This is a great honor for me to be on the Board of Directors for the Geoprofessional Business Association and share my background and why GBA is so important to me.

I was born and raised in Quebec City, Province of Quebec, Canada. The history of Quebec City extends back thousands of years, with its first inhabitants being the First Nations peoples of the region. The arrival of French explorers in the 16th century eventually led to the establishment of Quebec City, in present-day Quebec, Canada. The city is one of the oldest European settlements in North America, with the establishment of a permanent trading post in 1608. Today, Quebec City is a beautiful place located by the St-Lawrence River with a European architecture and lifestyle. If you want to experience Europe, French language, and great cuisine, without a long flight overseas, please consider visiting Quebec City!

As I reflect on my professional career, I think of an exciting list of opportunities to learn and grow. I studied geological engineering and received my master’s
degree in geotechnical engineering at Laval University in 1990, in my hometown. After I graduated, I worked 23 years for Dessau, which grew from 400 employees in 1990 to 5,000 in 2012. While at Dessau, I worked in five very different, positions and earned great experience without changing companies. Dessau was a great firm that gave me an opportunity to grow professionally. After starting as a young geotechnical engineer between 1990 and 1994, I was nominated to be the manager of the geotechnical department at 29 and became the youngest shareholder of the company. Over the years I took on positions a manager of the Geotechnical and Environment division , Vice-President of Environment ,  Vice President in for the Algeria division and the Ontario division. In 2012, I joined AMEC (now WOOD) to manage the Geotechnical Engineering team in Montreal and learned about the mining business while starting an infrastructure group. Three years later, I was selected to lead a 600-employee division at SNC-Lavalin that included geotechnical engineering, materials engineering and testing and environment. I recently joined Kiewit in to lead their geoprofessional growth goals in Canada.

Overall, my 30-year career has been one of opportunity and growth. Thus, I managed projects and people, instituted cultural change, led acquisitions and integrations, and participated in numerous strategic planning workshops driving operational change and enhancing business development.

I have been married since 1993 ; my wife and I  are parents of three great young adults who have many different interests, but they all have one thing in common. Each of our children want a healthier and more sustainable planet and we are proud that each is taking steps to make a difference.

            Personally, I enjoy many hobbies and activities including jogging (about 40km a week), biking, fishing, skiing, hunting, cooking, and playing hockey. In fact, I only stopped playing  competitive hockey a year ago recognizing the healing process from falls and collisions was taking longer and longer.

I am not a natural leader. Like any others, I have had to work very hard to be an effective leader by learning from my mistakes, observing other leaders. I like to ask people what they think and why. I rarely think I have the answer to all and I don’t think there is one answer to all things. I embrace diversity and differences, and I think this helped me in my life and my career.

I joined GBA four years ago to meet and exchange ideas with industry leaders about our common challenges. I appreciate how GBA members are open and transparent about sharing lessons learned, business mistakes and successes, and collaborating on ways we can all elevate the geoprofessional business. Today I can say that, because of GBA, I became a better leader and implemented new initiatives that helped me to be more successful. Being able to meet peers and talk about our common issues in a very open-minded way is priceless and this is one of the many great advantages offered by GBA.