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BY DENNIS BROOKS, P.ENG., P.GEOPH.
Education Foundation Columnist
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On March 29, we held the Education Foundation
Annual General Meeting by videoconference between the Calgary
and Edmonton
APEGGA offices. This format resulted in the best attendance
yet.
The most important item was the re-election/re-appointment
of the board of directors and officers. They are:
President Norman Orr, P.Eng.
Past President J.A. (Tony) Howard, P.Eng.
Vice-President Jack Shaw, P.Eng.
Treasurer Connie Parenteau, P.Eng.
Secretary Dr. Ron Lawson, P.Eng.
Other Directors
Gerry DeSorcy, P.Eng.
Dr. Phil Shum, P.Eng.
J.D. Hole, P.Eng.
Neil Windsor, P.Eng. (APEGGA designated member)
Alice Payne, P.Geol.
What is very gratifying is that all these volunteers have
chosen to serve again on the board. In the past, we have
had some high turnover that caused the board to lose momentum
and sometimes direction; it seemed that every year we were
starting again at the bottom of the learning curve.
The board and its officers are vital to providing leadership
to the foundation. Our thanks to these generous volunteers.
A financial report was given based on the auditor’s
report. An extract from this can be found in the APEGGA Annual
Report, which you can read online at:
www.apegga.org/publications/annual_reports/Annual03_04.pdf.
Comparisons are made to our 2002 results, but what is not
apparent is the great progress we have made since the foundation’s
inception in 1997. Over these seven years net assets have
grown successively from $31,094 to $100,570 to $142,557 to
$244,241 to $308,936 to $416,691 to $526,379!
The last four values include an endowment created in 2000
by an APEGGA contribution of $50,000. Some part of this success
is due to our very low operating costs, last year less than
$2,000.
This past year saw the Millennium Scholarships double in
value, and next year will see other large increases in scholarships
paid out – the result of board decisions made in the
past 12 months.
The board meeting immediately following the AGM also made
some decisions to create committees reporting to the board
to advance work on scholarship terms of reference for our
new Centennial awards, financial planning, and investigation
of merits of other groups appealing to the foundation for
funding.
These are important steps to getting the work done. Anyone
interested in serving on these committees should contact
Member & Corporate Affairs Director Ross Plecash, P.Eng.,
at the APEGGA office in Edmonton, (780) 426-3990, 1-800-661-7020,
ext. 2814.
The foundation has every reason to celebrate its 2003 successes.
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