Board of Directors

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Executive

Clarence Jonker
President
With over eight years of business development experience in the construction industry, Clarence is currently responsible for geothermal business development within the HVAC industry and oversees the design and installation of commercial and residential systems. Clarence has a Bachelor of Commerce (Hon.) from the I.H. Asper School of Business.
Brent Laufer
Past President
Brent is the founding President of the MGEA, specializing in complex geothermal design, installation and training. He has had geothermal in his own house for 29 years, and shop for 14 years.
Gerry Paradis
Vice-President
Gerry is a founding director of the MGEA. He started in the plumbing and HVAC trade full time in 1981 and has been involved with the installation and service of GSHP since 1985. Gerry been involved in over 800 unit installations of residential, commercial, ice rinks, curling rinks, numerous churches, community halls and credit unions.
Crystal Thibeault
Secretary Treasurer
Crystal has been involved in manufacturing of piping for many applications including geothermal pipe as well as the distribution of fusion equipment and fittings for the past 10 years. She has had the opportunity to work on projects of notoriety from Coast to Coast. Crystal carries expertise within standards and industry regulations and has been a dedicated volunteer amongst the various industry associations promoting the geothermal industry nationally.
Fran Giesbrecht
Executive Assistant
Fran comes to MGEA with over 30 years of administration experience. She has a background in bookkeeping and construction safety. Currently serves as president of Envision Community Living and enjoys her hobby as an event planner.

Board Members

Carl Balan
Profile Coming Soon
Kirk Esau
Since 1980, Kirk has been operating various enterprises and continuing education, in the geothermal as installer and designer, septic systems installer, hauler, inspector, UofM Ag. Engineering, RRC Electrical Construction. As a general contractor he has worked in all aspects of construction plumbing, framing, electrical, HVAC, flooring, painting, finishing carpentry, windows, doors, millwork, sprinkler fitting, septic systems and geo systems.
Peter Fehr
Profile Coming Soon
Kirsten Laufer
Profile Coming Soon
Mike Millard
Michael has over 17 years experience in the geothermal industry in Manitoba and is the former Vice President of the MGEA. As a consultant, he assists building owners explore the economics of geothermal HVAC systems vs. conventional (electric or natural gas) HVAC systems. As a business development manager, he oversees the sales, design and installation of horizontal drilled, horizontal excavated, shallow vertical drilled, deep vertical drilled, well-to-well and hybrid ground loop heat exchangers in Manitoba and Northwest Ontario. Michael has a Bachelor of Commerce (Hon.) from the I.H. Asper School of Business.
Chris Snelgrove
Chris has performed various roles in the ICI construction industry for more than 30 years. Since 2005 Chris has been involved in the installation of over 600 units of open loop GSHPs, including district systems. He is an accredited installer with the Manitoba Geothermal Energy Alliance.
Rt. Honourable Edward Schreyer
Member at Large
Ed Schreyer is a graduate of the University of Manitoba, Canada. He was first elected to the Manitoba Legislature (historically its youngest member at age 22) in 1958 and re-elected twice. He lectured on International relations at St. Paul's College, then was elected NDP Member of Parliament for Selkirk (1965) and re-elected in 1968. He became Manitoba New Democrat leader 1969 and Premier of Manitoba 1969-77. The ensuing government enacted, for the first time, law and regulations requiring environmental impact assessment as a prerequisite of all major projects. It established publically owned insurance (Autopac), also Unicity of Winnipeg was formed out of 13 separate municipalities. He served concurrently as Minister Responsible for Manitoba Hydro precisely at the time major energy expansion was required, which in turn required policy decisions as between constructing either major hydro works or a series of coal and gas thermal generating stations. His government introduced legislation that eliminated provincial Health Care premiums, thereby assuring all Manitobans of equal and ready access to quality affordable Health Care. Home Care and Pharmacare were introduced - neither the Federal nor any other provincial government developed such programs until some years later. He served as: Governor General of Canada and Commander-in-Chief 1979-84. He was accredited as Canadian High Commissioner to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands & Ambassador to Vanuatu 1984-88; and as Chancellor, Brandon University, Brandon, Canada 2003-08. He served in various capacities in a number of organizations including: Habitat for Humanity International; The Canadian Shield Foundation; Sierra Legal Defense Fund; Hospital and Nursing Home care organizations; two Canada-based oil/gas exploration companies and a forest-products company. In the decade of the 1990`s, he was guest professor at universities in British Columbia and Nova Scotia and then in Europe - at the University of Kiel 1997; Trier 1998; Marburg 1999 and Dresden/Leipzig 2000. The focus throughout was on Resource Development; Energy Economics and Environmental Impact in Global Context. Mr. Schreyer also served on the Vancouver Port Authority 2003-07; The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and; the Lake Winnipeg Stewardship Board 2003-10. He is a Founding Director of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (Canada) Inc. and a Director of the Manitoba Geothermal Energy Alliance (MGEA). Mr. Schreyer is a frequent guest speaker at many fora and professional conventions on various themes and topics relating to energy resource use and misuse and environmental impact. Mr. Schreyer currently serves on the boards of the St. Raphael Wellness Centre (addictions counseling) and the Clubhouse of Winnipeg, both attempting to bring help to persons struggling with health related problems. Following his work with Habitat for Humanity, affordable housing and supportive housing for persons with mental health issues remain his concerns and focus. He continues his interest in multiculturalism and heritage preservation themes. This is a sequel to his efforts and that of his collegues in 1970 to: a) honour the memory of Louis Riel despite 85 years to the contrary; b) reverse the 80 years of legal obstructions to the use of French as a language of instruction in all Manitoba schools; c) encourage and assist the volunteer spirit of local cultural diversity, eg., to organize the 1st FOLKLORAMA: now continuing into its 45th year. He is married to Lily (55 years+). They have two daughters and two sons.