transactions. He has been heavily involved in the development and economic analysis of upgrading strategies for the Edmonton refinery, the Fort Hills mining and upgrading plan, major processing arrangements, and market assessments for oil sands production.
Connie has 28 years of diverse and progressively responsible experience working with the Agriculture and Food sectors. Scientist by background, through her tenure, Connie has worked in many different areas of the agriculture sector including: food, feed, primary production, and bio-industrial. Starting as a research scientist and eventually becoming an Executive Manager, Connie was responsible for the development and implementation of several key initiatives within the provincial government. Additionally, Connie was successful in developing and supporting industry partners in commercializing several new food products. Connie's focus shifted from research to strategic planning and policy development for food safety, animal welfare, and social license. She has technical expertise in product development, and pilot scale process and product design in segments of the food, feed, personal care and bio-industrial sectors.
Dr. Hocking has had a diverse career in solving complex problems through engineering analysis and advanced simulation. His experience includes crude valuation studies, pipeline capacity studies, crude oil assay analysis, refinery optimization and complexity analysis, upgrader yield prediction and well-to-wheels GHG analysis for oil and gas. He is also an expert in multiphase flow, fluid characterization and steady-state and transient simulation. He has held key technology roles at Hyprotech, Aspentech, KBC and Computer Modeling Group (CMG). Additionally, Dr. Hocking has consulted for MEG Energy, HTRI, Honeywell, Mosimtec and Neotec. Dr. Hocking is the co-author of 17 patents in the heavy oil upgrading industry and holds a Bachelor in Engineering and PhD in Chemical Engineering both from the University of Adelaide.
Dan held senior management positions with Canfor, Slocan and Weldwood where he gained extensive experience in solid wood facilities, woodlands operations, international marketing, sales, distribution and logistics. Dan had senior responsibility for the construction of three large sawmill projects. He is also experienced in the areas of remanufacturing, tree seedling and plantation sectors.
Dave is a highly experienced strategic and operational leader in the Canadian energy sector, with a strong focus on integration of technology, economics/business and public policy, having dealt with governments led by various political parties in jurisdictions across Canada. He has extensive knowledge of the external context in which the upstream Canadian oil and gas industry is operating, combined with technical and business breadth and depth across the sector. He was previously the President and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), and prior to that he was the President and Canada Country Chair for Shell Canada Limited.
David has extensive business and government experience. David founded the 25 person accounting firm Dorward & Company in the mid ‘90's, with offices in Edmonton and Calgary. Previous to that he worked with a national trust company in the controller and treasury areas. He was elected in 2012 in Edmonton-Gold Bar as a MLA and served in numerous positions in the government, including as the Associate Minister of Aboriginal Relations. David has made extensive community contributions, including leading the successful efforts to raise funds to build the Saville Community Sports Centre (GO Centre) at the U of A South Campus. The building was a vision of David's that grew during his time of coaching basketball for 12 years.
Deborah James, BSc (Pharm), PhD, is the Executive Director of Innovation for the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta. With more than 15 years of academic-executive and consulting experience, Dr. James works extensively across the public and private sector to bridge, create and implement large-scale initiatives that demonstrate value to care providers, academia […]
Don was born and has lived most of his life in Edmonton. A huge Edmonton Oilers fan and loves watching Jeopardy. Also enjoys watching the Edmonton Eskimos and Curling. He is interested in reading about Canadian history and watching documentaries (historical) on TV. Don really enjoys his time at IMC and looks forward to traveling more.
Don has 40 years of wide-ranging project and construction management and operations experience. His operations expertise includes the petrochemical, pipelining, oil sands, refining and fertilizer industries. He was the Vice-President of SNC Lavalin and was the General Manager for their Edmonton office. In his business leadership and management roles, he has been crucial in the development and rollout of mission, vision and values of companies, strategic planning and alignment, balanced scorecard development and implementation. He is highly knowledgeable in project management including project execution and planning, front end due diligence and project plan implementation. Don is also experienced in highly advanced participative management systems as well as traditional management roles and he has had significant success in line management, staff management and other specialist roles.
Don has 40 years' experience as a specialist in integrated land management (ILM), combining expertise in forestry, energy sector operations, and site reclamation to minimize impacts and maximize benefits. He began his career with the Government of Alberta as a reclamation officer and forest ranger before joining Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries in 1992. He developed and implemented Al-Pac's extensive ILM program during a period of massive expansion of oil sands operations in the company's FMA area. Since 2014, he has provided environmental and reclamation planning and implementation services for pipeline and energy clients such as TransCanada Pipelines and the Alberta Carbon Trunk Pipeline. He is an API Certified Pipeline Inspector and an Alberta Registered Professional Forest Technician, has served on government and industry advisory committees, and delivered papers and presentations on ILM.
Dr. Ian Potter has decades of experience in leadership roles with Federal and Provincial funding corporations. Dr. Potter served as the Vice President, Engineering at National Research Council (NRC) of Canada from 2011 to May 2018 where he was responsible for the strategic direction, operation and client key account management for the division, including portfolios […]
Duncan has extensive experience and expertise in the fields of corporate sustainable development and regulatory and stakeholder relations. He has over 20 years of domestic and international experience in business and project development in the resource and environmental sectors, including forest products, energy (independent power), and primary metals (aluminum). Duncan has advised private and public sector clients, including the B.C. Ministry of Forests, regarding biomass-energy projects and related land use and environmental issues. He has experience with forest management operations and major projects with critical economic ties to First Nations and other ENGO stakeholders. He was an advisor for Iisaak Forest Resources, a Weyerhauser/First Nations joint venture developing a sustainable forest management strategy for Clayoquot Sound.
For almost 30 years Ed has served the Canadian resource industry from a financial and operational perspective. His operations, engineering, and production background stems from his successful careers with both Imperial Oil and TransCanada Corporation, while his senior positions at ARC Financial and Polar Securities drive his unique and expert perspective of energy related financial issues.
Ed has broad experiences in addressing diverse and complex problems with a high level of cross functional planning, integration and optimization. Most recently he led the integration and consolidation of the marketing portfolios for sulphur, petroleum coke, and diesel for Suncor and Petro-Canada and was responsible for planning and cost control for lodging and transportation infrastructure requirements. Ed is experienced in coordinating and managing cross functional teams in developing business opportunities and executing transactions that enhance operational excellence in support of Oil Sands Projects.
Eddy Isaacs is the former CEO of Alberta Innovates - Energy & Environment Solutions and a Strategic Advisor to the University of Alberta, Faculty of Engineering. Eddy has spent his career promoting innovation in energy and environment across Canada and in forging partnerships between industry, government and academia. In 2014, he received the ASTECH Foundation's award for his outstanding contribution to the Alberta science and technology community. Eddy has served as co-Chair of the Energy Technology Working Group of the Canadian Council of Energy Ministers. He is regularly called upon to provide expert opinion and insight into Alberta's future in energy and environment.
Elizabeth has over 25 years of experience in research and innovation including leading cross organization and cross ministry projects; developing strategic plans and frameworks; product, program, and portfolio management; developing funding programs to grow Alberta's food manufacturing sector; and new service introductions within the telecommunications industry. She has held various Director level positions, within Government, a government agency, and within industry.
Elliot has extensive experience in the resource sector both as a management consultant and a senior executive. As a consultant at McKinsey & Company, he worked on operational and strategic projects with more than 50 mines, mineral processing facilities, and oil & gas installations around the world. He was ultimately elected a Partner in McKinsey's Denver office. Following this, Elliot was Vice-President Projects at Dominion Diamond Corporation in northern Canada. At Dominion, he had executive responsibility for business development, major capital projects (including information technology and new technology introductions), regulatory and government relations, and indigenous and stakeholder relations.
Ewald has had the privilege of working collaboratively together with a host of Indigenous communities, as well as Indigenous individuals, since the mid- 1990s. For the past 15 years or so, Ewald's Indigenous Engagement ventures have focussed on creating business and economic development opportunities within specific Indigenous communities, developing economic strategies as well as business plans set within the larger context of promoting Indigenous cultural Environmental Stewardship as well as Territorial Sovereignty world views and values - from agricultural to renewable, as well as non-renewable, energy pursuits. Having been raised and educated in the Anabaptist/Mennonite world view of pacifism, peacemaking and reconciliation, and having been trained at one of western Canada's leading law schools, Ewald is particularly keen on seeing all of the 94 Calls to Action issued by the formidable 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission implemented by Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike come to fruition. Ewald takes particular pride in having developed an extensive Indigenous and non-Indigenous network of colleagues, experts and contacts across western Canada, and beyond.
Job Titles:
- Fellow of the Canadian Certified Management Consultants Institute
Frank Bourree is a Fellow of the Canadian Certified Management Consultants Institute. Until January 2020 Frank was the CEO and owner of Chemistry Consulting Group Inc. which operated 9 offices in BC with 150 staff. Chemistry Consulting along with its subsidiary company GT Hiring Solutions provided Business and Human Resource Services including multi-year contracts with the BC Government for WorkBC Employment Centres on Vancouver Island and the BC Lower Mainland for over 25 years. Chemistry Consulting Group and it's sister company GT Hiring Solutions has won BC Business Magazines "Best Companies to Work For" five years in a row. For 12 years Mr. Bourree was a Partner and National Tourism Consulting Director for Grant Thornton LLP Chartered Accountants and Management Consultants. Prior to entering the consulting business, Mr. Bourree was the BC regional manager for Controlled Foods International (Earls) for 15 years and then for 10 years an owned and operated 10 restaurants. Frank specializes in Strategic Planning and Business advisory services and human resource and recruitment services. With direct experience in most industry sectors Frank has a wealth of experience to assist any business or non-profit strategic advice. Active in his community, Mr. Bourree is the Chair of the South Island Prosperity Partnership (SIPP), Past chair of Our Place Community Advisory Board and The Coalition to End Homelessness. Frank is past chair for the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and in 2019 was awarded the Chambers First Award of Distinction for community service. He is a Leadership speaker for the United Way, a Lifetime Member of Tourism Victoria the Treasurer of the Victoria Spirit committee, the Past President of Community Living Victoria Foundation and a former board member of Tourism BC (Crown Corp.). Mr. Bourree is a Member of the Order of St John and a Fellow of Canadian Certified Management Consultants (FCMC). Frank and his wife Jane enjoy a blended family with 7 children all over 19 and five grandchildren and are enjoying the empty nest lifestyle in Victoria B.C.
Gary has 35 years of industry experience. He is well versed in strategic planning, product sourcing across the global supply chain, and product branding. As president of Calvin Klein Jeans, he successfully grew the business from less than $1 Mil in sales to $44 Mil in sales in five years. He has extensive manufacturing experience and as COO, has managed large domestic vertical manufacturing facilities across multiple facilities. He has restructured companies from both a manufacturing focus and branding strategy. Gary was involved in the restructuring of Blue Bell Canada (Calvin Klein and Wrangler Jeans Canada) which entailed shutting down their manufacturing facilities in Ontario and rebuilding the manufacturing volume and team in Winnipeg. He has successfully transitioned a number of companies' business models, from domestic manufacturing to fully outsourcing imported product. He has consulted for the federal government under the CATIP initiative as a best practice consultant creating profitable alternatives to past practices. He has also been the lead company negotiator for several unionized collective agreements.
Geoff Tauvette is a professional engineer with more than 23 years of experience in aviation fossil and clean fuel procurement, infrastructure and logistics management, environment and climate change risk and compliance management and sustainability strategy and implementation. Geoff has been instrumental in leading airline consortia that provide aviation fuel and deicing infrastructure, investment and handling
Gerald has extensive experience in the oil industry with a diversified background linking oil sands production, bitumen upgrading, oil refining and technology development to the Alberta oil sands market. Gerald was directly involved with partial upgrading technology development, leading to patents for the MEG HI-Q process. Currently, he is treasurer and past president of the Canadian Crude Quality Technical Association, past president of the Canadian Heavy Oil Association, and has worked as an independent oil sands industry processing consultant to government and industry.
Gilles Turcotte is an MBA graduate from McGill University, with a specialization in international business and has a B.A in Economics from Université de Sherbrooke. Gilles has been a Business and Corporate Development Executive with 25+ years of success in leading international business organizations to leverage untapped market potential and enter new and emerging markets. He has vast expertise in business development, project development and corporate strategy in the infrastructure, energy and aerospace/defence domains. During his career, he led his employers' selection as suppliers for more than 15B$ of business in 30 different counties. In recent years, he worked with SNC-Lavalin for the Infrastructure Division as Vice President, Business Development & Proposals. He managed sales activities for a division with revenue exceeding 1B$ annually. The main projects pursued were in the transportation, energy, and natural resource sectors. He speaks English, French and Spanish.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Analyst
Glenn is a Chartered Financial Analyst with over 20 years of experience in evaluating and managing projects or businesses in the E&P, pipelines, natural gas processing, and power sectors. He has extensive commercial, financial and asset management experience in the pipeline and midstream industry. He has analyzed and obtained investments for projects and acquisitions over practically all energy commodities and infrastructure types ranging in value from $5 million startups to $1 billion pipeline projects. He has also overseen regulatory processes and negotiated energy supply agreements. Also, he has advised clients on energy procurement and risk management.
Graham has over 11 Years of experience in performance capture and video game development. He has worked on major video game & movie titles such as Assassins Creed, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Far Cry 4, and Stephen King's IT (2017). Graham started in Motion capture at Rainmaker in 2007, and later moved to Toronto to help build the Performance Capture stage at Ubisoft's Toronto office in 2012. He later went on to create Mimic Performance Capture - Canada's largest motion and performance capture studio located in Vancouver.
Grant has over 30 years of corporate finance and project development experience. Grant was formerly Vice-President, Corporate and Energy Banking for Scotia Bank.
Greg is a successful business owner, with over 20 years of experience, operating three start-up companies in the oil and gas service industry. Greg has a strong technical background and is a journeyman instrumentation technician. He also has strong oil and gas market knowledge and strong contacts and networks in the oil & gas industry. Greg has considerable construction experience through his work running a successful electrical contracting business.
Ian has over 40 years of gas pipeline network system planning and related engineering experience following an extensive career with TransCanada Pipelines. He has served in roles ranging from Regulatory Project Manager to Facilities Planning Manager. He assisted in the preparation of the NEB application for the Keystone XL Pipeline and provided associated hearing support, as well as contributed to the fulfillment of post-certificate condition filings. He possesses significant gas and oil pipeline technical and regulatory expertise.
Ian Murray - Chief Legal Officer, President
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- Member of the Transitional Management Team
- President
In addition to Ian's internal IMC management roles as President and General Legal Counsel, Ian has 30 years of experience providing services to an array of private and public clients, with a focus on the natural resources and manufacturing industries. Prior to founding IMC in 1989, Ian articled for the law firm Parlee McLaws, worked in the acquisitions department of Varity Corporation and was Executive Assistant to the Alberta Minister of Forestry, Lands and Wildlife. He has a unique combination of expertise and experience in the areas of project management, commercial negotiations, finance, law and government. His work has included providing clients with active hands-on project management of large greenfield projects as well as transition management services for large private and public sector clients during restructurings or periods of change.
James has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry with particular expertise in Saskatchewan and Alberta. He was previously General Manager for North Canadian Oil (NCO) in its Regina office where primary responsibilities included government relations and accompanying royalty issues as well as natural gas marketing. Later he was Vice President, Operations for Lateral Vector Resources, a publicly traded oil and gas company based in Regina. He has also been involved with start-ups and acquisitions in the energy industry in Saskatchewan. Over the last decade he has consulted on oil and gas related issues providing business development, government relations and regulatory support services. He also sits on the boards of several companies, including SaskEnergy, Kineticor Resource Corporation and Keystone Royalty Corporation.
Jane has over 22 years of experience working in the fields of government, public relations and stakeholder relations in Alberta's private and public sector. She has held senior stakeholder relations roles with Capital Power and EPCOR Utilities, and communication, event management, and media relations roles for the Alberta Government's labour relations ministry. She is well experienced with managing stakeholder engagement programs with communities, First Nations, and industry, both for the Government of Alberta, and companies such as Shell Canada, Syncrude, EPCOR and Capital Power.
Jeff began his career as a lawyer in BC, providing legal and business development advice to various Aboriginal clients in the BC central interior. Jeff has provided consultation services to Nations clients: engaging and negotiating with governments, other First Nations, Industry and general consultation - with the objective of assisting First Nations in achieving their business development goals. Jeff's experience includes development of a joint venture with 6 First Nations communities for a proposed $200 million bio-energy facility with BC Hydro. In 2014 Jeff supported TransCanada Indigenous Relations and brought his expertise to the role of Alberta Aboriginal Relations Manager. Jeff successfully led the development of new strategies, innovative tools and progressive concepts, while overseeing $7 billion of pipeline and related facilities projects and collaborating with major project departments in the development and execution of over $50 million in Aboriginal procurement and business development. Jeff has a broad range of experience in business development, multi-level negotiation, First Nations engagement and collaboration, and relationship building and strategic management.
Joe has 45 years of experience in the mining industry, particularly related to the sand, gravel and concrete business through-out western Canada and the Pacific northwest region of the US. During his tenure, Joe has gained experience in all aspects of the industry including; identifying market potential and establishing business case, source identification, environmental compliance, permitting and operation development and commencement. He also conducted process improvement initiatives with established aggregate and concrete businesses throughout the region. Joe served on the Board of the Canadian Ready-Mix Concrete Association and served a term as president of the Alberta Ready-Mix Concrete Association. Through his tenure Joe has established operations and joint ventures on or near industrial sites in both Alberta and BC which included several First Nations consultations in the Wood Buffalo Region. Joe enjoys working in a participative management environment and is proud to have been involved in developing a positive Safety Culture with his various operations over the years.
Joe has more than 35 years of experience in accounting, transportation and logistics, and business management. His transportation and logistics experience includes considerable leading edge experience with re-load and storage facilities, and marine transport via barge and large ocean-going vessels. He worked for 20 of those years in the pulp and paper industry with the Celgar Pulp Company, Avenor Inc. and St. Mary's Paper, where he innovated, designed, restructured, and negotiated transportation and distribution programs that led to substantial margin improvements. Joe is a business graduate of Selkirk College, and a CGA with numerous transportation and management certificates from institutions such as McGill and York University, and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Karen has over 20 years of combined political and public service experience as an elected member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and Edmonton City Council. She initiated and successfully spearheaded numerous policy initiatives such as the 10-year plan to end homelessness, the land use and oil and gas facilities policy, and the brownfield remediation and re-development policy. She has expertise in negotiating and creating the "buy-in" for major projects and to ensure that initiatives move forward. In addition, she has undertaken numerous leadership positions such as: President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Green Municipal Fund Chair, and President of the Alberta Association of Former MLAs.
Larry is a professional with a strong background in agriculture and information technology. For the past 30 years Larry has been directly involved in working with small to mid-sized manufacturing and grain processing companies. His experience involves operational restructuring, change management, and training and implementing ERP software. Using the data obtained from the new integrated environment, Larry is able to develop the management reporting tools needed to monitor their daily operation and the effects of further bottom line operation changes to a company's performance. As a business operations consultant, Larry believes the full integration of technology into business operations provides the controls and metrics needed to manage successfully into the ever-increasing complexity of their customers' and government demands.
Laurie is a senior communications and stakeholder relations consultant with 25 years of experience including agency, corporate and government roles. In senior agency positions, she led a major initiative supporting TransCanada's Energy East project, supported stakeholder relations for a pipeline in B.C. to serve the LNG industry, and led communications efforts for CAPP, the Government of Alberta, Shell Canada, Talisman, NSolv and others. She also led the teams undertaking stakeholder mapping projects for Pembina Pipelines and CAPP. At Petro-Canada, Laurie was a founding member of the Aboriginal Relations Team, and part of the project team that built the MacKay River SAGD Project. A native Edmontonian who has lived in Calgary for 20 years, Laurie has also worked with the City of Calgary and several Calgary civic institutions.
Len is a chemical engineer by university training. He was involved in oil sands process technology development and related refinery process designs over a large part of his 25-year Shell Canada career. In his 26 years of consulting under LENEF Consulting he has continued to contribute to upgrading technology assessment and development, including leadership of the 2004 Oil Sands Technology Roadmap initiative, as well as upgrading projects. Len has also contributed to many oil sands market-expansion projects by specific companies, federal and provincial government bodies. This work has including economic and emission assessments.
Marge was born and raised in Montreal in La Belle Province. In Quebec she worked in banking and publishing before moving to Kingston, Ontario (go Golden Gaels!) where she worked for chartered accountants. Marge moved to Edmonton in the mid-70s and considers Alberta to be a wonderful Province with the exception of the lack of a good smoked meat sandwich!! In Edmonton, she worked in two legal positions before landing her "dream job" as Judicial Assistant to the Justices of the Court of Queen's Bench. She remained with the Justices for the next 30 years until her "retirement".
Marty has spent his entire life in media - with over 52 years as Program Director or VP/GM of top radio stations in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary. Currently he is 'semi retired' and operates a consulting company called RADIOWISE INC. which specializes in media; social media; and marketing. Marty also does a great deal of work in public service including Jerry Forbes Centre; Santas Anonymous, the Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree; Crescendo, and the John Cameron Changing Lives Foundation. Marty was proudly awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for Community service category.
Matt Vickers has been entrenched in his indigenous tradition and has been a top-notch business leader for the past forty-four (44) years. He has built a number of successful businesses in a variety of sectors including First Nations artwork, technology and management consulting. He has worked with Royal Bank Financial Group as a Senior Manager developing their Aboriginal Banking program, as a Partner with a major consulting group and is now a Partner & CEO of Generating for 7 Generations.
Mel Knight is a successful businessman and politician. Over 45 years, he built and ran Knight Measurement, a very successful business in process control services and facilities management. He later became an elected official and served in the Alberta Cabinet as a Minister of Energy and Minister of Sustainable Resource Development. He was involved in many policy issues related to the oil and gas, oil sands, technology, renewable energy, electricity, forestry and environmental sectors, including developing long-term strategies for the energy and forestry sectors.
Michael is an Emmy® award-winning filmmaker and network storytelling consultant in both the fiction and non-fiction genres. As a producer, writer and director, his films have earned him more than 80 international, national and regional awards and he is the only filmmaker in history to be granted access inside a classified U.S. Department of Defense weapons competition. "Battle of the X-Planes" earned Michael his first Emmy® for best long form news and current affairs documentary. Michael helped launch the acclaimed science show "Daily Planet" for the Discovery Channel and negotiated access to NASA, Russian and European space agencies to tell the story of the people working on the first human mission to Mars. Michael has been a judge for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Emmys® since 2010. In 2013, his feature-length theatrical documentary, "Unclaimed", opened to international acclaim and was long-listed for an Oscar®. Michael is the Chair of the of the Alberta Media Industries Association and is a member of the Canadian Media Producers Association, the Giant Screen Association and the Producers Guild of America.
Michael had a 15 year career as an elected member of Edmonton's City Council, representing central Edmonton. During that time, he represented Edmonton on the Board of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). Michael has significant experience with government policy and planning structures and engagement work with communities and business policy initiatives. He has acted in an advisory role to Mayor Don Iveson and is currently the Chair of the University of Alberta Board of Governors.
Mike lives in Whitehorse, Yukon on the traditional lands of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta'an Kwäch'än Council. With over 35 years of experience working with municipal, provincial, territorial, and federal protected areas systems across Canada, the forest industry, environmental assessment, tourism, and community based economic development, Mike brings expertise in governance, power-sharing arrangements, and co-management to historic treaties, modern treaties, and unceded territory. Informing both strategic analysis and corporate policy development, Mike has extensive experience with Indigenous ways of knowing, protecting the environment, and improving the social and economic well-being of rural and remote communities. Mike has a diploma in Economic Development from the University of Waterloo, an Honours Bachelor's Degree in Outdoor Recreation from Lakehead University, a M.Sc from Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. from the University of Victoria. Mike is an adjunct professor at Lakehead University and serves as a Director on various community and non-profit Boards.
Milo has spent his entire career seeking challenging biological goals and sourcing novel technologies to assist in attaining said goals. This includes all aspects of reforestation from site assessment and preparation through propagule deployment and tending to linking reforestation outcomes to long term management objectives. He has worked extensively in land reclamation, agroforestry for remediation of damaged soils, and in the substantial changes in prairie agriculture over the past three decades. Milo has also worked with many innovative technologies to both reduce and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. These range from carbon capture in trees through development and evaluation of biofuels - including numerous efforts to improve the efficiency of using renewable fuels.
Job Titles:
- Manager, Research and Administration
Nathan has a political science degree from the University of Alberta and has worked in both Indigenous consultation and government relations for AltaLink. Nathan's work supports IMC clients in a variety of ways including, research, change management, regulatory work, stakeholder relations, government relations and Indigenous consultation.
As a highly engaged business leader with over 35 years of progressive experience in Business Development, Executive Coaching, Mergers and Acquisition and Corporate Finance. A results-oriented professional with extensive experience instituting and overseeing a full scope of client-based initiatives. Neil is a dynamic communicator and negotiator, with expertise in initiating and maintaining beneficial relationships with Client's and centre of influence partners. Neil is a certified networker with extensive contacts.
Pete Sametz has more than 35 years of experience in the oil and gas, EPC and power industries working with large, intermediate and emerging companies, managing growth from startup to intermediate status. His career has been characterized by entrepreneurship in startup companies and the early adaption of technologies including horizontal wells (since 1987), "modular" SAGD oil sands projects, COGEN (2009), dilbit by rail (2010) and the operations integration with a refinery in 2006. In the last 6 years have been focused on change management - brought into companies as CEO to restructure and overhaul strategically, financially, and culturally. He is recognized as a leader in innovation and an advocate for environmental and social responsibility in the energy industry. Mr. Sametz graduated in engineering from Carleton University with high distinction and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) and the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD). He has been a director of four public companies, as well as a volunteer in the community and with industry organizations. He has been chairman of the In-Situ Oil Sands Alliance (IOSA), and governor of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Pete has over 35 years' experience at IBM in various general, project, and sales management positions with increasing responsibility. Pete specialized in Strategic Outsourcing where clients turn over their systems to drive better results for lower costs. Pete led the change in dozens of Western Canadian clients as a Project Executive and then led a Canada-wide team of Project Executives. He has several years of working with the health bureaucracy and would be helpful to navigate the bureaucracy.
With a 40-year background in the electric power industry Richard consults with provincial governments, utilities, large power consumers, and industry associations on resource planning, transmission access, power-system reliability, cost of service, electricity pricing, technology developments, economic regulation and market structure issues. Beginning in the United Kingdom with graduate training in the planning of generation and transmission facilities his career included senior management roles with regulated electric utilities in Alberta and BC before representing consumer groups in regulatory interventions and acting as an independent witness in dispute arbitrations involving electric power facilities. Richard has a degree in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College London, and an MBA from the University of Calgary.
Robert has over three decades of consulting experience providing communications services with technical competencies in the fields of energy, forestry and the environment. He has conducted work for the National Energy Board (NEB), Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries, Canadian Centre for Energy Information, Petroleum Communication Foundation, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, and many other organizations. He specializes in writing, research, editing, design consulting, and photography; his experience also includes speech-writing, broadcasting, film and video production, interviewing, and web content development. Robert is well versed in communicating technical subject matter to both technical and non-technical audiences, and he has participated in many research-intensive, large scale projects.
Rolf has over 24 years of experience in the development and disposition of startup companies. Sector experience includes energy services, transportation, software, high tech manufacturing and industrial gases. Over his years with IMC he has worked on numerous projects in bioindustrial technology, economic due diligence and feasibility assessments, strategic and tactical planning and new product market assessments.
Ron Wallace, Ph.D. is a retired Permanent Member of the National Energy Board (NEB) and an Alberta Emerald Award recipient. He directed projects in Russia for the World Bank (Washington), the EBRD (London) and subsequently with the Asian Development Bank (Manila). As Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of a publicly traded defense manufacturing corporation, […]
Rutul is a recently minted CPA after completing his CFE with honours in 2019. He is a BCom. graduate, with an accounting major, from the University of Alberta. He has worked with the Finance Operations team in the Government of Alberta. He also has experience as a client solutions analyst in Commercial Banking with Scotiabank, working with companies of all sizes in various industries.
Ryan has over 25 years of management experience in the Oil & Gas sector across multiple disciplines of construction, drilling, completions, production, operations, and business development. He is a Certified Engineering Technologist that also holds a Red Seal Endorsement for Drilling, a Project Management Professional designation, as well as a Master's of Business Administration from the University of Calgary. He is actively involved with multiple Oil & Gas operators and service providers, and strives to create value by taking on any challenge and finding the best solution, through a dedicated and determined hands-on approach.
Stephens 34 years of energy sector experience includes business development, environmental technology advancement and establishing creative new collaboration groups. He spent 10 years with Shell Canada, and time in Venture Capital and oilfield services businesses. During his 22 years at Suncor Energy, Stephen was directly involved in GHG abatement, CCS technology and other sustainability efforts. He led the company into founding the Carbon Capture Project which from 2000 to 2012 invested over $70M in research on CO2 capture and storage technologies. He led teams to respond to the Alberta Specified Gas Emitters Regulation of 2007 and establish a company wide Energy Audit approach for four refineries and 2 o3 oil sands plants. Stephen was instrumental in the set up and leadership of the Integrated CO2 Network from 2006-2013 acting as Chair for this 18 company ICO2N consortium. This included leadership of Provincial and Federal Government education and advocacy on CCS. He participated in the CCS Development Council and the Regulatory Framework Assessment teams that the Government of Alberta consulted for its preparation of the $2B in funding for the CCS projects. Stephen was seconded by Suncor to the setup and launch of COSIA for a year in 2011, and remained on the Shareholders Steering Committee of COSIA until 2018 where he led the establishment of the GHG priority area. He also used his investment experience to lead Suncor into direct equity investing in outside companies and the EVOK Innovations venture fund as Suncor began to focus more on renewable energy and technology investment.
Stephen Kushner (MBA) is the Past President (28 years) of the Merit Contractors Association of Alberta. He facilitated the founding of provincial Merit organizations throughout Canada and the establishment of a national organization. Considered to be a pioneer of open shop construction practices in Canada, Stephen also oversaw the growth of the industry's largest group […]
Job Titles:
- Founder, President and CEO of Federal Power Company
Steve Gilliland is the founder, President and CEO of Federal Power Company, LLC, an independent power development and management organization. During his career, Mr. Gilliland has overseen the development, strategic direction and acquisition and divestiture of power generation and energy assets totaling more than $15 billion. Mr. Gilliland has held executive positions with Duke Energy, Synenco Energy, CRSS Capital, Inc., Transco Power Company and Proler International Corp. Mr. Gilliland received a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, a master's degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard University.
Stewart Muir was born in Lethbridge, Alberta and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. Pursuing a journalism career led to posts in Hong Kong, Australia, and across Canada. An award-winning author, he has served as a volunteer director in land conservancy and worked as a change leader, management consultant and civil servant before founding Vancouver-based Resource […]
Job Titles:
- President and CEO of Zip Equity Corporation
As the President and CEO of Zip Equity Corporation, Sukhjit understands the globalization of marketplaces and synergies that can be created by coupling good opportunities with the right strategic partners. Sukhjit was the visionary that set up a training institute (welding, pipefitting, IT and millright) in Coimbatore, India in 2007 in partnership with NAIT and a local Indian partner. Sukhjit also brings his extensive political network to the boardroom table as he has very good relationships with the Provincial Government in Alberta. He can help Alberta companies who need access to government as well as the newly elected Liberal Government of Canada; having relationships with several of the newly appointed Ministers. Sukhjit is a serial entrepreneur, having started hardware & software companies.
Ted has over 35 years of experience in agriculture and business and has held many senior roles, including president and Chairman of the Board of Agricore United and served as Director on numerous boards including the Royal Bank of Canada, the Chamber of Maritime Commerce (Chairman), Chairman of the Board and CEO of United Oilseeds Ltd., the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Enmax Corporation, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, and the Alberta Audit Committee - a provincially nominated advisory group. He has had significant involvement in political policy matters at the federal and provincial level.
Terry is an innovative, bilingual, results oriented executive with a record of achievements in general management, finance and marketing. He has also provided consulting services related to industrial engineering, construction, and manufacturing. His career spans 40 years with a background in large EPC projects, mechanical construction, M&A and other consulting work. An excellent communicator capable of establishing and enhancing client relationships and building a highly motivated team, Terry has a unique blend of business and entrepreneurial experience with an outstanding record of skillful negotiation at all levels.
Mr. Kemp is a chemical engineer (B.S Ch. E and M.S. Ch. E.) with 42 years' experience providing engineering and technical services to domestic and international refining, petrochemical and oil production companies. His career covers the full range of activities in engineering development, design and project execution, starting with UOP where his developmental work on fluid cat crackers (FCC) led to two patents that are the basis for UOP's VSS reactor internals. After working in Technical Services at UOP and earning an M.S. degree in chemical engineering, he moved to Houston where applying his technical service and unit operating experience to his engineering design work resulted in safe, robust and reliable units. He has studied, revamped or designed many of the units found in a refinery or petrochemical plant, from crude/vacuum distillation on the front-end, hydrotreating, hydrocracking and gasoline and aromatics production in the middle, to sulfur processing, utilities and off sites on the back. (After all, a refinery is just feed-prep for the SRU.) Petrochemical unit experience includes BTX, PETE and linear alpha olefins production and purification, and ethylene oxide production using both air and oxygen. Working on one chlor-alkali plant design for chlorine production was enough to convince him to stick to hydrocarbons. He has worked in refineries North and South America, Africa and the Middle East, Indonesia and Europe. His process engineering experience and creative mind-set, combined with innovative project management and construction execution, made returning two fire damaged refineries to production in record time both more fun and less expensive than the traditional approach. He has learned that it is possible to reduce the time and cost of building a process unit without sacrificing safety, reliability or quality.
Trevor Gent has over 15 years of experience in the financial services, chemical, and oil & gas industries. Trevor worked for one of North America's largest land owners and developers and was later promoted to Vice President of Sales for Northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. In his tenure with this organization, Trevor was part of raising well over $150 million for real estate based investment opportunities. Currently, he is acting as the part-time CFO of a real estate construction firm. Trevor has a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta.
Job Titles:
- Chemical Process Engineer
Wayne has over 35 years of land use and forest industry operations experience with particular expertise in successfully managing complex land use arrangements among industry stakeholders. He has provided resource sector specific consulting services for the last decade specializing in facilitation and project management for the energy and forest industry sectors. He was previously General Manager of Sawmills and Forest Resources for Daishowa-Marubeni and he has prior public and private sector experience in both Alberta and British Columbia. He is currently the director of the Foothills Landscape Management Forum operating under the Foothills Research Institute. He is also the regional coordinator for the British Columbia and Alberta Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement regional working group. Wayne is a Registered Professional Forester in both British Columbia and Alberta.
Wouter has over 40 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry with Petrofina and later after their merger, with Total. He held senior positions on four continents with stops in Great Britain and Australia before becoming Refinery Manager in Antwerp Belgium, and later in Angola and finally Port Arthur Texas before settling in Calgary as Senior Vice President of Major Projects for Total. Under his management all these refineries underwent major modernization investments. Wouter holds his Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Leuven in Belgium, he completed the Senior Management Program at the Harvard Business School and his participation in the oil and gas industry has included roles in the NPRA, NCIA and OSLI. His expertise spans from project development and implementation, to HR management, general management, operations, and business development. Wouter's leadership and implementation skills are best illustrated by the speedy recovery of the Port Arthur refinery after Hurricane Rita. Wouter is uniquely positioned to cultivate strategic priorities in the Oil and Gas industry and transform them into confirmed effectual ventures.