Steven J. Keays, M.A.Sc., P.Eng.
Founder and CEO
Mr. Keays is an entrepreneur, executive, author, keynote speaker and consultant in major projects, modularization & construction, innovation programs, digital-industrial transformations, and technology development. He is a four-decade veteran of the aerospace, construction, defense, energy, infrastructure, Oil & Gas, and space industries. He is a professional engineer (Canada), a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, founder & CEO of NAIAD Company Ltd, The Institute of Advanced Management, KPO Ventures, and the KPO Group.
Mr. Keays has written extensively on project management, innovation and technology, and digital strategies. His published works (all available on Amazon) include Le Big Bang Canadien (1993), by Les Editions Arion, Investment-Centric Project Management (2017) and Investment-Centric Innovation Project Management (2018), by J. Ross Publishing (USA), and The Binary Firm (2020), by Taylor and Francis.
Mr. Keays is also accomplished mechanical engineer with several US and Canadian patents to his name. His expertise comprises equipment design, structural analysis, system engineering, failure analysis, full-field (4D) non-linear finite stress analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and modular fabrication.
Dr. Ehab Shaheen, Ph.D., M.Sc. P.Eng., PMP
Managing Director – Development
Dr. Shaheen brings more than two decades of experience in the trenches of project execution in the oil and gas and real estate development industries. Dr. Shaheen has managed projects, led project delivery groups, and been involved with every aspect of capital project delivery, from design & engineering to construction & integrity assurance, procurement & contracts to logistics & regulatory, and everything in between. He has managed projects for asset owners and ECPM alike, working on billion-dollar CAPEX investments ranging from on shore and off-shore pipelines, mining equipment failures, marine terminals, rail / truck offloading facilities, and residential/corporate construction.
Dr. Shaheen is an active member of the Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a researcher and lecturer in fracture mechanics at the University of Calgary (Canada); he has lectured on project management at Northeastern University (USA); and is a professor of construction management at Florida Gulf Coast University (USA).
Dr. Michael Leamen, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Director- Construction
Dr. Leamen brings two decades of construction management expertise on large scale capital projects mainly in the Oil & Gas industry, known for the arduous complexity of construction. He completed his engineering B.A.Sc. and PhD at the University of Waterloo (Canada). Dr. Leamen began his career as a sessional lecturer at the University of Waterloo. He later moved from academia to the Oil and Gas sector, where he focused on design, process upgrade implementations, and safety system analysis of sour gas and SAGD facilities. He joined the Canadian construction industry in 2009, working as engineer and project manager on pipelines and small gas facility projects.
His experience as construction manager of large cap projects includes projects with Spectra Energy, Suncor, Keyera, Enbridge, Pembina, Tidewater Midstream, Encana, Crew Energy, Kinder Morgan and Cenovus. His most recent activities were focused on the massive Trans Mountain Expansion Project and the North River Midstream Growth and Developments division.
Richard Maillet, CD, B.A. Hist.
Director – Supply Chain & Logistics
Mr. Richard Maillet is a seasoned executive and Canadian military veteran. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel with a decade of experience in mission critical logistics of support operations in Haiti, Somalia Dubai and Europe. He has led logistics and supply chain organizations within National Defense numbering 700 personnel, and was COO another 3000-employee operation mandated with logistics, infrastructure, security and personnel functions.
Upon his retirement, he spent the next two decades in private, public, and municipal industries, starting with the role of strategic procurement & supply chain manager for the City of Calgary (Canada) – overseeing a procurement budget of $1.2B. Next, he moved on Shell Energy Canada as Contract Manager with Shell Energy (Canada), with oversight of key contracts valued at $100M or more on the Albian oilsands project. At Shell, he also worked as Portfolio Manager for the development of several infrastructure projects tied to Shell’s widespread oilsand operations in Canada.
After Shell, Mr. Maillet became an international strategic consultant to SNC Lavalin, PetroChina, Compass Group and TC Energy. His latest mandate, with TC Energy (North America) saw him provide strategic outlook and contractual execution for remote accommodation in support of all major projects, with a budget P&L oversight of $100M in contracts.
David Song, P.Eng., M.Eng., PMP
Director – Risks
Mr. Song has spent more than three decades in the challenging world of risk and project management, on multi-million and billion projects in the Oil and Gas, LNG, Energy, Construction, Transportation, Petro-Chemical, and Mining industries across the globe. In the Oil and Gas sector, he is a recognized subject matter expert in the complex management of budgets, schedules, risks, and performance audits. He is a specialist in risk quantification, modelling, and simulations of large-scale endeavor spanning years of development.
His track record includes a Who’s Who list of global behemoths such as WSP, WorleyParsons, Suncor Energy, AMEC, Foster Wheeler, Canadian Pacific Railways, PetroChina, and Sinopec. In nearly every case, Mr. Song was intimately involved with the planning, scoping, budgeting, scheduling, execution, and control of massive projects that involved complex engineering design and multi-year construction phases, where risk management is the overwhelming driver of project success. His more recent roles have also extended his expertise to the realm of logistics and supply chain management, with, once again, an emphasis on risk analysis and mitigation.
Margaret E. Olenska, M.Comm.
Director – Compliance
Ms. Olenska is a corporate management expert, honed from three decades of in-the-trenches mandates in finance & business process analysis, management of change, project auditing, forensic diligence assessments, budgeting, cost control, and quality management. Ms. Olenska excels in the essential but unglamorous world of process design, communication efficiency, organizational transparency, and structural accountability. She has been an entrepreneur, business founder, start-up consultant, and executive coach.
She began her career as credit analyst for ING bank and Deutsche Bank in Warsaw (Poland) then emigrated to Canada in 1997 to go beyond her limits. From there, she launched her freelance consulting career with such clients as TransCanada Pipelines, Colt Engineering, ATCO Pipelines, WorleyParsons Canada and NAIAD Company Ltd., where she stepped into her first C-suite role as COO. Ms Olenska has always been involved in the financial / management intricacies of her clients’ organization, in a variety of roles that include project control, financial analysis, business process engineering, organizational analysis, strategy planning and recovery.
Wendy Wang, B.A., CPA
Director – Finance
Wendy Wang is a highly skilled finance professional with over twenty years of expertise in industrial investment projects in the Oil and Gas, real estate, and commercial sectors. Over the decades, she has managed complex financial operations tied to the capitalization of construction projects, profitability, cash flows, and taxation optimization. Wendy has directed $400M transactions in assets acquisition, and over $60M in annual revenues. She allays analytical precision to visionary leadership to drive organizational growth and shareholder value. She has extensive experience in financial strategy, treasury management, corporate governance, and internal controls. She is also an expert in designing and implementing business processes, evaluating financial performance through comprehensive metrics, and ensuring operational efficiency and investment returns.
She was Director of Corporate Service at Shanghai Energy Corporation (where she directed treasury, HR, internal control, procurement and investor relations), and financial consultant to ConocoPhillips Canada and CNOOC International in the areas of financial reporting, tax compliance, and joint venture accounting and Canadian and US government reporting.
Iva Kaufman
Advisor – Sustainability
Ms. Kaufman is the Founder and CEO of IVA Kaufman Associates, a consultancy headquartered in New York. IKA facilitates social impact initiatives for business, foundation and non-profit clients.
Ms. Kaufman applies an interdisciplinary approach to business and philanthropy, social finance, funding, and not-for-profit management. She advises businesses and entrepreneurs on the design and development of their programs in the public interest. She has contributed far-reaching expertise to advancing the importance of women; the environment; and community arts, economic, and cultural development. She understands the power of collaboration and promotes the importance of our human connection and potential for social innovation and impact.
Ms. Kaufman is on the Business Advisory Board of Impact Entrepreneur. She is an active member of Livable Planet Working Group of the American Sustainable Business Network. She has participated in the UN High Level Political Forum and collaborates with the PVBLIC Family Office Initiative in support of achieving the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. She is on the board of the Peace Development Fund, and chairs board of the Circumpolar Conservation Union.
Désirée DuMont
Advisor – Hospitality (hotels, resorts, wellness)
Desiree DuMont is a visionary figure in the realms of wellness hospitality development. She is the founder and developer of Alumina Tulum, a luxury beach boutique hotel in Tulum, Mexico. She is a proficient real estate developer and serves as an Ambassador for the Global Wellness Institute. Her influential presence represents cutting-edge topics such as Biohacking, the future of Advanced Wellness and Wellness Real Estate development.
As a real estate investor and developer, she has become an established thought leader in wellness real estate development, creating healthy homes and buildings. She is a seasoned public speaker and has led an advisory group to develop best practices for wellness real estate development throughout Mexico. In addition, she is a frequent speaker at RegenWeek focused on regenerative real estate development, going far beyond sustainability to actively restore and regenerate the environment and communities.
Desiree is a global expert in Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) marketing, having successfully built two of the largest DTC media agencies in the US. Under her leadership, these agencies grew to surpass $500 million in annual billings, employing over 200 marketing professionals. Her prowess in the industry is further highlighted by successfully selling and exiting both ventures to global agency holding companies IPG (the Interpublic Group of Companies) and MDC Partners. She is also a former board member of the Google Search Engine Marketing Council.