SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2024
"The Canadian Project Conundrum"
Panelists: Gary Williams, IEDG | Ray Seker, IEDG | Nermina Harambasic | Krishan Mittal
Presentation Abstract:
In the last two years, hundreds of biliions of dollars of projects have been announced for projects in Canada. While spanning a wide range of sectors from subways to nuclear power and battery plants to critical minerals, mines and housing - they all face the same vital question. Where are the people to design and build these facilities going to come from? Canada is currently experiencing a critical nationwide talent shortage.

 Why are we in the current situation?
  • The current pool of designers, quantity surveyors and builders is dwindling
  • New potential candidates would prefer to do other things
  • Productivity of the current pool of builders has flattened or declined
  • Projects take too long to design and build
 What are the industry solutions?
  • Attract candidates by advertising and providing increased salaries and better working conditions<.li>
  • Invest in and train the new stream of talent
  • Embrace new technologies and new methods of building
  • Rethink and reinvent how we invest in, approve, and build new projects to streamline the building process
  • Empower and energize the current population of builders to do things differently, better, faster
 What does this mean for each f us here, building now?
    Each one of us needs to:
  • Talk about and promote the exciting and rewards career potential of this work.
  • Mentor, coach, and empower the next generations of builders to help them get up the learning curve faster
  • Streamline, question, and define new, better, and more efficient processes to get the work done
  • Embrace and work through the implementation of new tools and technologies

GARY WILLIAMS
President & CEO, IEDG

 

With decades of experience in the design, execution, and commissioning of mega capital projects, Gary Williams has a proven record of delivering value to clients. His experience spans the power, mining, refining, petrochemical, and telecommunications industries.

Gary has managed companies, and a wide range of Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) projects for some of the world’s largest project management firms, including Bechtel, Bantrel, SNC-Lavalin, AMEC Foster Wheeler, Ausenco and AREVA, leading teams of hundreds of people. An outstanding strategic planner and trainer, Gary is an expert in aligning projects with client’s business objectives.

RAY SEKER
Managing Partner, IEDG

 

Ray Seker is the Managing Partner of IEDG where he specializes in supporting owner organizations with independent oversight, expert advisory, and implementation support to successfully deliver major capital projects. Ray brings a world class mix of skills, expertise, and relationships in the global infrastructure, mining, and energy sectors.

Prior to joining IEDG, Ray held leadership roles in Bechtel Corporation in project development, project management, and led multi-discipline teams. He built strategic partnerships with public and private sector organizations, led program and commercial structure development and formation of collaborative delivery models to effectively deal with complexities inherent in mutli-phase, multi-dimensional, major capital programs.

KRISHAN MITTAL

 

Krishan Mittal has more than 30 years of global experience in developing and executing multi-billion-dollar brownfield and grassroots capital projects in the infrastructure, power, refinery & chemical, and telecom industries for both private corporations and government industries.

He is a seasoned professional with thorough knowledge of the global Engineering, Procurement, and Construction business, and deep experience in state-of-the-art project delivery models; and increasing client's governance and compliance requirements. His broad spectrum of professional experience includes the customization and implementation of integrated and scalable project management controls programs. Process Mapping and Gap Analysis, Project Quality and Execution Audits, Due Diligence and Validation of Estimates, Benchmarking and KPIs, alignment of project drivers and processes to stakeholders, standards and governance.

NERMINA HARAMBASIC

 

Nermina Harambasic has more than 30 years of experience providing senior project management services for projects around the world from small to mega-sized, working with world-renowned organizations such as Bechtel, Atkins Realis, and others. Nermina is a Professional Engineer with a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Major in Automation and Electronics.