ATHABASCA — More fresh faces have been appointed to the Athabasca University (AU) Board of Governors and will bump the number of faces around the table by two to 19.
In a communication sent out to students following the release of the Order in Council earlier in the afternoon of Oct. 5, AU president Peter Scott said the university had just been informed of the changes.
“Athabasca University (AU) has just been notified by the Government of Alberta that several changes have been made to the membership of the Board of Governors of Athabasca University,” Scott said.
“I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge those AU board members who very recently resigned from their positions on our board. We are grateful for their counsel and for their commitment to our university and learners.”
Four members — Sharon Anderson, Sir John Daniel, Andrew Ko, and McDonald Madamombe — had their appointments rescinded to be replaced immediately and Bryan Berg will finish out his appointed term.
“There were two members who, I believe, had submitted resignations this past week-and-a-half,” Minister of Advanced Education Demetrios Nicolaides said in an Oct. 7 interview.
“If I remember correctly from one of them, they indicated they have had some significant time constraints and conflicts with work and haven’t been able to provide the full dedication they were hoping to.”
Leo de Bever, Don Gnatiuk, Dan Leckelt, Terry Lovelace, Lori Van Rooijen, Wilfred Willier, and Mike Lovsin were added to the board for a one-year term. Lovsin will succeed Berg, when his term ends and Ilario “Larry” Spagnolo was reappointed for another term in the same Order in Council.
The Government of Alberta appoints the board chair and most board members at all 21 public post-secondary institutions in Alberta, usually with a mixed approach of recommendations from the institution and individuals chosen by the government, Nicolaides explained.
“We did an informal search based on individuals who have a connection to the university, the town, and the region,” he said. “And I came up with the individuals who were subsequently appointed.”
Following the UCP election of a new leader, Danielle Smith is now the premier-designate, and Nicolaides is waiting for a chance to speak with her.
“I haven't had an opportunity yet to speak with the premier-designate specifically as it relates to Athabasca University,” he said. “She'll be involved in a number of briefings from a number of different portfolios, departments, and ministries so, at the appropriate time, I'll be sure to connect with her and brief her on Athabasca University.”
Discussions between AU and the ministry are continuing, however.
“We're still chatting with the board and the university in a collegial way,” he said. “I think that some fresh perspective on the board will help them move things forward. That's the hope and that's the intent. Things are still progressing and I'm confident with a new team and some new perspective we'll be able to cross the finish line together.”
It’s a hope Town of Athabasca mayor Rob Balay has as well and confirmed a couple of the appointees were names put forward locally.
“They asked us for some names, and we provided some to the committee,” he said in an Oct. 7 interview. “We had no idea whether or not the minister was going choose any of them or not.”
Lovelace and Van Rooijen were two of the names provided.
“Lori Van Rooijen, we talked to her probably over a year ago about if she would consider putting her name in for the board if and when there was an opening,” said Balay.
Athabasca County, the Town of Athabasca, and the Village of Boyle recently put in a combined total of $37,500 to keep lobbyist Hal Danchilla, founder of Canadian Strategy Group, working both on promoting the local position on keeping AU jobs in the Athabasca region and lobbying to keep the Boyle Healthcare Centre open.
“Part of the strategy for that was we knew there was going to be some sort of change in (UCP) leadership, and we just wanted to make sure we had continuity; that the same message was going forward,” said Balay. "Whenever there's a change in leadership quite often there's a cabinet shuffle so, we have no idea whether or not the current minister will remain in that portfolio. We just thought it was wise to continue putting our message forward to whoever is in that portfolio.”
As any cabinet shuffle will likely be announced Oct. 21, lobbying is on hold for the moment.
“Once we see who's where, then I think we will proceed at that point,” Balay said, adding he’s impressed with the new roster of names.
“When I saw their names, I looked at their history and they're extremely qualified. It's a good slate of individuals who are going to be on the board. I think everyone should feel good about that.”
Nicolaides said there is no hard deadline for AU to present how non-academic staff will be returned to working in-person with university executive working out of the Athabasca Campus.
“Things are still progressing and I'm confident with a new team and some new perspective we'll be able to cross the finish line together,” said Nicolaides.
Overview of the AU Board of Governors
de Bever is the chair of Nauticol Energy based in Calgary and between 2008 and 2015 was the CEO of Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) which manages investments including pensions, endowments, and government funds in Alberta.
Gnatiuk is the former president of Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC), retiring in 2020 as the longest-serving person to hold the president and CEO titles.
Leckelt has a civil engineering degree from the University of Alberta (U of A) and a Master of Business Administration from AU. He is also the co-founder and owner of Silent-Aire Manufacturing in Edmonton.
Lovelace has been a project manager for almost 29 years with Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries (AlPac) located 50 kilometres northeast of the Town of Athabasca.
Van Rooijen is a former vice president of advancement at AU, which included external relations, marketing and communications, community relations, alumni, student recruitment and retention, and fund development. She is the president of Larkspur Consulting and has comprehensive leadership experience both volunteering for various boards like Jubilee Auditorium Society or paid, like her VP role at AU.
Wilfred Willier was a director with the Community Health Foundation in High Prairie and Mike Lovsin is the chair of Freson Bros. Fresh Market and president of Altamart Investments.
Spagnolo, who was reappointed, was a UCP constituency association president who served on the 2022 UCP leadership election committee and is the vice-president and general manager of Zedi Cloud SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) Solutions for Emerson Automation Solutions.
The remainder of the board includes chair Byron Nelson, AU president Peter Scott, public members Elena Gould, Jacqueline Hobal, and Robert Morrill, academic staff members Martha Cleveland-Innes and Richard Huntrods, Liam Connelly who represents the tutors, graduate student Chris Edwards, and two undergraduate student members Karen Fletcher, and Dur-E-Najaf Syed.
