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About Us - Our People
Here are the key people in Advantage Tech's Calgary organization. If you have any questions, please e-mail Samuel L. Travis, Chief Executive Officer, or phone
him at (403) 237-8855.
Samuel L Travis, LL.M., CHRP
Chief Executive Officer
Sam is the Chief Executive Officer of Advantage Tech Inc., and his preferred areas of involvement are career transition counselling, professional business coaching, and management assessment & development. He is a lawyer by training and is an active member of the law Society of Alberta. He has 26 years of knowledge and experience in these industries: oil & gas, petro-chemicals, telecommunications, consumer products and manufacturing, health care, airlines, financial/security institutions, international real estate development, public relations, taxation, advanced technology. He has a particular passion for and extensive personal experience in recruiting, selecting and developing leaders through executive coaching and mentoring. Prior to founding Advantage Tech, he served eight years as CEO of an international consulting firm specializing in petroleum and minerals consulting, human resources and advanced technology planning. Prior to that, in the early 80s, he was a Vice President/Managing Partner of an international management consulting firm, headquartered in New York. Before then he was the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Carma Developers, an international real estate development firm. In 1975 - 1977, he practiced law in Calgary with the law Department of Canadian Pacific Ltd., and prior to that was in private practice with one of Calgary's largest law firms, MacLeod Dixon.
Sam received a B.A. with Distinction in Economics from the University of Michigan (in Ann Arbor) in 1966, and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1969, and admitted to the State Bar that year. He went on to receive his LL.M. from McGill University in Montreal in 1971. Mr Travis has also received his CHRP Certification from the Human Resources Institute of Alberta.
 Connect with Sam Travis on LinkedIn.
John Brodych, M.Ed., C. Psych.
Vice President, Performance Development
John is a Senior Consultant with Advantage Tech, providing professional coaching, career planning and psychological support services. John is a psychologist and career specialist with many years of Counselling, teaching, and consulting experience. John established his own firm, Egress Psychological Resources, in 1992, providing a wide range of services to individuals, employee assistance programs, corporations, governments and post-secondary institutions.
John is frequently requested to provide career assessments and career coaching to individuals from all walks of life, including senior executives, managers, and front-line workers. He has developed and facilitated numerous career transition programs for governments and colleges, including specialized programs for health-care workers, new Canadians, and older workers. John has provided clinical and career services to various employee assistance programs including BMO Bank of Montreal, Warren Shepell Consultants, Humanacare and the Calgary Catholic School Board.
John's expertise also includes skills related to cross-cultural and diversity topics. John has worked extensively with individuals from different cultures, both in Canada and abroad. He has counselled and taught individuals and assisted organizations in the areas of cultural adaptation, cross-cultural communication, and managing diversity in the workplace.
John provides training and consulting services related to a broad range of topics including career management, self-marketing, communication skills, conflict resolution, stress management and teamwork. In addition, John teaches career practitioners in the University of Calgary's Career Development Certificate program, and also teaches management courses in the Applied Management Certificate program at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
John holds a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology from the University of Calgary, and is a member of the College of Alberta Psychologists, the Psychologists' Association of Alberta, and the Canadian Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.
Cam Ellison, PH.D.
Vice President Psychological Services
Cam is currently Director of Assessment and Psychological
Services for Advantage Tech Inc. and President of Cam Ellison &
Associates Ltd. In these roles, he provides psychological
assessment services for selection, personal and career
development, and succession management. Cam designs assessment
and employee development systems to be used by clients, provides
career and personal development counselling to employees and
private individuals, and assists organizations in dealing with
organizational development issues and planning. His clients have
included resource, technology, financial services, and
manufacturing organizations, governments and government agencies
at all levels, and non-governmental organizations. He devotes
his attention particularly to professional personnel, managers,
and executives.
Cam obtained his BA from the University of Victoria and his M.
A. from Hollins University in Virginia. He obtained his Ph.D.
from the University of Connecticut in 1976. He is a Registered
Psychologist (#1417) in British Columbia, and a member of the BC
Psychological Association where he serves, among other things,
on the Psychologically Healthy Workplace Collaborative.
Peter Meneghetti, B.Sc., P.Geol.
Peter Meneghetti established PM GEOCONSULTING, his exploration consulting practice, in 1989, upon his early retirement and after 23 years of service in the Exploration Division of Canada-Cities Service Ltd. and Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. (now NEXEN). He soon paired his practice with Advantage Tech Inc. expanding his activities to the field of Human Resources.
Peter was Exploration Manager for 6 years at Canadian Occidental, where he was responsible for Exploration budgets averaging $30 Million per year and supervised up to 5 Districts covering all regions of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.
Prior to that, Peter was a Geological Manager for 13 years at Canada Cities Service Ltd. (now NEXEN) and was responsible for Frontier Exploration and later for Western Exploration. Before becoming a Supervisor, Peter was a Geologist for 4 years with Canada-Cities Service Ltd.
Peter came to Canada in 1966, after 5 years of contractual employment with Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), the Bolivian state oil company, where he did surface and subsurface work in the Subandean Region. In addition, he designed, equipped and organized a new Sedimentological Lab for YPFB's Exploration Division. During his tenure in Bolivia, Peter was also a Lecturer at the University of La Paz, in several geological specialty subjects. Peter became fluent in spoken and written Spanish, having compiled and published in that language the notebooks for his classes.
Peter has been recognized as a successful Manager with excellent leadership qualities. He was instrumental in the technical development of a large number of professional and support personnel, and in the successful management development of many subordinates.
Peter is keenly interested in the field of Human resources. He was directly involved for many years in the recruiting of young Geoscientists, beginning with on-campus interviews. In addition, Peter was a key person in the search, evaluations and hiring of experienced technical personnel for permanent or contract positions. While at Advantage Tech Inc., he dealt with over one hundred Human Resources cases.
Peter Meneghetti graduated in 1957 with a Doctorate Degree in Geology from the University of Milan-Italy, and complemented his technical and managerial proficiency with numerous course and seminars over his distinguished career.
Peter T. Boland BA, MEc, CHRP
Senior Consultant
Peter has provided quality compensation and organization consulting
expertise to clients in Canada, the US and internationally for over 15
years. Previously, Peter held human resources management roles in large
organizations in both the public and private sectors, including Corporate
Compensation Manager for a large multi-national energy sector corporation
with over 6000 employees in several countries. Peter has been an invited
speaker before the Conference Board of Canada and the Human Resource
Association of Calgary and has taught compensation at the University of
Calgary. Peter holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of
Calgary.
Robert G. Farquharson, B.Sc., P.Eng.
Senior Consultant
Mr. R.G. (Bob) Farquharson is a Senior Consultant with Advantage Tech since 1988. He provides career planning and career transition advice to engineers,
geoscientists and other oil & gas professionals. He previously and concurrently was Chairman of the Board of Alconsult (which has since been sold), and President of
R.G. Farquharson Energy Consultants Inc. Bob has over 30 years of diversified experience in the oil & gas industry. He worked 22 years for Murphy Oil Company,
rising to Chairman of the Board, President, and C.E.O. Previously, he was Chief Petroleum Engineer with Canadian pacific Oil & Gas Company Ltd. (now PanCanadian).
He was also a director of Lasmo Canada Inc, CENDEC™ Systems Resources, Camberly Energy Inc., Momentum International Energy Inc., Canadian executive Service
Organization (CESO). He has also served on the Board of Governors of the Canadian Petroleum Association and was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
Saskatchewan Division of the CPA.
Larry R. Miskew, P.Eng
Larry has been a Senior Consultant to Advantage Tech since 1987, in the Career Transition and Career Planning programs, with engineers and oil & gas professionals. For seven years he was Vice President Production with Greypower Resources Ltd, and was one of its principals, before it was acquired by a public company. Larry has a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Alberta and is a life member of APEGGA. He is active in the community, and has served three years as a board member of the YMCA for Calgary metropolitan area.
A. F. (Tony) Mitchell, B.BA, C.M.A.
Tony Mitchell is Senior Associate with Advantage Tech Inc. Tony was a senior Taxation, Finance and Administration Manager with twenty-five years experience in the Energy Industry in Alberta, most recently with the National Energy Board (NEB), Canada's interprovincial and international pipeline regulator. During his term with the NEB Tony worked directly for the Chair as his Internal Audit Advisor. ?
Prior to the NEB Tony was a senior financial manager at Shell Canada from 1988 to 2000. This period was highlighted by his role as Director, Finance for the Oil Sands Division during the period 1997 to 2000 at which time the feasibility of the project was completed. Tony was also responsible for the accounting, financial controls, administrative processes and management systems design for the $5 Billion Athabasca Oil Sands project in Northern Alberta, the first of this size in Shell's Canadian history.
Also at Shell Tony had appointments as Manager, Tax Research & Planning, Manager of Investor Relations, and General Auditor, prior to his appointment to Oil Sands. As the General Auditor, Tony, through a comprehensive review process, ensured that corporate policies and ethical standards were maintained to protect the integrity of corporate activities and assets.
Prior to Shell, Tony was a Tax Manager for 6 years at Husky Oil Ltd. and predecessor Canterra Energy, where he was an integral part of the Company's efforts and initiatives to optimize taxation matters, including "PGRT" and "PIP" grants. Before then he was Manager, Tax at Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Co. Ltd. (HBOG) for 4 years, until its merger with Dome Petroleum, during which time he resolved taxation issues of international operations, including operations in the United Kingdom and the North Sea.
Fred Rayer, P.Geol.
Fred has assisted Advantage Tech since 1987 as a Senior Consultant. He is a Petroleum Geologist with a Geological Engineering background with over 35 years of experience in all aspects of oil & gas exploration and development and petroleum management in North America and internationally. Fred previously and concurrently was President of Alconsult International Ltd. (which has since been sold), which operated and facilitated worldwide programs in Petroleum Engineering, Technology and Education. He provides invaluable counsel to employees considering oversee opportunities. He was with Petro-Canada responsible for International Exploration and Exploration Technology, and was President and Chief Operating Offices of Petro-Canada International Assistance Corporation. He also worked 13 years as a geologist with Atlantic Richfield Canada Ltd, and
six years with Imperial Oil. He received a B.A.Sc. in Geological engineering from the University of British Columbia, and is a member of many professional organizations.
Mark Ruthenberg, B.Comm.
Senior Technology Advisor
Mark Ruthenberg is Advantage Tech's Technology Manager. Mark graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) in 1980. He has 30 years experience in the computer industry, initially consulting to his Chartered Accounting practice clientele. In 1988 he began a computer training company, which grew to 35 staff training 15,000 people a year, and was then acquired. He moved to courseware development and training book publishing, and then software training CD-ROM development (in the process, co-founding a company he took public, and was later accquired by a worldwide training company). Since 1995, he has been actively involved in e-business online publishing and has advised a number of companies. He is also the General Manager & Chief Technology Officer of FoundLocally.com Media Inc. who's three websites reach an audience of a million visitors a month. He also publishes a blog on web marketing and Social Media issues.
Mark was a founding director of of industry group Digital Alberta (formerly the Alberta New Media Association), and has served as director for 10 years and 3 years as President). He has served on Academic Advisory Board of SAIT Polytechnic's New Media Studies programs since 1998, and served 3 years on Mount Royal University's Academic Advisory Board for Digital Communications Studies.
Karen H. Stewart B.Sc., M.B.A., RHU, CDFA
Divorce Planning Specialist
Karen Stewart is the President of FairWay Divorce Solutions, a Calgary-based North American-wide franchised divorce solutions services provider.
Ms Stewart was a co-founder and President of Milestone Asset Management, a retail firm specializing wealth management and high end financial planning.
Ms Stewart founded this company (previously known as Miles Financial Group) in the early 90's.
She recently guided the company through the transition from the MFDA platform to an IDA platform.
Now, as an Independent Services Branch of Raymond James, her company delivers a highly integrated investment
platform for high net worth individuals. Her involvement in the industry has been very extensive and
reaches beyond the retail side and into the dealer side where she built the Balanced Planning MFDA
dealership in Alberta to well over 100 representatives and then sold it in 2000.
Ms Stewart is a CDFA (certified Divorce Financial Analyst) and now spends most of her time and
efforts working in this very specialized niche.
She recently written and published a book on Divorce and Finances.
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