Panel Biographies

MARGARET BYL
Vice President, ERP Consolidation
Suncor Energy (Retired)

Margaret Byl recently retired from a career in the Canadian Oil and Gas industry and is working on a Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching at Royal Roads University.  Over the last ten years at Suncor Energy, she served as Vice-president in Human Resources, Strategic Planning, Natural Gas Operations and Information Services.  In her last role as Vice-president ERP Consolidation, she led a team of 500 people to successfully integrate six Enterprise Planning Systems onto a common SAP platform.

Prior to becoming an executive, Margaret was a Professional Engineer in a variety of disciplines at Suncor and Petro-Canada.  She focused her career on In-situ Oil Sands Development and applied technologies ranging from cold production to steam injection and firefloods.  Her most notable contribution was the initial development of the Firebag project north-east of Fort McMurray.

Margaret holds Bachelor degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and Microbiology from the University of Manitoba, and she is an alumnus of the Banff School of Advanced Management.  She served as a Board member for the Suncor Energy Foundation, and volunteered her time on the Boards of the Petroleum Society and the Canadian Heavy Oil Association, and to support the Heart & Stroke and Diabetes Associations and Operation Minerva.  Margaret is married and has two children.  Her passions are growing her family, mentoring others, cooking, and retreating to the mountains.

DEBORAH GILLIS
Senior Vice President, Membership & Global Operations
Catalyst Inc.

Deborah Gillis is Senior Vice President, Membership and Global Operations for Catalyst, the leading nonprofit membership organization working globally with businesses and the professions to build inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women and business.  Deborah leads the alignment and implementation of membership strategies and programs across all regions of the world where Catalyst is established.  She was appointed in August 2006 to lead Catalyst’s Canadian office, assumed responsibility for Catalyst’s regional offices in North America in 2008, and was named to her current role in January 2011.  Ms. Gillis regularly addresses senior leaders in a variety of business, academic, and public policy venues and is frequently quoted in media outlets on issues related to women in business.  

Ms. Gillis has been advising executives on human capital and policy issues for over 20 years.  Prior to joining Catalyst, she held leadership roles in two professional services firms and senior management roles with the Governments of Ontario and Nova Scotia. Ms. Gillis holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from York University in Toronto and was selected as a “Woman Worth Watching in 2011” by Profiles in Diversity Journal. 

ANGELA LEKATSAS
Vice President & Treasurer
Agrium

Angela Lekatsas is an executive officer of the company and is responsible for Global Treasury activities such as financial risk and cash management, as well as Corporate finance including capital markets. Ms. Lekatsas joined Agrium in 2003 as Manager, Corporate Reporting. In 2005, she assumed the role of Vice President, Corporate Controller and in 2008 was appointed Chief Risk Officer in addition to her other responsibilities. Ms. Lekatsas spent 2010 in Corporate Development and Strategy dedicated to mergers and acquisitions including spending 6 months in Australia leading the integration of AWB. In 2011, she was appointed Vice President & Treasurer.

Ms. Lekatsas plays other key leadership roles in the organization, being one of the founding council members of the Agrium Women’s Leadership Group and the Executive sponsor of Agrium’s Diversity and Inclusiveness Workplace Initiative. Ms. Lekatsas has been instrumental in developing and executing global strategic vision for several key areas of finance.

Angela is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan where she earned her degree in Commerce in 1987. She received her Chartered Accountant designation in 1990 followed by a Certified Public Accountant equivalence in 2002. Angela brings extensive financial and management experience to her role at Agrium. Prior to joining Agrium, she was a Senior Manager with Deloitte & Touche LLP in their Assurance and Advisory practice.

Angela has been active in the Institutes of Chartered Accountants of both Saskatchewan and Manitoba and is currently a member of the Alberta Institute. In addition to participating as an elected member of Council and lecturing, her Committee responsibilities have included risk management, professional conduct and financial institutions. Angela has also been active with the Alberta Children’s Hospital, Y.W.C.A. and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Agrium Inc. is a major Retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North America, South America and Australia and a leading global Wholesale producer and marketer of all three major agricultural nutrients and the premier supplier of specialty fertilizers in North America through our Advanced Technologies business unit.

SLOANE MULDOON
Vice President Agricultural Banking
ScotiaBank

Sloane Muldoon has spent twenty years in increasingly more senior positions with Scotiabank.

Born and raised on a large southern Saskatchewan grain farm, Sloane is currently the Vice-President of Agricultural Banking in Canada. From her office in Calgary, Sloan champions the development of new and innovative financial solutions for farms and agribusinesses, and leads a team of Agricultural Banking specialists located across the country.

Prior to her current position, Sloane spent six years as District Vice President of Personal Banking in Alberta South & Kootenay.  She has also managed several branches in Saskatchewan, been the District Banking Manager of Saskatchewan North, and the Regional Director of Banking for the Prairies. 

Ms. Muldoon has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan, is a graduate of the Schulich Executive Management Program at York University, and is an accredited Personal Financial Planner (PFP). 

In addition to still being very actively involved in her family’s grain farm, in June 2011 Sloane helped develop and conduct an Alberta Study Tour for a diverse group of influential and emerging Canadian and Caribbean industry leaders—in support of the Canadian Caribbean Emerging Leadership Dialogue (CCELD). 

Sloane currently sits on Scotiabank’s Advancement of Women Advisory Council in Calgary. Through a broad network of local committees, the Bank undertakes a variety of initiatives to recruit, develop, and advance women.  In 2007, Scotiabank was awarded the prestigious Catalyst Award in recognition of their successful Advancement of Women initiative and their innovative and effective approaches to recruit, develop, and advance women.  Between 2003 and 2010, six Scotiabank executives have been named to Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 List—two of which have been inducted to the Top 100 Hall of Fame.

Sloane is also past Chair of the Board for the Calgary Women's Executive Network (WXN)™, served on the 2009 Calgary Grey Cup Committee, and is a past member of the Financial Services Program Advisory Committee for SAIT Polytechnic.

RUTH PARENT
Program Manager, Global Health, Faculty of Medicine
University of Calgary

Ruth Parent is the Program Manager of a physician training initiative offered through the University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine, Global Health. 

In 2006, the University of Calgary (UofC) was introduced to a group of Cuban-educated Sudanese physicians living in Canada, childhood refugees from war torn Sudan. Unable to qualify for work as physicians in Canada, they assumed menial jobs until their opportunity to return to their homeland surfaced with the 2005 declaration of a peace treaty between North and South Sudan.

Ruth was part of a small team that was instrumental in the visioning, development and implementation of The Sudanese Physician Reintegration Program, a nine-month medical program at the University of Calgary to upgrade and adapt their clinical skills to the specific realities of their homeland. She recruited upwards of 100 volunteers, including doctors, nurses, administrators and aid workers, to provide over 1000 hours of instruction and hands-on, Sudan-relevant training.  Ruth oversaw the development of the curriculum, multi disciplined resource recruitment, financial oversight, logistics and repatriation of the physicians into Sudan.

The physicians returned to South Sudan in 2009, and are now working in hospitals and rural clinics. To continue to support their work, Ruth spearheaded a successful University of Calgary initiative to research, develop, write and submit a $3M funding proposal to CIDA (The Canadian International Development Agency).  In partnership with Samaritan’s Purse Canada, the SSHARE (South Sudan Healthcare Accessibility, Rehabilitation and Education) Program is now in its third year of providing these physicians with ongoing medical education and improved medical facilities.  Ruth continues to oversee the U of C component of SSHARE, including volunteer recruitment, program implementation, financial management and Sudan-based partnership development.  She travels to South Sudan twice a year to manage and provide logistical support at medical camps that offer the physicians the medical education and clinical skills needed to care for their patients. 

Prior to her current position, Ruth served as the Alberta Vice-Chair of UNICEF, with a global focus on healthcare and education for young girls.  Locally, Ruth serves on the Board of Directors for the ProArts Society and volunteers with the Open Doors program at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer and Inn from the Cold.

Although focusing almost exclusively now on work with NGOs and non-profit organizations, Ruth’s formal education is in the field of Psychology.  She has worked in the areas of clinical assessment of brain injuries, psychological evaluation, and community rehabilitation.

DIANE PETTIE LL.B, ICD.D
Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
Canexus Corporation

Diane Pettie is Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Canexus Corporation (TSX:CUS). Canexus manufactures and markets chemicals used by the pulp and paper, water treatment and oil and gas industries.  Canexus has four manufacturing plants in Canada, two side-by-side plants in Brazil and a chemical rail terminal in Alberta. Prior to joining Canexus in 2006, Diane was Vice President and Assistant General Counsel in Calgary of Sempra Energy Trading Corp., a Connecticut-based global energy trading company. Prior to Sempra, Diane held progressive in-house counsel positions with energy companies Mirant, Pan-Alberta Gas and TransCanada, and practised with Howard, Mackie (now Borden Ladner Gervais). Diane had the privilege to article to The Honourable William A. McGillivray, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal of Alberta. 

Diane is a past-President of the Association of General Counsel of Alberta and a past director of the Calgary Region Arts Foundation and the Grace Foundation.  She is currently a director of CMA Alberta (the Certified Management Accountants Society of Alberta) and the Association of Women Lawyers (Calgary).  Diane Co-Chairs the Women in Law Leadership Awards, which recently held its inaugural awards dinner and conference on November 3, 2011 in Calgary, Alberta.