Agriculture and agri-food are vital contributors to the country’s economy, employing an estimated 2.1 million people, and generating Can $134.9 billion, approximately 6.8 percent of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP).

To achieve this, many of the country’s 189,874 farms, whether small or large, use chemical fertilizers to enrich their soil, provide plant nutrition, and increase crop yields. Used for decades, some chemical fertilizers contain potassium, ammonium phosphate, and nitrogen, used in the formation of protein.

So the Government of Canada’s announcement that it was targeting a 30 percent reduction in nitrous oxide emissions from synthetic nitrogen fertilizer by 2030 to reduce greenhouse gases met a fiery reaction from farmers and associations like the Alberta Wheat Commission.

Calling for greater clarity, the Commission said the 2030 target “has fueled confusion and frustration due to a lack of clarity on what will be measured and how,” adding that farmers were not consulted over the proposed nitrogen reduction, which is aimed at “what seems to be an arbitrary and unachievable target.”

Some, like Joshua Day Chief, CEO at AdvancedAg, and son of the founder, Dr. Phyllis Day Chief, believe farmers suspected that limiting nitrogen in fertilizers was inevitable, but there was uncertainty over when it would happen.

“I felt a lot of farmers knew something like this was coming,” says Day Chief. “And whether or not they thought it was going to be federally mandated—even for their own farms—they knew what they were doing for years wasn’t sustainable. It just wasn’t.”

The future of farming
Described as “A family-owned Canadian business to the core,” AdvancedAg was created in 2016, yet the roots of the company go much deeper than that. Beginning long before the company—and its unique focus on using innovative, cutting-edge biology to improve soil and water health—even existed, founder Dr. Phyllis Day Chief worked at Alberta’s Lethbridge College as a technical writing instructor for almost 35 years.

Working with other entrepreneurs across North America, Phyllis saw a new technology being developed out of Cleveland, Ohio, for cleaning wastewater and ponds. Approaching the supplier, she asked if anyone in Canada was working with the product. The supplier replied by asking her why would anyone want to treat bodies of water that are frozen half the year.

Through her college connections, Phyllis met Cal Koskowich, Industrial Technology Advisor at National Research Council Canada, and formed a partnership with Lethbridge College’s Aquaculture Centre of Excellence.

“During the early stages of our business, we partnered with them, and the research we were doing turned out to be quite important,” says Day Chief. Now 36, Joshua remembers helping at AdvancedAg as a kid, moving boxes and getting a feel for the Indigenous-owned business and its research. Later, attending Lethbridge College and graduating from the Environmental Assessment and Restoration program, he briefly worked in the reclamation industry before entering the family’s business full-time in 2014.

“It was mom and I, and we were focused on water treatment at the time, setting up presentations to talk to municipalities,” he says. “Our bacteria are capable of so many things depending on how we grow them, but we decided we wanted to focus on water remediation—large lake and storm pond remediation for municipalities—rather than spread ourselves too thin,” says Day Chief.

Growth throughout Canada
Making annual trips to Cleveland to meet with their head scientist and suppliers, AdvancedAg was shown a biotechnology that was being used on high-value crops such as pineapples, avocados, aloe vera, and bananas, centred mainly in developing countries where crops were treated with backpack sprayers.

However, the company also knew that the research it was conducting, and the bacteria it was culturing for large-scale operations, were relevant to Canadian crops and conditions. So, the next year, AdvancedAg applied the technology to a farm and saw positive results right away.

Partnering with several third-party consulting agencies and research centres to get replicated trial work done on the crop side of things soon saw data come back. “It was incredible how the bacteria were responding in the soil, producing larger plants and roots and increasing overall biomass, which was leading to healthier crops,” says Day Chief.

“So that’s really where it all started. Being here in Canada, in such a small, tight-knit community of agriculture—I’d say not just in the prairies, but across Canada coast-to-coast—you’re probably only a couple of people away from knowing everyone in the agriculture industry.”

Word about the company and its results spread quickly, and Day Chief was approached by farmers who said they wanted to focus on their soil health and soil biology—that they had hit a wall. Already using too many expensive chemical fertilizers and synthetic products, they were compelled to use more and more to get better crops.

Soon, circumstances prompted them to begin envisaging AdvancedAg as a leader in improving soil and water through 100 percent natural, organic-certified products, supported by decades of research and innovation. “Since 2016, we now have about 50 locations brewing our bacteria across the country,” Day Chief says, “and we have a couple in the U.S. as well. It’s really taken off for us.”

In 2020, AdvancedAg won the Environmental Stewardship Award, as well as the Technology and Innovation Award in 2022 at the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Awards. The company is now being considered by the Alberta Chamber of Commerce for the Indigenous Business of Distinction Award.

Natural by nature
The team at AdvancedAg sees a day soon when its all-natural bacteria products are widely available—ideal for both small and large farming operations, parks and recreation, golf courses, water treatment, and home and garden. AdvancedAg has recently launched a retail division for customers outside of large-scale agriculture called A*LIVE Bio. The company is now in many SiteOne Landscape Supply locations, helping customers create more vibrant and healthier lawns, gardens and flowers.

“It’s not just farmers that need a better way to grow things,” says Day Chief. “Other people want that too, to put something on their lawn or garden that’s safe enough to have your kids or dogs run right through it after applying. With a lot of chemical fertilizers, they can’t do that. We’re seeing huge growth on the retail side as well.” (As an aside for home gardeners, Day Chief notes that the product also works well to repair dog urine burns on grass.)

At present, the company’s line of eco-friendly “A*LIVE” bioproducts are available at 15 SiteOne locations in Western Canada and should soon be in other stores across the country.

“A consortium of function-focused microbes”
The bacteria in AdvancedAg’s ACF-SR “perform key functions in the soil, including fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere, solubilizing essential nutrients, such as phosphorus and potassium, and producing phytohormones, which provide the full spectrum of plant growth promoting (PGP) functions in the soil,” according to the company.

“Yet it isn’t a fertilizer that you apply to your lawn and it’s lush in a day or two,” emphasizes Day Chief. “It can sometimes take a couple weeks. We’re fixing the soil for improved root development so plants can grow healthier for longer, using sustainable practices and technology.” He also says the company is moving away from the word “bacteria,” using “microbes” instead, since bacteria seem to have a negative connotation for some.

“What we’re using is a consortium of function-focused microbes,” says Day Chief. “Each species of microbes we use has one or many functions for plant growth. And when we use similar ones for water treatment, each one of those species has a function for nutrient cycling, like breaking down solids, or outcompeting algae for food,” he explains.

“It’s just incredible how we are able to train these bugs. We put them through a series of tests so we know what they’re going to do when we apply them, and that’s also something that separates us from many other biological products.”

Saving money and nurturing growth
Along with being better for the environment and free from chemicals, AdvancedAg’s products are considerably cheaper than fertilizer, resulting in cost-savings for farmers and other customers.

“Even if we are able to achieve the same yields as farmers had before, but they’re cutting back 20 percent of their fertilizer, that’s money in their pocket,” he says. “We also know the quality of the crops is much higher, and long-term, it’s also an investment in their soil, so their kids can take over the farm in a better spot than where their parents and grandparents left it.”

Through AdvancedAg’s products, farmers are saving money and nurturing future growth by building root development and increasing available nutrients in the soil, seeing better results year after year.

“The farmers who have used ACF for multiple years are seeing better results than the first year,” says Day Chief. “We’re really changing things in the soil, so it’s more of a regenerative approach, compared to historically, where farmers were putting down so many pounds of fertilizer and hoping for big yields that year.”

Along with improving overall soil conditions for farmers, AdvancedAg’s products are being used by municipalities to improve the condition of water in storm retention ponds, which are used to collect nutrients and waste. “You have green spaces, parks, baseball fields, people’s lawns. We know that only roughly 40 percent of all nitrogen applied to any type of crop is used by the plant; 60 percent of that runs off into our water, and about 50 percent of phosphorus is used by the plant, so these fertilizers aren’t very efficient,” Day Chief explains.

“We know that by using bacteria and utilizing what’s already in the soil and atmosphere—as opposed to putting something on—plants are going to use nutrients efficiently and we’re going to have zero harmful runoff at all,” he says.

AdvancedAg isn’t out to replace synthetic products such as fertilizer—which is extremely important, although it has had bad press in the mainstream media. The issue, says Day Chief, is that producers have become over-reliant on synthetic chemicals because there has been a lack of options to meet yield requirements.

“We are just hoping to create more of a balance, and we know we can cut back [on fertilizer] and put something else in place where we’re going to get a better long-term result,” he says. “It’s a balance. I think agriculture, and the way we’ve been fertilizing and using chemicals, has been way off balance over the last 50 years.”

The post Doers, Dreamers, and Visionaries<p class="company">AdvancedAg</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Yet, in a kind of backlash that the business world is already feeling, taking time out to be present in the moment, wholeheartedly cherishing one’s personal life (and the dawn) and those of your loved ones is—for millions across the globe—becoming more valuable in the bigger scheme of things than chasing goalposts at the office all day every day. And, it seems, the sentiment is spreading.

Recent studies show that over 70 percent of employees confirmed a healthy work-life balance to be paramount in considering new work opportunities. While nearly 60 percent of workers indicated that a low-value work-life balance is a no-go zone for them when applying for new positions, the real surprise is that less than a quarter of the employers who participated in these studies say they are consciously committed to cultivating company cultures that value a wholesome work-life balance.

As COVID-19 restrictions blurred boundaries between work and home for many previously office- and field-bound professionals, the boundaries between work time, downtime, and life have also grown hazy in the past few years. This has led to several proposed solutions to help workers regain some level of private life.

Trying on the four-day week
In Europe, Belgium passed an official bill to legalize the four-day workweek in February 2022. Since November 21st of last year, workers who choose to pack their regular work volume into four instead of five days are now legally allowed to do so based on a 100:80:100 ratio representing 100 percent of the work completed in 80 pecent of the time in return for the full salary, according to Euronews.

In the United Kingdom, 61 companies and more than 3,300 workers participated in what became a superbly positive six-month pilot project to test the effect of a four-day workweek in local markets. While the new model does not suit all industries, huge strides are being made in introducing greater flexibility in people’s work schedules around the world.

The benefits of improved flexibility in employees’ workweeks prove to be far-reaching for both workers and employers. In the United States and Canada, studies show that people reported better mental health and were more productive during four-day workweek trials.

As people have more time to spend at home, Jack Johnson’s song, Banana Pancakes—where the singer pretends it is the weekend on a weekday—could make an apt anthem for this avant-garde movement that aims to get all the work done on time—just with a calmer, more grounded mindset.

Not only do better-balanced workdays give people more time to do life, but they could, ultimately, devote more time to the physical, mental, and emotional health and happiness of their families and themselves. Especially, more time spent together could include more time in Nature.

Long believed by our ancestors and eco-psychologists like Philip Sutton Chard to lessen and balance many of our modern-day ills like insomnia, stress, burnout, and a range of interpersonal and emotional issues, nature and the outdoors is where increasing numbers of people are reaping the benefits of spending more of their downtime together.

More vitality, more positivity
Personal growth and development garnered from having a bit more time for oneself inevitably translate into greater vitality and positivity being brought into the workplace. That brings us closer to creating what Esther Perel, a Belgian-American psychotherapist, describes as a “company that is not dead versus a company that is alive.”

To bring this sense of vitality into the collective mind of a team, Perel hints at doing what we do in love. “[Consider] the quality of imagination, mystery, risk-taking, novelty, that people bring to their relationships. Those are the things that bring life [in companies too],” Perel continues.

Adding to the argument, Sigmund Freud reminds us that love and work are “the pillars of our humanness.” How much better can we be when we love our work, too?

While many aim to achieve increased productivity by offering staff social events, improved pay, and better hours—but without looking into employees’ deeper emotional needs—it is good to consider Perel’s observations of modern people in the workplace. This is true especially when looking to improve a company’s productivity while becoming more flexible in terms of work hours and where they are spent.

“Work has become an identity economy. It is not just ‘What am I going to do?’ It is ‘Who am I going to be?’” she says. “Work parallels our love relationships. What do we talk about at work? We talk about transparency, belonging, authenticity, trust, and psychological safety. I mean, when did the entire emotional vocabulary enter the workplace to such a degree? These relational skills have very quickly become the new soft skills or heart skills,” says Perel.

“We expect much more from love and work today than we have ever expected before. We want our relationships to be transformative, transcendent, meaningful, purposeful… We want it at home, and we want it at work. Because we want work to give a sense of identity, of meaning, of self-fulfillment, development. We need the paycheck. But we also want the paycheck to be meaningful to us,” she says.

Joy and productivity
In a paper called Happiness and Productivity by Andrew J Oswald, Eugenio Proto, and Daniel Sgroi of the Department of Economics at Warwick University in the United Kingdom, some interesting behaviour came to light among the over 700 people who took part in the “first causal evidence using randomized trials and piece-rate working.”

The biggest takeaway from this project is that it points out what Google has already learned in practice: that it pays to encourage a sense of joy in employees as they will produce faster while delivering the same level of quality and accuracy.

In addition, being happy and well-balanced in one’s life and work environment also stirs excitement and a healthy dose of FOMO, which means that not only does one want to be at work and engaging, but, specifically, one does not want to miss any of the action. As a result, being more available to life and work also means a drop in absenteeism.

Being a part of achieving a worthwhile goal means we are less alone in the world. We become less vulnerable when we have a tribe—even at work. And there’s safety in knowing that the Self can lose itself in a bigger purpose when it is protected by a benevolent greater whole.

“Today, the Self is the center of everything and so fragile. The Self has never been more fragile. We are constantly making sure that it does not get overwhelmed, that it does not get triggered, that it does not get violated, shattered. Because it stands there alone. Like the little Dutchman trying to hold back the dyke with his finger,” says Perel. Therefore, when we work toward doing better and we receive the recognition we feel we deserve from colleagues and peers, being better becomes almost inevitable.

In response to Perel’s statement, one finds John Leonard, a cultural critic of the 60s, still as quintessentially current as when he was quoted in the New York Times in 1968: “It may be that certain forms of play are an escape hatch for us from technology; a therapeutic hope… Craftsmanship, the self-shaping of privacy, the health-giving labour, could be our way out.”

While such sentiments may sit uncomfortably with some, evidence shows that increasing numbers of people reach for nature and artistic pursuits to help them navigate the pressures of modern life outside of work. Having more time to do so by using time people are at work more effectively can only be beneficial to companies that are generous enough and wise enough to recognize the writing on the wall.

Happiness, the best HR
With online job-rating sites like glassdoor.com being commonplace these days, it’s easy for prospective workers to get a sense of what companies are about. As we’ve said in a previous article, one of the surest facts about labour in the twenty-first century is that people vote with their feet. Therefore, no matter how long some employers may want to put off embracing this new era of happiness creation in the workplace, the reality is that the result of such a mindset will be visible in dwindling worker retention rates.

In the context of this piece, one could say, “happy workforce, happy labour source”—or something like that. Word travels, so keeping workers so happy that most new appointments originate from staff referrals is one of the most effective ways to find new employees. Companies who knowingly apply this strategy report attracting applicants who typically fit their culture and want to stay.

Of course, not all industries can benefit from more flexible work arrangements. But research shows that where it’s possible, it is indeed worth exploring, for several reasons. Improved staff health and work satisfaction, improved return on investment in terms of productivity, more creative problem solving, and ultimately, improved staff retention and growth all make it an idea worth exploring.

The post Management’s Least Favourite Phrase? Not Anymore.<p class="company">Work-Life Balance</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

From cycling in the summer to skiing and snowshoeing in winter, experiencing outdoor festivals and attractions, shopping at unique artisanal shops and galleries, and experiencing Indigenous culture first-hand, Ontario is the perfect place to visit year-round.

Popular with travellers from across the province and Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, and countless nations, Ontario saw $38 billion in tourism revenue in 2019. However, when COVID struck a year later, a combination of land and air travel restrictions, border closures, proof of vaccination, quarantining, bans on non-essential travel, and other measures saw the all-time high plummet to $13.6 billion, a 64.2 percent drop.

The impact on Ontario’s economy was devastating, as hotels, bars, restaurants, and many attractions were forced to limit attendance, cancel money-making events, or close completely.

Looking ahead
Drawn up by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO) and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the 2022 State of the Ontario Tourism Industry Report (available at TIAO’s website) addresses the pandemic’s impact on the province’s tourism industry and puts forth numerous practical recommendations supporting recovery, both immediate and long-term. The main issues remain and include debt repayment, and staffing.

“During COVID, a number of tourism and hospitality operators took on massive debt loads just to remain afloat,” says Dr. Jessica Ng, Ph.D., Director of Policy and Government Affairs for TIAO and the report’s main author. Dr. Ng explains that while the worst of the pandemic is behind us, financial challenges remain.

Over the past three years, about seven out of ten operators in Ontario took on federal loans to survive, including from CEBA (Canadian Emergency Business Account), Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF), and HASCAP loans available for businesses that had revenues decline by 50 percent or more during the pandemic.

Although deadlines have been extended for some loans to December 31, 2023 and repayment can be made after that date, tourism and hospitality businesses are concerned about the deadline, and losing out on a forgivable portion of the loans.

“Last year was really the time the province and border reopened, so businesses haven’t even had a full year of welcoming tourists back. And because there’s real concern that their revenues are not yet high enough for them to pay back those loans, we’re advocating to extend the deadline and increase the amount that can be forgivable,” says Dr. Ng of one of TIAO’s recommendations.

Along with COVID-induced debt, every related business—restaurants, bars, hotels, and entertainment venues—is dealing with a labour crisis. “That’s probably the number one concern,” says Dr. Ng.

“Longstanding challenges in retention that had occurred even before COVID worsened after COVID, with people being displaced from their jobs. Once laid off from tourism and hospitality, many just haven’t returned, and have moved on to other industries.”

Advocating for an industry
With the mission of being “the principal authority and driver of economic and regulatory policies that are conducive to the sustainable growth and prosperity of the Ontario Tourism Industry,” TIAO works with stakeholders and represents the interests of its members in issues facing Ontario’s vital tourist sector.

Some of TIAO’s key objectives include raising the profile and importance of the province’s tourism and hospitality industry with government, media, and the public; advocating further investment in the sector; and keeping member organizations informed about important issues.

Dr. Ng has been with the Association for about two years. She leads policy and advocacy; lobbies government, cabinet ministers, and elected officials where necessary; oversees TIAO’s research; develops research reports; and handles government briefs and all submissions to government.

One of TIAO’s recommendations appearing in the report was a freeze on the federal government’s proposed 6.3 percent excise tax increase on beer, wine and spirits. Subsequently, the April 1 increase, initially set to match inflation, was adjusted to two percent. The lower amount will help breweries, wineries, and distilleries, along with tourism and hospitality operators, since beverage alcohol can also be part of the tourism experience.

Another TIAO success was recommending the enhancement of destination-marketing funding to get major cultural, business, and sporting events back to Ontario. “It was announced in the federal budget that there will be multi-year funding for Destination Canada—for the regional development agencies to help out local tourism organizations on local tourism projects—which is fantastic,” says Dr. Ng.

Strength in membership
Created in 2007, TIAO was originally known as The Tourism Federation of Ontario. The origins of the Association go back to a report from the 1980s that outlined the need for an advocacy organization to help unify the voice of the tourism industry when addressing these issues with the province.

One reason behind TIAO’s growth in the past few years is COVID. During the pandemic, especially in the early days, there was much uncertainty in the travel, tourism, and hospitality businesses. They wanted to know what was going on with provincial regulations affecting their companies—especially closures and capacity restrictions—and they needed information fast. Many new members signed up to receive timely data and came together to express their concerns to the government more emphatically since many felt COVID’s impact on tourism was not being communicated.

“TIAO helps to amplify the voice of individual organizations and businesses, especially when they are dealing with government,” says Dr. Ng. “We help individual members and regions come up with solutions to challenges that prevent tourism growth. Together, we get access to government to favourably influence policy decisions that benefit tourism businesses, organizations, and tourism growth.”

Among the many other benefits are member-only resources on the TIAO website, timely updates on legislation that is new or under review, special member pricing for events, lobbying, activities, member pricing for insurance benefits, and even help finding interns.

According to the UN Environment Program and UN World Tourism Organization, sustainable tourism is “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.” And like ecotourism and responsible travel, sustainable tourism is on the rise. The tourism and travel industry is committed to delivering not only memorable visitor experiences but doing so in a sustainable way that protects the earth.

In 2018, TIAO partnered with GreenStep, which delivers sustainable tourism certification programs to businesses in the province. As an exclusive purveyor of the sustainable tourism certification, GreenStep is currently working with TIAO on a project to provide tourism regions with the opportunity to become certified in sustainable tourism and offer resources for businesses in their region.

Celebrating culture
Another fast-growing market is Indigenous tourism. Showcasing Native Canadian culture and experiences from the perspective of Indigenous operators, it was the fastest-growing tourism sector pre-COVID and remains as popular as ever. “One in three international visitors to Canada is interested in the Indigenous tourism experience,” says Dr. Ng. “It’s a half-a-billion-dollar industry in Ontario, which is amazing.”

TIAO continues to work with Indigenous Tourism Ontario (ITO), experts in the area, on building capacity for Indigenous operators and attracting more visitors.

“It’s a market that will see continued growth, and we’ll continue to advocate for that,” comments Dr. Ng. “This growth in Indigenous tourism is tied into people’s growing desire to experience authentic cultural offerings when they travel, especially international visitors.

“There is also the growth of wellness trends, a desire to be connected with nature, which we saw during and after COVID.” This is linked to an uptick in post-pandemic outdoor activities like hiking and biking and agri-tourism, where visitors may go to farms to pick fresh produce or visit wineries, cideries, and distilleries. “These are new opportunities that we see for the future of tourism in Ontario, this greater share of visitor spending.”

Although the year isn’t even half over, Dr. Ng and the team at TIAO are focussing on the coming months and beyond. The pandemic took a toll on travel and tourism, and TIAO wants to see definite steps taken toward financial sustainability for the industry.

Some areas of Ontario, especially the North, depend on income from visitors to keep hunting, fishing, and campgrounds in business, and guests from the United States are proving slow to return. Even in large urban centres like Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver, such things as business travel, meetings, and conventions are returning only in a trickle, leaving downtown bars, restaurants, and hotels still under capacity.

“Staffing challenges are a long-term issue,” says Dr. Ng, “and we’re working on that front in terms of getting the government programs that we need to attract people back to the industry. [We’re working on] generating new interest, getting more economic immigrants into the province and into tourism, and re-conceptualizing what’s possible in a tourism career. It’s not just about short-term jobs, either—there are plenty of long-term, fulfilling careers.”

The post A Sector Speaks – A Province Listens<p class="company">Tourism Industry Association of Ontario</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

More than a quarter of the Town’s land is designated for parkland, which means plenty of parks to explore along with 140 businesses and services to visit, a regular farmers market, summertime outdoor performances, specialty shops, cafés, and restaurants. And you can’t forget the Town’s magnificent waterfront and sandy beaches.

In short, there’s a reason why Goderich has been referred to as the “Prettiest Town in Canada” for such a long time.

“Lake Huron, bordering our west side, is a major attractor for many people to both live and visit within the area,” says Jenna Ujiye, Tourism & Community Development Officer.

Goderich features three main beaches at its extensive waterfront, including Main Beach across from the salt mine and the main harbour, which is an industrial and commercial harbour servicing regional mining, manufacturing and agricultural industries. The Port is an important hub of commercial shipping in southwestern Ontario.

“It’s a really unique experience for people to come here,” Ujiye says. “A lot of times industrial and commercial harbours are just so massive, and they don’t have a beachfront. People can enjoy the unique sight of ships coming into the Port of Goderich (the only deepwater port on the east shore of Lake Huron), as well as enjoy our waterfront and beaches.”

St. Christopher’s Beach is rockier and dog-friendly, while man-made Rotary Cove Beach was created in the early 90s. “It’s a beautiful sandy beach that has a lot of room for people to spend the day on. There’s [play] equipment and washrooms, and it’s a major attractor to the town,” says Ujiye.

Connecting those three beaches is 1.6 kilometers of boardwalk that has been updated and expanded over the past couple of years to be 12 feet wide and completely accessible.

“It’s a great way to see the entire waterfront, and I always say it’s pretty cool because you can get ice cream at both ends,” laughs Ujiye. “We also have the Beach Street Station restaurant located at the waterfront that has the most amazing and unobscured view of our sunset, and amazing local food and drink as well.”

If sand isn’t your thing, Goderich has 12 different viewpoint parks that sit atop the bluff overlooking Lake Huron, all with stunning views. And if you’re looking to spend the night—or week—there are numerous hotels, motels, and inns with capacity throughout the year both within the town and just outside as well.

As for attractions, Goderich has plenty, such as the Huron Historic Gaol, which served as the County Jail from 1841 until 1972.

“The design is one of the most unique designs in architecture around,” says Myles Murdock, Mayor of the Town of Goderich. “It was actually viewed as a model of humanitarian prison design, because it has quite a lot of outdoor space. And it’s also in the shape of an octagon, just like our downtown.”

Goderich also hosts a variety of iconic events that draw thousands of locals and tourists, such as the Multicultural Festival that focuses on multiculturalism and the BIPOC population on the third weekend in June. Held in Courthouse Park’s South Plaza, the event features numerous food vendors creating incredible and unique ethnic foods to enjoy while taking in music, dance and art performances throughout the entire day.

In honour of its Celtic roots, there’s also the annual Celtic Roots Festival and Celtic College held the second weekend in August, with performances taking place for a week and a half. This popular event draws music fans from all over the world, including musicians and artists who both perform and teach. The main festival weekend features artists, vendors, and food booths, along with performances on five different stages within Harbour Park.

“It’s an amazing festival,” says Mayor Murdock. “There’s one coordinator and hundreds of volunteers brought together to lead the entire event. A lot of townsfolk are very involved and of course attend, but then it draws people from all over the world to attend as well.”

If it sounds like there’s a lot going on, that’s because there is. Goderich’s Summer Fest features live music, a beer garden, food, fish fries, games, and giveaways, and also involves local youth with basketball, volleyball, and co-ed slow-pitch tournaments. “It’s a whole weekend of events during summer put on by the Kinsmen,” Ujiye says. “It’s a huge draw. I’d say thousands of people come each night.”

It’s safe to say that despite the challenges of the pandemic that severely hampered tourism around the world for the past several years, Goderich is definitely recovering, bouncing back and celebrating success.

“During COVID we were actually receiving attention from the closer cities, which really helped us to reach those communities, their friends and family members,” says Mayor Murdock. “Putting a positive spin on things was very difficult. But we also had that unique draw.”

Along with those numerous events and activities, there’s also the downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA) that hosts a Saturday Farmers Market and Sunday Flea Market from May until October. “All my heart is in local food,” Ujiye shares. “This is actually the most agriculturally productive County in the entire province. Local food is super important.” You certainly won’t leave Goderich feeling hungry, she adds. There’s something for everyone to see, do, eat and drink.

“Our community is bustling and vibrant with great food and activities happening every Saturday and Sunday downtown,” she says. “There’s also a Thursday and Saturday concert series downtown every week from May until October.”

This year also brings the advent of Goderich’s Salt Festival, the third weekend in September, celebrating one of the Town’s most unique features, its salt mine. The largest underground working salt mine in the entire world, it is located 1,800 feet underground and produces 7,250,000 tons of salt yearly. While visitors are unable to venture into the mine for safety reasons, the Town plans to celebrate all things salt-related with videos, augmented reality, and 360-degree images of different parts of the underground mine.

“We’re creating the experience virtually because we’re not able to do tours,” says Ujiye. “We want to be able to celebrate salt every year with events including salt-infused local food and drink, bus tours, and historical displays.”

Local restaurants will showcase salt-inspired menus and items while historical bus tours will run throughout the entire weekend near the mine, the waterfront, and other significant sites. There will also be a salt artisan market showcasing smoked and flavoured salts that are truly unique to the area.

With something to offer for everyone, the Town of Goderich is a great destination any time of year. “We do have a lot going on,” says Mayor Murdock.

Goderich’s success and ability to thrive is a testament to past hardships, most notably an F3 tornado that destroyed the entire downtown—both buildings and vegetation—in 2011. “We’re fully recovered and back to our beautiful selves, with a lot of new buildings,” Mayor Murdock says. “The restoration and reunification of that has essentially finished and it looks beautiful, but it was a challenge for a number of years.”

The tornado’s damage is also the reason behind the waterfront restoration and the boardwalk expansion. “The project was twofold, but it ended up just completely beautifying the entire waterfront,” says Mayor Murdock. “I can’t tell you how many people you hear talking about how it’s just so nice to easily walk along the waterfront. You see moms with babies and carriages walking down there every day, every morning.”

Goderich is truly beautiful, and while the Town appreciates its unofficial designation, the story behind the slogan is a bit surprising.

“People have said over time that the Queen of England said that Goderich was the prettiest town in Canada. And this is Queen Victoria, not Elizabeth,” says Ujiye. “From what we can find historically, it was her cousin who visited here and told Victoria that Goderich was the ‘Prettiest Town in Canada.’”

Even so, the designation more than fits with its unique, beautiful vistas, sandy beaches, and octagonal centre planned and designed by John Galt.

“Our downtown has eight sections, and it’s a shopping square with a large park and the County courthouse sitting right in the middle,” Mayor Murdock explains. “We also have a performance stage area on the park in the middle of the square which, again, is an octagon.”

Whether it’s strolling the boardwalk, shopping at the numerous businesses, taking in any number of festivals and events, or traversing the unique downtown core, the Town of Goderich will be sure to make a memorable impression, says Ujiye. “We’re known as the ’Prettiest Town in Canada,’ because that’s just truly what we are.”

The post Where Unique Attractions Abound<p class="company">Town of Goderich, Ontario</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Today, the historic city has returned its attention to the sea, but with a modern twist—offshore wind energy. “It is kind of a reconnection to our heritage of that ocean,” says Daniel. “It’s great to see that cycle coming back.”

After previously featuring the City of Salem for its progressive business climate, forward-thinking initiatives, and diversity, Business in Focus sat back down with city leaders to hear the details on the exciting new wind energy project and its positive impact on the community.

The City of Salem, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Avangrid Renewables, and Crowley Maritime Corporation have formed a public-private partnership to transform land that was once home to a coal-fired electrical plant into the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ second port for offshore wind. The facility will be a marshaling station where components arrive by water, are collected and stored, and then loaded onto ships heading south of Martha’s Vineyard where they will be assembled and installed.

Despite being located on the other side of the Cape from Martha’s Vineyard, Salem’s port is ideal for the project. “Salem has some unique attributes,” Daniel says. “It doesn’t have any overhead restrictions; there’s no bridge, no power lines, so that’s great. It also has a good federal channel. It’s got sufficient depth and also width, so it’s really unique along the Eastern Seaboard to provide this function.”

And the opportunities for this unique port do not stop with the current fixed-bottom project south of Martha’s Vineyard. The port may have a chance to play a role in another major wind energy project soon. “The federal government will be identifying locations for floating offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine,” says Daniel, “and that’s another huge opportunity for the generation of renewable energy. And Salem is really uniquely positioned for floating wind.”

But for now, the current project will keep the community plenty busy. “We’re excited about this new industry and the role that Salem has for marshaling,” Daniel says. City leaders are focused on workforce development in preparation for the influx of new jobs.

“We’re looking at the various job opportunities that come with the construction of the port, with the long-term operation and maintenance of the station, and even looking at opportunities associated with actual turbine installation out at sea,” says Principal Planner Kate Newhall-Smith. “We have collaborated with our North Shore Workforce Board on a gap analysis, to figure out the industries that we have both in Salem and in the region and see what industries are able to pivot to be a part of the offshore wind [sector] or if they’re already well-positioned to be a part of the supply chain.”

City leaders are deeply invested in employing local talent. “We really want to focus on putting our local and regional community to work in the industry, especially those individuals that are in identified environmental justice communities,” says Newhall-Smith. The City of Salem is working closely with the North Shore Workforce Board to secure a grant with MassCEC to create a pre-apprenticeship program. “This program would be for adults to get the training they need to be able to enter into an apprenticeship program that’s associated with the unions, because we learned that a lot of these jobs will be filled by union workers,” she explains. To develop the program, the team is building on existing partnerships with local educational institutions including Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School, Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, and Salem High School.

The team is also working on a practical and logistical level to ensure that potential students “can actually access the program and get a benefit out of it,” Newhall-Smith says. “So we’re doing a lot of work to prepare for that and to make sure that Salem, and the region, is ready to support offshore wind when permitting is done.”

The benefits to Salem are clear, from transforming an underutilized property into an active asset to creating local jobs and supporting clean energy. This last point resonates strongly with the community. “This is important to not just our city or state, but for the planet,” Daniel says. “This is one part of responding to the climate crisis, and I think it’s pretty remarkable for a community like Salem to be able to play the role it will be playing.”

Salem fits well into a bigger picture in which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is at the forefront of wind energy. “Massachusetts has been a leader in offshore wind development,” Daniel says. “Massachusetts has committed to clean energy goals and greenhouse gas reduction, and the City of Salem has as well. These aren’t things that we can do on our own; they’re things that involve not just the state, but the federal government as well. I think what we have right now is the alignment at the local, state, and federal levels to support renewable energies generally and offshore wind specifically, and those benefits are priceless. The climate crisis is so massive, and this is one piece [toward mitigating] it. It’s not perfect—there is no perfect anything—but this is one piece that is going to help.”

Embracing wind energy is an important component of the larger, statewide initiative. “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is working really hard to reduce demand of fossil fuels,” Daniel says. “So shifting more and more homes to electricity for heat and cooling [with] efficient heating / cooling systems, looking at electric vehicles and electric vehicle charging stations, looking to reduce the demand for fossil fuels at the same time as increasing the supply of renewable energies and thereby reducing carbon emissions overall. That’s an important role that Massachusetts can play. Those benefits don’t accrue just to the citizens of Massachusetts—they’re for the planet.”

The City of Salem is all set to take part in this team effort to increase the use of renewable energy and make it a win-win for both planet and people. The plan is to “continue to move forward, looking at offshore wind as a great opportunity for the city and the region and continuing to focus on the people who live here,” Daniel says. “And if we make things work well for people who are here, it’s going to be a great place for folks to visit as well.” This is important in Salem, where tourism continues to be a major industry.

The community is thus embracing new opportunities in wind energy while maintaining support for its more traditional sectors. “While we’re working to support this industry coming to Salem and the region, we haven’t shifted focus away from anything else,” says Newhall-Smith. “We haven’t sacrificed our focus on our downtown businesses, our institutions, or the health of our businesses outside the downtown. We’ve added offshore wind into the mix.”

Already known for a robust business sector and thriving tourist industry, adding a new industry is a promising opportunity that will enhance an already healthy local economy. “It’s a lot, but it’s exciting,” Newhall-Smith says. It seems the sky’s the limit for this community eager to harness the power of the wind.

The post The Sky’s the Limit<p class="company">City of Salem, Massachusetts</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

The company is best known for local projects like the Halifax Central Library, which Planning Lead Kieron Hunt describes as the project that redefined the landscape for what community engagement and design could be for the city and became a springboard for the company’s successes in turn.

The firm also gained attention through projects like the Richmond Yards mixed-use development, one of the largest of its kind in Atlantic Canada. Fitzgerald adds that the company continues to complete many projects—including schools and health care facilities, and key buildings in various communities—that have significant social value.

In the last two decades, company growth has catapulted the firm to recognition both in Atlantic Canada and around the world. Hunt describes FBM as always thinking ahead, as the company sets the stage of a project so that designers can be free to design what and when they need to, with all pre-development market feasibility and approvals taken care of. The firm also occupies a unique niche with respect to its use of market analysis to bring together community voices, so architects and interior designers can be informed of the project’s touch points with the broader community as it relates to supply and demand forces.

FBM works across Atlantic Canada with architecture and interior design as core services. Its planning wing works across North America, the larger reach allowing the team to gain more exposure to industry trends and best practices. FBM also works with architecture firms around the world and has learned that the process is far more beneficial and seamless when planning and market analysis is involved from the beginning—and it looks to claim this space.

FBM is most interested in answering the question, ‘How does a space become a place?’ Even down to elements like the appearance of a site, its sounds, and its smell, a building can resonate with people in myriad ways and stick in someone’s memory for a very long time. This means that the surrounding environments are integral to the work FBM does, from planning to design.

With projects like Hope Blooms—a Halifax-based youth non-profit—or planter benches on Gottingen Street, elements of mental health awareness, environmental stewardship, and Indigenous reconciliation come into play when designing safe places and communities that have value for all users.

“We realize the connection to the environment that our buildings have,” Hunt explains, and FBM is also aware of the effect that has had on Nova Scotia’s Main Streets. The company takes great pride in how it shapes the urban environment and wants to remain sensitive to it. “The spaces between and around buildings are as important as the building themselves,” he adds.

The company follows a credo of people-driven design, an approach based on listening to different points of view. When designing a building like a school or educational institute, the firm will listen to what the target audience wants but will also seek out different perspectives from a broad array of groups. Fitzgerald explains that the social value of a building is heavily considered during this design process, meaning whether a building is economically and/or environmentally sustainable.

Over the past decade, the nature and role of public engagement and consultation in design and planning have changed considerably. As a result, the input that people and organizations can give has magnified and has become essential to community engagement and outreach programs.

“Everything that we design must be reflective and supportive of a community’s values [and] allow for creativity and consultation,” Hunt adds. People-driven design captures how FBM works: simultaneously internally and externally with other groups, to create a successful project. The firm’s work with the Saint John City Market Strategic Plan involved a great many voices working with a historic property and is an example of how diverse voices from the community ultimately led to a stronger final product.

FBM’s involvement in its local community goes beyond the physical projects. Susan Fitzgerald is an associate professor at Dalhousie University’s School of Architecture and is involved in research that aims to benefit the company and its industry. This includes coming to a greater understanding of what learning spaces, health care centers, and spaces for wellness and dwelling mean in a community. Fitzgerald and the firm are engaging in various research projects alongside clients to develop buildings, and this is key to its operations.

There is also ongoing research in Atlantic Canada looking into mass timber construction, a newer form of building design that is seeing increased interest from clients but little initiative to begin. To help spur it forward, the company is dipping its toe into mass timber and is building its new Halifax office as a mass timber project, which Fitzgerald affirms is going very well. The project is developing interest thanks to ongoing studies by FBM and Atlantic WoodWORKS!, a local non-profit looking to expand the use of regionally produced wood products. The non-profit is looking to measure the embodied carbon of the projects to understand how mass timber construction stacks up against concrete or steel.

The crew at FBM is excited about the move to the new office and is pleased for the new location in Halifax’s North End, where it can be a part of a community with which it has worked in the past.

There are many exciting opportunities afoot in the building and design spaces, but Hunt admits that there are economic challenges across North America. However, projects are continuing in the face of this, especially as Atlantic Canada’s population continues to grow. He sees a lot of provincial support for health care and a big drive toward increasing the number of health care facilities and beds, so the company will remain active in that sector. On a residential level, the team is looking to provide both affordable and market housing and to develop housing opportunities throughout the region, which is an ongoing challenge. Fitzgerald notes that Nova Scotia is being looked at more as a destination, so there is a possibility that more projects along the coast or close to historic sites will be of increasing importance in future.

The company is also currently scheduled to be a part of the 18^th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice—also known as the Venice Biennale—alongside Architects Against Housing Alienation, a Canadian group looking at different strategies for housing people well and for the long term. This contingent will be further supported by Nova Scotian activist Eric Johnson, Coordinator for the Halifax-based homeless assistance program Navigator Street Outreach.

Hunt adds that the firm, in partnership with the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities, planned the inaugural Nova Scotia Main Streets Ideas Exchange, which is a conference to bring communities and organizations from across Atlantic Canada together to share ideas and rediscover the value of smaller main streets in communities.

“Bringing together groups is consistent with our people-driven design,” Hunt affirms, and both the company’s 2023 calendar and its goals are indicative that this idea will be at the front of the firm’s mind for a long time to come.

The post People-Driven Design<p class="company">FBM</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart—who, in 1923 at the age of 26, became just the sixteenth woman in the world to earn a pilot’s license—went on to become the first woman and the first person to ever fly alone over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, opening the road—or sky—for women who want to work in science and technology. One hundred years later, while much has changed in the world of aviation, women comprise only six percent of commercial pilots worldwide, a statistic Amelia would find disheartening.

Judy Cameron was once part of that group, and is seen as a trailblazer in Canadian aviation. At the age of 23 in 1978, Cameron was hired as Air Canada’s first female pilot. She was promoted to captain in 1997, and in 2010, she was the first female captain in Canada to fly the Boeing 777, the largest aircraft in Air Canada’s fleet. After logging 23,000 hours of flight time, she retired in 2015 and dedicated herself to helping other women succeed in the field she loves.

“When I was hired by Air Canada there weren’t very many female airline pilots. In fact, I hadn’t met any,” says Cameron. “I was the only girl in my aviation class at Selkirk College, and I was the only female pilot pretty much in every workplace I was at until much later when I signed on with Air Canada.”

While Rosella Bjornson was the first female airline pilot in Canada, Cameron’s hiring at Air Canada was national news and a pivotal achievement for her. “At the time I didn’t really think about being a trailblazer,” she says. “I just wanted to fly and Air Canada was a lifetime goal. Pretty much every pilot training in Canada wants a job with a major airline and Air Canada was it, so I was just over the moon when I got hired.”

It wasn’t until about 20 years later, when she became captain on the DC-9, that she was finally able to fly with other female pilots for the first time. “Up to that point the guys would say to me, ‘Oh, I’ve never flown with a woman, and I’d look at them and say, ‘Well, neither have I.’”

The company hired another woman pilot shortly after Cameron, and still has one of the higher percentages for female commercial pilots, she says. If she has her way, that number will continue to rise.

After receiving an award from the Northern Lights Aero Foundation—which celebrates and supports exceptional women with careers in aviation and aerospace—Cameron realized being a role model was crucial to bringing more women into the industry.

“Women need to have role models,” she says. “That’s part of the problem in trying to inspire women to get into these non-traditional fields; they just don’t see other women doing the job. They need to see it normalized to make them realize they can do it.”

After Cameron joined the board of Northern Lights about six years ago, she endeavoured to one day start her own scholarship for women in aviation. Once again Air Canada proved a valuable ally when it comes to inclusion, founding the Captain Judy Cameron Scholarship intended for young women who may not have the financial resources to pursue non-traditional aviation occupations such as commercial pilots or aircraft maintenance engineers. With an initial pledge of $20,000 from Air Canada each year for three years, which has since been extended, the Northern Lights Aero Foundation, which encourages and honours Canadian women in aviation and aerospace with mentorship, scholarships, a speaker’s bureau, a junior board, along with an annual award ceremony, administers the scholarship.

“Air Canada asked if I would like to start a scholarship, and they named it after me, which is one of the biggest honours of my life,” says Cameron.

To date, $80,000 has been awarded, with a commitment of $40,000 more for women who either want to be pilots or aircraft mechanics, and the recipient success stories are moving and compelling. In 2023, CAE partnered with Air Canada to double the value of the scholarship and the organizations were able to provide scholarships to eight deserving young women across Canada.

“My favourite part of the year is getting to call and tell them they’re receiving the scholarship,” says Cameron. “Some of them are absolutely speechless. I’ve had others that were crying on the phone. It’s been very emotional.”

As it costs upwards of $100,000 to undertake flight training from start to finish, Cameron is striving to get more sponsorship for future scholarships. “It’s the reason I participate in Northern Lights and the reason I’m so happy about the scholarships,” she says. “I feel it’s important to give back. And that’s one of the things we look for in the scholarship recipients; we don’t just look for high marks and achievement, we also look for a willingness to give back to other women to help them in their journey. That’s very, very important.”

As for her own mentors and guidance over the years, it’s another area where Cameron had to forge her own path.

“I have no aviation background,” she says. “When I first started with Air Canada, a lot of people asked me, ‘Is your dad a pilot?’ I was brought up by a single mom, I had a great education and we lived in a one-bedroom, tiny apartment in Vancouver with no TV and she slept on the sofa. But my mom was the person I looked up to. She was an example of a strong, independent woman.”

Cameron has had others who encouraged her, including a chief pilot for a small company that hired her when “no one else in their right mind would have hired a young female pilot back in those days,” and stresses the importance of mentorship in general. She also emphasizes the importance of girls being encouraged in STEM from a young age. Part of the Northern Lights outreach includes participating in events across Canada via Girls Take Flight in Oshawa and Girls Can Fly at the Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre; such events often feature volunteer pilots who take young girls up for their first flight in an airplane.

“For this particular career, that seems to be one of the pivotal points that really inspires them. Going up in an airplane is just so thrilling.”

It’s a sentiment Captain Murray Strom emphatically agrees with. As Senior Vice President, Flight Operations and Maintenance and a Boeing 777 pilot with Air Canada, Strom stresses the importance of encouraging women to become pilots and how best to inspire young girls to consider this career path.

“I spend a lot of time encouraging women to pursue a career in aviation, whether it’s pilots, mechanics, or anything in the aviation field. And we do this by supporting foundations like the Judy Cameron Scholarship, which is administered by the Northern Lights Aero Foundation —we’re very proud of that.”

Air Canada is also present at events across the country to raise awareness about the exciting careers in aviation for women, underrepresented youth, or post-secondary students. The airline hopes to inspire them to choose aviation as a career path and increase the number of underrepresented groups in education programs that are a pipeline for aviation careers. Strom, who is on the interview board in charge of pilot hiring and spends countless hours going through pilot résumés, reiterates the importance of early awareness and education for future flyers, particularly kids. “The biggest attraction to being a pilot was born from visits to the flight deck, seeing the pilots and saying, ‘wow, this is cool. This is what I want to do,’” says Strom.

While that option is unfortunately no longer available, Air Canada now exposes young people to aviation via Grade Nine Take Your Child to Work Day, bringing them into the hangar for mechanics, or taking them in the simulators, all with an eye to encouraging more girls and women in particular, a goal for both Strom and Air Canada.

“Women have always been in the industry back to the start of flying, back to Amelia Earhart. There have always been females in it, there just haven’t been enough females. And that’s where we have to care.”

Strom is starting to see a change, however, with six of Air Canada’s most recent new hire class of 40 being female, so the percentage is getting better. With pilots needed in Canada, the U.S., and worldwide, the key is to recruit from 100 percent of the population, he adds, something Air Canada is striving to accomplish.

“For me, personally, it’s probably the world’s best job,” he adds. “Every time I go flying, it’s my happy place. You get to see the world, you get to fly these big, wonderful airplanes, you get to meet all these interesting people. The job is extremely rewarding, and if you talk to any pilot that truly loves it, it’s the best job in the world.”

No one agrees with this more than six-year-old Rosie Meister, who, for the past year and a half, has stated she wants to be a pilot when she grows up. Upon learning on a recent family flight to Disney that the pilot was a man, dad Sean posted on social media expressing his daughter’s desire to one day meet a woman pilot.

“She’s a little girl and it’s really important for her to see herself in the people she looks up to, whether it’s sports, or what she wants to be when she grows up, or just who she wants to hang around with,” says Meister.

Meister’s post caught the attention of not only the aviation community but an Air Canada representative, who reached out to ask more about Rosie and her interest in aviation. Several emails later, Sean was astounded to find the organization was inviting Rosie to its flight training facility to see where pilots are trained, go in a simulator and, most importantly, meet some female pilots.

“That’s where they blew my socks off,” he says. “My wanting to share a little story about Rosie online turned into Air Canada showing what their true colors are and leaving me kind of speechless.”

Rosie and Sean flew to Toronto’s Pearson Airport during March Break, headed to the simulator building and spent two hours with Paula, one of Air Canada’s pilots. Paula greeted Rosie, took her through the facility and brought her into the simulator. There, Paula sat in the captain’s chair, Rosie sat in the first officer’s chair, and together they simulated a flight.

“Rosie got to ‘fly’ the plane, ask Paula questions and do what she always wanted to do, which was to see a woman as a pilot,” says Meister. “It was amazing. As a dad, all you want is for someone to support your kids and their dreams, and that’s what Air Canada did.”

Although Rosie found the experience a bit overwhelming at times—including the misconception she might have to fly a real plane—her dream of meeting a female pilot and learning about her job was nothing short of incredible. “She loved it. She thought Paula was such a nice person,” says Meister. “This was an amazing experience for her confidence. She loved the simulator and it just cemented [the interest] for her.” A video of Rosie’s experience can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5ArgqG-dmA.

Of course, while Rosie could end up choosing any number of careers in the future, Sean Meister is forever grateful for the experience Air Canada provided. “For a little girl of that age to be told, ‘your dream can happen, and here’s how it can happen,’ you could really see the light switch go on for her,” he says. “It wasn’t just, ‘Oh, I hope I can be a pilot someday.’ [It was,] ‘I can be a pilot someday,’ and that’s a pretty monumental shift for a six year old. Air Canada made a difference. They made an impact.”

The future of aviation needs a lot of people and one of the groups it needs is women, he adds. “They’ve got a lot of work to do, but they’re putting the work in.”

Judy Cameron is one of those dedicated pilots putting that work in to change the future landscape of aviation. “I had a great career, and I’d like to give back and encourage other women because I realize now how important it is,” she says. “It would have been really nice when I was doing my training way back when to have had a female mentor.”

And because passengers at the airport were surprised to find she was a pilot right up to the day she retired, she will continue to foster the next generation of female pilots and aircraft engineers for years to come.

“It’s a fantastic career, and I think a lot of women would enjoy it,” she says. “It provides economic security, and there are not a lot of fields that provide the opportunity to get paid to see the world.”

The post Finding Joy in the Aviation Journey<p class="company">Air Canada</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

A privately-owned Canadian company headquartered in Richmond, BC, bioLytical now sells and markets its INSTI® HIV-1/2 Antibody Test, including a self-test version which allows users to test in the privacy of their own homes. Its line-up of one-minute INSTI® tests can diagnose infectious diseases like COVID-19, HIV, hepatitis C, and syphilis with speedy, precise results, which have received worldwide regulatory approval, including the US FDA, Health Canada, and the CE mark in Europe.

The INSTI® platform offers vital point-of-care diagnostic tests that are both quick and extremely accurate using advanced flow-through technology, delivering a result in 60 seconds or less, bringing invaluable clinical and financial advantages to patients, healthcare providers, and public health organizations.

“From the beginning, we’ve been an industry leader in HIV diagnostics with our one-minute platform INSTI® and our flagship HIV products. The importance of an accurate and fast assay was the main reason bioLytical was founded,” says Rob Mackie, President and CEO.

“With flow-through technology, we give more results in less time with one sample. Historically, it has been a challenge to have multiple results on a lateral flow platform which, due to the way the platforms are designed, flows over your antigens, leading to a possible degradation of the sample.”

Currently, approximately 36.4 million people are living with HIV worldwide, and many don’t know they have it.

“We need people to know their status so they can connect to suitable anti-retroviral treatment, or ART, to live a quality life; the by-product is that we help to dramatically decrease new infections by significantly reducing the chances of onward transmission,” Mackie says. “That’s why testing for HIV and early detection is so important, and it has been our focus since inception.”

bioLytical’s success includes not only the world’s fastest HIV and syphilis rapid tests but also its ability to determine what diagnostics are in demand worldwide. One example is the recent surge across North America in hepatitis C infections. Since the development of affordable and effective treatment, testing for hep C has become more vital to connecting patients to care. However, more recently, treatment has become affordable for insurers and the average patient, increasing demand for an accurate and accessible hepatitis C test.

“When treatment costs tens of thousands of dollars, there is less urgency to develop a rapid test,” says Mackie. “It’s very challenging to give somebody a result if there is no easy or accessible remedy due to a lack of resources. Now that treatment is covered and reasonably priced, we can focus more on diagnostics.”

The INSTI® platform’s high-quality hepatitis C test is comparable to its industry-leading INSTI® HIV test, with over 99.96 percent accuracy. “Our research and development team has done an outstanding job fine-tuning a highly effective hep C test,” Mackie says.

At the moment, hep C testing in Canada is performed in a professional format called a POCT (point-of-care test) where a doctor, pharmacist or medical professional administers the test, but self-testing could “change this dramatically,” allowing customers to purchase a test kit at a drug store and test themselves at home.

“We are the first company in Canadian history to receive an HIV self-test approval using our INSTI® platform, and the hepatitis C test uses the same innovative technology approved for ease of use for a self-test in HIV,” says Mackie.

The company has gained professional-use approval for its hepatitis C test across Europe and expects to receive WHO prequalification soon. Mackie plans to also launch in North America this year.

While bioLytical is ready to address hep C, much as it has taken a bite out of the HIV sector, COVID-19, unfortunately, put everything on hold for close to three years. However, that delay helped the company fine-tune its marketing approach to address the right demographics of a world suffering from different diseases.

“What sets us apart from our larger competitors is that bioLytical can pivot on a moment’s notice to take advantage of opportunities that otherwise might be missed,” Mackie says. “With us being a private company, we’re growing quite rapidly, representing our region strongly. But we continue to keep ourselves nimble and agile, able to react on our feet to different healthcare challenges, such as the hep C situation.”

While bioLytical knew there was a huge opportunity with hep C, they discovered a largely untapped market in India and Africa for hepatitis B. Subsequently, the company is developing a hep B test performed on the new lateral flow platform, originally developed for COVID-19.

“It is serendipitous how things unfold. Hep B was never on our radar; it was not a focus before COVID-19,” Mackie says. “We were planning to work on a lateral-flow HIV-confirmatory test for the WHO but ended up pivoting toward COVID-19 to help our country fight the virus, as any other local company would.”

During its efforts to make a COVID-19 antibody test on the INSTI® platform, bioLytical developed a new antigen platform called iStatis which lends itself to detecting hep B antigens more effectively due to the nature of the virus.

Despite adversity, including shutting down for seven months during the height of COVID-19, the company persevered. “I think bioLytical and the HIV industry have both been fortunate, and I think it’s all because the world needs the products bioLytical develops,” says Mackie.

“We have an amazing and successful company with a great culture and family here with our employees. Now, three years later, we are three times the company, we have launched a new platform, and we feel that we can face any challenge head-on,” Mackie says.

“If we can’t figure it out on INSTI®, we’ll figure it out on iStatis. We went from having an antibody-based platform to also having an antigen-based platform, and as such, bioLytical is confident it can develop new assays for the ever-changing healthcare needs.”

Unfortunately, COVID-19 created other adverse effects, including a significant increase in HIV infections due to testing being severely hampered, something that regions worldwide are seeing the impact of this year.

Mackie says, “We are seeing infectious rates equal to the rates a decade ago—which reiterates the importance of knowing your status to connect to care and reduce onward transmission. However, to regain the progress we made won’t take as long as it took us to get there in the beginning.”

This is due in part to the pandemic introducing more people to rapid testing and the use of self-testing as a favourable option for people to investigate ways to keep themselves safe without the aid of doctors or leaders—a new tool to help manage health as the world learned more about the novel virus and what worked to help prevent and keep people safe. “Self-testing goes right along with people taking more responsibility,” he adds.

“It’s unfortunate this wasn’t adopted earlier because our health is the most important thing we have and, therefore, the great equalizer. Without health, we have nothing.”

He adds that education is also key, particularly when breaking down stigma. For years HIV was associated solely with drug use and lifestyle choices, misplacing the blame on the patient. There was little to no focus on other methods of transmission—for example, blood transfusions.

“HIV is transmitted through six bodily fluids, and an overlooked infectious place is your gums,” Mackie says. “You can get HIV by sharing a toothbrush if both partners have bleeding gums or sores, and many people don’t know that.”

While Mackie is not discounting the need for great doctors and lower wait times, self-testing allows patients to take responsibility for their health by managing it instead of immediately seeing a doctor whenever there’s an issue. Being proactive and having access to valuable information leads to making informed health decisions and providing some reassurance at the same time.

“We are excited for the months and years ahead of us,” says Mackie. “What the pandemic has taught us is how easy, accurate, and available rapid tests are to use and how important early detection is,” he says.

“With INSTI®, you can take our test and find out if you have hep C in just one minute and get connected to care. Treatment is now through oral pills, taken daily for two to six months. The medication is highly effective with a 95 percent success rate, helping patients rid the disease and lead healthy lives.”

Conversely, if you find you have hep C through symptoms, treatment may be more difficult, possibly leading to the need for lifelong dialysis, costing upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars over a patient’s lifetime. “It is a terrible disease; left untreated, the virus can lead to severe liver disease. Often known as a silent killer, it can lead to painful suffering for those impacted by the disease.”

STIs are costly, and potentially deadly diseases are rife around the world. Africa spends tens of billions a year to treat a significant number of new cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea each year. Many global regions are seeing historical surges in STIs, such as syphilis. Mississippi alone saw an increase of over 900 percent in congenital syphilis over the past six years.

“Sexually transmitted diseases are not going away, so it is important to have proper protocols,” Mackie says. “Managing your own health is part and parcel, so we’ve put a lot of effort into our online presence, including our social media and websites, taking it upon ourselves to spread awareness for testing and infectious diseases.”

Along with a host of notable lifesaving inventions and best-in-show base platforms, bioLytical is also an industry leader, a rare achievement for a Canadian biotech company.

“We’re not buying from China and repackaging with a maple leaf, like many competitors,” Mackie says. “INSTI® and iStatis are 100 percent developed in-house, right down to our antigens. We start with a proprietary cell bank and develop our antigens here at bioLytical. We do our plastic injection here locally, so there’s no supply chain risk of disruption. That was a big thing, too.”

With the ultimate goal of everything eventually being available for self-testing, bioLytical envisions the future of health care as being in the hands of the people themselves for early diagnosis and management.

“The future is bright for us in rapid testing,” says Mackie. “With our two platforms and amazing research and development team, we’re confident that we are nimble, fast, and highly accurate, capable of reacting with agility to address some of the world’s most severe health challenges.”

The post Hands-On Healthcare<p class="company">bioLytical Laboratories</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Signed into law by President Joe Biden last August, the Act will see some $280 billion in new funding for the domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors in America. The bipartisan legislative package will see greater investment in America’s semiconductor research, manufacturing and supply chains, and job creation.

For President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Stuart and the team at Photodigm, seeing the enthusiasm on the Congressman’s face and hearing the excitement in his voice during the tour was further assurance the company is on the right track.

“We were incredibly honored and grateful to have Congressman Colin Allred visit Photodigm,” Stuart said during the tour. “It’s clear that he understands the crucial importance of our innovative semiconductor chip technology and is incredibly quick to grasp the real-world challenges companies like ours face as we scale production of our leading-edge photonic chips to meet customer demand.”

100% American-owned
Stuart is quick to praise his staff past and present. Before coming on board about a year and a half ago, he spent some 30 years in technology, mainly on the software side until a decade ago, when he set up a venture fund and conducted private investing in hardware-related companies, including Photodigm.

During the COVID-19 crisis, many businesses were affected by supply chain issues and disruptions. Not a day went by without news of the worldwide computer chip shortage, and how it was causing backlogs for everything from electronic games to pickup trucks. Present-day vehicles have come to include dozens of sensor modules requiring numerous microchips, often thousands per car or truck. So no chips meant millions upon millions of dollars’ worth of vehicles sitting incomplete at factories.

As Photodigm is entirely American-owned and predominantly sourced within the United States, it didn’t face the supply chain hurdles that others did during the pandemic, a key difference. And since the company is under U.S. ownership, Photodigm can sell to the strictly regulated American defense industry, and all large manufacturing related to defense, because they are incentivized to buy American.

“It gives us a lot of flexibility, and it gives them the assurance that their intellectual property is maintained, and the differentiation is maintained,” says Stuart, adding that more companies are now doing business with the U.S. operations instead of China or Russia.

Unlike dealing with offshore entities, Photodigm clients can visit the Texas-based facility, and see for themselves how fixed-wavelength semiconductor lasers are made. “They want to get comfortable with a smaller company being part of their value chain, and it helps that we’re right here.”

Rooted in education
After two decades, Photodigm remains the only commercial semiconductor manufacturer of single spatial and longitudinal mode DBR (Distributed Bragg Reflector) laser diodes, an important consideration in a strategic sector such as this.

Today, these DBR lasers are critical for many applications, including atomic clocks, laser spectroscopy, optical metrology, and quantum sensing.

What became Photodigm in 2000 was originally a part of Southern Methodist University’s (SMU) photonics lab. In its early days, the company built niche lasers “in a custom job shop kind of way for a handful of customers,” according to Stuart, who compares it to auto maker Porsche in the 1990s, when cars were assembled using different parts.

Once Stuart came on board, big changes were introduced, including how the company scaled manufacturing. “We’ve changed that now to where we are on volume manufacturing,” he says. “Instead of making four or five units for a professor at a university, we now make 300 to 400 lasers at a time and sell those to a myriad of customers around the world. That became our focus.”

In the past year alone, Photodigm made 4,000 lasers. This year will see the production of 7,000 to 8,000, and likely 15,000 in 2024. The market is strong, and to meet demand, Photodigm will grow from a high-end custom niche builder to a company producing many more units while maintaining the same level of quality, if not better.

And because the company is scaling up production, it has lowered its unit cost and announced dramatic price reductions on some products. “We’ll continue to do that to get our technology into the hands of a lot more people who can’t afford several thousand dollars for one laser,” says Stuart.

Strength and talent
A strong and talented team helps Stuart lead Photodigm. This includes Dr. Annie Xiang, Senior Vice President of Quality Management and Customer Success. A trained electrical engineer holding a Ph.D. and an MBA, she started in fiber-optic telecom before joining Photodigm in 2012, focusing on the laser as a source component.

Her responsibilities include supervising the back-end process, testing, qualification, customer product specifications, and supporting success. “I’ve observed our company from trying to get a process to be stabilized, to the last two years of the transformation that’s grown into a full-scale manufacturing production environment. Very exciting,” she says.

Recently Xiang was recognized as one of the Top Women in Technology by the Dallas Business Journal for her role at the company—which itself was honored last year as one of the top semiconductor manufacturing solutions providers by Semiconductor Review Magazine.

Dr. Preston Young is Photodigm’s Chief Technology Officer and has been with the company for over fifteen years. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and holds three patents awarded, with others pending, for his contributions. Most of Dr. Young’s research focuses on the design and fabrication of resonant optical and microwave diffractive and waveguide grating structures with emphasis on their incorporation into semiconductor lasers.

Leading the company’s cutting-edge research and development projects with the United States Office of Naval Research and other key customers is Tom Clifford, Photodigm’s Vice President of Project Management, who brings extensive experience in driving strategy, reconfiguring and managing operations, and technology and management consulting.

Rounding off the team is Mandy Eaton, who joined the company last July. As Vice President of Marketing and Communications, she brings years of brand strategy, public relations, communications, strategic planning, and change-management expertise to Photodigm.

Turbo-charging its successful trajectory, the company hired 19 of its 30 staff in just the past year. Some were brought straight from trade school and high school at the technician level and were put through Photodigm’s own training curriculum, Semiconductor Manufacturing 101, and given the opportunity for growth in a good paying job.

As one would expect considering its origins in SMU, Photodigm fosters great partnerships with academia. “600 customers are universities themselves,” says Stuart. “Every major photonics physics lab in the country has our lasers in it, which is a very intentional strategy.”

Believing passionately in education, the company has invested millions of dollars in research carried out for them by universities, putting a lot of students to work. Earlier this year, Stuart was invited to a seat on the Southern Methodist University Lyle School of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board.

This prestigious Board includes executives from other leading companies, including Texas Instruments, Ericsson, Qualcomm, and BCG. “It’s an honor to be asked,” Stuart said then. “I am hoping I can contribute in a real way to such a prestigious engineering school. The collaboration of private industry with world-class universities is imperative for the development of world-class engineering leaders facing tomorrow’s challenges.”

Joe Camp, interim department chair of SMU Lyle’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, said at the same time how honored he was to have Stuart join the Advisory Board.

Accurate to a billionth of a meter
Unlike mainstream lasers, Photodigm’s Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) laser diodes are remarkably accurate. According to the company, Photodigm’s DBR lasers “are each produced as a single-frequency laser diode ranging from 700 to 1100 nanometers (nm), accurate to the nearest billionth of a meter and capable of converting electrical current into light for specific wavelengths required to stimulate unique elements in the periodic table. They are so small that 500 DBR lasers can fit on an average-sized thumbnail.”

Owing to their size, precision, and quality, DBR laser diodes are used in laser spectroscopy, cold atom optics, atomic clocks, biomedical frequency-resolved diagnostics, quantum sensing, optical metrology, and many other areas.

Some of the more unusual uses for the company’s DBRs in devices are to identify the exact color red in a painting by French Impressionist artist Claude Monet for restoration, and, in cultural forensics, to detect frauds. Photodigm’s laser diodes have also been used to remove graffiti from rock paintings in an Indigenous cultural area in West Texas, and even to determine the amount of rust on bridge I-beams to identify areas that may fail soon.

“The accuracy of our laser allows them to get down to that level of identification,” says Stuart, who is also excited about new applications on the horizon. He believes that in a few years, lasers in iPhones and Androids will do more than facial recognition, telling users about the quality and moisture content of their of skin, forehead temperature, and skin pigment as we age.

“All sorts of things are going to become diagnostic in terms of tools associated with fixed wavelength lasers,” he says, adding that one customer already uses Photodigm lasers in technology to identify and confirm the content of prescription drugs through light signatures, sending back alerts through software if there are issues.

With all the company’s innovation, President and CEO Stuart is quick to credit his enthusiastic team at Photodigm. “History shows great companies attract great people,” he says. “I’m not saying we’re a great company yet, but we are a growing company with significant growth and significant upside. All of our technicians—whether they came from fast food jobs, nail salons, or major universities as Ph.D. students—have stock in the company,” he shares.

“It’s being run like a software start-up because that’s my background, and we’re changing the way the community looks at us versus other players. We’re in a really interesting time with all the challenges going on in manufacturing and globally. It’s nice to come in, focus on something, and feel like you’re actually making a hell of a difference. I think our team is incredibly grateful for that.”

The post Light Fantastic<p class="company">Photodigm</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“Our sustainability program is based on three pillars: environment, social, and governance,” says New Age’s COO Josh Urlacher. Last year saw the release of the company’s second annual Sustainability Report, where the company highlights its many impressive initiatives.

Through special designated collection bins, New Age has diverted thousands of aerosol cans from landfill, these being sent instead to a facility that can properly recycle them. In the past few years, about a ton of wood pallets and spools have been repurposed, with local artisans transforming them into tables, chairs, and outdoor porch furniture. And instead of it taking up space, the company has recycled 148,000 pounds of steel.

“These are mostly downhole items that could end up in landfill, or sitting in customer lay-down yards onsite, rusting away,” says Urlacher. Believing even modest changes make a big difference, the company’s switch to hand dryers in its facility has brought a 25 percent reduction in paper towel use. And by using half a dozen digital apps and making fewer colour copies, the company has saved thousands of sheets of paper.

Ethics and safety
Making positive changes benefits not only New Age but its many customers. Focused on the economy and business ethics of the industry—including recycling and reuse—the company introduced a successful clamp refurbishment program in its shop. “We sell our customers new clamps,” says Urlacher, “but we also push the reuse of these products.”

Working with two of the world’s biggest clamp / protector manufacturers, New Age maintains a large inventory of new and refurbished clamps, along with tubing, instrumentation, and cables.

“Customer clamp refurbishment increased over seven percent from the previous year,” says the company in its Sustainability Report. “The more we refurb, the less impact on the environment for New Age and our customers, a partnership in reducing the impacts of mining for raw materials. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is not just a catchy tagline, it’s an action!” Through specialized testing and in-house engineering, New Age proves to customers they can reuse clamps a set number of times based on scientific data gained from their clamp testing equipment.

“We all see that the direction the industry is heading,” says Urlacher. “COVID kind of put oil and gas in focus again. All eyes are on the industry, and it’s time to take a look at our practices and try to create awareness among employees about what we’re doing, and what we can do better, to be a sustainable part of society. So we include our staff,” he says. “The report is created by a few people, and we have regular meetings throughout the year where we pull staff from all divisions to get involved, and provide ideas and suggestions.”

Safety, like sustainability, is integral to New Age’s beliefs and practices. With full-time safety staff, the company prides itself on a top-tier safety program comparable to much larger oilfield service businesses.

“At New Age Oilfield, we believe that safety is an integral part of the company’s operations,” says President Mark Rhodenizer. To date, the New Age has an impressive Certificate of Recognition (COR) Audit score of 97 percent, and well over 2000 days since its last lost-time accident.

With memberships in ISNetworld (ISN), Avetta, Partnerships in Injury Reduction, and other safety-related organizations, New Age practices the old saying, “Safety is everyone’s responsibility.”

This includes managers, supervisors, all employees, and others on job sites, and encompasses everything from identifying safety requirements to communicating and investigating hazardous conditions; providing competency training and taking part in safety training programs; wearing personal protective equipment (PPE); and much more.

“When you’re in the oil patch, safety is number one,” says Rhodenizer, “and we need to maintain a safety program that ensures our employees return home safe from every job, and above industry standard safety stats that make us attractive to our customers. Many of our customers use online safety monitoring platforms that are even managed outside the country. If our stats meet the approval of those monitoring companies, we are free to work for the oil companies, so in the interest of providing our employees a safe place to work and the workload to support steady growth, focus and attention on our safety program must be paramount.”

With an all-inclusive training and competency program, new employees benefit from multiple in-person and online training courses and orientation programs from oil companies. This ensures they get a good background in New Age’s safety requirements before even setting foot on a rig site. Even customers and new crews are provided training on installing clamps and the safe handling of ESP power cables that transmit power to the downhole ESP equipment.

Engineering in-house
Primarily focused on Alberta and Southeast Saskatchewan, New Age’s coverage area also includes Northern British Columbia and Southwest Manitoba.

To further meet client demand, the company created its own in-house engineering department in 2017 after hiring Peter Lang, New Age’s Vice President of Engineering. Previously, the company had third-partied its engineering support but realized it needed more as it grew, including equipment design, builds, and continuous improvement on servicing equipment. When Lang became available around 2016, they knew the timing was right.

“Having engineering capabilities allows us to be a one-stop shop in many cases with our clients,” says Rhodenizer. “It also allows our customers to discuss conceptual ideas with our team, knowing that from all angles New Age has them covered. The other big benefit is that our customers do not have to deal with multiple companies to get the same result, which we know can lead to more invested time, higher cost, and open up room for overlap or errors.”

Growing to a staff of 60 , New Age’s varied talent pool includes employees with experience in mechanical engineering, artificial lift (including ESPs and pump jacks), electrical, production testing, cementing, downhole oil tools, and other relevant areas.

Perks for new employees include hiring and referral bonuses, company-paid benefits, and an RSP program. The way the company treats its staff and customers has resulted in a solid retention rate and great reviews.

“Our reputation exists in this field because we’re focused on quality, providing quality trained employees and products, and having our equipment look 100 percent at all times,” says Rhodenizer. “Oil companies have hired our competitors, but when we show up on site, it’s a big difference for them.”

Space age
In 2020, New Age built its own 10,500-square-foot full Heavy and Light Duty Maintenance shop. This way, the company doesn’t waste time, money, and fuel delivering units to third party shops. “We also have our own wash bay in our main shop so our field employees can wash their units upon returning after their jobs are completed. By doing this, we also lower our risk because it’s less unnecessary travelling, with lower wait times and cost savings,” adds Rhodenizer.

“In 2017 we went from a 12,000-square-foot shop to a 26,000-square-foot shop and we house all our divisions in one location, which allows us for future growth, for future service offerings, and we’ve been focusing on efficiency because of it. It also increases our on-site reliability and reduces potential loss of jobs.”

Recently, New Age expanded into pump jack servicing and is working on transformer refurbishment. Until now, step-up transformers for ESP were often left in a field and forgotten after being used. To address this, the company is purchasing, refurbishing, testing, and supplying these warrantied refurbished units, making them look and function like new.

Patent success
Along with servicing and rebuilding pump jacks, New Age has also designed a locking sleeve for fittings downhole, and thermal applications to deal with heating, expansion, and contraction experienced on SAGD (steam-assisted gravity drainage) wells.

“We were recognizing some failures that were occurring because of this, so we designed a locking sleeve apparatus that slides over the fitting and makes it impossible for the fitting to come loose,” says Rhodenizer. “That’s in the works of becoming patented. And we also have our encapsulated multi-point thermocouple strings, pressure rated wellhead systems. We manufacture and test these in Leduc, and install them on our winter observation well projects for all of our heavy oil customers, who utilize the temperature sensor arrays for reservoir monitoring. That way, our customers have multi-point temperature readings throughout their observation wells in a small and durable package.”

As the privately-owned company looks forward to turning 20 next year, the team is looking forward to what the future will bring.

“Our business is very diverse,” says Rhodenizer. “Based on requests over the years, we’ll continue to be diverse. Any time we’ve grown, it’s because a customer called us and said ‘Can you do this?’ and we would take it back to the table and discuss it and ‘Yes, actually, we can do that.’ And here we are.”

The post Smarter Thinking for a New Age<p class="company">New Age Oilfield Services</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.