OACETT 2014 Annual General Meeting and Conference Highlights

With significant chapter representation and members, strategic partners, academia and industry delegates in attendance, this year’s AGM and Conference offered a diverse program of meetings, networking and professional development. Highlights of the program included OACETT’s executive council’s presentation, four technical presentations, the President’s Dinner which included the Fellow OACETT Designation ceremony and the Annual General Meeting.

Guests who attended the event to bring greetings from their associations included Dave Rutherford, President of Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of British Columbia; Keith Gaillot, President of the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta; Changiz Sadr, P.Eng., Council Member from Professional Engineers Ontario; Danny Young, President and Chair of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers; Mike Seiling, President of the Ontario Building Officials Assoication; John Hoicka, Senior Research and Policy Advisor at Colleges Ontario; and Dr. Elaine Lam, Director of Business Development and Strategic Planning at Ryerson University.

We also heard welcoming remarks from Dr. Dan Patterson, President of Niagara College, and Dr. Misheck Mwaba, Dean of Media and Technology at Niagara College.

OACETT Council 2013-2015


Back row – Andy Dryland, C.E.T., PASB Councillor, Northern Region; Ron Walker, C.E.T., IETO Councillor, Eastern Region; Joshua Culp, Student Representative; Ken Browne, C.E.T., PASB Councillor, Horseshoe Region; Christopher van Dop, C.E.T., PASB Councillor, Western Region; Bob van den Berg, C.E.T., President-Elect; Stephen Morley, C.E.T., C.I.M., President; Rod MacLeod, C.E.T., B.Sc., Past-President; Vincent Le Faive, C.E.T., CBET (c), IETO Councillor, Western Region; Christopher Ellerton, A.Sc.T., PASB Councillor, Eastern Region; André Tardif, C.E.T., IETO Councillor, Northern Region; Changiz Sadr, P.Eng., Representative from Professional Engineers Ontario; Mark Gatenby, C.E.T., PASB Councillor, Central Region; Patrick Ng, C.E.T., IETO Councillor, Central Region.

Front row – Steve Barnes, C.E.T., PASB Councillor, Toronto Region; Erin Booth, C.E.T., IETO Councillor, Horseshoe Region; Greg Miller, C.E.T., Vice-President, IETO; Andre Sherman, O.A.A., C.E.T., Representative from the Ontario Association of Architects; Dr. Christine Bradaric-Baus, Representative from the Heads of Technology; Eduardo Prillo, C.E.T., IETO Councillor, Toronto Region.

Not pictured are: Kim Pickett, C.E.T., Vice-President, PASB; and Martine Band, Public Representative.

President’s report
President Stephen Morley, C.E.T., C.I.M., opened the conference by leading the delegates through a presentation based on the theme “Cultivating a Culture of Success”.

Morley told attendees: “Like all things in life, whether it be our personal life, work life and in this case our association, we need to step back at times and take an inventory of what is really important to us as members and how to remain relevant in the marketplace.”

The Association is working under a new vision and mission statement and new five-year strategic plan is in place. “What we as an association had to think about 10 years ago or even what we thought about last year can become obsolete very quickly,” said Morley. “Developing a winning strategy is always a challenge, it takes planning, innovation and execution.  Our new plan builds on the good work of our previous plan.”

View details of the strategic plan here.

Financial report
Secretary-Treasurer and Chief Administrative Officer, Hillary Tedoldi reported that the Association had another successful year financially and that we continue to build solid reserves for the future.

Technical Poster Presentations
Conference delegates heard four technical presentations. Paul Rohoman, C.E.T. gave a presentation on the City of Burlington’s corporate asset management system implementation; Jim Lambert, C.E.T. spoke about how to leverage 3D point cloud data for design engineering applications; and associate member Blair Hammond spoke about the possibilities of a Trans-Atlantic tunnel. Niagara College student Dave McKechnie spoke about Decora powder solution.

In addition to these dynamic presentations, delegates had the opportunity throughout the day to visit the poster presentation exhibit where the speakers, along with seven other members, displayed their technical work and spoke with delegates about some of the most practical and promising technical topics in engineering technology, and offered a wide range of perspectives, practices and technical expertise.   Abstracts for each presentation will be provided in an upcoming edition of The Ontario Technologist.

Fellow OACETT Designation Ceremony
A ceremony was held during the President’s Dinner to honour three exceptional OACETT members with the Fellow OACETT designation.

The Fellow OACETT designation is the highest and most prestigious membership category.

The nominee must have made a significant achievement and/or contribution in the field of engineering technology or related field.

Each of this year’s recipients received a nomination supported by five certified members. The nominations were vetted by the Fellow OACETT Committee and received a Council vote of at least 90 per cent in favour of their nomination.



Fellow OACETT 2014 recipients (l to r): Angelo Innocente, C.E.T., Farsad Kiani, C.E.T. and J. Daryl Keys, C.E.T.

The Carole and George Fletcher Report
J. Daryl Keys, C.E.T., a trustee of the Carole and George Fletcher Foundation Board of Trustees, reported on the significant progress made towards the “25 for 25 Building Forward” campaign which is establishing $40,000 endowment funds at 25 Ontario colleges.

Significant progress was made towards presenting a Fletcher award at all 25 colleges. Endowment funds were established at Niagara College and Fleming College and funds were committed to at St. Clair College and RCC Institute of Technology, bringing the total number of funds to 23 with a value of over $840,000. With financial commitments from Sault College and Mohawk College in the first quarter of 2014, 25 funds will be in place very shortly. As a result, it is anticipated that 25 awards will be presented in the 2014/2015 academic year.

Thank you to our Sponsors

Gold Sponsor:





Silver Sponsors:







Bronze Sponsors:













Delegate Bags Sponsor:





Lunch Sponsors:






Hospitality Sponsors:






Coffee Break Sponsors:





Welcome Night Sponsors:







Provincial Heads of Technology


For further details…
Look to the July/August issue of The Ontario Technologist magazine for more highlights from the AGM and Conference. OACETT’s 2013-2014 Annual Report is available here.


Click here to view the AGM 2014 photo gallery.