1. AN INTRODUCTION TO GERRY LEIPERT
WHO I AM
My name is Gerry Leipert. I am a Saskatchewan, Canada, farm boy who in difficult financial times
managed toget a degree in Engineering Science- Physics from the University of Saskatchewan. The
lessons I learned growing up in hard work, responsibility and dedication, and working in community
have served me well and likely been just as important in the development of my career as my education.
Almost all of my career has been spent in either the oil and gas or the mining sector. By the time I had
reached my 30th
birthday I was Vice President of Engineering for the upstream oil and gas division of
Lavalin Inc., one of the largest engineering companies in Canada at the time. My leadership capabilities
and my ability to work well with others were key contributors to the rapid advancement in my career.
Since then I have held executive positions with several companies including Fluor, VECO and CH2M Hill.
Throughout my career I have been constantly looking for new challenges which has led me to take on a
number of different positions and responsibilities. I have led sales and marketing efforts in Canada and
internationally. I have been part of executive leadership teams managing engineering offices of 1000+
people. I have had the opportunity to live in a number of countries outside of Canada including
Australia, England, The Netherlands, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Abu Dhabi. This has allowed me to
appreciate other cultures and to learn how to successfully work in multi-cultural environments.
MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
My real love, however, has always been managing projects. Part of that is the challenge of meeting
whatever obstacles that might present themselves and still successfully delivering the project. An even
bigger part is the ‘magic’ of taking a group of people and building them into a team that often ends up
delivering far more than they ever thought they were capable of.
The first major project that I managed was a lump sum engineer-procure contract for a project in Russia,
one of the first Russian projects undertaken by Lavalin. While the project was extremely challenging
technically, the real excitement for me was not just delivering the project but delivering an extremely
profitable project when management expected that we would lose money.
When an opportunity presented itself to take on a Construction Manager role on a pipeline in Papua
New Guinea, thechallenge was too hard to turn down. The project proved to be even more challenging
than expected but two years later we delivered the project on time and under budget. It was
considered by Chevron to have been one of their most successful projects at that time.
Since then I have had a number of exciting opportunities. Fluor asked me to work with their European
offices to build a pipeline engineering capability and to get the company established in the Former
Soviet Union (FSU). Five years later they had one of the strongest pipeline engineering groups in
England and the majority of the work carried out in the UK office was in the FSU. I led 400+ person

2. engineering team designing a $2 billion oil pipeline system in a remote area of Russia, north of the Arctic
Circle. As Project DirectorI led a Project Management Team overseeing several EPC contractors on a $5
billion sour gas project in Abu Dhabi. Most recently I have taken on the task of assisting Avalon, a junior
mining company, to develop a $2 billion rare earth element project in the Canadian North.
I have been very fortunate to be able to be involved in the field construction as well as the home office
engineering and management side of project execution. I have also lived and worked in several
countries around the world allowing me both the opportunity to understand other cultures and how to
successfully work with multicultural teams.
Integral to this experience has been a growing understanding of the ‘soft’ issues that are so essential to
the development of successful project teams. Focusing on valuing people, focusing on work processes,
communication, and the accountabilities that are so critical to how teams functions has allowed me not
only to develop very effective teams but also to maintain those teams during periods where others were
experiencing significant challenges in attracting or retaining personnel.
K EY PASSIONS
There are several key passions that continue to drive me in the projects I undertake. The first is a
passion for people and project teams. I have never worked with a team where every team member did
not want to see the project be a success. The excitement is providing them with the tools, resources,
and leadership to allow them to perform and often to see them achieve more than they even though
possible.
I am passionate about safety, both in the execution of projects and in the operation of what is built. It is
exciting to see the recent applications of technology to safe work from things like proximity sensors to
the application of IoT monitoring to the remote control of mining equipment taking workers out of
harm’s way.
I am passionate about the protection of the environment. The development of ‘green’ energy together
with large scale power storage for application at remote sites can have huge impacts on the
environmental impact of developments as well as providing significant long-term cultural benefits.
Wind and solar power, geothermal, bio-mass, and run-of-river power all offer significant potential
benefits for remote applications.
NEW CHALLENGES
I believe this is an exciting time for the mining industry in particular. The recent down-turn in the mining
and minerals sector has prompted the industry to focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiencies.
The application of new technologies is providing great opportunities for ‘better and cheaper’
developments. New implementation strategies are also evolving designed to involve contractors and
suppliers earlier in the execution process to build on their strengths and the contributions they can bring
to the project. As the market turns around, it will be exciting to see the changes in the future mining
developments.

3. THE FUTURE
I believe that I am at a point in my career where my experience, knowledge and expertise can be
instrumental in developing execution strategies and building and leading effective teams needed for
successful project execution. I continue to look for challenging opportunities where I can truly
demonstrate the value that I can offer.