Advisory

Ken Netzel - Past President

Ken started Kenonic Controls back in 1971, a firm specializing in engineering and field services for industrial automation. As president, Ken built the company to over 300 people performing engineering and field services work around the globe. The sale of the company was completed to Emerson Process Management in 2002.

Ken's expertise includes business strategy, operations and people management. Now semi-retired, Ken spends most of his time working on his farm in Enderby, British Columbia.

Brian Craig - Principal

Brian Craig is a Principal of Adventure Capital, a privately held venture capital firm based in Calgary.

Brian has had operating roles in many high-tech companies in Calgary and is the former CEO of Solium Capital Inc., a publicly traded financial services firm based in Calgary. Brian has experience leading several successful start-ups and is a co-founder and director of privately held FX Energy, a Calgary-based oil and gas firm.

Brian is an investor and serves on the Board of several early-stage companies - public, private, energy and technology. He is a passionate architect of emerging businesses with the knowledge, experience and patience to help guide these fragile companies through their early life experiences. The clarity to succeed, the drive to win and the discipline to execute are all common attributes of the companies Brian associates with.

Brian is an engineer with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick (Fredericton).

David Mattinson - Exec. VP, OnSite Services Division

David is currently executive Vice-President of OnSite Services for Secure Energy Services. He is responsible for the division’s full suite of value-added integrated services for the energy, resource, pipeline, and civil construction industries. The OnSite division employs an integrated service approach to resolve environmental and pipeline challenges, with services from initial construction through to abandonment and decommissioning.

Mr. Mattinson is a professional engineer. He has over 25 years’ experience and has worked on a multitude of earth works related projects including landfill construction projects, and decommissioning projects. David was the president of Frontline Integrated Services prior to joining SECURE Energy Services. David was also the former president of HAZCO Environmental Services Ltd. As one of the original owners, he helped grow the company from a small Calgary operation to Canada’s largest Environmental contractor with $500 million annual revenue and 1,600 employees. David is an advocate for strong team work and contributes his success to building a team that is driven for growth, and having fun. A large part of the success was the ability to look for service needs of customers and challenging the team to deliver a sound offering. David is also an active real estate developer with current projects in Calgary and Red Deer, Alberta.

Keith Rockley - President

Keith is currently President of Human Resource Solutions Inc. and has over 25 years of Human Resource and Administration background with entrepreneurial and major oil and gas companies. His experience comes from working with companies that include Fluor Canada, Pembina Resources, Chauvco Resources, Renaissance Energy, Husky Energy, Canetic Resources, and Penn West Exploration. He has been directly involved in leading significant merger and divestment activities throughout his career and brings a broad corporate cultural, strategic, leadership and change management perspective. His last positions have been as Vice President Human Resources and Corporate Resources with Canetic and Penn West.

Keith is a Certified Executive Coach (Royal Roads University), and currently sits on the Board of the Westside Recreation Society.

Lew Turnquist - Past President

Lew Turnquist has over 25 years of operational and transactional experience in technology companies. Lew previously served as President of Orpyx Medical Technologies and was leading Orpyx’s operations and growth strategy. Lew was also senior managing partner at Kirchner Private Capital Group, where he led the firm's transactional and operational advisory practices.

An ambitious and committed technology executive with a proven track record as both a creative strategist and a pragmatic implementer. Experienced in start-up, high-growth and turnaround mandates; private and public company environments; business-to-business, business-to-consumer and business-to-business-to-consumer market models; device hardware, client-side software and server-side software products; M&A transactions; and managing all elements of a business to profit and loss goals.

Ray DePaul - Director

Ray DePaul is the Director of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

Ray has spent twenty-five years successfully bringing high technology products to market. Most recently, Ray was President & CEO of RapidMind Inc. He steered the company through $11M of venture funding into an industry leader, ultimately being acquired by Intel Corp.

Prior to RapidMind, Ray spent five years with Research In Motion (RIM) where he was responsible for all product management activities for the iconic BlackBerry product line. Ray helped guide the product through the challenging early adopter stage in the late 90's toward the mainstream market and established the BlackBerry brand as the leader in the smartphone market.

Ray is very active in the entrepreneurial community. He is a member of the prestigious A100 and is on the Board of Directors for Startup Calgary. He has worked with the University of Waterloo's Commercialization Office as well as the MaRS Incubator in Toronto to assist startups in the early stages of commercialization. He is a mentor and advisor to several entrepreneurs in the technology, consumer products and social enterprise sectors.

Ray is a graduate from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He also holds an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Bill Whitelaw - Director

Bill Whitelaw is the Managing Director, Strategy & Sustainability, of JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group (JWN), which he joined in 2002.

He has expanded the company’s product portfolio, developed new frontiers within the industry and ensured JWN remains progressive and industry-focused through the products and services it provides for insight and intelligence.

Bill also holds positions of Executive Vice-President, Business Information Group, at Glacier Inc. and Managing Director of Evaluate Energy, an affiliated energy analytics and research company based in London, UK.

Bill is a Director on many industry sector boards, including the Canadian Heavy Oil Association, the Canadian Society for Unconventional Resources and the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame.

He speaks frequently on the subjects of social licence, innovation and technology and energy supply chain. Bill has a Journalism Diploma from Loyalist College, a BA from Queen’s University and an MCS in communication studies from the University of Calgary.