Norm Dick has been elected chairman of the Alberta Construction Association (ACA).
An industry veteran with nearly 25 years experience, Dick is president of Expocrete Concrete Products Ltd., based in the Edmonton area. He is a former president of the Edmonton Construction Association.
Dick says rising premiums and reduced government spending on infrastructure are the issues topping his immediate agenda.
The industry is facing major challenges from government cutbacks despite the economic boom.
“It’s critical for the ACA to maintain a close watch on the status of provincial projects and to ensure there’s parity with other sectors impacted by budget cuts,” said Dick.
He added that rising insurance costs have a huge effect with employers, and the association needs to work with the Workers’ Compensation Board “to reach a fair compromise.”
The association has also named Ken Gibson as its executive director. The ACA’s former president, Gibson has a background in strategic planning, program management and client relations.
The association represents the interests of the province’s construction industry, which employs more than 130,000 people and accounts for an annual $21 billion in economic activity.
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NovAtel Inc. has put Jonathan Ladd in the president’s chair.
The Calgary-based developer and manufacturer of global positioning systems (GPS) equipment announced last week that Ladd will also take on the chief executive’s role.
He replaces David Vaughn, who has served as acting CEO since February last year and will continue working with the company as a consultant. Ladd, who has been involved in GPS throughout his 20-year career, was previously president of Ashtech A/O, a Russian subsidiary of Magellan Corporation.
NovAtel Inc. (NGPS-NASDAQ) designs, markets and supports products that determine precise geographic locations using the global positioning system. Its products are used in such sectors as surveying, geographic information systems, aviation, marine, mining and agriculture.
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Home Media Corp. of Calgary has made some senior appointments.
The e-business solutions company has named David Snell as interim president and CEO. Snell is a former CEO of Electronics Manufacturing Group (EMG), a TSE-listed manufacturing firm.
He replaces Samuel Fisher, who has left to take on a new role with a family business, but will remain a company director.
IT industry veteran Robert Blackshaw has been named to the position of vice-president of e-business solutions.
Home Media Corp., operating as HMC Internet Solutions (HM-CDNX), is an e-business solutions company specializing in Internet-enabled application development and systems integration. HMC has expertise in the real estate development, automotive and municipal service industries.
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Shawn Garson has resigned as president and CEO of Dev Investments Inc., effective immediately.
Officials with the firm (DIN-CDNX) cited personal reasons for his departure.
Doug Walker, a director of the company, will fill his shoes until a permanent replacement is found.
Dev Investments is an Edmonton-based capital pool company.
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Calgary-based SemBioSys Genetics Inc. has appointed Jeff Craig to the role of vice-president of business development.
He will be responsible for establishing development and commercialization agreements with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies based on SemBioSys’s enabling oil-body-based Stratosome Production System.
Craig has more than 20 years of technical and executive experience in cell biology, bioprocessing, transgenic systems and the commercialization of biologics. He was previously president of Goodwin Biotechnology, Inc., and a vice-president of business development at Monsanto’s Integrated Protein Technologies.
SemBioSys is a privately held biotechnology company focused on the development of high-value protein and oil-body-based products using its proprietary technology.
