Geotechnical News • March 2017
7
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
Message from the President
It is a great pleasure and honour to
write this message to the CGS mem-
bership as I begin my two-year role as
the President of the Canadian Geo-
technical Society effective January
1st, 2017.
Let me begin by congratulating and
thanking our outgoing CGS Presi-
dent
Doug VanDine
and his team
for their numerous accomplishments
over the past two years. Doug and his
team contributed to the Society on
many fronts including: streamlining
Society activities, refining protocols,
formalizing many administrative and
affiliation agreements; the operational
efficiencies generated from these
improvements are genuinely appreci-
ated by the incoming team. The new
website that we have is a direct result
of Doug’s relentless effort supported
by the CGS Executive and Adminis-
tration, in close collaboration with the
CGS National Office.
It is important to introduce and
appreciate the new team who will be
working hard to lead and support the
CGS activities through key volunteer
roles in the CGS Executive, Sections,
Divisions, Committees, external rep-
resentations. As mentioned during the
last Annual Business Meeting in Van-
couver in October, our new Executive
Committee members are: VP Techni-
cal
Suzanne Powell
(Geotechnical
Engineer, Thurber Engineering Ltd.);
Vice President Financial
Kent Ban-
nister
(Senior Geotechnical Engineer,
Trek Geotechnical Inc.); Vice Presi-
dent Communications and Member
Services
Jean Côté
(Professor, Laval
University); Technical Division Rep
Richard Brachman
(Professor,
Queen’s University); Section Rep
Seán Mac Eoin
(Senior Geotechni-
cal Engineer, AECOM); and Young
Professionals Rep
Ariane Locat
(Professor, Laval University). Richard,
Seán and Ariane served in the same
capacities in the previous administra-
tion, and they have kindly agreed to
continue for another year.
The CGS is further strengthened
due to the extensive volunteering by
our membership to serve as Section
Directors, Division Chairs, Committee
Chairs and Chair of the Geotechnical
Research Board, and their respective
executives and members.
The other key strength is mobilized
from our enthusiastic CGS National
Office administration team:
Michel
Aubertin
(Executive Director),
Wayne Gibson
(Director, Administra-
tion and Finance) and
Lisa McJunkin
(Director, Communications and
Member Services). The Society is well
served by Michel, Wayne and Lisa,
their strengths derived from already
gathered wide experience and famil-
iarity with the CGS organization.
Let me take the opportunity to high-
light some of the points I mentioned
in my brief President’s message in the
January issue of the CGS GIN. With
our strong financial position, we will
be undertaking a number of major
initiatives in the coming months. The
engagement and involvement of mem-
bership are some key elements that our
CGS team will be promoting over the
next two years. Let us work together
to identify ways for the CGS to effec-
tively receive the viewpoints of the
membership, and certainly to enhance
the opportunities for the members to
readily contribute to and participate in
the Society’s activities.
I would also like to update you on
the initiatives that are underway with
respect to the Canadian Foundation
Engineering Manual (CFEM). We will
soon have the Errata for the exist-
ing CFEM 4th Edition completed
and posted on the CGS website. We
are now fully geared up for work on
the next edition of the CFEM, which
is going to be a full online version;
two Advisory Committees have been
formed to attend to the technical and
publication aspects, respectively. I
will keep you informed as we make
progress on this task.
Finally, I would like to invite you
to attend our 70th Annual CGS
Conference in Ottawa (please visit
the conference website
for more details).
GeoOttawa 2017 will be an exciting
event in our National Capital, since
this key CGS milestone is going to be
celebrated along with the 150th anni-
versary of Canadian Confederation.
Provided by Dharma Wijewickreme
CGS President 2017 - 2018
Message du président
C’est un grand plaisir et un honneur
d’écrire ce message aux membres de
la SCG alors que j’entame mon rôle de
président de la Société canadienne de
géotechnique d’une durée de deux ans
à compter du 1erjanvier 2017.
Dharma Wijewickreme, President of
Canadian Geotechnical Society
