Speakers 2017

Manjit K. Minhas, 35 years old, was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. The engineering student turned beer baroness, has become the newest Dragon on the hit TV show Dragons’ Den on the CBC TV network.

Manjit Mihas is the co-founder and co-owner of the Minhas Breweries and Distillery. She started her companies at the age of 19 in Alberta with her partner and brother, Ravinder Minhas. They became the first successful company to enter the Canadian beer industry in many decades. Currently, she has over 90 brands of beers, spirits, liqueurs and wines sold in 5 Canadian provinces, 43 US states and 16 other countries.

She takes social responsibility very seriously. She is the 1st brewer in Canada to voluntarily put a management warning on all her products. It reads: “Please do not drink and drive - ever. Expectant mothers should avoid drinking alcoholic products. Enjoy this product responsibly - Respect yourself and others”. She also co-wrote a book on her story, business philosophies and the history of the brewery she bought: Brewing up a Damn Good Story.

Read her complete bio on http://manjitminhas.com/bio-beer-industry-to-dragons-den-canada/

Alessandra Tracogna holds a degree at DES, Bocconi University (Milan), specialising in economics. She joined CSIL- Centre for Industrial Studies- at the end of the 90s. She is presently in charge of the Country Analysis and Forecasts Unit, which is the unit in charge of providing global reports on the wood and furniture sectors. Her research experience includes the design and management of a large database of sectoral data for more than 70 countries as well as the coordination of field research, through extensive surveys, case studies analysis and country benchmarking. She manages and coordinates the working team developing researches for the furniture industry in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Pacific and Middle East. She carries out market and competitiveness analysis as well as consultancy for wood and furniture related project, interacting with sector companies and leading international bodies. She is used to conduct seminars and trainings on world furniture perspectives based on CSIL market analysis.

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Michael Martin is the President & CEO of the National Wood Flooring Association, a not-for-profit trade association serving more than 3,000 wood flooring companies worldwide. Since joining the NWFA in 2011, Martin orchestrated rebuilding the association’s annual Wood Flooring Expo, recognized as one of the 50 Fastest-Growing Shows by Trade Show Executive magazine for four consecutive years. Martin was named a Top Association CEO by CEO Update, and was selected based on results for his advocacy efforts, leadership ability, building a positive workplace, raising the organization’s profile, managing crisis, and advancing the organization’s programs.  He also serves on several Boards.

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Kris Heideman is the Vice President of Lavern Heideman & Sons Limited (LHSL) and currently Chair of the Board of Directors for the Ontario Forest Industries Association (OFIA). LHSL is a third generation, family owned and operated forestry company that has experienced significant growth over the past three years through two acquisitions and a major sawmill expansion.  OFIA is a provincial trade association that has represented forestry companies in Ontario ranging from multinational corporations to family owned for over 70 years.  Kris graduated St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) with a B.B.A. Major Accounting (Honours) and received his MBA from Ottawa University.  During his time at StFX he earned Canadian Interuniversity Sport Academic All Canadian for hockey. In 2014 he was named one of Canadian Forest Industries Top 10 Under 40.

Hamir Patel is Director, Equity Research – Paper & Forest Products at CIBC Capital Markets based in Toronto. Prior to joining the CIBC research department in late 2015, Mr. Patel was a Vice President in equity research at a competitor firm, working on a team that ranked in the top 2 in the 2015 Greenwich survey. Previously, he worked in investment banking and equity research at other Canadian securities firms. Mr. Patel graduated from McGill University with a B.A. (Honours) and received his Master of Finance (MFin) from Wilfrid Laurier University. 

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Robert W. Glowinski is President and CEO of the American Wood Council since 2010. AWC is the voice in the U.S. of North American traditional and engineered wood products, representing over 75% of the industry. Mr. Glowinski first came to the industry in 1978, joining the National Forest Products Association as Manager of Fire Technology. Over the years he served both NFPA and its successor organization, the American Forest & Paper Association, in different management positions. He also previously worked as a litigator for a D.C. law firm, as Director of Research for the Washington, D.C. Fire Department, and as adjunct faculty at the Universities of Maryland and the District of Columbia. He holds both B.A. and J.D. degrees.

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Dr. Werner Kurz is a Senior Research Scientist at the Canadian Forest Service (Natural Resources Canada) in Victoria, BC. He leads the development of Canada's National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting and Reporting System and the Forest Carbon Management Project of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. His research focuses on carbon dynamics in forests and harvested wood products and the opportunities of the forest sector to contribute to climate change mitigation. Dr. Kurz co-authored six reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published over 125 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and many other reports. He serves as adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and at Simon Fraser University. He obtained his Ph. D. in Forest Ecology from UBC and an honorary doctorate from the Swedish Lund University. 

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Moderator

Ian de la Roche, Ph.D., first joined the forest sector in 1992, when he was appointed President of Forintek Canada Corp. He subsequently assumed the responsibilities for FERIC and Paprican. In September 2006, he took on the challenge of merging the three national institutes into FPInnovations. He stepped down as founding President and C.E.O. of FPInnovations on January 31, 2009. He remains actively engaged in the Forest sector, as Principal of DELAROCHE Consultancy, Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia and Business Associate of Timwood AB, a world-leading consultancy which specializing in identifying strategic opportunities for the wood products sector. In 2009, he was interim President and CEO of the Canadian Wood Council. Dr. de la Roche’s career spans almost 40 years of experience in plant genetic research, strategic planning, and creation of partnerships between governments and industry.

Candice Lucas has been a part of CME Group’s agricultural product team since 2010 where she has managed a variety of niche agricultural products.  In 2015 Candice became the product manager for Lumber and Dairy futures and options products at CME.  Prior to joining CME Group, Candice worked as a risk management consultant for commercial hedgers in the cotton industry at INTL FCStone.   She worked with global merchandisers, producers, and mills helping them manage their commodity price risk with futures, options, and OTC products. Candice holds a Bachelor of Science in International Agribusiness from Kansas State University and she is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.  This is Candice’s first Montreal Wood Convention, and she is looking forward to meeting more participants in the global lumber market.

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Ashley Boeckholt serves as a Director at Koch Pulp and paper Trading (KPPT) in Houston, Texas, providing OTC swaps to the forest products industry. Ashley has been involved in the lumber industry his entire life, growing up in his family lumber yard outside of Chicago. He served as Midwest Sales Manager for Sherwood Lumber from 2009 to 2011. From 1992-2009, Ashley served as Vice President of Sales at Bloch Lumber in Chicago, where he helped develop one of the first Forward Pricing models with industry pioneer Ted Bloch. Mr. Boeckholt graduated fromTruman State University of Kirksville, MO with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business.

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At the request of Primary Forest Industry members in Alberta, Dr. Hussein Almuallim founded the Forest Commodities Board (FCB) Inc. in 2011 with the vision of supplying an electronic trading platform to enhance the process of marketing forest products while streamlining operations, reducing costs and adding value. Dr. Almuallim currently serves as President of FCB, as well as the CEO of Firmsoft Technologies Inc. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 1984 as well as a Masters Degree in Computer Science in 1986 at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. In 1992 he completed his PhD in Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence at Oregon State University in the US. Dr. Almuallim has published in excess of forty research papers to date and his work has been referenced more than 1,300 times. He received awards from the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and Japan Society for Artificial Intelligence.

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Charles Garneau brings to his client engagements over 25 years of experience in B2B selling, for large or small companies in both domestic and international markets. Starting in 2008, Charles was a partner with Sales Performance International-Canada, a leading sales consulting and training firm. In 2011 he launched Le Black Box, a B2B sales management coaching practice. In 2015, Charles joined forces with Celsius Solutions Ventes, the biggest sales management practice in Quebec. Charles pioneered the first sales course for young entrepreneurs to be delivered at McGill University, and he led a Business Development Seminar offered by McGill's Executive Institute. Although he has an eagle-eye for the top-line, Charles also sees the bigger picture: earlier in his career he worked in strategic roles, as a business economist; then as a Special Advisor on the team that negotiated the Canada-US FTA agreement, and finally as Chief of Staff to the Quebec Minister of Industry, Trade & Technology.

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Morgan Cartier leads the marketing department of Coast Fraser, the creators of the innovate platform WoodTrader. Morgan has spent over 10 years helping businesses break into international markets.  By leveraging new and traditional tactics, he is helping Coast Fraser navigate the murky waters of the Asian and Middle Eastern wood markets. Morgan is excited to be helping one of North America’s oldest industries utilize new technology to expand their business in uncertain times. 

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Alain Thériault has more than 15 years of experience working with entrepreneurs on their start-up strategies and 7 years as entrepreneurs coach on their growth strategies including 2 as a collaborator at the École d'Entrepreneurship de Beauce. Mr. Thérialt understands the challenges of entrepreneurs and their business. He holds an MBA in marketing and a lecturer at HEC-Montréal since 1998. He is a associate at ExoMarketing B2B, responsible for developing marketing strategies for his clients and specializing in best practices in e-commerce.

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Gregory P. Kuta is the President and CEO of Westline Capital Strategies Inc. in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Westline Capital Strategies works with the softwood lumber industry to develop risk management strategies utilizing the CME random length lumber futures and options markets. Westline Capital Strategies specializes in meshing commodity fund analysis/ trading with traditional fundamental, technical, statistical & historical analyses and trading of the softwood lumber cash and futures markets. Mr. Kuta has over twenty years of experience working with commercial and institutional clientele in trading the lumber, FX, interest rate futures, options and spread markets. Prior to founding Westline Capital Strategies in 2009, Mr. Kuta spent eleven years as a trader/vice president/managing partner of Futures Technology Corp. developing lumber risk management strategies for the softwood lumber industry. Mr. Kuta is a graduate of Ohio University in Athens, holding a bachelor of arts in Economics. He also has his Masters in Financial Economics from Ohio University.

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Moderator

Philippe Boisclair is president of McGill St Laurent and of its subsidiary Canadian Wood Products specialized in the distribution of quality lumber products. The core strength of CWP derives from their sales force and key relationships with lumber mills. After his Bachelor’s in finance and business administration, he has co-founded several companies, including DevMcGill, a real estate development firm; Go Cube, a mobile storage services company; and McGill St Laurent, specialized in the trade, distribution and logistics of commodity products. His insatiable appetite for challenges has also enabled him to develop its business internationally and diversify its initial activities of lumber wholesaler to grain and energy trading. He is the hyperactive type, both at work and in his spare time. He is a physical activity and outdoor buff. He skies, plays hockey, does triathlons, sails and mountaineers. Considering that a leader should inspire others to do great things; Phillippe strives to be an inspiration to others himself.