Section Spotlight – Montreal, Canada
When
59 Engineers from U.S. and Canada made the trip in June 1956 to attend a meeting
in the tiny town of Durham, New Hampshire, a few participants were from
Montreal. They were all dedicated
to the advancement of Cost Engineering and consequently, founded AACE Inc.
In their minds, the term “American: stood for “North American”.
The Association is now known as AACE International.
Montreal
is the first Canadian section of AACE, the section was formed in June 21, 1961
and received its official charter at the Annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois, on
June 26, 1962. Since then, the
section Board of Directors consistently endeavored to enhance the professional
development of its members by maintaining high professional standards and
cooperation with engineering societies.
This
section is avant-garde and always has promoted cost engineering education,
encouraged members to write the CCE/CCC exams and invited other technical
societies to participate in seminars and technical meetings.
In
1971, the Montreal section hosted the AACE Annual Meeting and welcomed 520
registrants. In 1984 Montreal
Hosted again the AACE Annual meeting as well as the 8Th International
Cost Engineering Council Conference (ICEC). At that time 763 Registrants along with almost 100 papers were presented.
Many still remember Old Montreal with its fine restaurants tucked away on
narrow streets as well as the off-hours entertainment of the Man and his world
exhibits. Some of the names and pioneers contributed to the success of the above
meetings and the continuity of this section include: Serge Pressoir P.Eng,
Fellow, former Region 1 Director, Bill Osler, long time trusted treasurer, Ted
O’Neil P.Eng, Charles Poulton P.Eng,
CCE, David Barken P.Eng, Fellow CSCE, PMP and many others.
Montreal
is recognized as a learning section of AACE International that grants
scholarships to students. For the
last few years we were able to match the HQ fund to our awarded students. Additionally, education always has been a cornerstone in the section
development.
Companies that have been contributing for years to the success of the section, by providing support, in different forms, including: the SNC-LAVALIN Inc. Hatch & Associates, etc.
Today’s BOD includes Les McMullan, Section President, George E. Baram P.Eng, CCE, PMP, Section Past President, Sophie Metras P.Eng, Treasurer, John Prizio P.Eng, PMP, Yves Lafrance, P. Eng., Maged Abdelsayed P.Eng, Samir El-Omari, PHD Candidate, Concordia Section President.
