NEW PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY
NWTCC 2013 BUSINESS CONFERENCE & AGM
April 03 & 04, 2013, Yellowknife
It’s all new: Devolution, Oil and Gas, Economic Opportunities
Strategy, Telco Infrastructure, the Rise of Aboriginal EcDevs.
Over the next two days you’ll see the big picture.
Welcome to our 40th Anniversary Business Conference & AGM.
40 Years of Business Advocacy: 1973-2013
Thank you to our sponsors. Without their support our 40th
Anniversary Business Conference & AGM wouldn’t be our biggest
and most successful yet.
2013 CONFFERENCE & AGM
2013 BUSINESS CONFERENCE & AGM – April 03
Time
Function
Registration
7:30-9:30 AM
Continental Breakfast
8:00 AM
Welcome
8:30 AM
Keynotes: Premier & ITI
State of the NWT
8:45 AM
9:30 AM
10:00-10:15 BREAK
Mining Panel
10:15 AM
Presenters
Deputy Mayor, Cory Vanthuyne
Premier Bob McLeod
Economic Overview
Peter Vician, Deputy Minister, ITI
Mining the North
Tom Hoefer
Executive Director, NWT & Nunavut Chamber of
Mines: Our Backyard and Beyond
Alan B. Taylor
Chief Operating Officer, Canadian Zinc Corporation
Prairie Creek: A Silver Lining for the Deh Cho
TBD
12:00 LUNCH
Keynote: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Oil & Gas Outlook
12:30
Alex Ferguson, Vice President, Policy & Environment
1:00-1:15 BREAK
Oil & Gas Panel
Oil & Gas Plays
1:15 PM
Sherry Becker, Exploration Project Manager, Imperial
Oil Resources: Beaufort Drilling Application
Andrew Stewart, Manager of Project Planning
NT Energy Corporation: LNG in the NWT
John Hogg, VP, MGM Energy: Canol Shale Play
Tourism Panel
New Horizons
2:30 PM
Kelly Kaylo ADM Tourism: Destination Marketing
Verda Law, President
Yellowknife Tours: International Markets
Kathy McBryan
2 Seasons Adventures, Hay River
Adventure Tourism
The Economic Benefits of
3:45
Martin Goldney, Executive Director, Devolution
Devolution
NWT Chamber of Commerce AGM
Business, Resolutions, Elections
4:15 PM
5:15 PM ADJOURN
PRESIDENT’S DINNER
RECEPTION
6:00 PM
DINNER: Welcome Remarks – Mark Walker, VP, NorthwesTel
6:30 PM
BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS: Business & Business Person of the Year
7:30 PM
ENTERTAINMENT: Comedian Sean Lecomber
8:00 PM
2013 CONFFERENCE & AGM
2013 BUSINESS CONFERENCE & AGM – April 04
Time
7:30-9:00 AM
8:00 AM
Keynote: Northwestel
8:30 AM
Function
Registration
Hot Breakfast
Presenters
$233M Modernization Plan
Mark Walker, VP, NorthwesTel
Aboriginal Economic Development Corporations
Growth Corps
9:00 AM
9:45-10:00 BREAK
Recruiting North
10:00 AM
Chamber Reports
10:45 AM
Dennis Romanson, COO, Tlicho Investment Corp.
Growing Forward: Growth Strategy
Roy Erasmus, President and CEO
Det’on Cho Corporation
Growing Forward: Growth Strategy
Help Wanted
Marion Lavigne, President, Outcrop Communications
National Recruiting: Come Make Your Mark
Anne-Christine Boudreau, Acting ED, CDETNO
Hiring Internationally
Chamber Reports
 Regional Priorities
Angela Fiebelkorn, President, Fort Simpson
Janet-Marie Fizer, President, Hay River
Janie Hobart, President, Fort Smith
Toby Cowx, Director, Yellowknife
Ann Marie Tout, Norman Wells (CDN Chamber Rep)
Newton Grey, President, Inuvik
12:00 LUNCH
Keynote
WSCC Outlook
12:30 PM
1:00-1:15 BREAK
NWT Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting
New Board Meeting
1:15 PM
Adjourn
2:30 PM
2013 CONFFERENCE & AGM
Harmeet Jagpal, VP, Corporate Services, WSCC
SPEAKER PROFILES – APRIL 03
Honourable Bob McLeod
Bob McLeod was elected to the 17th Legislative Assembly
of the Northwest Territories on October 3, 2011 for a
second term. Mr. McLeod’s educational background
includes a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the
University of Alberta and an Honours Diploma in
Administrative Management from the Northern Alberta
Institute of Technology in Edmonton.
Bob McLeod
Premier
In 1989, Mr. McLeod completed a program of national and
international studies. His thesis was on Aboriginal Self
Government and the Possibilities for Constitutional
Reform.
Mr. McLeod has nearly 30 years of public service
experience with both the Governments of the Northwest
Territories and Canada in various senior management
roles including Deputy Minister, and Secretary to Cabinet
during the 15th Legislative Assembly.
Peter Vician was appointed Deputy Minister of the
Department of Industry Tourism and Investment in April
2005. Previous to that Mr. Vician held the position of
Deputy Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic
Development (RWED) from December 2003 and Deputy
Minister of the Department of Transportation from 19992003.
Peter Vician
He began working in the Northwest Territories in 1981.
Mr. Vician holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and
Management degree from McMaster University.
Mining Panel
Tom Hoefer is the Executive Director of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines, and
has spent the past 25 years championing for a strong and beneficial northern minerals
industry. He has worked in mineral exploration, and in mining at Canada’s largest
copper mine, Highland Valley Copper, and at Canada’s largest diamond producer, the
Diavik Diamond Mine.
He also worked for the Federal Government as NWT Director of Mineral & Petroleum
Resources. Tom has degrees in geology from the University of Saskatchewan and
Queen’s University. He was born and raised in Yellowknife, the son of a gold miner.
Tom Hoefer
Alan B. Taylor
Alan Taylor is the VP of Exploration and Chief Operating Officer for Canadian Zinc
Corporation. Mr. Taylor has over 25 years of experience in the mineral exploration
industry and is a qualified P.Geo. with a Master’s degree in Geology. He previously
worked with Cominco, Imperial Metals Corporation, the Geological Survey of Canada,
the Ontario Geological Survey, along with numerous other junior companies throughout
the world. He is a member of the Geological Association of Canada, the Canadian
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and BC & NWT Chamber of Mines. Mr. Taylor was
formerly president of San Andreas Resources (Canadian Zinc’s predecessor company)
and has been involved with the Prairie Creek Mine and property for over 17 years.
2013 CONFFERENCE & AGM
Oil & Gas Outlook
Alex Ferguson
VP, Policy &
Environment,
Canadian Association of
Petroleum Producers
Alex Ferguson recently joined CAPP’s executive group,
and has accountability for leading the development,
approval and advocacy of strategic policy positions on
issues like climate policy, air policy, federal regulations
and fiscal matters. In addition, he has accountability for
CAPP’s Northern Canada and Atlantic Canada
operational & policy groups.
Alex was previously employed with Apache Corporation
and prior to that was the Commissioner & CEO of the
British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission (BC OGC).
Alex has extensive experience in government policy and
regulatory development, both in the petroleum and forest
sectors in western Canada.
As well as having sat on the Board of Directors for the
BC OGC, Alex was also the official BC representative at
the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
Oil & Gas Panel
Sherry Becker
Beaufort / East Coast
Operations Manager,
Exploration, Imperial Oil
Resources
Andrew Stewart
John Hogg
Sherry Becker graduated from McGill University with an MSc in Geology and joined
Imperial Oil in 1995. After working in the Western Canada Basin for a number of
years, Sherry expatriated to Houston to work with ExxonMobil. There, Sherry’s
experiences ranged from working the Gulf of Mexico offshore to working several areas
in the Middle East and the offshore of West Africa. She/rry also led a research group
at ExxonMobil’s Upstream Research Center. Her more recent assignments included
project management for discovered resources, and managing both exploration and
development activities in Nigeria. In 2012, Sherry repatriated to Imperial Oil and
currently holds the position of the Beaufort and East Coast Opportunity Manager for
Imperial.
Andrew Stewart is Manager, Business Development with NT Energy, part of NT Hydro
and a sister company of NWT Power Corporation. Andrew grew up in the North and
joined the NT Energy team in 2008 after spending more than 10 years working at
various levels of government, including GNWT energy policy and the Clerk’s Office of
the NWT Legislative Assembly. The NT Energy office is funded primarily by the GNWT
to evaluate and implement local and/or renewable energy projects that will help
stabilize the cost of utility scale energy for communities, aboriginal governments and
industry in the NWT. Andrew presently oversees three senior energy staff and has
spent the last 5 years managing hydro, transmission and other proposed energy
projects from conceptual stages through to design feasibility and permitting. Andrew
has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Victoria and a
Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Calgary.
John Hogg is Vice President Exploration and Operations, for MGM Energy Corp. He
joined MGM in 2007 and is currently responsible for a multidisciplinary team working
on programs in the Central Mackenzie Valley Region of Northern Canada. John
graduated from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in 1981 and is a Professional
Geologist registered in Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
He is a member of the Board of Windsor Energy Corp and EOS Petro Inc., a past
president of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, and an honorary member
of the American Association of Petroleum Geologist.
2013 CONFFERENCE & AGM
Tourism Panel
Kelly Kaylo
Verda Law
Kelly Kaylo is Assistant Deputy Minister, Program and Operations for the Department
of Industry, Tourism and Investment. She has over 30 years of northern business
development experience in both the private and public sectors. Kelly has managed a
wide range of projects providing direction in the areas of strategic planning and
implementation, communications, market research and competitive industry evaluation.
From 198301994, Kelly worked with the GNWT in the Department of Economic
Development and Tourism in the Mining, Oil & Gas and Tourism Divisions. A strong
advocate for business development, Kelly has held the positions of Vice Chair, NT
Power Corporation, Chair of the NWT Business Coalition and President of the NWT
Chamber of Commerce.
Verda is the owner of Yellowknife Tours Ltd. She is a tour planner and agent for the
tourism products in NWT. In 2006, Verda graduated from University of Alberta with a
degree in Sociology. She has also worked in public relations co-ordinating events for
corporations in Hong Kong and Canada. To keep in touch with her Chinese roots,
Verda served as the Executive Organizer of the China Earthquake Fundraising Group
in Yellowknife. She has also been involved in other humanitarian efforts including
chaperoning 14 youth to Tanzania, East Africa where they constructed a windmill,
providing clean water to a local village. Verda was recently nominated by the NWT
tourism to go along with the Premier to Asia for the China Trade Mission in Being,
Shanghai and Hong Kong Sept, 2013. Her dream is to share the spectacular Aurora
Borealis and the unique NWT wilderness experience with people around the world.
Kathy manages Buffalo Airway's daily operations in the Hay River office. Every
morning, while checking in passengers, she shares a coffee with Joe as they discuss
the day ahead. Between operations of Buffalo and episodes of Ice Pilots the McBryan
family keeps busy. A few years ago Kathy began pursuing another dream: 2 Season
Adventures, providing camping and professional to an array of adventure seekers,
including hiking, fishing, jet-boating and snowmobiling.
Kathy McBryan
The Economic Benefits of Devolution
Martin Goldney is the Executive Director of Devolution - Negotiations. Mr. Goldney is a
lifelong northerner and a lawyer with extensive experience in Aboriginal and
Constitutional Law. Mr. Goldney joined the Department of Justice in 2000, where he
has played a supporting role in a number of GNWT self-government and land claims
negotiations. He has been an important part of the GNWT’s devolution team since
2002, serving as legal counsel until his appointment as Chief Negotiator for the
Government of the Northwest Territories on the Devolution of Lands and Resources.
Martin Goldney
2013 CONFFERENCE & AGM
PRESIDENT’S DINNER – ENTERTAINMENT
Sean Lecomber is a stand-up comedian with a unique
perspective. His comedy is refreshingly based on words
and story rather than movement and expression. His
interesting take on all topics under the sun will keep you
entertained through his act and he tells the sort of jokes
you remember and tell your friends.
Sean Lecomber
According to Sean making people laugh is the only thing
he's ever been good at. Sean’s clever brand of humour
will be more than enough to make people forget about the
mediocre buffet.
 Winner of the 2007 Just For Laughs "Home Grown"
Competition
 One Hour Comedy Now! airing on The Comedy
Network and CTV
 Ha! Comedy Festival airing on CBC
 Comedy featured on "The Tonight Show" with Jay
Leno
 Comedy Short airing on The Comedy Network
SPEAKER PROFILES – APRIL 04
Mark Walker, Vice President Business Solutions, joined
Northwestel in 1986. After 25 years working in various
areas of the Company, he has developed an in-depth
understanding of NorthwesTel and a broad understanding
of the telecommunications industry.
Mark Walker
In his current role Mark has responsibility for the
Marketing and Sales functions associated with business
customers including the resource sector. He is also
responsible for directing the company’s efforts in
developing Aboriginal relationships.
Mark was appointed President of Ardicom Digital
Communications (a partnership between Northwestel,
Arctic Cooperatives Ltd., and NASCO) in February of
2004. In addition Mark has worked with the Inuvialuit in
the NWT to form a Joint Venture called Tundra
Communications. Last year the Company completed a
similar arrangement with the Tahltan forming a company
called Tahltan River Communications.
Mr. Walker has a Bachelor of Science Degree, a Bachelor
of Administration, and a Queen’s Executive MBA.
Mark is an active community member who has served as
President Yukon Chamber of Commerce, President of the
NWT Chamber of Commerce and President of the Yukon
Scout Council. Mark is a long time northerner having
been born and raised in Whitehorse and now resides in
Yellowknife.
2013 CONFFERENCE & AGM
Aboriginal Economic Development Panel
Roy Erasmus is the President and CEO of Det’on Cho Corporation, the economic arm
of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. Roy holds a Degree in Management from the
University of Lethbridge and has worked in business and government in various
capacities throughout his career. He helped to establish and manage a number of
different businesses throughout the North and has been actively involved in the
community, serving as Councillor for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, a Board
Member for the Tree of Peace Friendship Center and as one of the Yellowknives Dene
Directors on the Akaitcho Business Development Corporation Board and as a Director
on the Mine Training Society of the NWT. Roy was also Vice President of the Council
for the Advancement of Native Development Officers.
Roy Erasmus
Dennis G. Romanson, Chief Operating Officer, Tlicho Investment Corporation
Recruiting Panel
Marion Lavigne
Marion is President of Outcrop Communications, the largest advertising, corporate
communications and digital services firm in northern Canada. With offices and
employees in all three territories, Outcrop has been serving clients across the North for
35 years. In 1984, Marion and her partner, Ronne Heming, launched Up Here
magazine and Up Here Business magazine in 2008. Up Here has been judged as the
best magazine in Western Canada four times and in 2010 received the highest honour
in the country as Magazine of the Year, beating out major national titles. Up Here
Business magazine wasted no time making its mark on the publishing industry by
winning the Canadian Business Magazine of the Year in 2011. Marion has received a
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western Magazine Awards Foundation, is a past
Director of the Arctic Institute of North America, and a past Director of NTPC.
Anne-Christine Boudreau is the Acting Executive Director at CDETNO. With a Master’s
Degree in Planning and Regional Development, she brings experience and knowledge
about rural and economic development in Canada and internationally. As the Economic
Development Manager, she was in charge of various activities including successful
trade missions in the NWT and Abitibi. As the Coordinator for Faites le saut – the
French version of the Come Make Your Mark recruitment campaign – she has
successfully recruited more than 20 people to the North.
Anne-Christine
Boudreau
WSCC Outlook
Harmeet Jagpal
VP, Corporate Services,
Workers’ Safety and
Compensation
Commission.
Harmeet Jagpal graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor of
Science in Computer Sciences in 2002 and completed an MBA from the University of
Athabasca in 2012. He joined WSCC in 2004 and currently is the Vice President of
Corporate Services at the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission in
Yellowknife as well as the Chief Information Officer. Corporate Services includes
Human Resources, Communications, Information Services, Facilities and Records.
Harmeet grew up in Inuvik, Northwest Territories.
2013 CONFFERENCE & AGM
Membership has Its Benefits
There are specific benefits to membership in the NWTCC ranging from access to health and
insurance programs for small business to gas discounts for fleets and E-Learning through the
Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Perhaps the biggest benefit, though, are our advocacy
initiatives as the territorial and federal levels.
The Power to Shape Policy
The NWTCC gives voice to the economic interests of our business community. We speak to
the impacts of government policy and work to foster improvements and change. Our recent
advocacy initiatives include the GNWT’s Economic Development and Mineral Strategies, the
National Energy Board and the Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Northern Affairs. We
meet regularly with like-minded organization, Cabinet Ministers and senior bureaucrats to
ensure business interests are understood. And through our membership in the Canadian
Chamber of Commerce we get NWT business and economic interests on the national
agenda. You’ll be part of a network of more than 420 chambers of commerce across Canada
and can help shape public policy on Parliament Hill.
To find out more about NWTCC membership visit www.nwtchamber.com or call Mike Bradshaw,
Executive Director, at 867 920 9505.
Made in the NWT
Tell the world that your products are made right here. Made in the NWT promotes our
manufacturers and the retailers who support them by labelling homegrown products. Find out
more about Made in the NWT and how to participate at our new website www.madeinnwt.com
launching in April 2013.
2013 CONFFERENCE & AGM