EXECUTIVE TRACK

Dr. Michael Canic
Michael Canic, Ph.D, is co-founder and principal of EDGE Consulting Services, an executive consulting service with the motto ”Making Strategy Happen.” Canic’s “Strategic Management Process” is a more robust alternative to conventional “strategic planning” through its relentless focus on strategic alignment, commitment and execution. Formerly a senior vice president with the Atlanta Consulting Group and developer of service quality strategy for FedEx in western Canada, Canic is recognized for his expertise as a strategic advisor to executives. He is also a professional member of the National Speakers Association and has delivered hundreds of presentations to business audiences throughout the world.

With a doctorate in the psychology of human performance, Canic has taught MBA courses and has developed a unique approach in the education of optimizing business potential. His articles on leadership, organizational performance, change, motivation, measurement and accountability appear in national publications. Canic is diverse in his skills. As a coach, he helped lead a university football team to a National Championship. As a volunteer, he has served on boards for professional and cultural organizations. Diverse is the word for someone who both describes himself as a “bookaholic” and an adventure traveler who has been to more than 35 countries. In his travels, he has “canoed in the Amazon, journeyed by camel in the Sahara, trekked the mountains of Northern Pakistan, gone on photo-safari in Southern Africa and summited at 21,000 feet in the Ecuadorian Andes!

STREAM 1 ... download pdf
Software Development: Project Management, Professionalism & Ethics
Thursday, April 20, 2006

Steve McConnell, MSE
Steve McConnell is CEO and Chief Software Engineer at Construx Software where he writes books and articles, teaches classes, and oversees Construx’s software engineering practices. His master’s degree is in software engineering. Steve is the author of Code Complete (1993, 2004) and Rapid Development (1996), both award-winning books. In 1998, he published Software Project Survival Guide and in 2004 he published Professional Software Development (2004). 

Steve has worked in the desktop software industry since 1984 and has expertise in rapid development methodologies, project estimation, software construction practices, performance tuning, system integration, and third-party contract management. Steve also served as Editor in Chief of IEE Software from 1998-2002 and is a member of IEE Computer Society and ACM. 

Martin Kratz, LLB, ISP
Martin holds a B.Sc. and LLB  from the U of A.  He leads the Technology Group for Bennett Jones with a practice focused on intellectual property law including strategic alliances, mergers, acquisitions and technology transfers among companies (specifically electronic commerce, software, telecommunication, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and related industries).

Martin is one of Canada's leading lawyers addressing problems involving the Internet and privacy. He has written over 175 publications on advanced technology and law and is recognized in the 2004 Lexpert/American Lawyer Media Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada for his expertise in technology law. He is also identified as a leading lawyer by Mondaq's Guide to the World's Leading Internet and E-Commerce Advisors.  Martin is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Calgary, teaches at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law and at Concordia University College.

In addition, Martin is Adjunct Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto) and acts as Regional Director of the E-Business LL.M. program. Martin has been Chairman of the Intellectual Property Committee for the Canadian Information Processing Society, and is a member of the ABA's Science & Technology, Patent, Copyright & Trademark and International Sections.

Steve McConnell
(See above)

Paul Bassett, M.Sc., ISP
Paul Bassett has spoken world-wide and was a member of the IEEE’s Distinguished Visitor Program 1998 - 2001. He was General Chair for the Symposium on Software Reuse held May 18-20, 2001 in conjunction with the International Conference on Software Engineering. Paul published Framing Software Reuse: Lessons from the Real World and co-authored the IEEE’s Standard P1517: Software Reuse Lifecycle Processes. His 1987 IEEE paper, Frame-based Software Engineering, became part of a compilation of the most significant papers on software in the ‘80s.

He has over 35 years of academic and industrial software engineering experience, has taught computer science at York University, co-founded Sigmatics Computer Corporation and Netron Inc. and for over twenty years has helped governments and businesses improve software development tools. He has a M.Sc., is a CIPS information systems professional (retired) and is currently a senior consultant with the Cutter Consortium.

Paul received the Information Technology Innovation Award from the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) for his invention of frame technology. He later co-chaired their Certification Council; was a member of their Accreditation Council, and now helps to accredit honours programs in computer science and software engineering, as well as chairing the CIPS Committee on Software Engineering Issues.

Steve McConnell, MSE
(See above)

Mike Griffiths, PMP
Mike Griffiths, PMP, is project manager and trainer for Quadrus Development and holds PRINCE2 and PMP project management certifications along with ScrumMaster and DSDM Practitioner agile certifications. Prior to joining to Quadrus, Mike worked for IBM Global Services, and in 1994 was involved in the development of the agile methodology, DSDM.

Mike continues to be active in the agile community and has written numerous white papers and parts of the DSDM 4.2 manual. He is an Agile Times Newsletter editor and frequent contributor to agile and project management conferences and forums. Mike is a contributor to the PMBOK Guide Third Edition and speaker at the PMI Global Congress 2004 and 2005.

Ron Gilmore, M.Math, B.Sc.
Since 1993 Ron has been a principal and Vice President of Marketing for Geodyssey Limited. He also consults to industry in several areas including: Systems Management, Technology Acquisitions, Project Management and Quality Assurance. He is a senior systems management practitioner with over 35 years experience in information systems. Following education in electrical engineering and mathematics, Ron worked in electronics manufacturing and spent 10 years with a large international remote-access service bureau. 

Moving to Western Canada, Ron spent another ten years another ten years as a consultant, rising to Managing Partner for Western Canada. Ron has often served as speaker on contemporary systems management issues in both business and information technology forums. His written work on similar subjects is regularly carried in both the trade and popular press.

Ron has earned the designation of Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and recently completed a course of studies in Negotiating at Harvard. In 1991, Ron established his own consulting firm, Gilmore Systems, Inc with a practice primarily in Western Canada. Ron continues to speak, write, teach and consult on critical issues of information systems management.

Dr. Philippe Kruchten, P.Eng.
Philippe is currently a professor of software engineering at UBC. He is first and foremost a professional software engineer with 30 years of industrial experience developing large-scale software-intensive systems in the domains of telecommunications, aerospace, defense, transportation and software tools. His most recent achievement is the development of a software development method: the Rational Unified Process®-a handbook of software engineering, which in many ways captures the lessons learned as a system developer and consultant.

He participated in the design of two telephone switches, a few command and control systems, and most notably led the design of the Canadian Automated Air Traffic Control system. Besides the RUP®, he contributed a model for the representation of software architecture based on multiple coordinated views which led to an IEEE standard. He previously taught and conducted research in Paris (3 years) and in New York (2 years). He is passionate about software engineering and writes a great deal publishing mainly where he can have the widest audience and impact. Philippe’s most recent and notable publications are 2 books: one on the RUP (170,000 copies in 10 languages), an undergraduate textbook on software engineering and a text-book on RUP with an IBM colleague.

STREAM 1 ... download pdf

Software Development: Project Management, Professionalism & Ethics
Thursday, April 21, 2006

John Harauz, P.Eng.
John Harauz is an independent consultant with more than 36 years of experience. He is an internationally recognized authority on system engineering and software engineering standards for safety-related computer systems, including the regulatory licensing of such systems. Prior to establishing his own consultancy, John worked for OPG, formerly Ontario Hydro, for 26 years, where he held positions in engineering management.

John has been actively involved in the development and regulatory licensing of safety-related and safety-critical real-time systems for OPG's nuclear generating divisions. He co-authored the Ontario Power Generation/Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. Software Engineering (OASES) Standards and supporting guidelines. He received a corporate New Technology award (1995) for his contribution to developing OPG's innovative safety critical software engineering technology now recognized internationally. John has been responsible for business process improvement and re-engineering in Engineering Change Control, Design Management, and Configuration Management ensuring they meet Canadian Nuclear regulatory standards.

John is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO), a Senior Member of the IEEE Computer Society, and a member of several international standards committees. John was an active participant in the PEO Task Forces developing the "Guideline for the Use of Computer Software Tools by Professional Engineers and the Development of Computer Software Affecting Public Safety and Welfare" (1993) and the “Guideline on the Use of the Professional Engineer’s Seal” (2005). He has published over 20 papers and served on program committees for many international conferences and workshops. He participates actively in the IEEE Computer Society Standards Activities Board and the Professional Practices Committee, and serves as column editor of Computer Magazine Standards Column and area editor for Software Engineering On-line (SE Online) on project management.

John Walz
John Walz has helped many groups within AT&T and Lucent Technologies obtain ISO 9000 and TL 9000 certifications. He provided strategic quality planning for the Lucent Technologies Supply Chain before retiring from that organization, and is now a senior management consultant for The Sutton Group. He is a member of the SOX-Q/E Team in support of the Sarbanes-Oxley Law (SOX). Walz provides SOX training to ASQ member, contributes to the ASQ SOX Communit, moderates the ASQ SOX Discussion Board and writes the ASQ SOX Blog.

Walz also is involved in quality standards development as a member of the US TAG to ISO TC 1976 Quality Management, and in computer standards development and software engineering standards development.  Recently he co-authored a book on using software engineering standards to attain documentation standards required by the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI).

Rich Isaac, P.Eng.
Rich Isaac graduated from the University of Alberta in 1987 with a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering.  Since that time he has gained experience in Government, Forestry, Energy, Mining, Metals Refining, Education, Finance, Judicial, Instrumentation, and Geographic.  In these industries Rich acted as Programmer, Business Analyst, Team Lead, Software Architect, Project Manager.  He is currently IT manager for Sherritt Metals where he is responsible for Canadian and International IT operations and strategic projects.

Rich has dedicated much of his 17-year career to development of enterprise software systems on numerous projects.  The nature and uniqueness of the projects in which he has participated, lead him into ever increasingly complex technologies and challenging roles. This shaped him into a mentor and visionary leader of technology projects.  He understands risk mitigation strategies through the use of project controls, software development methodologies, team development, and well selected technologies and architectures.

Dr. Francis Hartman, P.Eng.
Dr. Francis Hartman is a Professor and past Director of Project Management Specialization (1999-2000), at U of C. He has had over 20 years of international experience in industry on capital projects. He served as the NSERC/SSHRC Chair (1994) in Project Management (Management of Technological Change) at U of C , has been Adjunct Professor at the U of T and UBC. Dr. Hartman is currently the President of Quality Enhanced Decisions Inc. and Smart Management Inc and has held various executive positions in industry.

He has won awards for his instructional abilities and he is a renowned international speaker. He has collaborated extensively with other universities around including Vienna, UMIST, UmeD (Sweden), Helsinki, Tel Aviv and Penn State.  He has worked with the Faculties of Management, Environmental Design, is developing relationships with Psychology, Anthropology and Sociology and  encourages us to broaden our horizons by interaction with other faculties.

Academically, Dr. Hartman’s contributions through journal articles, books, chapters, invited papers, presentations, conference proceedings, reports number well over 220 from the past nine years! Dr. Hartman is an Editorial Board Member with the Project Management Journal and a past and present member of several journals’ boards. Dr. Hartman is currently working on a second book on project management.

Paul Bassett, M.Sc., ISP
(See above)

Dr. Philippe Kruchten, P.Eng.
(See above)

Dr. Bret Michael
Dr. Michael received his Ph.D. degree from the George Mason University School of Information Technology and Engineering (Fairfax, Va.) His  dissertation is based on his exploration of the challenges of applying automated theorem proving to test the logical consistency of composed security policy. Bret Michael joined the Department of Computer Science at the Naval Postgraduate School in May 1998 where he was  awarded tenure in July 2003. He has held several research appointments with the University of California at Berkeley, Argonne National Laboratory, and the Institute for Defense Analyses. He was elected in October 1997 to the grade of senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in recognition of his research on automated vehicle control and safety systems.

Dr. Michael is also a long-time member of both the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). He serves on several advisory boards and steering committees for the U.S. Government and IEEE. He also serves on the editoral board for the Journal of Information and Management (North-Holland), the board of advisors for IEEE Software and the program committees of several IEEE conferences and workshops, including the General Chair of the IEEE Third International Workshop on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks. He is currently co-chair of the program committee for the IEEE International Workshop on Rapid System Prototyping.  His research centers on both the building of dependable distributed systems and the assessment of their trustworthiness. He is writing a book on this subject titled Untrustworthy Software with Dr. Michael Friedman of Microsoft and Dr. Jeffrey Voas of Cigital Labs. The book will be published by John Wiley & Sons in 2005.

STREAM 2

Sustainable Urban Development
Thursday, April 20, 2006

Dr. John Hodgson, P.Eng.
Dr. Hodgson has worked in the consulting and municipal engineering sectors over the past 30 years.  About half of this time has been spent in the consulting industry in British Columbia and Alberta, working on sewer and water projects for clients in the industrial and municipal sectors.  Industrial projects include water supply systems, wastewater and stormwater management plans, environmental monitoring programs and environmental impact assessments. 

Dr. Hodgson has worked for the City of Edmonton for the past 14 years as Director of Drainage Planning.  Issues addressed during this period include the Combined Sewer Overflow Control Strategy, the Sanitary Sewer Servicing Strategy and the formation of a Land Drainage Utility.  He has contributed to the founding of InfraGuide, participated in establishing the organization and governance models and contributed to the production of the 49 best practice documents presently published.

Carl Yates, P.Eng.
Carl Yates obtained his Bachelor of Engineering from Memorial University of Newfoundland and subsequently joined the Nova Scotia firm, Jacques Whitford and Associates, as a geotechnical engineer.  He joined the Halifax Water Commission as Project Engineer, obtained his Masters of Applied Science from the Technical University of NS, and took appointments first as Chief Engineer and then General Manager. The latter appointment resulted from the municipal amalgamation within the Halifax metropolitan area.  He is responsible for the operation of the HRWC which is a regulated water utility with assets in excess of 300 million dollars and approximately 35 million dollars in annual revenue from the sale of potable water and provision of fire protection services. 

Mr. Yates is past Chair of the Potable Water Committee for the National Research Council InfraGuide project, a member of the National Association of Corrosion Engineers, the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association, American Backflow Prevention Association, the American Water Works Association and the International Water Association.

Carl Yates, P.Eng.
(See above)

Dr. John Hodgson, P.Eng.
(See above)

Al Cepas, P.Eng.
Al Cepas acquired a B.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering and an M.A.Sc. from the U of T. Al's background included analysis of airfield delays at Toronto and Vancouver Airports for Transport Canada  He accepted the position of Technical Evaluations Officer with the City of Edmonton in 1980, a position in which he was responsible for performance monitoring of innovations. He later became the Pavement Management Engineer with responsibilities for the development of a road network database and its performance monitoring.

Current duties include the administration of the data collection program for the pavement and sidewalk networks as well as responsibility for the City’s asphalt repair program. The latter includes maintenance paving, crack-sealing operations, pothole repairs, and asphalt sidewalk renewal. Al participated in the National Infraguide project over the last five years as a member of the Municipal Roads Technical Committee as well as being a member of the Municipal Infrastructure Committee over the last two years.

Dr. Jerry Leonard, P.Eng.
Dr. Jerry Leonard is the Executive Manager of the Edmonton Waste Management Centre of Excellence (EWMCE). He is on secondment from the University of Alberta where he is a professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science. An agricultural engineer by training, his teaching and research interests evolved from instrumentation and control systems for machinery and intensive animal production systems to waste management and composting. He is involved with research projects on physical properties of compost, nutrient retention during composting, greenhouse gas emissions from compost, and the measurement and management of odours.

Through his composting research, Al became involved with the City of Edmonton’s Waste Management Branch in 1996, and this subsequently led to his participation in setting up the EWMCE. He has been seconded to the Centre since 2002.

Jim Miller, P.Eng.
Jim Miller acquired his degree in Civil Engineering from Queen’s University. He is professional engineer who has worked in the municipal engineering field designing and building municipal infrastructure valued at over 1.2 billion dollars during the last 25 years. Projects that Jim has worked on include wastewater treatment, water treatment, transportation, and solid waste facilities. Jim has worked in both the private sector as a consulting engineer and in the public sector for municipal and regional governments.  In his career, he has worked in Alberta, Quebec, the Yukon, British Columbia and Ontario. He returned to Calgary from Ontario in September 2002 to take on the role of Senior Project Manager for the Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility for the City of Calgary.

Jim has been involved with the FCM/NRC Infraguide project from its inception, having been a participant in one of the stakeholder groups which was convened when the project was being conceived, and later on working as a member of the Environmental Protocols Technical Committee.

Jim Miller, P.Eng.
(See above)

STREAM 2
Sustainable Urban Development
Friday, April 21, 2006

Dr. John Hodgson, P.Eng.
(See above)

Jim Sawers, P.Eng.
Jim Sawers received his B.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland and later completed a Certificate in Computer Science at the University of Regina.  He has worked exclusively in the consulting engineering field since 1976. Prior to joining Keen Engineering, Jim was Vice President of Building Engineering for a major Western Canadian consulting engineering firm. Jim is a LEED® Accredited Professional and a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).  He has been the recipient of an international ASHRAE Energy Award and CEA Design Awards in 2003, 2004 & 2005.  He has presented and published several technical papers on HVAC energy use and green building design.

During his career Jim has been active in technical committee work, contributing to the Canadian Standards Association’s “Special Requirements for HVAC Systems in Health Care Facilities” code and ASHRAE’s Task Group on Cold Climate Design. Jim introduced “in-floor” radiant slab cooling to Canada through his work on the University of Calgary Information and Communications Technology Building. Throughout his career Jim has been active in the community.  He has been President of his Community Association, Chair of the Rotary Club of Calgary’s major donations committee, and Chair of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce’s Facilities Committee.

Konrad Siu, P.Eng.
Konrad Siu is the City of Edmonton’s Director of Infrastructure Planning.  He established the City’s Office of Infrastructure in March 2000.  Responsible for managing the Office of Infrastructure, his primary mandate is to develop and implement the Edmonton City Council’s Infrastructure Strategy to address the City’s growing disparity between infrastructure capital needs and available funding.  He is also actively involved in the development of the National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure (InfraGuide) to help municipalities better manage their infrastructure. 

Konrad joined the City of Edmonton in 1988 before which time he worked for nine years at a national engineering consulting firm.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Manitoba as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from U of A. 

Dr. Simaan AbouRizk, P.Eng.
Dr. AbouRizk holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech and completed his Doctorate in Construction and Engineering Management at Purdue University. He is an internationally renowned expert in construction simulation modeling, construction project management, construction productivity improvement, risk analysis and advanced construction technologies. Dr. AbouRizk is a professor at the Faculty of Engineering at the U of A where he also holds a Canada Research Chair in Operation Simulation and an NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Construction Engineering.  His research work has won him a number of National and International awards including the coveted NSERC Steacie Fellowship in 2002. 

Dr. AbouRizk has led a number of consulting initiatives in the area of risk analysis for numerous major projects including LRT, highway interchanges, drainage tunnels, wastewater treatment plants, water treatment plants, buildings and bridges.  He has completed risk analysis for infrastructure in the City of Edmonton and the City of St. Albert. Dr AbouRizk is also the co-author of two textbooks on project management and the  author of over two hundred publications in the area of project management, risk and uncertainty modeling, and simulation. He is a registered professional engineer in the province of Alberta and is active in many professional organizations.

Dr. David Hubble
Dr. Hubble is Manager of NRC’s Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure Research (CSIR).   Based in Regina, CSIR is part of the Urban Infrastructure Program at the Institute for Research in Construction (IRC).  The CSIR is pursuing a multi-disciplinary research and development program with the primary objective to develop innovative technologies and decision-support tools that address the economic, social and environmental aspects of infrastructure sustainability. Working in close collaboration with universities, municipal governments, the Province of Saskatchewan and private sector partners, the CSIR serves as the focal point in Western Canada for IRC’s research activities in sustainable infrastructure. 

Dr. Hubble has degrees in civil engineering (Queen’s) and earth sciences (Waterloo) and has worked in the consulting geo-environmental engineering sector and research for nearly 30 years.  He has been involved in geotechnical and materials engineering, construction inspection and testing, environmental investigations and assessments, geological and hydrogeological studies, remediation of soil and groundwater contamination and urban infrastructure sustainability. He has developed and lead multi-disciplinary projects, primarily as an Associate and Principal in a consulting company, but also in the university setting and, since 2004, with the National Research Council’s new technology cluster in sustainable infrastructure R&D.  He has been appointed to the Management Committee of the Communities of Tomorrow: Partners for Sustainability in Regina.

Mark Brostrom
Mark Brostrom has a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering (U of A) and worked in research and development in the private sector prior to joining the City of Edmonton in 1990. He is currently the Director of the City of Edmonton’s Office of the Environment. This corporate office facilitates the development and implementation of municipal environmental policy through Edmonton’s Environmental Strategic Plan. Initiatives coming out of Mark’s environmental strategy include the Carbon Dioxide Reduction Edmonton initiative, or CO2RE, the City’s ISO 14001 Environmental Management System known as Enviso and other initiatives such as the City’s Brownfields Pilot program.

Dale Mikkelsen, BA, MLA, LEED AP
Dale Mikkelsen is the Lead Project Planner for the Southeast False Creek sustainable community and also continues with a role as the Green Building Planner for the City of Vancouver.  Dale is currently working on the rezoning and implementation of the 2010 Athlete’s Village in Southeast False Creek.  He is also tasked with the development of a City-wide green building strategy for all new construction, a formal green roof policy, and the structuring of a process to address green retrofits to all building types.

Most recently, Dale has worked to help create a vision for a 550 acre sustainability precinct around False Creek, including the potential for one of the largest networked GHG neutral district energy systems in the world.

As of February, 2005, Dale was elected to the Board of Director’s for the Cascadia Chapter of the USGBC.  Dale has a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of British Columbia and is a LEED Accredited Professional.

STREAM 3 ... view more information
High Performance Leadership
Thursday, April 20, 2006

Rob Macdonald, P.Eng., CHRP
After graduating with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, Rob spent 18 years in the oil and gas industry as both producer and service provider. From 1991 to 1996, he was Chief Engineer, Managing Director and Chairman of a Russian oil company.  To increase production from a 200-well field in western Siberia, he used technical, managerial and operational plans to create an oil company with a “service company attitude”. Rob dealt with all human resources aspects of the Russian and Canadian staff.

In 1996, Rob joined Western Leadership Centre Inc.  He is involved in training and consulting, team and organizational development.  Rob specializes in technical and operations areas of companies, bringing an engineer’s approach to Human Resources issues.  He is one of a few engineers in Canada who has the Certified Human Resources Professional designation.

STREAM 3 ... view more information
High Performance Leadership
Friday, April 21, 2006

Rob Macdonald, P.Eng., CHRP
(See above)

STREAM 4 ... view more information
Managing Stress and Work/Family Balance
Thursday, April 20, 2006

Dr. Gabor Mate, MD
Gabor Mate  M.D. is a physician and author in Vancouver, British Columbia.  He has worked in family practice, palliative medicine, and addiction medicine.  Currently he is a staff physician at a facility for drug addicted persons in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, many of them with HIV. He has written three nationally bestselling books in Canada. His second book, When The Body Says No, on the mind/body unity in health and illness, has been published in eight languages on five continents.  He is currently at work on his fourth book: I Need A Fix: Life in a Culture of Addiction.

He is a long-time medical columnist for the Vancouver Sun and the Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, where his byline continues to be seen frequently on issues of health and of parenting and child development.

 As a speaker and seminar leader, Dr. Mate is in great demand in Canada and internationally.

STREAM 4 ... view more information
Cultural Diversity: Maximizing a Growing Resource
Friday, April 21, 2006

Dr. Horst A. Schmid, former Alberta Minister of Culture
Born in Munich, Germany, emigrated to Canada in 1952, worked in the goldmines of Yellowknife until 1956, when he came to Edmonton and supplemented his Accountants Training with courses in Business Administration, Business Psychology and Business Finance from the University of Toronto.

With a partner he established an Export Company, exporting Manufactured Goods and Commodities such as Sulphur and Fertilizer to the Far East.

In 1971 he was elected MLA of the Legislature of Alberta. Was in the Alberta Government as Minister of Culture, Youth and Recreation; Minister of Government Services, Minister of State for Economic Development and Minister of International Trade for a total of 15 years.

He was the first post-WWW ll  immigrant to be elected MLA in Alberta and appointed to a Cabinet in Canada. For the following 10 years he was Commissioner General for Trade and Tourism for the Government of Alberta. His success, during Trade Missions from Alberta to many countries in the world, accompanied by Alberta Representatives of Major Corporations, medium and smaller Companies, and helping in their negotiations with Foreign Buyers, is legendary.

After retiring from Public Office he recommenced his International Trade Business as President and CEO of Flying Eagle Resources Ltd. He is Chairman, President & CEO of Deep Well Oil & Gas, Inc.; Chairman of Aspire Capital Inc.;  Executive Officer and/or Director of other Alberta Public and Private Companies.

He was awarded numerous National and International Honors, including:
Hon. Doctor of Laws, (University of Alberta); Honorary Indian Chief Flying Eagle; The Great Canadian Award; The Silver Ribbon Award of the City of Edmonton; Appointed to the Cultural Hall of Fame of Edmonton; The International Award for Tourism "Golden Helm;" The Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; The Order of Merit of Bavaria; "Man of the Year" of the Commonwealth Games Foundation; The Blue Ribbon Award of the Western Fairs Association as well as being Honorary Director of several Foundations in countries such as Canada, China, Thailand, etc.

George Jergeas, Ph.D.
George has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Baghdad Tech. Univ. and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Loughborough Univ. of Tech. in the UK. His major areas of expertise are in project management, claims and disputes, dispute resolution and teambuilding. George gained this experience while working in infrastructure civil engineering and building projects.

Champak Mistry, P.Eng.
Champak Mistry, P.Eng. brings to APEGGA 61 years of hands-on and holistic life experiences of cultures of India, Tanzania, Ontario and Alberta. The cultures in India and Tanzania consisted of a diversity of hundreds of indigenous native tribes within a single national race. This provided learning and practice of diversity of languages and their dialects, customs, traditions, belief systems, societal norms and standards and their applications in daily political and economical life. The diversity of these cultures was again made complex with tempering by their harmonious and non-harmonious co-existence with very distinct and alien cultures of other world nations that live and do business in these countries. Ontario and Alberta experience has been with Canadian aboriginal Cree peoples and the mainstream diversity of multi-ethnicity from around the world nations. Alberta and Ontario multi-ethno-cultural life experiences have taught that there is the human hope of true co-existence with harmony of acceptance and preservation of human distinct diversity to create and advance humanity on this planet earth on a communal, provincial, national and international basis. 

Champak’s 38 years of professional practice have been in the municipal and environmental engineering and construction and project management of developments from vision to operation as a consulting engineer, community programs developer, capitalist entrepreneur and community volunteer.  He has worked in these areas with one prime life directive: “To Promote Harmonious And Efficient Co-Existence Among All Of Humanity For A Truly Happier Tomorrow Than Today.”

On this day of the seminar, Champak wishes to share some awakening thoughts with you. This awakening is to let you know that you have chosen a noble and giving profession based on empirical sciences. But when your education and training is combined with the sciences of human understanding your life can transcend the limitations created of the diversity of distinct human language, culture, customs and traditions. This empowers you APEGGA members to create prosperity of wealth and welfare for the entire diversity of human cultures, civilizations, races, tribes and nations. This equitable wealth and prosperity helps in creating harmonious co-existence with diverse and distinct lifestyles as per the designs, construction and operating mode of natural life creation.

Kris Frederickson, M.Sc., E.I.T
"I'd like to save the world and make lots of money doing it - in that order," jokes Kris, who holds BSc and MSc degrees in biosystems engineering from the University of Manitoba. But this proud Metis engineer is serious about water treatment. His graduate research focused on water management and treatment improvements on Manitoba reserves that could be applied across the country. During his studies, Kris frequently spoke to aboriginal youth about pursuing post-secondary education. He sat on his university's board of governors and is now co-chair of "2335: A United Way Initiative". Kris's accolades include a Manitoba Aboriginal Youth Achievement Award, a National Metis Youth Role Model award and a prestigious National Aboriginal Achievement Award. He currently works on the Long Lake Project's Water Management Team for Calgary-based energy producer Nexen Inc.

Denise Atter, Geologist, IT
Denise graduated from the University of Calgary in 2003, with a B.Sc. in Geology. She has been in the oil and gas industry for 10 years and has recently joined Direct Energy Resources as a development geologist .

Denise comes from an Inuvialuit background, raised with a northern influence from the Mackenzie Delta. Through volunteering, she is hoping to reach the children and youth of today's aboriginal people and to bridge the gap between cities and communities. She believes that more involvement from professionals will ease the choices that life offers for these children as knowledge is the key to the future.

Joe Hak
When asked, Joe will say he is from Saskatchewan (His Forefathers Homesteaded at Swift Current). However, his ancestors came from Lebanon.
He has a B. Ed., Psychology from the University of Windsor; studied Economics and Political Sciences at the University of Alberta and has a certificate of Business Law and Organization from St. Claire College in Windsor, Ontario.

He speaks English, Arabic, Spanish and basic French. He has travelled extensively on behalf of the Alberta government as Mission Leader of the Education and Training Sector to market Alberta’s capabilities to the world. He represented Alberta in dealing with Canadian Business Associations, International Business Organizations, Federal Departments, Canadian Embassies and Foreign Embassies in Ottawa to prepare Alberta Missions abroad or Missions coming to Alberta by: Dignitaries, Ambassadors, Educators and Business people. He has been a guest speaker at various conferences, institutions, and business organizations on the topics of Global Opportunities and Alberta’s Capabilities to Export and World Competition. He was a Special Advisor to the Minister, Alberta Education. In this capacity he consulted with Multicultural Organizations to establish, improve, adjust and enhance Bi-Lingual programs.

At the present time he is a:
Notary Public – Alberta
Alberta Judicial Council - Member
President of Alberta Business Consultants
Mayor Mandel Multicultural Advisory Council

In the above capacities, some of his duties are to: Study files and submissions for judicial appointments and interview lawyers seeking to become judges. Interprets and apply legislation, laws, procedures and policies related to Notary Public duties. Advise companies on process to establish markets for products and services abroad including: Cultural & Political Intelligence, Business Practices, Laws & Procedures of Land and Contractual Obligations.

Awards received:
Queen’s Jubilee Award for Community Service
Alberta Centennial – Gold Award
Alberta Centennial - Silver Award
Camrose Institute International Developments Award
Junior Achievement Recognition for Service
Edmonton Public Schools –Community services Award
Canadian Arab Business Club – Community Services Award

Joe has numerous community involvements to his credit and above all has a “deep respect for humankind and has a “deeply-rooted desire to make peace in the world”.

Wing Y. Choy, B. Sc., P. Eng.
A member of APEGGA, graduated from University of Alberta, Civil Engineering. He is currently working for Alberta Infrastructure & Transportation. 

Wing has been involved with many charitable organizations such as The  Lung Association, Stroke and Heart Fund, Capacity Canada and the United Way  and devoted his time in the Chinese Community, such as ASSIST Services Centre, Chinese Garden, Red Dragon Tai Chi Association, Li Chung Ding Tai Chi Association and the Chinese New Year Celebration Committee.

Dr. Chinnia Subramanian, P.Eng, PhD, MBA
Dr. Subramanian was born in Coimbatore in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. After completing his schooling, he received a metallurgical engineering degree from Madras University, followed by a Masters degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

A scholarship took Dr. Subramanian to Australia where he earned his PhD degree from the University of Melbourne for his work on wear mechanisms. He then spent his time in different universities in Australia doing research, teaching and industrial consulting.

Dr. Subramanian moved to Canada in 1999 to lead a research team at Westaim Corporation. He has authored many papers, books and patents in the area of wear and surface engineering. He has also received a MBA degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.

In his current position as Technical Services Manager, Dr. Subramanian is responsible for quality control, design and drafting, and R&D at Black Cat Blades Ltd.

Bruce Scott, P. Eng., MBA
Bruce Scott leads Double Black Diamond Consulting Inc., an independent consulting firm specializing in long-range strategy formulation and the resulting business development and organizational evolution.  Assignments entail working with executive teams to determine business areas of focus and areas of avoidance; essentially strategic, operational and financial investment criterion for organizations facing significant change.

Clients have included multi-national energy enterprises, municipal electric utilities, Aboriginal businesses, power generation companies, engineering firms, transportation companies, performing arts organizations, governments, university business schools and energy marketing firms.  In serving these clients, Bruce draws upon his experiences over the past 25 years advancing through a variety of leadership roles in the energy industry.

His passions are fostering strategic thinking throughout organizations, encouraging individuals to pursue their dreams and helping businesses understand and leverage their true competitive advantages.  Bruce also strongly believes that Aboriginal businesses are well positioned to lead, not merely support, the sustainable development of natural resources in Canada’s frontier regions.

Sooban Kamal, P. Eng., is an engineering project manager by profession. He qualified with a B. Sc. Eng. (with Honors) in Electronics Engineering and Masters of Philosophy degree in Energy Management. He is a Project Management Professional, a Professional Engineer, a Chartered Engineer and also holds the title of European Engineer. Sooban is a Senior Project Manager with Enbridge and currently leads the Project Management Office.

Shakil Meenai holds a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with Post Graduate degree in Nuclear Power Engineering. He has over 17 years of experience working with Power Generation Plants, Canada Deuterium Uranium Reactors and various atomic energy agencies. Shakil has recently immigrated to Edmonton and looking forward to joining APEGGA and the Canadian engineering industry.

Eric P. Newell
Eric Newell is the 18th Chancellor of the University of Alberta. He is the retired Chairman of the Board and CEO of Syncrude Canada Ltd., positions he held since May 1994 and August 1989 respectively. He also served as President of Syncrude from 1989 to 1997. Prior to this he worked with Imperial Oil Limited and Esso Petroleum Canada Ltd.

Mr Newell holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia and a Masters of Science in Management Studies from the University of Birmingham, England. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence.
Mr Newell is a director of Canfor Corporation and Nexen Inc. He is also Chair of the CAREERS: The Next Generation Foundation, Honorary Chair of the Centre for Family Literacy, Policy Advisor to The Learning Partnership, and a member of the board of the Alberta Energy Research Institute, C. D. Howe Institute, Alberta Heart Institute, and Lieutenant Governor Arts Award Foundation. As past President of the Alberta Chamber of Resources, he spearheaded the creation of the National Oil Sands Task Force which developed a comprehensive new energy vision for Canada in 1995.

LUNCH SPEAKER
Thursday, April 20, 2006

Scott Taylor
Scott Taylor, a former professional soldier, has been editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps, an Ottawa-based magazine celebrated for its unflinching scrutiny of the Canadian military since 1988.

During the past 16 years, Taylor has logged over one million air miles as a war correspondent reporting from such global hot spots as the Persian Gulf, Cambodia, Western Sahara, Croatia, Bosnia, and most recently from Iraq, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. Since August 2000, Taylor has made a total of 20 trips into Iraq to report on the effects of the UN sanctions and the heightening tensions with the United States.

In March 2003, following his capture, torture and several death threats, Scott was asked to leave Iraq for fear of his being a spy for the Israeli Mossad. He has returned frequently to Iraq to view first-hand the ongoing humanitarian crisis plaguing this still embattled country. Scott Taylor regularly appears in the Canadian media as a military analyst, and is the recipient of the 1996 Quill Award for outstanding work in the field of Canadian communications and the Alexander MacKenzie Award for journalistic excellence.

A weekly columnist for the Halifax Herald and Windsor Star, Taylor is also a columnist for the Osprey newspaper chain and has contributed to the Ottawa Citizen, Maclean’s, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Sun, Reader’s Digest, and Canwest-Global television network. Taylor is the author of six bestsellers including the last one, Among the 'Others': the forgotten Turkmen of Iraq, first published in October 2004.

LUNCH SPEAKER
Friday, April 21, 2006

Dr. Louis Francescutti, MD
Louis is a native Montrealer who came west and never left the Alberta he grew to love. Previously, he has worked as an emergency medical technician in the Arctic and as a professional photographer with a studio in Old Montreal.  Louis completed his MD and PhD at the U of A and while training as a resident in general surgery became very interested in the field of injury control.

He founded the Injury Prevention Centre at the U of A Hospitals and developed the award winning multimedia injury prevention program for teenagers called HEROES. Louis completed his Master of Public Health degree and a Preventive Medicine Residency at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore while pursuing further studies in injury control and public health.

He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta and is currently developing an electronic injury surveillance system and community-based centres for injury control and research.  He works as an emergency physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton and is the Director for the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research.