The president and chief executive of Enmax Corp. has left the energy services company.
The Calgary-based power utility said Bob Nicolay had left under the "without cause" provisions of his employment contract. The company provided no further details.
The utility's board appointed Al Buchignani, who heads the company's electrical distribution subsidiary, as interim president and CEO.
The power distributor is an energy services and distribution company wholly owned by the City of Calgary.
An Alberta professor is set to lend his expertise to Alberta's information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
Randy Goebel, a University of Alberta professor and chair of the department of computing science, is being seconded from the U of A to the position of president and CEO of the province's Informatics Circle of Research Excellence (iCORE) as of Jan. 1.
Goebel will replace Brian Unger, who has been president of iCORE since its inception five years ago.
iCORE develops and supports world-leading university-based research in ICT. Its goal is to position Alberta as a research leader in areas of computer science and engineering by fostering top research teams.
Calgary-based Venture Communications Ltd. has appointed veteran marketing executive Alison Simpson as managing director.
Simpson will lead Venture's move into the Toronto market by opening Venture's new office there in early 2005. She will also have responsibilities for Venture's Calgary and Ottawa offices.
Simpson is leaving her post as the president of Enterprise Advertising in Toronto to join Venture.
Guest-Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd. has added senior industry executive Don Moore to its management team, where he will oversee global sales and marketing efforts for Guest-Tek.
He takes over his new role on Jan. 1.
Moore has worked for various technology companies serving the hospitality market for more than 20 years, most recently with Paradyne.
Based in Calgary, Guest-Tek (TSX:GTK) provides broadband technology solutions to the global hospitality industry.
Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. has made three management promotions and appointments.
Peter Sametz is now executive vice-president and chief operating officer; Richard Kines the VP of finance and chief financial officer; and Timothy O'Rourke the VP of oilsands operations.
Sametz joined Connacher in February 2004 as VP of operations. He now assumes overall responsibility for the company's operations.
O'Rourke, who joined Connacher in 2002, was most recently Connacher's manager of production.
Kines has been associated with Connacher since April 2002 and was appointed CFO in August 2003.
Connacher (TSX:CLL) is a Calgary-based Canadian oil and gas exploration and production company.
The president and CEO of Wenzel Downhole Tools has swapped duties with the chairman.
Maurice Minvielle will resign as president and chief executive of Wenzel Downhole Tools Ltd. on Jan. 1 and be replaced by the chairman of the company's board, Harvie Andre.
Minvielle, who has accepted a position at another company, will remain a director of the company and replace Andre as chairman.
Minvielle had been president for two years and also CEO since October when Henry Boychuk resigned that position.
Edmonton-based Wenzel (TSE:WZL) supplies downhole drilling tools to the oil and gas industry.
Industry veteran Murray Birch has been hired as interim president of the Alliance natural gas pipeline.
Birch brings more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry, most recently as a senior vice-president with Duke Energy. The 3,713- kilometre pipeline system stretches from Western Canada to the Chicago area. The Canadian portion is owned 50-50 by Enbridge Income Fund and by Fort Chicago Energy Partners LP.
Jeremy Newton has joined Southpoint Resources Ltd. as president. Newton will also join the company's board of directors.
He is a professional landman with 15 years of industry experience, most recently as vice-president of land at Rio Alto International Inc.
Concurrently, Archie Nesbitt has resigned as director and chairman of Southpoint to pursue his other business activities. Scott Ratushny has taken on the role of executive chairman and CEO. Southpoint (TSXV:SPR) is a junior oil and gas exploration and development company operating in Alberta and British Columbia.
— with files from Canadian Press
