Meet the Team

Peter Hickey
Chairperson

For over two years,  Peter Hickey has held the position of Chairperson on the Association Executive Team. As the Chairperson,  Peter is the key spokesperson between the Alberta OHS Mines team and our Association Membership.  In alignment with the AMSA Board of Directors, Peter works with and leads the efforts of the Executive Team and AMSA Staff in defining the priorities and direction of the Association.

Peter is currently employed with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd in its mining division. He has held the position of Mine Safety Lead at the Horizon mine and most recently has taken on the role of Regulatory Coordinator for CNRL’s Autonomous Haul Truck project. Peter has a background in Transportation Operations, Safety, Risk Management and Security.

Peter’s vision for AMSA is to see it grow into a world class Mine Safety Association that collaborates with both government and industry to ensure that workers stay safe and that legislation and corporate needs align.  With the growth in membership and networking with other Mine Safety organizations across Canada and elsewhere, AMSA has an opportunity to influence the development of new safety standards for workers and our industry.

Wesley Meyerink
Vice-Chairperson

Wesley has been an active member serving on both the ASMA Committee and the AMSA Emergency Response Committee. Previously Wesley was the Assistant Chief Judge, assisting in the organization of the annual AMSA Surface Mine Rescue Competition.

Wesley is employed with Westmoreland Coal as the Safety Manager at the Genesee Mine Operation. Wesley holds a Business Administration and Marketing Certificate from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) but found his passion in mining when starting at the Genesee Mine in 2003 as an equipment operator. Wesley moved into the Safety Manager role in 2015.

Wesley’s vision for AMSA is to provide Alberta’s mining industry with:

• Supervisor Education Program that gives supervisors the knowledge and tools required to effectively manage safety in a mining environment.

• Liaison to Government and a voice to affect future growth in safety and technology.

• Forum to share industry best practices, incident learnings, and statistics.

Utilizing the wealth of knowledge and talent within our industry to continue to advance our safety accomplishments will be our key to success.

Larry Ritchat
Director, Mining Emergency Response Committee

Since 2014, Larry Ritchat has led the development and alignment of AMSA Mine Rescue and Emergency Response protocols. His focus is on ensuring that AMSA member companies have qualified Mine Rescue personnel and instructors as well as liaising with other jurisdictions to align mine rescue training standards.  

In 2007, Larry joined Canadian Natural Resources (Horizon) as a Mine Trainer where he developed their Heavy Equipment Training Program.   In 2010, Larry obtained certification as an Alberta Mine Rescue Instructor which dovetailed well with his next role (in 2012) as the Coordinator Mine Rescue. 

Larry believes these are exciting times for the Alberta Mine Safety Association. From the Mine Rescue perspective we are currently looking to evolve the Committee to include all emergency services and technologies. We are working with the Western Regional Committee to standardize rescue training in Western Canada and have just recently signed on to adopt the Western Regional Mine Rescue Manual. For the Alberta Mine Safety Association itself Larry believes the sky is the limit, working with our members and collaborating with government, he believes Alberta Mines will be the best and safest places to work.

Tim Doucette
Association Director

Along with supporting the Association for numerous years, Tim Doucette accepted one of four Director positions in 2016.  As a Director, Tim is instrumental in defining AMSA's strategic goals and direction.  He brings invaluable Mining knowledge and insight plus senior leadership experience to the Association.  

Tim has over 23 years of experience in the Mining Industry in both Alberta and British Columbia. During this time, Tim has held various mining roles in operations and engineering. Currently, he is the General Manager of the Genesee Mine for Westmoreland Coal.

Tim is both a Professional Engineer and a Professional Geologist in Alberta, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Dalhousie University, a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mine Engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Alberta.

Phil Keele
Association Director

Phil holds a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering from Queen's University and is a registered professional engineer in the Province of Alberta. He has more than 30 years experience in all facets of the mining industry particularly in engineering, operations and senior management.

Phil retired from Canadian Natural Resouces Limited (CNRL) in 2016 where he held the position of VP, Mining. Prior to joining CNRL, Mr. Keele held senior positions with a major Canadian mining company in western Canada.

Lynn Gould
Association Director

Lynn Gould is a professional Mine Engineer, graduating from Queen’s University in 1998.   Lynn began her career in the Oil Sands with Syncrude in 1998, and has worked with Suncor since 2005.   She has worked with various aspects of mining, including mine engineering, learning and competence, and operations.   Most recently Lynn held the role of General Manager, Millennium Mine Operations at Suncor.   She is currently the Director, Operational Excellence Management System at Suncor’s Oil Sands site. 

As an operations leader, Lynn's priority is the safety of employees.   AMSA and our member companies share the same vision of safety leadership in Alberta Mines.   AMSA provides the platform for sharing of best practices.

Gord Winkel
Board Advisor

Retired as a Vice President for Syncrude Canada Ltd., Gord Winkel joined the University of Alberta in 2010 as Chair and Industrial Professor for the Safety and Risk Management Program in the Faculty of Engineering. In this capacity he provides safety and risk management education to final year engineering students and has worked to make this a core competency requirement for all engineering disciplines. In April of 2016, Gord was announced as Director of the School of Engineering Safety and Risk Management.

Gord has worked extensively in the oil sands mining industry. He joined the Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil organization as a Vice President on Loan from Syncrude Canada Ltd. to advance the Kearl Oil Sands Project. Gord was Vice President, Aurora Bitumen Production at Syncrude Canada Ltd., served as General Manager of Extraction, was Manager of Extraction Operations and formerly Manager of Mine Maintenance/Operations again with Syncrude.

His work to improve workplace safety led to a Distinguished Lecturer Award from the Canadian Institute of Mining in 2002. His work to advance the Surface Mining Industry through sharing knowledge, technology, best practices and innovation has led to a second Distinguished Lecturer Award from the Canadian Institute of Mining in 2008. A third such award was received in 2013 for leadership in advancing safety excellence in the global mining industry.

Gord supports the Canadian Institute of Mining through chairing the J.T. Ryan Mining Safety Committee and working on the development of national mining industry safety strategies. Provincially Gord is an External Advisor for the Alberta Mining Safety Association. He has also accepted board positions on Careers, The Next Generation Foundation and the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires.

On the healthcare front, Gord is a member of the Alberta Health Services Quality and Safety Advisory Committee reporting in to the Alberta Health Services Board. He is also supporting the Alberta Agriculture Industry as Executive Director for the AgCoalition, an unprecedented collaboration of producer groups across the sector, towards progressing safety practices that make sense at the farm and ranch level. Gord works as an Executive Advisor on the newly established AgSafe Alberta Board.

Gord is Vice Chair for the University of Alberta Board of Governors Safety, Health and Environment Committee, and has participated on various strategic initiatives for injury reduction provincially and nationally. Gord works to provide support in safety, risk management and organization effectiveness to firms across Canada.

Todd McDonald
Association Director

Todd McDonald is a Professional Engineer with over twenty-six years of experience in the energy/mining resource industry with both domestic and overseas experience in senior engineering and operational roles. He graduated from the University of Manitoba’s Geological Engineering Program in 1989 and has been a member of AMSA since 2011 and; most recently joined the Board of Directors in December 2016.
Over his career, Todd has worked in various coal mines in Alberta, copper & gold mines in British Columbia and Indonesia, diamond mines in the N.W.T. and for the last six years in the Oil Sands industry with Imperial Oil. Todd currently works as the Mine Maintenance Superintendent at the company’s Kearl Oil Sands Mining operation.
Todd’s vision for the Mining industry and AMSA is to ensure that there is always strong communication and collaboration between government and the AMSA membership. He believes that working towards this vision will result in the safest and best performing mining workforce in Canada which is possible through the full support of AMSA’s initiatives.

Ken Martens
Manager

Ken is a professional Mine Engineer, graduating from the University of Alberta in 1996.  He has more than 20 years of Alberta mining experience in engineering, mine operations, mine management, maintenance, project management and as a corporate health and safety manager.

Ken is passionate about safety leadership in mining and is excited to have been given the unique opportunity to apply his experience and energy with the Alberta Mine Safety Association.  His goal is to provide leadership in the continued growth and development of AMSA products and services and to be responsive to the needs of its members.

In his personal time, Ken enjoys playing guitar, woodworking and many outdoor activities including camping, hiking, mountain biking and skiing with his wife and two boys.