Program Coordinator and Professor Industrial Mechanic (Millwright) Apprenticeship
In 1975, I began an Industrial Mechanic (Millwright) (IMM) apprenticeship with Ontario Hydro Thermal Generation. I left the company in 1993 to start my own video production company, which I ran until 1997. I then held positions as a production manager at Siemens-Westinghouse (1997–98) and as a plant manager at Elliott Turbomachinery (1998–2000). In 1995, I started a part-time position at Mohawk teaching IMM apprentices and was hired as a full-time faculty member in 2000.
In 2002, I became involved with the Skills Ontario Competition, initially by training participants and, in 2005, eventually fulfilling various roles as judge, workshop manager, site safety officer and assistant tech chair for the Ontario and national-level competitions.
Since 2013, I have volunteered as the recruiter, organizer and registrar for all Mohawk participants in the Skills Ontario Competitions.
To prepare IMM participants for the competition, I organize training sessions. I also provide them with printed materials that I’ve received from various publishers over the years and study material I have created.
Being a part of the Skills Competitions has brought opportunities to travel to competitions abroad, including acting as Assistant Workshop Manager for the WorldSkills IMM Competition in Abu Dhabi (2017) and accompanying Canadian participants to the WorldSkills Competition in Kazan, Russia in August 2019.
Over the years, Mohawk’s IMM competitors have won many medals, including two gold medallists—Joseph Cinq-Mars and Matthew Gregoroff—who went on to the Skills Canada National Competition, winning a silver medal (Matthew) and a gold medal (Joseph). Both of these graduates have gone on to excellent employment and career opportunities and continue to stay in touch.
The Skills Competitions are a wonderful way for me to volunteer and apply my 40 plus years of experience in the trade. It is truly rewarding to be able to assist young apprentices who are at the starting point of their careers.
