James Dykes is an Architect with PWGSC. He graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1970 and completed a one year post graduate fellowship program at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan in 1973-74. James practiced in the private sector for over twenty years, in both Toronto and Calgary where he had responsibility for numerous major health care and research projects, including York Central Hospital in Richmond Ontario, the Alberta Research Council Headquarters in Edmonton, the Grand Prairie Regional Hospital and the Brain Injury Unit in Ponoka, Alberta. He spent the next 10 years with the University of Alberta, as Director of Planning and Development, where had overall responsibility for the design and development of the Timms Centre for the Arts, the Telus Centre and the Kurimoto Japanese Gardens. He was also responsible for initiating a major expansion program for Medical and Engineering Research Facilities on campus. Following early retirement from the University, he joined PWGSC, Western Region, in 2000, first as the Regional Manager of Architecture & Engineering Services and now as the National Advisor for the Laboratories Business Segment.

Over the course of his career, James has served on numerous volunteer boards, including six years as Vice-President on Council for the Alberta Association of Architects. He has also guest lectured at several Universities and Colleges and was an Assistant Adjunct Professor with the University of Calgary for twelve years. He regularly delivers conference presentations on laboratory design and provides front-end planning and advisory services to many federal custodians of laboratory facilities. He has been associated with the Labs21 program since 2001 and continues to participate on the international advisory panel.

Daniel Godbout joined the Canadian Forces in August 1975 at College Militaire Royal de St-Jean. After graduating from Royal Military College Kingston with a bachelor of Chemical Engineering in 1980, he completed training at Chilliwack B.C. as a Military Engineer.

Dan served at several locations in Canada (Chilliwack, Halifax, Valcartier, Ottawa, Chilliwack, Kingston, Montreal, Valcartier, Kingston, Toronto and finally Ottawa). both as a combat engineer and as a construction engineer with a short stay in Scientific Intelligence (Chemical Warfare and Combat Engineer Equipment). Of note, Daniel was Troop commander, squadron commander and adjudant at 5e Régiment du Génie de combat, Instructor at the School of Military Engineers in Chilliwack, Executive Assistant to the Base Commander in Kingston, Base Engineer in Valcartier, G3 NBC for the Army and Area Engineer for the Army in Ontario (LFCA). He is a graduate of Land Staff College in Kingston and of the Command and Staff Course at Canadian Forces College in Toronto and is qualified advanced NBC Officer.

By 2001, Dan and his family had 19 addresses in 21 years, and after a posting as Army Team Leader for major construction projects, he decided it was time for a change of venue and add stability for his family (at that time with 3 teenagers at home). After retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel, Dan joined the public service as a senior project manager in environmental engineering and UXO Clearance in 2002. In 2006, Dan decided to rejoin management and was appointed Director Environmental Engineering Management. In 2009, Dan was asked to undertake the position of Director Real Property Management and was Acting Director General Real Property from October 2010 to July 2011.

In August/September 2011, Dan met with several members of DND’s senior management team to discuss future employment opportunities within DND. This effort led to a new assignment as Project Leader for the NDHQ Transformation effort and subsequent move to the Carling Campus.

Dan and his wife Theresa are proud parents of three adult children residing in the Ottawa area. Dan has always been involved in the community as a hockey coach, a representative within the education system and as a board director for several organisations/associations. Dan enjoys sports, mainly sailing, skiing and finds time for a few rounds of golf here and there. Note that they now have had 19 addresses in now 31 years marriage; the average year/addresses is getting better...

In November 2010, Daniel Leclair was appointed Director General, Real Property Management, Safety and Security, with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). Before joining DFO, he was Director General, Policy, Planning and Programs, for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, where he coordinated the implementation of that new agency. Previous positions included Executive Director, Pensions and Benefits, with the Treasury Board Secretariat, and Director, Strategies and Planning, for the Office of Greening Government Operations when it was created within the Department of Public Works and Government Services.

Mr. Leclair has also held the position of Director, Land Environment, Land Force Command. His key duties included advising the Chief of Land Staff on all matters relating to environmental management and managing the national Canadian army environmental program in collaboration with his team members.

He has worked for private companies, the Quebec Ministry of the Environment and the Department of the Environment of Canada, and he has managed countless major and delicate environmental projects at all levels.

Mr. Leclair has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a master’s degree in the environment from the Université de Sherbrooke, a certificate in eco-industrial toxicology from the Université de Montréal, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) for working professionals from the University of Ottawa. He has also completed the 18 month Leadership program for executives in the federal public service. In addition, he was selected to participate in the 2008 Governor General’s Leadership Conference, and he was a member of Cohort 5 of the public service’s Accelerated Executive Development Program.

Despite his busy schedule, he is an avid outdoor sports enthusiast.

Sebastien Yelle started working for Public Works and Government Services Canada 11 years ago and has worked mainly on the contaminated sites and the sustainable development files since. He is currently manager in the Sustainable development team in the Real Property group. He is also the Quebec region contaminated sites coordinator for his department and he has worked on a number of site assessment and remediation projects with several federal departments. In the past years, he has also been working on national projects such as the development of project management tools, training sessions and workshops with the participation of federal custodians and the industry. He as been, most recently, involved in the development of decision supporting tools to facilitate the use of treatment technologies (GOST) and the integration of sustainable practices in the contaminated sites field.

Michael is NRCan's Real Property Policy and Information Manager. His primary responsibilities include providing the department with policy advice and managing the department's real property information systems. He has worked in federal real property for ten years and has held a number of positions including Real Property Policy Analyst at the Treasury Board Secretariat and Chief of Portfolio Management at Natural Resources Canada.

Recent projects have included: implementing an information system that allows NRCan to calculate the Facility Condition Index (FCI), an industry standard used to communicate physical condition, for its real property assets; implementing the federal government's first "green" parking policy instrument; and drafting a departmental Real Property policy instrument management framework.

Michael has a Master’s degree from the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Queen’s University and his background is in urban planning, real estate and policy.

Outside of work, Michael is a husband, a proud father, actively involved in fundraising for local charities, a board game enthusiast with over 100 titles in his collection, a cycle-commuter, in the very long process of learning to play the acoustic guitar.

Ted Dobbie graduated from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (Ryerson University) with Diploma in Civil Engineering Technology, Structural, continued his education to receive an advanced diploma in Project Management from the Royal Military College of Science, UK, and finally topped off his education with Badm from the University of Ottawa.

Ted is currently with Defence Construction Canada (DCC - a Crown corporation) as the National Service Line Leader for Project and Program Support. In this role Ted is responsible for the hiring standards, the implementation of the project and program operations manual, and the quality system that is embedded in the manual. He has responsibility for approximately 110 staff from shore to shore. Ted has been directly involved with the re-development of the Departmental of National Defence’s Infrastructure and Environment project approvals process and the development of the largest Public Private Partnership (Triple P) in Canada for the DND Communications Security Establishment.

Prior to joining DCC, Ted was a senior PM and director for project management for AMEC, and a senior PM for CGI where he was involved with IT, infrastructure and aerospace projects. He also served with the United Nations Headquarters, New York as the Officer in Charge of Logistics Operations for the Department of Peacekeeping, while on loan from the Canadian Forces.

Ted served as a Military Engineer Officer in the Forces for 27 years before retiring. He saw service in Cyprus, Former Yugoslavia, BC, Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba, England and Germany.

Ted is married and has two adult daughters. His hobby with his wife is road racing his 1989 Camaro in the Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada road racing series.

As the President and CEO of MHPM Project Managers Inc., Franklin Holtforster directs the operations of the company and provides project leadership in major project assignments.

He founded MHPM Project Managers Inc. in 1989 in Ottawa. Since then, Franklin has grown the company with over 210 employees from coast-to-coast and is now unrivalled as a trusted and objective leader of facility projects.

Franklin has gained broad experience in the construction industry as a project manager, consulting engineer and contractor, which together have fostered a keen awareness of the opportunity to identify and lead sustainable, cost-effective and technically sound construction solutions. His experience in the delivery of facilities projects includes a wide range of projects for both private and public sector clients in Canada and abroad.

The company is configured to provide scaleable service capability to clients requiring support on unique individual assignments or across a dispersed facility portfolio. Franklin continues to satisfy his original objective: to provide clients with the knowledgeable representation required to obtain value on their facilities projects.

Franklin regularly speaks on project management and sustainability. He created and MHPM has since trademarked the concept of Sustainability is FreeTM™, which he delivers via presentation to a variety of audiences.