APEGA
executive positions. Filling two out of three critical positions in the first 60 days was very satisfying. Also, having suggestion boxes in Calgary and Edmonton for staff to provide me honest feedback and input enabled me to get a handle on the general mood of staff quickly. It also allowed me to act right away on some critical issues. I am hopeful that the next 60 days will allow us to fill the final executive position and provide further stability. I am hopeful that I will understand the different parts of our organization better and provide the guidance necessary to allow APEGA to become a better regulator and be on a continuous improvement path. I want to serve our elected Council well and serve our Members well, too, as we work together to fulfill our mandate to protect the public in our diverse professional activities. One of those improvement projects has been a complete review of APEGA’s governing legislation, the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act. As that process enters its later stages, what are your thoughts about it? The Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act is the guiding legislation of our self-governing professions. No major update of this legislation has occurred for more than 30 years. To become a better regulator and to continue to protect the public, certain aspects of the EGP Act need to be updated and modernized, such as the of fines we can sanction and our discipline process. Because our legislation is also one Act, two associations, there are additional challenges. ASET, the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta, is also included in our Act. In our view, the ongoing desire of ASET to expand scopes of practice in a manner that would infringe on our professions jeopardizes some aspects of public safety.
This represents a large challenge in modernizing the legislation expeditiously. Tell us a bit about who you are, outside of the office. What are your interests and hobbies? Are there details about family you’d like to share? I feel very fortunate and blessed to have grown up in Sri Lanka, studied in California and Alberta, and settled in Edmonton, our home for the past 42 years. I have been active in our community associations, environ- mental credentialing institutions, and academics. I was an avid runner at one time, participating in track and field. I also played table tennis and once won the University of California Davis Table Tennis Championship. I took up tennis at a later stage of life and enjoyed it. And I ran two marathons later in life, in recreational mode, enjoying Edmonton’s river valley during training. My wife completed all her university education in Alberta. She and our two sons all have PhDs earned at the University of Alberta. In addition, my two sons are heart surgeons at the Edmonton Mazankowski Heart Institute, a unique blessing. Interestingly, my younger son graduated in chemical engineering before turning to medicine. Also, my father, who came to Canada, passed six exams and obtained his P.Eng. at the age of 50. So I am proud to say that engineering crosses three generations in our family. What else would like to tell Members and other PEG readers? I have used the word privilege many times in this interview. I will use it again, now. I sincerely feel that my life and the exciting career I have enjoyed thus far, along with the extraordinary people I have met along the way, have been a true privilege.
20 | PEG SUMMER 2017
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