Not all ag businesses look alike; from social influencers to work wear designers to food and beverage innovators, this panel brings together diverse experiences to share their business stories. You will be enlightened and challenged to understand how they built their businesses and profiles from the start up.
2023
Doug Cole, President, CEO and Director, Azure Sustainable Fuels Corp.
With over 40 years of experience in upstream oil and gas operations, Doug has long been involved in the international and Canadian oil production world. Doug has been a founding member of three upstream oil and gas start-up companies with responsibilities including subsurface and operational, private and public capital funding, and corporate acquisitions. In 2017, Doug co-founded True North Renewable Fuels Ltd. as the President and CEO. Up until the sale of the company’s assets in March 2021, he was responsible for overall leadership, strategic direction and development of the business.
Erik St-Hilaire, Managing Director, Corporate Finance, MNP @mnp_ag
Erik St-Hilaire, CPA, CA, is a Managing Director with MNP Corporate Finance in Winnipeg. Erik works one-on-one with clients in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and northwestern Ontario. His strong technical knowledge and creative thinking allows him to find innovative solutions to complex situations, as he delivers advice customized to address each client’s unique situation and objectives. A trusted advisor, Erik works with mid-sized companies preparing for succession, focusing on the sale of their business. He also helps companies planning for growth through acquisitions, mergers, due diligence or financing. His services include preparing and leading competitive divestiture processes, advising on sale of businesses, transaction advisory services, financial modelling, due diligence, and private equity / debt placements. Erik works with clients in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, construction, agriculture, food and beverage, health care services, aviation, oil field service, transportation and logistics, hospitality, and vehicle and heavy equipment dealerships. Erik earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Honours) from the University of Manitoba in 2009. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), qualifying with Honours as a Chartered Accountant (CA) in 2012.
Dr. Baljeet Singh, Research Professor, Assiniboine Community College
Dr. Baljeet Singh is a Faculty/Researcher at Russ Edward School of Agriculture and Environment at Assiniboine Community College, Brandon. He earned a Ph.D. (Soil Science) from the University of Manitoba (2016), in addition to an M.Sc. (Entomology) and B.Sc. Agriculture Hons. from the Punjab Agricultural University, India. Dr. Singh has experience working with various national and international initiatives/projects, having worked in academic, research and consulting collaborations focusing on Soil fertility, crop pest management, pesticides sciences and environmental chemistry.
Currently, Dr. Singh is serving as acting President of the Manitoba Soil Science Society (MSSS), his research focuses on developing fungicide application decision support tools, improved disease diagnostic tools (multiplex PCR based methods) for detection of soybean pathogens, soil amendment and reclamation projects and agronomic research trials for soybean, peas and bean crops. Dr. Singh a is registered Agrologist with the Province of Manitoba.
Dr. Sajjad Rao, Research Professor, Assiniboine Community College
Dr. Sajjad Rao is an accredited Canadian plant grower and agrologist with 25+ years of experience in applied research and teaching. He is also highly experienced in providing senior management level leadership for multinational agricultural companies, and has proven capacity to lead research & development projects for industry. Areas of research interest include plant nutritional qualities, plant proteins, soil biological stimulators, sustainable greenhouse technology, new crop genetics, and local crop production and diversification. Currently, Dr. Rao’s research in focused on innovation of sustainable greenhouse production technologies, food systems, and employing novel genetics in horticultural and agronomic field crops
Kristen MacMillan, Research Agronomist-in-Residence, University of Manitoba @kpmacmillanUM
Kristen MacMillan has been in the field with soybean and pulse crops since 2013 when she completed her education at the University of Manitoba. She received an agriculture diploma, Bachelor of Science and master’s degree specializing in agronomy and cropping systems. From there, she joined the Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers association and launched the organization’s first research and production strategy including The Bean Report and branding of the On-Farm Network. In 2017, Kristen became the Agronomist-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba, an initiative funded by the Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers to increase research capacity in soybean and pulse crop agronomy. Kristen has developed the program over the past 6 years and currently leads applied soybean, dry bean and pea research studies across the province, participates in extension and teaches diploma students. Outside of research and education, Kristen practices what she preaches growing soybeans and peas with her husband and two little girls on the family farm at Marquette, MB.
