FOR COUNCIL Tim Hohm, P.Eng.
• Broad Canadian and international experience • Service on APEGA Practice Standards Committee • Professional qualifications, outsourcing and data authentication are critical issues My wife, two children, and I have lived in Calgary since 1979. I have a University of Alberta bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering (1978) and have taken several graduate level courses in chemical engineering and project management from the University of Calgary. I became a member of APEGA in 1980. My career in upstream oil and gas engineering has lasted 38 years. A year ago, a colleague asked me to consider running for election to APEGA Council. That caused me to evaluate whether I have the necessary experience, qualifications, and skills to address the challenges facing the practices of engineering and geoscience in today’s Alberta. For example, not long ago, authenticated hard documents were used to transfer information; now information is transferred as bits and bytes. Professionals need confidence that authenticated data of many types can be transferred, unaltered, to intended parties and used only for its originally intended purpose. This needs to happen without burdening practitioners with unproductive, inefficient processes, procedures, and documentation. The ability to transfer data has led to the execution of engineering and geoscience design for Alberta projects by foreign practitioners. Consequently, APEGA members are increasingly asked to authenticate work performed by others, and APEGA is asked more frequently to recognize professionals living in other countries (as licensees allowed to use an APEGA professional designation) and to issue permits to practice to entities with operations in other countries. How does APEGA evaluate the qualifications and ethics of foreign practitioners? How does APEGA enforce its guidelines and standards in other jurisdictions? These issues must be addressed to ensure Albertans’ health and safety; to conserve the environment; and to enhance Albertans’ regard for APEGA. Society’s expectations of all professions continue to increase. How does APEGA ensure its members are qualified? How does it see that they upgrade their skills to keep pace with new technology? What must APEGA do to retain self-regulation and ensure government isn’t motivated to take over? Motivated professionals with diverse backgrounds, working as a cohesive team, are needed to effectively address APEGA’s challenges. A summary of my professional experience demonstrating ability to work collaboratively follows. My first job was that of a production well, open hole, logging engineer. This entailed leading a three-person
logging crew; safe handling of radioactive sources; logging tool operation and recording of borehole measurements; and log interpretation. Next, I worked for a company that designs and builds oil and gas production equipment packages. Responsibilities of this position included collaboration with drafters, welders, and fabrication personnel to
improve designs and reduce costs; process, mechanical, and control system design; customer liaison; and site commissioning. Currently I work for an engineering company that has grown from a local 65-person outfit to a multinational that has employed as many as 40,000 people. Positions from this period have been Lead Mechanical Engineer, Mechanical Department Manager, Manager of Engineering and now Chief Engineer for the Calgary location. I’ve worked on every stage of project development from feasibility studies to detailed engineering, including start- up and commissioning. Several of the projects have been executed with team members located both in the Calgary home office and in a workshare office in China or India. I’ve worked on small brownfield projects for junior oil companies, and on multi-million-dollar heavy oil facilities for tier-one international oil companies. In addition to Canadian facilities, I’ve been on teams that designed pipelines and processing plants for locations in the Middle East and Africa. For several years I was part of the company’s global Engineering Leadership Team. The ELT is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining ISO 9001 compatible work processes and procedures, including those used on workshare projects. The team also authors and reviews specifications and guidelines that assist project teams in developing efficient, repeatable designs. I also have contributed to teams that determined the root cause of a catastrophic steam pipeline failure, and evaluated alternative technologies for treating boiler feedwater, improving steam generator thermal efficiency, and alternative technologies for making steam from untreated produced water. Outside of professional work I have volunteered time and talent to several organizations. I was an assistant coach for the Calgary Buffalo Juvenile AA Rangers. I’ve served on a couple of church councils and a condominium association board of directors. And since 2012 I have been a member of APEGA’s Practice Standards Committee. I believe the practical knowledge and experience I’ve gained will enable me to contribute to development of practicable solutions to APEGA’s challenges today and tomorrow. I would like the opportunity to serve on APEGA Council.
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