Steve E. Hrudey Chair

Steve Hrudey has a risk management and environmental health sciences background, with a Ph.D. in Public Health Engineering and a D.Sc. (Eng) in Environmental Health Sciences and Technology from the University of London. He is currently a Professor Emeritus of the University of Alberta. After developing the environmental engineering and science program in the University of Alberta's Department of Civil Engineering, he moved to establish an environmental health sciences program in the Department of Public Health Sciences in 1988. He served as Acting Chair in 2001-02 and as Associate Dean (Academic) of Canada's first School of Public Health in 2006-07. His areas of research expertise are drinking water safety, environmental contaminant exposure assessment, environmental decision-making, and approaches for health risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication. He held the Eco-Research Chair in Environmental Risk Management from 1993 to 1998. Dr. Hrudey has served on several editorial boards, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) strategic grants panel on environmental quality, and the NATO Priority Panel on Environmental Security in Brussels, and he chaired the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel to review social economic models for Canada-wide air quality standards. From 2000 to 2002, Dr. Hrudey served as a member of the Research Advisory Panel to the Walkerton Inquiry, and he served as Leader of the Protecting Public Health Program for the Canadian Water Network until July 2005. He was appointed in June 2005 to the Science Advisory Council for the National Collaborating Centres of the Public Health Agency of Canada. He has served on a 3 member expert panel to conduct public hearings across Canada to advise the Federal Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs on regulatory options to assure safe drinking water for First Nations communities in Canada and testified before the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs. He has also served on the Expert Panel on Groundwater for the Council of Canadian Academies and on a Technical Advisory Committee to the British Columbia Minister of Health on turbidity and microbial health risk in drinking water. He has extensive experience with scientific evidence in environmental cases before courts and tribunals as an expert witness, scientific advisor and as a decision-maker. He has authored or coauthored 140 refereed journal articles, 5 books, 12 book chapters, 6 expert panel reports, and over 100 other publications in environmental sciences. Dr. Hrudey was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Academy of Sciences in 2006, and a Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis in 2007. He was a winner of the 2006 TD/Canada Trust Walter Bean Environment Award at the University of Waterloo, and the 2006 Distinguished Visiting Speaker at the National Water Institute. Previously, he was awarded the Killam Annual Professorship (2003) for overall academic contributions (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry), an Emerald Award for Environmental Research in Alberta (1995), the Albert Berry Medal for contributions to environmental engineering in Canada from the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (1991), and the McCalla Research Professorship (1986 in the Faculty of Engineering) at the University of Alberta.

Ronald V. Peiluck Vice-Chair

Ronald Peiluck is Managing Director of SCOPE Environmental and Projects, Alberta-based companies that provide environmental and landscape architectural design and contracting services to a broad range of private and municipal clients; Scope Projects Inc. specializes in the design, construction and maintenance of patented wetland and biofiltration systems for application in golf course, residential and commercial ponds. Peiluck has a BSc from St. Johns College in chemistry, microbiology and earth sciences. He obtained a Diploma in Business Administration after successfully completing the first year of the MBA program at the University of Western Ontario. After graduate studies and applied research at the universities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, he earned an MA in resource planning. Mr. Peiluck obtained his national certification to conduct environmental site assessments between 2000 and 2004. During his position as President of The Lombard North Group, the company grew to become the largest landscape architectural based environmental, planning and engineering firm in Canada. He has extensive experience as an advisor and witness to 24 judicial and quasi-judicial boards, including the Energy Resources Conservation Board, Alberta Natural Resources Conservation Board, the U.S. Federal Power Commission, and the National Energy Board. Mr. Peiluck has extensive international experience having worked in 8 countries including Brazil, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
 
 

M. Anne Naeth Board Member

Anne Naeth is a professor at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics. She is both a professional biologist and a professional agrologist, with degrees in biological sciences, plant science, and soil science (reclamation). Her PhD is in plant science (soil-plant-water-animal interrelationships). Dr. Naeth's research is in basic and applied ecology, reclamation, revegetation and vegetation conservation. Much of her work is in the restoration of productivity and diversity to disturbed lands. Dr. Naeth is an award-winning teacher, has published widely, and is a frequent speaker and expert adviser to industry and government. Dr. Naeth was the Canadian Land Reclamation Association's 1996 recipient of the Noranda Land Reclamation Award.
 
 

Alan J. Kennedy Board Member

Alan Kennedy has a B.Sc. from the University of Alberta in Zoology specializing in wildlife ecology, a M.Sc. in land reclamation concentrating in soil science and plant productivity and a Ph.D. in environmental science focusing on environmental assessment and land remediation.  Dr. Kennedy started his career with the Canadian Wildlife Service in 1978 and then joined Imperial Oil as an Environmental Scientist specializing in land reclamation.  He has worked for Imperial Oil in various capacities.
 

Al Schulz Board Member

Jim Barlishen Board Member

Jim Barlishen is an economist with a natural resources management and civil engineering background. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering and a Masters of Science in Natural Resources Management. Mr. Barlishen served Alberta Environment for several years as a senior economist in the Water Resources Management area. He also served Alberta Transportation as a Director in the Environmental Section of Civil Projects. Prior to coming to the Alberta Government, Mr. Barlishen worked for the department of Economic Development in the Northwest Territories. More recently he has worked as a consultant on the evaluation of water storage alternatives in the Milk River Basin in affiliation with two consulting firms.
 
 

Marilyn Kansky Board Member

Marilyn Kansky is a legal environmental consultant, mediator and arbitrator. She is currently a member of the Law Society of British Columbia and obtained her Bachelor of Laws at the University of British Columbia. Her areas of expertise are mediation and conflict resolution, administrative law, and legal environmental consulting. Ms. Kansky has conducted mediations in varying degrees of complexity as well as multi-party disputes. She has acted as mediator for the Edmonton Public School Board, the BC Environmental Appeal Board, the Alberta Provincial Court, and the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan in both British Columbia and Alberta. Ms. Kansky's experience includes former Acting Executive Director of the BC Environmental Appeal Board and Forest Appeals Commission where she provided legal counsel and coordinated and reviewed decisions of panels of the Board and Commission on a range of environmental issues. As former panel member and panel chair of the BC Environmental Appeal Board, she provided written and oral decisions. As a legal environmental consultant, Ms. Kansky was involved in drafting legislation for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and Alberta Environment.
 
 

Alex G. MacWilliam Board Member

Alex MacWilliam is a lawyer and partner with the law firm of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP and has practiced environmental law for the past 14 years. He has appeared extensively before a wide variety of administrative boards, including both the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board and the Natural Resources Conservation Board. He has considerable experience in dealing with contaminated land issues, brownfield developments, and intensive livestock operations. He is a member of the Environment Committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a frequent lecturer on environmental issues to various industry seminars and conferences. Mr. MacWilliam has appeared before all levels of Court in Alberta, and the Federal Court of Canada. He was called to the Bar in 1986.
 
 

Dan Johnson Board Member

Dan Johnson is currently a Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Lethbridge, and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) for Sustainable Grassland Ecosystems. He holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Saskatchewan, a M.Sc. in soil ecology and a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of British Columbia (Institute of Resource Ecology). Dr. Johnson's current research is based on the ecology and sustainable use of grassland ecosystems. His area of specific expertise is in environmentally sustainable agriculture and land management, reduction of toxins as chemical pesticides, and coexistence of wildlife, wildlands and development, and methods of forecasting and analysis of environmental and experimental data. Dr. Johnson has conducted environmental and agricultural research in Africa and Southeast Asia. Before taking his current academic position, Dr. Johnson worked as a research scientist for Agriculture Canada.
 
 

Eric McAvity Board Member

Eric McAvity is a lawyer and has practiced law in Alberta since 1973, mainly in civil and commercial litigation. His practice has focused on mediation as a primary practice area since January 2006. In 1996, Mr. McAvity was appointed Queen's Counsel. He has appeared at all levels of the Court of Alberta and before numerous administrative tribunals including the Natural Resources Conservation Board in the Three Sister's Resort Wind Valley application and the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board. Mr. McAvity has served as a director of the Legal Aid Society of Alberta, serving as both a Vice Chair and Chair, where he reported regularly to the Attorney General and Law Society of Alberta. In addition, Mr. McAvity has also served as Chair of the Canmore Municipal Planning Commission, an adjudicative body. He has contributed to the publication of a number of position papers dealing with Legal Aid and access to justice issues that have been accepted as policy by the Canadian Bar Association and has also served as a member of the Canadian Bar Association's National Council. Mr. McAvity has also acted on numerous community organizations and is currently active as a director of the not for profit Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley Society, an organization devoted to enhancing environmental integrity in the Bow River Watershed. As well, he is a member of the Bow Corridor Ethics Committee working with health care professionals and community volunteers to respond to ethical issues arising in the local health region.
 
 

A.J. Fox Board Member

A.J. Fox is a lawyer and partner in the firm of Fox Wakefield, a general practice firm in which she has emphasized estate, criminal and family law serving rural Alberta and Saskatchewan. Ms. Fox has extensive training in mediation and interest-based negotiation, completing numerous courses and programs. She brings these skills into her legal practice where she emphasizes alternative dispute resolution including mediation, interest-based negotiation and the collaborative model for dispute resolution. Ms. Fox has experience appearing before both administrative and judicial bodies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Australia.
 
 

Gordon Thompson Board Member

Gordon Thompson holds a B.Sc. (Honors), and graduate training in Environmental Engineering from the University of Alberta. He is a member of the Alberta Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists (APEGGA) and is a member and Past Chairman of the Western Canada Water Environment Association. For over a decade, Mr. Thompson served as General Manager of the Alberta Capital Region Wastewater Commission where he managed all the technical, financial, and administrative activities of the regional wastewater transmission and treatment system serving 200,000 people. He has also worked for the City of Edmonton as a Drainage Network Superintendent where he directed the operation and maintenance of Edmonton's sanitary, combined, and storm sewer systems, and as Chief Sanitation Engineer where he was responsible for the planning, design, budgeting, and construction of capital projects for wastewater treatment and solid waste management. Mr. Thompson is currently Technical Coordinator with the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance where he provides technical support for the development of an integrated watershed management plan.
 
 

Gilbert Van Nes General Counsel and Settlement Officer

Gilbert Van Nes serves as the Board's General Counsel and Settlement Officer.  Mr. Van Nes provides advice to the Board as well as coordinates the Board's alternative dispute resolution activities.  Mr. Van Nes has been a lawyer with the Government of Alberta since 1992. His employment history includes that of an Environmental Prosecutor with the Special Prosecutions Branch of Alberta Justice.  Mr. Van Nes' experience includes seven years with the Environmental Law Section of Alberta Justice serving his main clients in the Departments of Environment, Infrastructure, and Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.  While with the Environmental Law Section, Mr. Van Nes assisted in drafting legislation such as the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and the Water Act, developed enforcement programs, appeared before the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, and joint Natural Resources Conservation Board/Canadian Environmental Assessment Act panels.  Mr. Van Nes graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in April 1991 and was admitted to the Bar in July 1992. Mr. Van Nes also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a certificate in Conflict Management from the Alberta Arbitration and Mediation Society.

Marian Fluker Associate Counsel

Marian Fluker is the Associate Counsel with the Board.  Marian provides legal and scientific research for the Board.  In 1998, she completed her Masters of Science degree from the University of Alberta in Land Reclamation and Remediation.  In 2000, Marian completed her law degree at the University of Alberta and articled at the Environmental Appeals Board in Edmonton and at Martinson & Harder in Olds, Alberta.  She was called to the Alberta Bar in October 2001.

Denise Black Board Secretary

Denise Black is the Board Secretary.  Reporting to the Chairman, the Board Secretary is responsible for the overall operations of the Board.  Ms. Black has served the provincial government for more than twenty-five years commencing with the Solicitor General’s in 1981.  She has held various operational and corporate positions in Alberta Justice prior to joining the Environmental Appeals Board in 1996. 

Valerie Myrmo Registrar of Appeals

Valerie Myrmo is the Board's Registrar of Appeals. Valerie is responsible for the administration of the appeals that come before the Board, coordinating appeal proceedings, monitoring the flow of documentation, and providing information and assistance to participants and the Board throughout the appeal process. She has worked with the Government of Alberta since 1994, at Municipal Services, the Law Enforcement Review Board and Correctional Services, and has been with the Environmental Appeals Board since 1999.

Debra Makaryshyn Administrative Assistant

Debra Makaryshyn is an Administrative Assistant with the Board.  Debra provides administrative support to the Board’s Registrar of Appeals.  She has 10 years experience in the criminal justice area of the Alberta Government and is a graduate of the Legal Assistant Program at the Red Deer College.
 
 

Jennie Delaney Administrative Assistant

Jennie Delaney is an Administrative Assistant with the Board. Jennie carries out an array of functions in support of the Board related to the general administration of the Board and appeals that are filed with the Board. After studying Fine Arts at the University of Alberta and Art at the University of Calgary, she has been employed with the provincial government and in the private sector, performing a variety of administrative, financial and marketing functions.
 
 

Theresa Ulvestad Receptionist

Theresa Ulvestad is the Board's receptionist. Ms. Ulvestad has a wide variety of office experience from the private sector. Theresa is responsible for general office support.