Jon Andrews

The Shoe Tree

Born in Trinidad and Tobago of British parents. Schooled both in Trinidad and England. Jon graduated from the Southampton Institute in Marketing and Business in 1971 before proceeding to St. Mary’s University to complete a Bachelor of Commerce in Business Administration.

Spent the first 17 years in the petroleum business working with small business operators in both retail service stations and home heating oil. Having always harbored a keen desire to operate his own business he started this in 1991 on Main Street in Moncton with a small store called Mr. Van’s. In 1997 having bought out the business from a partner the year previously he moved the business to Highfield Square and renamed it The Shoe Tree.

Three expansions later with business growing and having been joined in business by his daughter Alison they embarked on a new venture – a Pedorthic Foot Clinic, Thera-Ped Moncton which through medical appointments with a Certified Pedorthist prescribes custom orthotics for use in footwear. The two businesses are joined and work well together.

Jon is happily married to Debbi, a Moncton native, for the past 29 years and they have two grown daughters and one grandson. He is past President of the Moncton West & Riverview Rotary Club, past President of Downtown Moncton Inc. a twelve year member of Business Round Table and past President of the Pointe du Chene Yacht Club.

Wes Armour

Armour Transportation Systems Inc.

Wes Armour grew up on his family’s farm in Taylor Village, a small farming community 20 miles southeast of Moncton, New Brunswick.

After completing high school he went on to College and graduated from Business Administration.

Having worked on the farm with his father, Gordon, during his earlier school years and later in trucking, (which operated from their homestead) Wes joined his father full time upon completing his formal education.

At this time in 1966, the business was incorporated and it had a fleet of 10 straight trucks and 11 employees. Two years later Gordon Armour retired and Wes acquired the company at the age of 22. Today, Armour Transportation Systems has more than 2700 pieces of equipment, more than 1450 employees, 22 freight terminals and more than 400,000 square feet of Public Warehousing. Armour Transportation Systems consists of six operating companies: Armour Transport, Pole Star Transport (includes Pole Star Long Haul), Diamond’s Transfer, Drurys Transfer, City Wide Courier and Armour Logistics Services. In the March 2003 issue of Today’s Trucking Magazine, Armour Transportation Systems was ranked 12th in Canada, in size and does in excess of $160 million in annual sales.

Wes has actively promoted the trucking industry in Canada through his longtime membership in both the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association and the Canadian Trucking Alliance, and he is presently on the board of directors of both the provincial and national associations, as well Wes presently serves as part of the executive of the CTA. Wes is also a past president and past Chairman of the Board for both associations and an elected member of The Chartered Institute of Transport.

In addition to his membership on trucking industry boards, Wes serves and has served on numerous boards of other businesses and community groups such as Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Liver Foundation and Greater Moncton Airport Authority, to name a few. Wes is also NB Provincial Chair for the Canadian Forces Liaison Council and the Chairman of “Building Healthy Tomorrows - a new YMCA for Greater Moncton.”

Some of the awards Wes has received are the Transportation Club of Moncton “Man of the Year Award,” Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce “Entrepreneur of the Year Award,” Canadian Trucking Association “Appreciation Award,” the National Transportation Week “Award of Excellence” for his outstanding contribution to Transportation in Canada and the 2000 Greater Moncton “Excellence in Business Award.” He recently received the “Business to Business Award” in New Brunswick and then for Atlantic sponsored by Ernst Young. As well, a special citation for “Excellence in Operation” for all of Canada sponsored by Ernst Young. In October, 2003 Wes was inducted into the Junior Achievement New Brunswick Business Hall of Fame. Armour Transportation Systems was named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies for 2003. Just recently Wes was presented with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal.

Wes is married to the former Patricia Buck and they have three children, Angus, Ralston and Victoria. His two sons have entered the business and will carry this family owned firm into the next generation.

Pauline Bissett

Bissett Matheson Marketing

Pauline Bissett is president of Promotional Resources Ltd., a marketing consultancy in Moncton and vice president of Bissett Matheson Communications Ltd., a crisis communications firm in Moncton and Fredericton.

Born in England, she was educated in Great Britain and Canada, attending Dalhousie University for Arts and the University of King’s College for Journalism and Public Relations. She has attended many courses in marketing communication and has studied crisis communications at Arnprior College, Ontario and the University of Delaware.

Pauline spent several years in the print media both as a journalist and financial and special features editors. Her skillset includes market research plus business and marketing planning. Pauline is a regular speaker on marketing throughout the Maritime Provinces.

The recipient of the top Canadian Public Relations Award for marketing communications, she has also received a North American award for marketing and several prizes for business management and excellence.

Mathieu Bourque

DBC

A Université de Moncton graduate, Mathieu Bourque has been working in the commercial banking industry for the past 6 years. Following a four-year stint with a Chartered Bank, Mathieu came to BDC in April 2003 where he currently holds the position of Account Manager in the Moncton branch's Entrepreneurship Center.

Kevin Brown, ing

Kensington & Associates

Monsieur Brown compte plus de quinze années d’expérience en gestion progressive dans les secteurs de l’entretien, de la fabrication et de l’ingénierie au sein de plusieurs sociétés maritimes. Il a occupé des postes de cadre dans diverses industries, dont une société de fabrication automobile de premier palier et deux sociétés de haute technologie. Il a fait partie de l’équipe de direction chargée du redressement et de l’essor de deux entreprises établies dans la région de Moncton. Kevin est membre de l’American Society for Quality (ASQ) et est un technicien certifié en contrôle de la qualité en plus d’avoir présidé le comité de l’éducation de la section du Nouveau-Brunswick.

Kevin est reconnu pour l’application qu’il a faite du travail d’équipe servant d’outil privilégié de définition des problPmes et pour sa contribution au développement des procédés de fabrication et d’ingénierie permettant d’accroître le rendement de l’entreprise. Sa démarche consiste B examiner tous les aspects d’une organisation afin de comprendre parfaitement les problPmes B régler avant de favoriser l’application des solutions fondées sur la métrologie informatique. Ses compétences trouvent leur terrain d’élection dans les domaines des systPmes de sécurité, du perfectionnement du personnel, de l’encadrement professionnel, de l’amélioration des procédés, des systPmes de mesure, des ventes et de la planification technique. Il fait le nécessaire pour combiner aussi bien la culture de l’entreprise et la méthode d’organisation afin de parvenir aux solutions les plus efficaces.

La démarche ordonnée qu’adopte Kevin pour régler les problPmes lui permet d’Ltre trPs bien accueilli par ses clients et de s’assurer de leur respect le plus profond.

Tim & Tracey Durling

Doc Dylan’s Grill & Alehouse
and Dirtbag Saloon Clothing & Ink Co.

Tim (34) and Tracey (32) Durling have been happily married for six years and have two children, Parker (5) and Grace (3). Together, they own & operate two successful businesses; Doc Dylan’s Grill & Alehouse located at 841 Main Street and Dirtbag Saloon Clothing & Ink Co. located next door at 839 Main Street in Moncton.

Tim began his hospitality career at Alibi’s Pub in 1990 when he moved to Moncton from Sussex to play Junior hockey with the Moncton Beavers. Tim started his career as a Bartender, worked at various hospitality jobs and in 1996 became the owner of Doc Dylan’s with three other partners. Ironically, Doc Dylan’s is currently located where Alibi’s Pub used to be. To this day, you will still find Tim tending bar at Doc Dylan’s at least 3-4 days a week. This has been one of the main reasons for his success; he has always been a “hands-on” operator. Tim currently handles the day-to-day operations of Doc Dylan’s as well as the Strategic Planning and Marketing.

If Tim wasn’t busy enough, this past August, Tim saw his goal of opening a clothing & print shop obtained when Dirtbag Saloon Clothing & Ink Co. opened its doors. Tim has developed three clothing lines: a) Dirty Rotten Ba*^ard, b) Dirtbag Saloon, and c) Road 2 The Show. Road 2 The Show is a line of sportswear that “Celebrates the commitment and dedication of the young athlete and parent on the long Road 2 The Show” In two short months, Dirtbag Saloon Clothing has managed to get a contract with the Moncton Wildcats to sell its Road 2 The Show clothing line at the Wildcats Boutique. We are also in development with other Junior Hockey organizations or sell our R2S line in all the Junior Arenas in Atlantic Canada.

Tracey Durling (MacDonald) grew up in a business family; her parents own & operate the Burger King Franchise in Moncton. She began to work there part-time at the age of thirteen and continued throughout her University years as a summer employee. In 1994, Tracey graduated from Dalhousie University with an Arts Degree (Advanced Major in Psychology) and then went on to Toronto to receive her M.B.A. (Double Major in Entrepreneurial Studies and Human Relations) from York University in 1996. After moving home to Moncton, Tracey joined her family business full-time as the Manager of the newest Burger King location at 686 Main Street. In 2002, Tim & Tracey bought out the last partner of Doc Dylan’s; therefore, Tracey left the family business to join Tim as partner and owner of their “new family business”. Tracey currently handles all the Administrative and Financial Duties for Doc Dylan’s and Dirtbag Saloon.

Anne Marie Ford

Ford’s Apothecary

Anne Marie was born in Hartford, Connecticut and received her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 1982.

Anne Marie owns and operates Ford's Apothecary in Moncton, NB.
Anne Marie is a past-president of the NB Pharmaceutical Society. She served on the Board of Directors of the NB Pharmacists= Association, and has also served as Vice-President of National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities. She is the past chair of the Canadian Pharmacists= Association Professional Affairs Committee, a member of the American Pharmaceutical Association, the NB Board member for the Canadian Society of Consultant Pharmacists, and a member of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. Anne Marie was the instructor of the Pharmacy Technician Course at the NB Community College Moncton Campus, as well as, guest lecturer for the Optometrist Association of NB, and advisor to the Pharmacy Technician Course at CompuCollege Moncton Campus.

Luann Jones-Foster

KPMG

Luann Jones-Foster, CA is a senior tax manager with KPMG in Moncton, NB.
She has been with KPMG for fifteen years, specializing in the minimization of corporate and personal income taxes for eight years.

Luann has significant experience in assisting owner-manager clients in structuring their affairs to minimize both personal and corporate income taxes on an on-going basis as well as for major transactions and events. She has implemented tax efficient structures for clients purchasing or selling assets/businesses; passing businesses along to the next generation of the family; structuring employee buy-outs; establishing family trusts; reorganizing corporate structures; creditor proofing, etc.

Luann is an experienced speaker who has presented for groups such as the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce, Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal Development Officers, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, New Brunswick Institute of Chartered Accountants, among others.

Ken LeBlanc

Property Guys.com

Ken LeBlanc, President of PropertyGuys.com co-founded the Moncton, New Brunswick, based organization in 1998.

PropertyGuys.com fills a gap in the traditional real estate industry by offering complete "private sale” marketing packages.

Mr. LeBlanc and his team have been honoured with such acclamation as:

• Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)
  Young Entrepreneur of the Year,
• 2003 and 2004 Finalists in the Knowledge Industry Recognition Awards
• Featured cover story on the Canadian Business Franchise Magazine
• Atlantic Canada’s top-50 CEOs for 2003 and 2004
• Nominated for Globe & Mail top 40 CEOs under 40.
• Nominated for Canada’s outstanding CEO of the year 2004
• Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce Excellence Awards Finalist – Emerging business, Innovation and marketing
• Ernst & Young – “Entrepreneur of the Year” nomination 2004

PropertyGuys.com has established operations in 9 provinces, serving 34 franchised territories units covering over 250 towns and cities across Canada in less than 6 years.

Donald Poirier

INNsystems Ltd.

Donald Poirier is President of INNsystems Limited.  Born and raised in Shediac River, New Brunswick, Donald is a graduate of NBCC in both Civil Engineering and as a Computer Technologists.

Shortly after graduating as a Computer Technologist, he co-founded a company that went on to develop a leading property management suite of software tools, INNsystems PMS and POS systems used for hospitality management in properties under 200 rooms. A key component of the software was a reservation module for offering rea- time reservation networks over the Internet.

 In mid 2001, Mr. Poirier led a group of new investors in launching INNsystems as an operating company specializing in online reservations. This service is provided to Municipal and Provincial web sites as well as to private web portals as part of an affiliate networking environment. He continues to guide the marketing of the INNsystems software products in Canada and the US as well as manage the successful online reservation network. 

INNsystems Reservations have been supplying reservations to the Province of New Brunswick’s Tourism web site since the 2001 season.

In mid 2003, Donald and partners launched an online community directory publishing venture to take advantage of the ascendancy of search engines in directing traffic to web sites within geographic as well as web communities. LocalintheKnow Publishing, of which Donald is Managing Director, is a New Brunswick based directory and advertising company entirely based on the Internet. 

Donald Poirier has considerable experience, at a relative young age, with dealing with the many peaks and valleys in operating a start-up business.

It is with this experience that brought Donald to the table in creating a new venture called Local in the Know with two other partners. “Networking is key to success and the ability to work in a partnering environment is conducive to great result”.

It is with this in mind that Donald will be speaking about this latest venture and how it will directly impact and benefit his company INNsystems Limited.

Donald is married with two daughters and maintains offices in Shediac Bridge, and Moncton.

Andrée Savoie

Acadian Construction Ltd.

Andrée Savoie was born and raised in Dieppe. She is the daughter of Angela Savoie and the late Claude Savoie, has one twin sister and 2 younger brothers. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering at McGill University and went on to complete a Master’s Degree in Applied Sciences at the University of Ottawa.

Her professional career began in Montreal in 1996, working for H.A. Simons in environmental engineering. Her consulting work there enabled her to work on projects at different pulp and paper mills across Canada and the United States.

She then returned to Moncton to join the team of project managers at Acadian Construction. She was fortunate enough to be able to work alongside her father for a year and a half before his death. Presently, she manages the team at Acadian Construction and wears the hat of property manager and developer at Acadian Properties.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick. She enjoys golfing, walking and spending time with her husband and one-year-old son.

Leanne & Steve Taylor

Rydan Customer Relation Management

Rydan Customer Relation Management specializes in call centre services and relationship-marketing programs for the retail automotive industry. Founded by Steve and Leanne Taylor in 1993, Rydan has grown to service 75 automotive dealerships throughout North America. Steve and Leanne were able to overcome the challenges of raising four children and a very demanding small business by achieving the right balance between the two.

As President and Chief Executive Officer, Steve Taylor is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the Company, and its sound management and performance. His vision, tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit have been the driving force behind Rydan’s growth and success.

As Executive Vice-President, Leanne Taylor is accountable for the effective integration of the planning and execution of business objectives with overall strategies and activities of the corporation. Leanne graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Science Degree and is currently completing her MBA at the University of Moncton.

Chris Wentzell, CHRP

Kensington & Associates

Monsieur Wentzell offre B ses clients plus d’une vingtaine d’années d’expérience en gestion progressive des ressources humaines et en relations du travail. Chris a fourni des services de ressources humaines B d’importantes sociétés internationales et B de plus petites sociétés privées partout au Canada. Au cours de sa carriPre, il a été chargé de la gestion de plusieurs ministPres des ressources humaines en tant que responsable de tous les services de relations humaines, de relations du travail et de santé et sécurité au travail. En outre, il a été chargé de la mise sur pied ou de la restructuration des services des ressources humaines professionnelles au sein de plusieurs des sociétés mentionnées ci-dessus. Il a également fait preuve de diligence raisonnable au titre de l’acquisition et de la cession d’éléments d’actif au profit de quatre des sociétés susmentionnées.

Chris est un formateur en gestion et un animateur de groupe chevronné : il a réalisé et animé pour ses employeurs plusieurs séminaires consacrés B la gestion et de nombreuses séances de formation.

Titulaire d’un baccalauréat Ps arts et d’un baccalauréat en éducation de l’université Acadia, Chris a enseigné pendant deux ans avant d’orienter sa carriPre vers les ressources humaines. Il a également participé au programme de gestion supérieure B l’école de commerce Western de l’université Western Ontario.

La personnalité ouverte de Chris, son énergie et son enthousiasme font de lui un chef de file efficace en relations humaines.

Marc-André Alary

DirecSys Inc

Mr. Alary is partner in a local consulting firm established since 1998. He recently completed with honour the Six Sigma Black Belt certification with (BMG) Breakthrough Management Group a U.S. firm member of the Six Sigma Institute providing training around the world.

His previous work experiences include;

Partner and Director of administration for the Canadian Dream Co, three years with the federal government and 19 years with a major Canadian Bank. While whit the bank he occupied several functions, in particular two years in the HR department at the head office of the bank located in Montreal and various supervisory positions in branches on the administration side of it.

Jean Lee

Knowledge Industry Group
of the Department of Business New Brunswick

As a Project Executive with the Knowledge Industry Group of the Department of Business New Brunswick, Jean works with a team responsible for the development of small and medium sized companies who work in the Information and Communication Technologies in the province.

Comme chargé de projet, industrie du savoir avec le ministPre d'Entreprises Nouveau-Brunswick, Jean fait partie d'une équipe qui est responsable du développement des petites et moyennes entreprises qui opPrent principalement dans le domaine des technologies de l'informatique et des communications (TIC).

Nikos Athems

Enterprise Greater Moncton (EGM)

• Nikos was born and raised in Moncton, New Brunswick;
• Obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration from l’Université de Moncton;
• Actively involved in economic development for the past 5 years;
• Following a two-year stint with a leading credit union in commercial lending, Nikos came to EGM in June 2003 where he currently holds the position of Economic Development Officer
• Nikos is happily married to Lora for the past four years and they have one son and another child on the way!

Pierrette Williams

ACOA

• Bachelor Degree in Business Administration issued by the Université de Moncton;
• Professional Economic Development Designation awarded by the University of Waterloo, Ontario;
• Actively involved in economic development for the past eight years. Ms. Williams began her career working for a regional economic development agency;
• At present, Ms. Williams is the Manager of the ACOA’s Southeast NB District office. Since the Southeast District office services the largest and most diversified client base, it is the largest district office with a staff of 10 employees;
• The district office manager’s mandate: balance the numerous priorities of the agency all the while ensuring quality client service.