2024 AMBC Conference

“Today’s Decisions-Tomorrow’s Future”

November 6-7, 2024

Radisson Vancouver Airport Hotel, Richmond

Thank You for Attending the 2024 AMBC Conference!

Today’s Decisions-Tomorrow’s Future

The annual Asset Management BC Conference is AMBC’s largest on site signature event of the year, comprised of presentations, plenaries, social functions and a mini trade show of exhibitors.

Thank you to all who took this opportunity to network and share ideas with asset management champions, sustainability experts, CAO’s, Local Government Delegates, and front line operators, and join the current conversation about Sustainable Service Delivery. We hope to see you again at next year’s conference!

 2024 Conference Program

 2024 Conference Presentations

Keynote, Michael Blackstock – Blue Ecology, A collaborative Framework for BC

Growing the Practice: Natural Asset Management Practices Advances by Local Government – Michelle Lewis, Town of Gibsons

Growing the Practice: Natural Asset Management Practices Advances by Local Government – Roy Brooke, NAI

The Renewed Canada Community Building Fund & Asset Management – What You Need to Know – Brant Felker, UBCM and Brian Bedford, Ministry of Municipal Affairs

Towards Natural Asset Management in Saanich: Results of an Enhanced Natural Assets Inventory – Jacqueline Weston, District of Saanich and Roy Brooke, Natural Assets Initiative

The Case for Maintenance Management Readiness – Pravin Mahadeo, Regional District of Nanaimo

Building the Capacity of Asset Management – Results from a Nationwide Staffing Survey – Jacqueline Weston, District of Saanich and Rowan Holyer, icIfrastructure

District of Sechelt’s Asset Management Report Cards – Kevin Durkee, District of Sechelt

Lessons Learned for Building Asset Management Programs – Gracelyn, City of Abbotsford

Utilizing Digital Data Collection to Improve Asset Condition Reporting at Indigenous Communities – Saher Ghanem, Dillon Consulting

How do You Manage Your Assets if You Don’t Have the Data? – Andrew Walther, MMCD/APW Engineering

Integrating Risk Assessment and Resiliency, Flexibility and Affordability into Asset Replacement Financial Planning – Mark Boysen, North Saltspring Waterworks District and Paul Murray, Brentwood Advisory Group & YourCity

Asset Management BC Update – Arnold Schwabe, AMBC

Keynote, Chris Barlow, City of Castlegar – When it Comes to Asset Management, Money Isn’t Everything – But it’s Close

Cultural Evolution of Asset Management in Cranbrook – Mike Matejka and Curtis Mummery, City of Cranbrook

Future-proof Your Projects with Asset Data Standards – Lessons from Lake Babine Nation – Glynis Fleming, Egov Solutions and Ian Gerritsen, Associated Engineering

The Death and Life of Great Asset Stewardship – Rory Tooke, Trina Buhler, Nina Sutic-Bata, City of Victoria and Brittney Dawney, Urban Systems

Steering the Urban Ship: How Prince George Leverages Asset Management to Move Towards Sustainable Services – Kristy Bobbie, City of Prince George & Nicole Allen, NAMS Canada

After the AMP: Sewer AMP Implementation & Strategic Momentum at City of New Westminster – Kwaku Agyare-Manu, City of New Westminster & Jaimie Sokalski, Associated Engineering

Asset Management Planning Challenges in the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary – James Chandler, Regional District of Kootenay Boundary & Bill Hart, AECOM

Data-Driven Decisions for Asset and Risk Management – Nedia Vanderelst, Municipal Insurance Association of BC & Devin Baker, Suncorp Valuations

Enhancing Resilience through One Water System Risk Management Enhancing Resilience through One Water System Risk Management – Allison Ashcroft, MFABC, Harshan Radhakrishnan, EGBC, Aline Bennet, WSP & Colwyn Sunderland, KWL

Municipal Infrastructure Costs for Housing – Eric Aderneck, Metro Vancouver

 2024 Conference Speakers

Aline Bennett leads WSP Canada’s national Climate Risk & Resilience team, bringing over 13 years of experience in climate resilience, water & wastewater management and design experience to her practice.
Aline has been supporting development of EGBC’s Professional Practice Guideline on One Water System Risk Management Planning framework for many years and is excited about the potential to manage public and environmental risks through a holistic systems perspective.

Allison joined the Municipal Finance Authority of BC in 2023 in the organization’s new position of Director of Sustainability. She leads MFA’s climate and sustainability (ESG) program development and capacity-building initiatives for, and with, MFA’s members and partners. MFA’s services are central to supporting BC local governments in building resilient and sustainable infrastructure and investing in impactful and responsible ways.  As a municipal member-owned co-operative, MFA’s focus is on providing the lowest cost, tailor-made financial solutions to BC local governments.

Andrew Walther is a professional engineer who specializes in infrastructure data standards.  Andrew founded MMCD IDS in 2009 as a Provincial CAD Standard and now chairs MMCD’s Asset Management Committee which supports IDS development.  Andrew has been working independently for 30 years and led the implementation of AutoCAD Civil 3D to BC Ministry of Transportations survey, engineering and construction workflows.

Bill Hart is a senior asset management consultant at AECOM in the Burnaby office. He has experience analyzing and assessing the performance of infrastructure systems for both the private and public sector, having previously worked for operators and service providers. He has extensive experience within condition assessment, and risk assessment, lifecycle analysis, and asset management planning.

Chris has been with the City of Castlegar since 2004. He started as an Engineering Technician and advanced through a number of roles including Utilities Manager, Director of Transportation and Civic Works before becoming the CAO in 2017. Before moving to Castlegar, Chris worked for the City of Red Deer in the Public Works and Engineering Departments for four years. Supplementing his local government experience, Chris has a Diploma in Geomatics Engineering and Certificates in Local Government Administration and Local Government Leadership Development.

Before finding Local Government, Chris had a varied career including logging, surveying in an underground coal mine and surveying and engineering for civil projects throughout western Canada and Washington State.

Chris loves the outdoors and when not fishing, hiking, or hunting he is on his tractor working on his hobby farm and vineyard.

Colwyn joined KWL in 2012 after eight years in local government and eight prior years with a water treatment technology company.  Colwyn specializes in municipal and First Nations infrastructure management and finance and demand management and leads KWL’s asset management practice.

As an integration specialist, Colwyn has led many municipal infrastructure planning and finance projects and understands municipal planning, engineering, operations, and finance.  In addition, he has contributed to Canada’s asset management community by training practitioners and leading the development of several practice guides for local governments and Indigenous governments.

Colwyn supports municipal management teams in multidisciplinary decision-making and develops systems, policies, and programs.  He served as KWL’s lead project manager for developing and implementing the Tereo award-winning Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM) Asset Management System.  He has provided technical review of asset management planning projects for the Capital Regional District, Village of Pemberton, City of Vernon, Victoria Airport Authority, and numerous First Nations.  Colwyn has developed asset management plans, strategies, policies, and frameworks consistent with BC and international best practices for all municipal service types, including transportation, water, sanitary and storm sewer, solid waste, parks and recreation, protective services and general government services, and the relevant asset classes.

Colwyn is a past President of the BC Water and Waste Association and the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association and currently serves on the Alliance for Water Efficiency Board of Directors.

Curtis has been working in local government for over 10 years, he started his career with the City of Kimberley in 2012 as an engineering summer student and moved up to the Seasonal engineering assistant position in 2015, he moved to the City of Cranbrook in 2016, his first role with at the City was the Construction Compliance Technologist and has since moved into the role of Manager of Roads & Infrastructure, this position is responsible for the budgeting, planning and implementation of the City’s capital infrastructure projects. Curtis Graduated in 2015 from SAIT with his Civil Engineering Technology Diploma and has since become a registered AScT with ASTTBC.
Curtis is an active member of the asset management steering committee and is actively working to keep pushing forward new, improved and continued asset management practices within the City.
When not working Curtis enjoys all the East Kootenays have to offer, he enjoys camping, fishing, hiking, Archery and Photography.

Devin Baker is the Manager of Business Development for Suncorp Valuations. He works with a team of approximately 100 staff across Canada and the US specializing in appraisals for the purpose of Insurance, Financing, Tangible Asset Reporting, Purchase Price Allocation, Capital Asset Planning, Depreciation Reports, and Reserve Fund Studies.
Prior to his employment with Suncorp Valuations, Devin worked several years with a large Credit Union specializing in Asset-Based Financing and Business Development. Devin earned his B. Comm. through the University of Saskatchewan and the Edwards School of Business specializing in finance and economics.
In his free time, Devin plays basketball, volleyball, is an avid Saskatchewan Roughrider fan, and spends what time he has working on his conflict-mediation skills with his very active 13- and 11-year-old boys.

Eric Aderneck, RPP, MPL, BCOM, DULE
Eric Aderneck leads the industrial and employment lands portfolio at Metro Vancouver Regional District, and has authored a number of leading studies and articles to advance the understanding and dialogue about these important matters. He also completed a comprehensive study documenting the relationship between infrastructure servicing costs and residential development typologies. His work includes contributing to the development of the Regional Growth Strategy and Regional Industrial Lands Strategy, including preparing policy options, developing recommendations, and implementing actions through collaboration with stakeholders.
Over the past two decades, his diverse experience includes working for the public and private sectors in the Metro Vancouver region through a number of different capacities including planning policy, real estate development, consultant, and instructor. He also teaches urban planning courses, including online classes about planning specifically for non-planners.
His formal education includes a Master of Urban & Regional Planning Degree from Queen’s University, a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Victoria, an Urban Land Economics Diploma from the University of British Columbia, and Project Management and Construction & Development Diplomas from Langara College.
Resources: LearnPlanning.ca
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Glynis began her Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Technology specialization in 2005 implementing top-tier EAM solutions to over 60 clients across Canada across a wide range of market sectors. In 2015, Glynis focused on her passion to serve local government as the exclusive Canadian partner with Lucity, Inc. successfully bringing this mature municipal EAM to the Canadian market. Glynis, and her Egov team continue to provide ongoing support to Lucity clients including Lake Babine Nation.
Through many successful deployments and consulting projects, Glynis and her team at Egov have developed deep domain expertise with leading asset and maintenance management software solutions, related technologies, and integrated systems thus enabling Glynis to provide knowledge-based, guidance and consulting for municiplities engaging in asset management digital transformation.

Gracelyn has over a decade of experience in local government asset management and operations working on the consultant and public sector sides, with both municipalities and regional district in BC. Gracelyn is a Certified Asset Management Assessor through WPiAM, is an Certified Asset Management Professional through PEMAC, and has an Asset Management Certificate from IAM. Most recently, she completed her Master of Arts in Leadership and works as the Senior Manager of Asset Management at the City of Abbotsford.

Harshan Radhakrishnan supports the Professional Practice, standards and Development Department by providing practice advice, interpretation and guidance to Engineers and Geoscientists BC and its registrants on matters related to the professional and ethical practice of engineering and geoscience in British Columbia. He works on the development of EGBC professional practice guidelines funded via provincial governmental contracts that explain the duties and obligations of registrants while engaged in certain governmental projects.

Ian has 20 years of business and consulting experience leading projects and providing strategic planning, financial accountability, and business operations. In addition to his project management experience, Ian brings a unique perspective from his experiences with asset management program development for CNAM, managing environmental consulting and project data management businesses, and regulatory planning. His broad expertise encompasses financial planning, communications, program management, data management, risk analysis, and change management.
Ian’s current focus is on integrated decision-making and strategic planning. He is adept at delivering strategic consulting services, building trusting client relationships, fostering asset management culture, and leveraging complex systems and data to produce intelligent, evidence-based decisions, efficient and value-driven processes, and more sustainable communities. At Associated, Ian has been involved with the development and implementation of asset management strategies, plans, and practices for clients across BC, including the City of Vancouver, the District of Sechelt, the District of Saanich, the City of New Westminster and others.

Jacqueline Weston is a Professional Engineer and Project Management Professional with experience across the asset lifecycle, including infrastructure planning, design & construction, and operations & maintenance. Jacqueline has been the Asset Management Program Manager for the District of Saanich since the fall of 2021. She is motivated by working with a cross-departmental team on continual improvement towards sustainable service delivery – asset management is fun!

Jaimie is a Professional Engineer with Associated Engineering’s Strategic Advisory Services Group working as an Asset Sustainability & Resilience Engineer. She provides municipal clients with asset management, climate adaptation, and climate mitigation services including analysis, strategic planning, and facilitation work across a range of service areas and asset types. Jaimie also serves as the Climate Change Advisor for Associated’s Vancouver office, advising groups on how to increase the climate resilience of engineering projects. She has experience in asset management plan development, levels of service development and tracking, risk assessments, maturity assessments and improvement planning, business process planning, asset inventory, climate mitigation and adaptation assessments, and best practice research for strategy development.

Kevin is a Asset Management/GIS technician at the District of Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast. With over eight years of combined GIS and asset management experience Kevin brings a unique perspective that includes local and territorial government work. Focusing on the practicality of asset management along with his GIS background he enjoys pairing the two systems of thinking in hopes of creating efficient and meaningful process that are helpful to staff and informative to residents.

Kristy is the City of Prince George’s Asset Manager and leads a team of three Asset Management practitioners with engineering and finance backgrounds.  Kristy is a Civil Engineering Technologist and has been with the City for 18 years, starting out in the Utilities Division helping to look after the water, sewer, stormwater, and district energy systems. The City’s AM program started in 2004 and since then has grown to become a robust system of people, data, and technology, but there is still lots to do.  Kristy and her team are working on developing AM Plans for each of the major asset categories that will help tell the story to decision makers about how the City’s assets are performing and what to plan for in the future.

Kwaku is the Deputy Director of Engineering Services at the City of New Westminster and leads several divisions, including the corporate asset management division in engineering. Kwaku is a professional engineer and project management professional with over a decade of experience in local government and asset management, having previously worked as an Asset Management consultant in South Africa and in the Asset Management groups at the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and the City of Vancouver. Kwaku is a Water Resources engineer passionate about advancing the maturity of Asset Management in all the organizations and communities he serves.

Mark is an accomplished municipal professional with an interdisciplinary background in both rural and urban local government settings. In 2023, Mark took on the role of Chief Administrative Officer at the North Salt Spring Waterworks District in 2023, the largest provider of community water on Salt Spring Island. Since 2017, Mark has held senior management roles at the District of Ucluelet and the Cowichan Valley Regional District, advancing asset management programs in each community. He previously spent nine years leading climate action and sustainability portfolios for the District of Saanich and City of Victoria, and ten years as an environmental consultant for a wide range of public and private organizations. Mark is a Registered Professional Planner (RPP/MCIP) and current President of the CivicInfo Board of Directors.

During times of crisis, a few leaders always step into the spotlight with a new vision bridging conflicting worldviews. Michael Blackstock is one of these visionaries.

As an Independent Indigenous Scholar and founder of the Blue Ecology™ theory, Blackstock offers a unique First Nations perspective on the climate crisis, inserting water into the difficult debates about carbon emissions. He has published over two dozen peer reviewed papers, bridging Science and centuries old Indigenous ways of honouring nature. His ability to mediate grew out of a uniquely diverse background as a writer, a thought leader, and registered Forester. For the past 20 years, Blackstock has held senior positions in the BC Public Service. He also was the Senior Negotiator and Manager of Indigenous Employment and Training at BC Hydro.

Michelle is the Natural Asset Technician for the Town of Gibsons, a municipality at the forefront of Natural Asset Management work. Her role is unique to Gibsons, a position dedicated solely to monitoring, maintaining, and planning around Gibsons’ natural assets. Her work includes a Watershed Scale natural assets valuation project, a Coastal Resilience project which focused on the role of natural assets in mitigating the risks to coastal communities in the face of the climate crisis, and expanding Gibsons’ watershed monitoring program to include aquifer, creek and weather monitoring. Her work has earned the Town of Gibsons multiple awards, including a Climate & Energy Action award from the CEA in 2023.

As Director of Engineering & Development Services for the City of Cranbrook, Mike’s role involves supporting and empowering his team to come up with proactive solutions to all things related to housing, development, infrastructure, building inspection, bylaw enforcement, and economic development.
While his professional background includes stints at with other local governments, the Province of BC, and private sector engineering consulting, he attributes much of his professional success to his leadership roles in the non-profit sector.
Mike is an avid outdoorsman, and when not in the office or supporting community events, he endeavours to get as far away from civilization as possible, often with his wife and 2 kids.

Nedia has traveled extensively throughout BC and over the years has called Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island, the West Kootenays, and Peace Country home. She began her insurance career in 2014 and joined MIABC in 2022.  She holds both a General Insurance Agent Level 2 license and the Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker (CAIB) designation.
Nedia was first introduced to insurance reciprocals during her previous risk management role with a BC public entity. She was impressed by the level of service and results that a reciprocal could offer, which ultimately sparked her interest in working for the MIABC. With her years of combined commercial insurance and risk management experience, and commitment to delivering exceptional service, Nedia works closely with members on their property and ancillary insurance renewals, conducts contract reviews, and provides valuable risk management and insurance guidance through services such as AskUsAnything and Best Practice Assessments.

Nicole is the Executive Director of NAMS Canada. Nicole is a civil engineer, having graduated from the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, she also holds a Master of Engineering in Infrastructure Management. Nicole has over 15 years of experience working closely with Canadian municipalities and organizations of all sizes including: rural, urban, and remote communities, first nation and indigenous communities, industry communities of practice, and all tiers of government. She is a strong advocate for sustainable service delivery through alignment in strategic planning by integrating climate change, risk management, financial management, emerging technologies, and natural asset management into informed decision making supported by infrastructure asset management.

Nina Sutic- Bata brings over 20 years of experience in municipal engineering. Throughout her career, she has held various positions in both consulting firms and municipal governments, where she managed complex infrastructure projects and multidisciplinary teams. Currently, she leads the City of Victoria Underground Utilities section, which includes Water, Sewer, and Stormwater Utilities. Her team is responsible for infrastructure investigation and planning, capital project design and delivery, and rainwater management.
Nina has been a member of the City’s Asset Management Working Group since its inception and has played an active role in preparing the 2024 City of Victoria’s Corporate Asset Management Summary.

Paul has lived in the Brentwood Bay community of Moodyville for thirty-four years. He is a Corporate Director (ICD.D), has a BBA from Simon Fraser University, an MPA from the University of Victoria and is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia and Canada (FCPA, FCGA).

He has over thirty years of executive leadership and governance experience as a CAO, CFO and Executive Director in a variety of local government and nonprofit organizations. Currently Paul is the Principal Consultant at the Brentwood Advisory Group in Victoria, a small local consultancy providing strategic, organizational, financial and climate resiliency advice to select clients across British Columbia.

He is a Commissioner on the Peninsula Recreation Commission and serves on the Boards of the Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island, Community Energy Association of British Columbia and Saanich Inlet Lifeboat Society. Paul is a past president of the Government Finance Officers Association and the Local Government Management Association and continues to volunteer in a coaching and mentoring capacity with both organizations.

He is a proud RCMSAR31 marine search and rescue volunteer stationed in Brentwood Bay and, in his spare time, enjoys boating and exploring the beautiful bays of southern Vancouver Island, gardening and cycling.

Pravin Mahedo, CAMP, is a results-driven strategist and leader with over 18 years of expertise in optimizing operations and assets in large-scaled organizations for both the public and private sectors, including municipal, real estate, industrial and hospitality. With a proven track record for strategic planning in support of assets, infrastructure, and project management best practices, Pravin prides himself on going above and beyond, delivering customer service with diverse business methods and employee motivation approaches. Pravin’s current role as Asset Manager at the Regional District of Nanaimo focuses on the ongoing development and implementation of asset management principles and practices in all divisions at the Regional District.

Rory is the Manager of Sustainability and Asset Management at the City of Victoria. He leads the City’s corporate asset management program, geospatial services including GIS, surveying and land records, and environmental sustainability policy and planning functions. Rory has over 15 years experience in the municipal sector and holds a Masters and PhD in natural resources management from the University of British Columbia.

Rowan Holyer is a Senior Analyst at icInfrastructure, a training firm based in Kelowna, BC, focused on capacity building for infrastructure owners. He has worked with communities across Canada to help them develop AM elements such as Policy, Strategy, and AMP documents. He graduated from UBC Okanagan with a degree in Economics in 2022.

Roy is the Executive Director of the Natural Assets Initiative, a national not-for profit that works with local governments and others to help them understand, account for, and manage natural assets as a critical part of resilient infrastructure systems.

During the 1990s, Roy served as a political advisor to Canada’s environment minister. He then worked for the United Nations for approximately a decade. This included roles in the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. During his time with the UN, he was based in Geneva, Switzerland, and later in Kigali, Rwanda, where he was UNEP’s Environment Programme Coordinator. Roy also served as Director of Sustainability for the City of Victoria between 2011-2013.

Saher Ghanem is a Civil Engineer and Asset Management Analyst at Dillon Consulting Limited. His work is focused on asset management awareness, planning, and implementation in First Nation communities and small municipalities across Canada.

Trina Buhler has played a key role in advancing the City of Victoria’s asset management initiatives over the past five years. As the Asset Management Specialist, she has revitalized the City’s Asset Management Steering Committee and facilitated the Asset Management Working Group in developing comprehensive corporate asset management frameworks. Trina’s extensive experience includes 11 years with Parks Canada, where she implemented asset management practices and software as a technical officer and project manager at parks and historic sites in the Yukon. Her nine years in the private sector and three years in the municipal sector as a site inspector and project manager for various municipal projects in the north have equipped her with a broad understanding of assets related to utilities, parks, and buildings. This diverse background has honed her expertise in her current role. Trina is passionate about enhancing workflow efficiencies and building strong connections with the individuals who keep the city running smoothly.

 Download the Special Conference Edition of the AMBC Newsletter

Click here to download the latest AMBC newsletter for more information about the 2024 Conference Keynote Speakers, Pre-Conference Workshops, and more.
Poster with details for the 2024 AMBC Conference.

2024 #OurAssetsMatter Award Winners

Organization Service Delivery Champion Award

Winner: Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC

Wally Wells Award for Individual Service Delivery Champion

Winner: Kristy Bobbie, City of Prince George

2024 AMBC Conference Keynote Speakers

Michael Blackstock

Indigenous Scholar and Founder of the Blue Ecology™
November 6, 2024

During times of crisis, a few leaders always step into the spotlight with a new vision bridging conflicting worldviews. Michael Blackstock is one of these visionaries.

As an Independent Indigenous Scholar and founder of the Blue Ecology™ theory, Blackstock offers a unique First Nations perspective on the climate crisis, inserting water into the difficult debates about carbon emissions. He has published over two dozen peer reviewed papers, bridging Science and centuries old Indigenous ways of honouring nature. His ability to mediate grew out of a uniquely diverse background as a writer, a thought leader, and registered Forester. For the past 20 years, Blackstock has held senior positions in the BC Public Service. He also was the Senior Negotiator and Manager of Indigenous Employment and Training at BC Hydro.

Topic: Blue Ecology, A Collaborative Framework for BC

Indigenous elders taught five principles to their children as an ethos for taking care of Mother Earth. The five Blue Ecology principles, Spirit, Harmony, Respect, Unity, and Balance are shown in this Circle of Life diagram and stand at the core of Blue Ecology.

Blue Ecology is an ecological philosophy, which emerged from interweaving Indigenous and Western thought, that acknowledges water’s (i.e. fresh and salt) essential rhythmical life-spirit and central functional role in generating, sustaining, receiving and ultimately unifying life on Earth Mother.

The highest sustainability test is water-first: planned development (e.g. real estate, urban planning, forestry, agriculture, mining, oil, and gas extraction) cannot impede the functional delivery of quality water to ecosystems in a healthy rhythm.

Blue Ecology is a means to bridge Indigenous wisdom and Western Science.  Michael Blackstock will present how Blue Ecology was developed, and then how it can be implemented to address climate change. He will close his presentation with a new concept emerging from Blue Ecology, called Natural Intelligence (NI). Natural Intelligence is the theory and development of systems able to perform tasks that normally require the intelligence found in nature, such as the ability to adapt to changing environments, self-regulate life processes, and interact with the ecosystem in a sustainable way.

Chris Barlow

Chief Administrative Officer, City of Castlegar
November 7, 2024

Chris has been with the City of Castlegar since 2004. He started as an Engineering Technician and advanced through a number of roles including Utilities Manager, Director of Transportation and Civic Works before becoming the CAO in 2017. Before moving to Castlegar, Chris worked for the City of Red Deer in the Public Works and Engineering Departments for four years. Supplementing his local government experience, Chris has a Diploma in Geomatics Engineering and Certificates in Local Government Administration and Local Government Leadership Development.

Before finding Local Government, Chris had a varied career including logging, surveying in an underground coal mine and surveying and engineering for civil projects throughout western Canada and Washington State.

Chris loves the outdoors and when not fishing, hiking, or hunting he is on his tractor working on his hobby farm and vineyard.

Topic: When it Comes to Asset Management, Money isn’t Everything – But it’s Close.

Castlegar’s journey to fund the people, planning, and projects needed to make Aset Management a reality.

The City of Castlegar undertook the asset management journey several years ago recognizing the value of the process to assist council with decision making and ultimately sustainable service delivery.

Chris will walk use through the journey to date, including communications with Council and the plans forward.

Pre-Conference Workshops

Long Term Financial Planning for Asset Management

The AMBC Conference will once again host the successful LTFP module as a pre-conference event on Tuesday, November 5th at the Radisson. Join expert Chris Paine of FIT Consulting for an engaging day learning how to value your assets, forecast your spending, and improve financial sustainability.

  • Full-day, in-person pre-conference workshop on Tuesday, November 5, 2024
  • Radisson Hotel, Richmond, BC
  • Cost: $675
  • Training subsidies of up to 50% per registration are available to eligible participants. For more information, please email us at [email protected]

Registration

Learn more about this course and others here.

Levels of Service Training for Asset Management

The AMBC Conference will also be hosting Level of Service Training as a pre-conference event on Tuesday, November 5th at the Radisson. Join Colwyn Sunderland of Kerr Wood Leidal, the expert team using a customizable, spreadsheet-based LOS tool (developed by leading asset management experts and customized for use in BC), you’ll get to work with your own data and information.

  • Full-day, in-person pre-conference workshop on November 5, 2024
  • Radisson Hotel, Richmond, BC
  • Cost: $675
  • Training subsidies of up to 50% per registration are available to eligible participants.  For more information, please email us at [email protected]

Registration

Learn more about this Levels of Service course and other offerings here: Training – Levels of Service

Thank you!

Thank you to the following sponsors for helping make our conference successful – and sustainable!

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

 

Conference Contacts

Arnold Schwabe

Executive Director, Asset Management BC
[email protected]

Glen Brown

Chair, Asset Management BC Partnership Committee
[email protected]
250 356-0862