Our Team

 

We are a uniquely designed team of exceptionally credentialed experts with an approximately 1000 combined years of hands-on experience with domestic and multinational resource clients, and Western Canadian municipal and provincial governments. 

 

 

 

  • Ian Murray - President & General Counsel

In addition to Ian's internal IMC management roles as President and General Legal Counsel, Ian has 24 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.


  • Chris Suvan - Manager, Client & Marketing Support

    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.

 

  • Rutul Patel - Controller

    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.

     

  • Nathan Dudley - Manager, Research and Administration

Nathan has a political science degree from the University of Alberta and has work in both indigenous consultation and government relations.  Nathan will support administrative activities, marketing and associate support and client research work. His client work will be largely in the government relations, regulatory and indigenous consultation area.

  • Marge Hollaway - Executive Assistant

     

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".

 

  • Don Edgar - Research  

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.


  • Larry Archer 

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.

 

  • Bob Baer

    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. 

     

  • James Baker

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.


  • Don Bannerman

Don is a professional accountant with 20 years of diverse financial experience in the energy NGL midstream and upstream sectors. As the Vice President, Corporate Planning at Provident Energy, he was responsible for mid‐ to long‐term planning as well as assessing the strategic and financial impacts of all business development initiatives. In addition to these roles, Don also provided market intelligence to the company’s Executive Team and Board of Directors. Between 2000 and 2012, Don was an integral part of the Provident team that closed $3.8 billion in acquisitions, which included almost $1.1 billion in NGL assets and culminated in the $3.8 billion sale of Provident’s NGL business to Pembina Pipeline. 

 

  • Allan Bly

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.

  • Robert Bott

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.
 

  • Angus Brotherhood

Angus Brotherhood has over 40 years of experience in junior and independent oil and gas companies. He was the Executive Vice President of Novalta Resources, where he was instrumental in managing the operations. Later, he co‐founded Glencoe Resources, where he was the President of the company. Angus is a Chartered Accountant and has held numerous professional designations in the industry. He has also held numerous volunteer positions both in industry and the community.
 

  • Gerald Bruce

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. 
 

  • Ian Cameron

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.

  

  • Dave Collyer

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. 

 

  • Colin Cook

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.

 

  • Charles Cote

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.   

 

  • Rod Crockford

Rod has extensive experience in the electricity sector in Alberta. As President and CEO of EnCana Power and Processing, Rod was actively involved in a broad range of project development, commercial, operational, regulatory and public policy services.  Rod has a successful track record in development and construction of power plants, management of ongoing operations, management of the procurement of load services, and regulatory interventions. Rod’s experience spans into British Columbia as he has been actively involved with the electrification of the Cabin Gas Plant generation facility, as well as distribution and transmission development in the Dawson Creek area. He participated in the study looking at electrical alternatives for the Kitimat LNG project, provided feedback on the Dawson Chetwynd Area Transmission (DCAT) project and has participated in the Integrated Resource Plan for BC Hydro.



  • Ryan Cross

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.

 

  • Nolan Crouse

Nolan spent 30 years as an Executive in the Forest Products Industry in Canada and the United States where he managed and owned operations that manufactured pulp, paper, lumber, fiberboard, strawboard and wood packaging products. He provided key leadership in the Charmin Tissue change management in the US, started up the greenfield Alberta Energy Company Pulp Mill in Slave Lake and was the Chief Operating Officer for a new strawboard plant start-up. Nolan also worked for Procter and Gamble and West Fraser Timber prior to purchasing Sunchild Forest Products in Edmonton. He was also the first Head Coach and General Manager of the start-up Junior “A” hockey franchise in Brooks. Nolan was elected to St. Albert City Council in 2004 where he served 3 years as Council prior to serving 10 years as Mayor of St. Albert. Additionally, he served 5.5 years as Capital Region Board Chair (24 Mayors) for the Edmonton region. Nolan holds an MBA degree from Cape Breton University plus a Chemical diploma from NAIT.

 

  • David Dorward

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. 


  • Duncan Dow

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.


  • Bob Fisher

Bob has over 35 years of Business and Information Technology expertise with a focus in the area of enterprise Project Management. In his role as an independent Project Manager, he has led on a number of complex multi-million dollar projects in a broad range of industries. Previous work has included engagements with, among others, Al-Pac Forest Industries, Capital Power, IBM, North American Construction Group, Service Alberta and MacEwan University. He is a strong communicator and team builder and has a proven track record of completing projects successfully on time and within budget. Bob has an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Alberta and holds certifications in Project Management and Information Systems.

 

    • Trevor Gent 

    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. 

     

  • Neil Gerritsen

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.

 

  • Steven F. Gilliland

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.
 

  • Anne Harding

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. 

 

  • Ryan Heit

    • Ryan has a background in biotech, start-ups, and private investing. He is the co-founder of Pacylex Pharmaceuticals, a pre-clinical oncology drug development company; Valhalla Private Capital, an investor-led private capital group; and Prairie Noodle Shop, one of Edmonton’s most talked about new(ish) restaurants. He is the Director of the Merck Invention Accelerator, a program helping early-stage human and animal health therapeutic companies.

    • Richard Hillary   

    Richard has been a member of the Meota Gas Co-operative Association Ltd. since 1977. Between 1999 and present, he has held various management roles in Meota, from being the Director between 1999 and 2008 to being the Chairman of Strategy Planning Committee between 2004 and 2014 and between 2014 and 2018. Richard has also been part of the Federation of Alberta Gas Co-operatives Ltd., being a member of the Resolutions Committee – Zone 7 between 2009 to 2018 and being the Founder and the first Chairman of the Chairmen’s Group between 2013 and 2017. Additionally, he was also the Director of Gas Alberta Inc., while being the Member of Governance and Nominations Committee between 2013 and 2017 and Member of Joint Pipeline Integrity Committee between 2014 and 2017. 


    • Elliot Holland

    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. 

     

    • Gary Hummell

    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.


    • Eddy Isaacs

    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.


    • Deborah James

    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 and industry. Her particular interests are in precision diagnostics, point of care testing, digital health, and how new disruptive technologies are substantially changing healthcare delivery. Dr. James leads the Faculty’s Precision Health initiative that is founded on access to and analysis of robust health data and bringing new health innovations to market and/or adoption.

     

    • Michael Jorgensen

    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. 


    • Neil Kaarsemaker

    Neil brings a deep and varied background with 20 years of operational, customer service and sales management experience in the financial services sector and 20 years of senor level industry development leadership. Neil was also active in a business development role, expanding their membership base through direct calling and hosting of industry development events. He played a leading role initiating and leading the government advocacy program in Alberta and Saskatchewan for the steel construction industry, connecting their members with senior level Ministry staff and Cabinet Ministers. Through his work as an industry development professional, Neil has worked closely with many industry leaders and gained important insights into what is required to build and sustain a successful business.  Neil has strong networking and relationship building skills.


    • Stephan Kaufman 

    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.


    • Trevor Kleock

    Trevor is an expert in his field with over 27 years of experience across the agricultural sector. His work has have involved integrating crop agronomic practices with value added food, feed and industrial processing to end markets. As a technical crop specialist in Stony Plain for the Government of Alberta, Trevor was actively involved in the growth of several new agricultural sectors including the pulse industry (peas, beans, lentils), canola, conservation tillage, flax and hemp. This activity included the design, implementation, and management of agronomy trials targeted at crop optimization for commercial applications as well as educating producers on market needs. In the private sector, Trevor spearheaded the development of new products and managed the sales and marketing for Synermulch Erosion Control products. These products were used in the mining, oilfield, and construction sectors and were manufactured from flax, hemp, and wood fibers. Due to Trevor’s initiative, Synermulch expanded from its base as a Western Canadian company to a company with a presence across North and South America. This process involved gathering market intelligence, cost and logistical analysis, sales strategy development, and distributor negotiations.

          

    • Greg Knight

    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.   

     

    • Mel Knight

    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.

     

    • Tad Koscielak

    Tad has over two decades of business development and technical sales consulting experience in the fields of transportation, energy (renewable, alternative and conventional) and industrial gases in Canada and Europe. In addition, Tad also has experience in mergers and acquisitions, fund management, leasing and investment banking. Tad specializes in market research, competitor analysis, business planning, new product sales, portfolio management, commercial negotiations, contract and account management.

     

    • Karen Leibovici

    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. 
     

    • Dan Madlung

    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.


    •  Donald McLeod

    Don has 40 years of wide-ranging project and construction management and operations experience. His operations expertise includes the petrochemical, pipelining, oilsands, refining and fertilizer industries. 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, project management and other specialist roles. Don recently managed the SNC Lavalin Edmonton office. Previously, he was chair of the COAA's Field Rework committee and was subsequently awarded the COAA Currie Award of Recognition for his work.

     

    • Grant McNeil

    Grant has over 35 years of corporate finance and project development experience in several sectors including oil sands, energy service, oil & gas, forestry, power, pipelines, petrochemicals, manufacturing, bio-fuels, government and mining. 13 years of that time was with IMC as Vice President Finance.  He continues to focus on feasibility analysis, financial modeling, project financing, project management, commercial negotiations, industrial market due diligence, corporate planning, M&A analysis and negotiations, capitalization strategies, valuations, financial restructurings, due diligence and financing. Grant is also active with Financial Executives International at the national level and as President of the Calgary chapter Board of Directors. He has lectured in corporate finance at the University of Alberta, and strategic management at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Previously, Grant was Vice-President, Corporate and Energy Banking for ScotiaBank, and before that he was with Bank of America, Bank of Montreal and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

     

     

    • Chowdary Meenavili

      • 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.

     

    •  Daryl Mikalson

    Daryl has extensive research, management, regulatory and environmental experience resulting from 35 years in the mining and utility industries. He has innovated, negotiated and managed on behalf of TransAlta Corporation, Associated Mining Consultants Ltd., Gartner Lee Limited, Syncrude Canada Ltd., McIntyre Mines Ltd. and CANMET. Daryl has performed regulatory and public consultation, managed health, safety and environmental programs, and managed environmental impact assessments. As well, Daryl has planned and executed community, Indigenous, and regulatory consultation for the successful receipt of EUB and Alberta Environment applications.

     

    • Elizabeth Muir

    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.

     

    • Stewart Muir

    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 Works, a not for profit that helps to inform citizens about the benefits of responsibly managed and innovative natural resources. He is an authoritative media commentator on major projects and business investment, and is working actively to advance disruptive mining technologies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he convened the Task Force for Real Jobs, Real Prosperity to advocate nationally to embrace innovation and recognize the unassailable benefits for all Canadians of natural resources.

    • Bob Nichol

    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.


    • Lynn Olenek

    Lynn comes to IMC with a wealth of knowledge in the health and housing industry. As a senior executive, Lynn has led a variety of Boards and senior teams in public, private and government settings.  In her last role, she brought three organizations into one, building a strong corporate culture that saw the organization double its inventory in less than five years.  She demonstrates strong leadership, the ability to build community relationships across a wide spectrum, project management experience, operational management skills, and government relations.

     

    • Jeff Paquin

    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

     

    • Michael Phair

    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.

     

    • Connie Phillips

    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. 

     

    • Don Pope

    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. 


    • Gordon (Gord) Pridham

    Gordon is involved in the mining industry as the Executive Chairman and Interim CEO of America’s Silver, a leading Canadian silver mining company. He previously trained in the Energy and Minerals group at Chemical Bank in New York where he structured complex financial deals in the energy and mining sectors. As an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Research Capital, he gained significant transactional experience in financing and mergers & acquisition advisory, largely in the real estate, energy and minerals sectors. Currently, he is also a lead director at Oryana Minerals Inc. 

     

    • Graham Qually

    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.

     

    • Terry Quinn

    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.

     

    • Wouter Raemdonck

    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.


    • Sukhjit Randhawa

    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. 

     

    • Edward (Ted) Reeser

    Ted Reeser began his career as a financial executive in the resource industry with positions that included Treasurer of Interprovincial Pipe Line (now Enbridge), CFO of Canadian Helicopters, and Timminco – a specialty metals producer. Subsequently, he gained experience importing, commercializing and distributing new products and technologies as the owner and operator of Celco, one of Canada’s larger equipment suppliers to the food service industry. Since the sale of Celco in 2015, Ted has been an advisory board member to start-up companies in the water treatment and artificial intelligence fields. Ted’s recent public company experience includes being a Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Jaguar Mining, and he has also served as a Director of Temex Resources and Bridgepoint Hospital.


    •  George Rhodey

    George has over 40 years of extensive experience in oil sands mining and upgrading, oil refining, refined oil and lubricating oil marketing, petrochemicals, fertilizers, explosives, chemicals, natural gas and natural gas liquids industries in Canada and worldwide.  George has BASc. and MASc. Degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo Ontario. He is a member of APEGA, a participating member of the Canadian Heavy Oil Association, a member of Alberta Chamber of Resources, and a member of the Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC).

     

    • Joe Richichi

    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.
     

    • Glenn Rogers

    Glenn is a Chartered Financial Analyst with many 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, contract and asset management experience in pipeline and midstream industry. He was most recently the Manager ‐ JV Asset Management at Enbridge, where he was responsible for managing and monitoring Enbridge’s commercial interest in the Aux Sable/Alliance NGL business.  He has also worked on acquisition due diligence projects in energy infrastructure

    •  Pete Sametz

     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 aHe isH 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 (CAPP).


     

    • Pete Sandall 

    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. 


     

    • Al Schulz

    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. 

     

    • Dave Sentes

    David has over 25 years of experience as a financial executive in the energy industry. He gained substantial experience in the capital markets and established solid relationships with investment bankers and lenders. David's technical competence was fashioned while directing financial reporting, budgetary planning and control, risk management, tax compliance and internal audit functions. David's expertise goes beyond spreadsheets and his versatility was demonstrated while directing the marketing, human resources insurance and purchasing functions.

     

    •  Tony Smith

    For 28 years, Tony Smith has been involved with technology companies in positions throughout the product development life-cycle. This includes design, financing, product management, marketing, manufacturing and testing for hardware manufacturers IBM and Nortel (in the 80's and 90's) and all the way down to the do-everything of a 2-person hardware design and manufacturing of a Bluetooth cellphone accessory. Tony Smith is an Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate from the University of Calgary.  

    •  Russ Stanley

    Russ has over 20 years of experience in management consulting, project development and finance. He has worked in the oil & gas, power, telecommunications, forestry, computer software, manufacturing and tourism sectors for several consulting firms including PriceWaterhouse and Deloitte & Touche.

     

    • Patrick Sporowski

    Patrick has 20 years of experience working within an accounting environment. He has extensive knowledge on accounting controls; payroll and financial principals. Patrick has provided support in project finances and projects management and is familiar with various accounting systems and reporting structures.

     

    • Laurie Stretch

    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.


    • Geoff Tauvette 

    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 risj 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 services to airports in Canada including setting up North America's first closed loop glycol spraying and recycling centre at Calgary Airport and two large-scale off-airport aviation fuel marine receiving terminals and pipelines. Geoff was also a key player in advancing the use of sustainable aviation fuels in Canada through his work in industry associations and engagement with government for policy development.


    • Bill Teeple
    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.

    • Wayne Thorp

    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.


    • Amit Varma

    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.

     

    • Matt Vickers
    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.

    • Rolf Wenzel

    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. 

     

    • Ed Wittstock

    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. 

     

    •  John Zahary

    John is a highly experienced executive who was previously the CEO of several oil and oil sands companies including Petrovera, Harvest Energy and most recently Sunshine Oil Sands. John has experience with Harvest's Newfoundland refinery as well as numerous oil sands projects. Previously, John had been involved extensively in operations and commercial roles in the oil and gas industry through senior positions at a number of oil and gas companies. He is former President of the Alberta Chamber of Resources and a past Governor of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. John has a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary and M.Phil. in Management from the University of Oxford.
     

     Limited Availability Associates

     

    • Eric Abrahams

    Eric has substantial experience with developing and deploying algorithmic trading software. His primary area of expertise has been within the emerging area of cryptocurrency algorithmic trading, although his company, Halgo Integrated Trading Systems (HITS), has also developed projects with foreign exchange and traditional equities. Prior to his time with HITS, Eric had extensive knowledge with energy policy and broad natural resource policy, having specialized on the subject while attaining a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Alberta. Aside from his academic and more recent software development experience, Eric has a diverse background ranging from having established strong client relations, managing large projects and working alongside government and industry through public engagement projects. 

     

    • Ted Allen

      • 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.

    • Peter Bulkowski

    Peter has significant experience in the chemical and petroleum industries. His experience included 20 years with PetroCanada in technology development and the oil sands. He has also provided consulting and training services to the petroleum and chemical industries internationally. He received his PhD in chemistry from Queen's University in 1978.

    • Alnoor Halari

    Alnoor has almost 20 years of experience in the energy industry. He brings to IMC specialized skills in the areas of capital project planning, management, control and execution.  Alnoor has a PhD in Civil Engineering, with a project management specialization focusing on systems that enhance project planning and predictability, leading to improved project execution. He has been involved in projects related to such things as SAGD well pads, upgraders and refineries, pipelines and tank farms for companies such as Petro-Canada, Devon Canada, Veco Canada and Jacobs Engineering.

    • James Horsman

    Jim’s distinguished career in public service and politics spanned almost twenty years. First elected to the Alberta Legislature as MLA for Medicine Hat in 1975, he served five consecutive terms (1975 to 1993), fourteen years of which he served as Minister of the Crown in roles ranging from Minister of Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs to Attorney General and Deputy Premier. In addition to his Cabinet responsibilities, Jim chaired the Cabinet Task Force on International Trade Negotiations. After leaving politics, he was the chief negotiator for Alberta on the Canadian Agreement on International Trade. Jim has since served as Chancellor of the University of Lethbridge and in 2006, was appointed to the Alberta Order of Excellence, and the Order of Canada. His unparalleled political and policy experience provides IMC clients with superior insight into domestic and international political, policy and regulatory developments affecting the resources industry in Western Canada.


    • Bill Hunter

    Bill is a business leader with over 30 years of experience in the forestry industry in Canada. His career involved many senior positions including serving as President, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Alberta Pacific Forest Industries Inc., a $1.4 billion asset. Mr. Hunter also provided senior operations and project management for forest companies in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta. Most recently, Bill has been involved in the development of; bio-products industry, industrial materials recycling industry, sand and gravel products as well as Indigenous capacity building. Bill is a multiple recipient as one of “Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People” (Alberta Venture Magazine) in 2002, 2007 and 2008.

    • John Keng

    John has over 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors. He served in both the Federal and Alberta Governments in the areas of land resource, sustainable agricultural systems and agro-environment. Dr. Keng brings unique expertise in government-industry relations, international business development and cross-cultural negotiations.

     

    • Gerry Kruk

    Gerry has over 35 years of practical, project-related experience in western and arctic Canada. He has technical expertise in the design and implementation of Indigenous relations, stakeholder engagement, and risk communications strategies in support of the regulatory permitting of diverse resource development projects. These include petroleum drilling, development, production and pipeline operations involving oil sands, poisonous sour gas and conventional light oil, as well as projects involving mineral mining, nuclear power plants, the disposal of radioactive nuclear waste and the issues associated with oil and gas spills and releases, especially into waterways.

     

    • Allan Legge

    Allan has over 35 years of experience in designing, conducting and evaluating research on air quality and the effects of air pollution on Albertan and international terrestrial ecosystems. He is an expert in multidisciplinary environmental research design, initiation, coordination, management and execution. Allan received various awards by organizations such as the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists; Alberta Research Council and the Air and Waste Management Association. He has experience in government and industry related research projects and has worked with the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board; Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development; Husky; Petro-Canada and TransCanada Pipeline. Allan was previously the Senior Research Scientist with the Kananaskis Centre for Environmental Research and Senior Research Officer for the Alberta Research Council.

    • Jennifer Lutz

    Jennifer is a senior stakeholder engagement specialist with experience in energy regulation, municipal public engagement, post-secondary educational institutions, and non-profit organizations. She was previously Director of Regional Stakeholder Relations at the Alberta Energy Regulator where she led the provincial team which worked extensively on Indigenous and Community engagement and provided Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) resources. Over the past 20 years, Jennifer has gained public participation, facilitation and leadership experience working with diverse groups looking to be more effective at engaging and collaborating stakeholders and indigenous communities. Jennifer has received several AER Chairman Awards for her work on the 2012 Red Deer River Pipeline Release, the Peace River Proceedings Implementation team, the Fort McMurray Wildfire team and for the creation of the TRM (Tailing Regulatory Management) Advisory Committee.

     

    • Don Norris

    Don comes from a global marketing communications background of 28 years in Canada and Asia-Pacific, where he provided brand strategy and marketing insights to companies such as Coca-Cola, Chevron, Goodyear, Intel, J&J, L'Oreal, Labatt's, MasterCard, Microsoft, Molson, Nestle, Samsung and UPS, to name a few. Before returning to Canada to create Bamboo Strategy , a boutique branding and insight firm now a division of IMC, he was the Managing Director of the Chinese operations of the world's largest ad agency - McCann Erickson. 

    • John Oxenford

    Having spent 24 years with Syncrude, including time as a Senior Technical Advisor, John specializes in technology commercialization, the energy sector and regulatory issues, specifically relating to the oil sands. He also currently holds the position of Senior Vice President, Oil Sands Development for Titanium Corporation.


     

    • John Pahl

    John has over 20 years of experience in oil and gas exploration and production. He was recently Manager, Well Solutions Canada for Baker Hughes and was previously Vice President, Joint Ventures and Business Development at Akita Drilling Ltd. His expertise includes project execution, systems development, stakeholder relations, drilling operation logistics and overall cost control. Particular to his stakeholder relations experience, he has helped establish and manage Aboriginal joint venture companies throughout Western and Northern Canada as well as in Alaska. He has market assessment experience specific to opportunity identification in jurisdictions across the globe. He also has substantial business development and technical expertise related to upstream oil and gas. John has an MBA from Queensland University of Technology and is a certified Drilling Foreman.


     

    • Ed Peplinski

    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. 

     

    • Ian Potter

    Dr. Ian Potter is President & Chief Executive Officer of Vineland, as well as President and Chief Executive Officer of Platform Genetics, Inc. Previous to Vineland, Ian served as Vice President, Engineering and Vice President, Business Management with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and previous to NRC as the Chief Operating Officer at Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures (AITF). During his 10 years at AITF and its predecessor, the Alberta Research Council (ARC), he held several leadership and management positions in energy, environment, greenhouse gas technology and human resources. Dr. Potter has a successful track record in innovation and strong experience developing and collaborating with a broad network of stakeholders. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary.

     

    • Lloyd Quantz

    Lloyd has decades of management consulting experience focused on CEO issues in agriculture, forestry, technology innovation, manufacturing and the rural economy. He has particular expertise in business improvement, including strategic improvement and restructuring as well as supporting systematic business development. He was previously the founder and President of AgriTrends Research Inc., which provided business and organizational development services in the public and private sector. Prior to that, he was hired as GM for a major agribusiness public company to operate agriculture, ranching and real estate assets, including restructuring and turning the division to profitability within two years while reducing overhead and expanding revenues. Additionally, he has Chaired several public hearings related to agribusiness, rural development and municipal development initiatives. He has served as the President of the Alberta Institute of Agrologists and Chairman of the Olds College Foundation. Lloyd has a M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. 

    • Nick Sekulic

    Nick has demonstrated leadership, production management, marketing, finance and human resource management capabilities.  While pursuing a career in Information Technology with several large multinational companies including IBM Canada, he maintained his involvement and investments in agriculture that allowed him to develop a large scale primary production operation specializing in broad acre crops and cattle.  In addition to primary production in agriculture, he has had territory management responsibility in the seed industry and project development consulting, and now sits on the boards of several commodity producers and agriculture industry groups.

     

    • Marvin Waiand

    Marvin is a highly experienced financial executive with over 35 years of experience in the power and industrial sector in Canada and internationally. His expertise includes extensive experience in capital markets, accounting, financial reporting, valuations, corporate development, operations, project finance, cross border financing, taxation, risk management, insurance, pensions and general commercial matters. His previous roles have included Chief Financial Officer of TransAlta New Zealand, and later Vice President and Treasurer of TransAlta Corporation. He was also previously Vice President of Stanley Power Inc., a subsidiary of the Cheung Kong Group of Hong Kong, and the founder, Director and Chief Financial Officer of N.A. Power Generation Trust, a privately owned income trust. Marvin is a member of the Institute of Charted Accountants of Alberta and the Financial Executives Institute.

     

    • David Xiao

    David has an extensive background in business and politics. From 2008 to 2015 David was a MLA in Alberta during which time he held several Parliamentary Assistantships and Committee Chairmanships. Prior to his time with government, David had a number of positions in the private sector. He was a partner at China TYT Liquid-Air Inc., which specialized in industrial gases for seven years where he was responsible for marketing both domestically and internationally. He later found his own company China Ventures Inc., which exported agricultural products and breeding cattle from Canada to China. After which, he became managing-director and CEO of Saudi Arabia East and West Trading Co., which specialized in importing and exporting petroleum equipment. David has also acted as a consultant to Nortel, Bombardier and Motorola for specific projects they have conducted in China. He has particular expertise in business development and a strong knowledge of the oil and gas, and agriculture sectors.
     

    • John Zaozirny 

    John served as Alberta's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources from 1982 to 1986, having first been elected as MLA in 1979. He is the Board Chair of Computer Modelling Group Ltd, an Alberta-based international reservoir simulation company, former Counsel to the national law firm of McCarthy Tetrault and former Vice Chair of Canaccord Capital Corporation. He served for many years as a Governor of the British Columbia Business Council as well as a Director and strategic advisor to a number of public and private corporations. He resides in Vancouver, BC.