BEC President's Desk
These are very exciting times for BEC, as we launched our website for you to discover more about BEC and leverage our job board to grow your careers. I would like to thank our over sixty BEC volunteers who have worked tirelessly to improve the lives of every Black Engineers and Engineering graduates in Canada for the past two and a half years. Their work is enhancing the pathways to excellence for every BEC member.
In February I told our members and guests at our Annual General Meeting that BEC will execute the first year of the three-year strategic plan developed 2021.
Our strategic plan for the next few years are summarized below:
For our operations, we are:
Establishing good governance practices
Developing and maintaining high performance operations
Forming partnerships and establishing partnership agreements that align with the partnership policy
Conducting yearly performance reviews, and establish succession planning process
Building both short- and long-term financial strategy.
For our community, we are:
Creating programs for Black engineering graduates and engineers , such as entrepreneurship incubation, coaching and mentorship, etc.,
Creating a talent pool for industry employers
Recognizing Black engineering graduates and engineers for their accomplishments,
Forming scholarships through partnerships
In 2022 we selected a few priorities we could tackle such as developing strong governance, creating a talent pool and creating and executing programs that have proven to help our members get jobs and get promotions.
I would like to report that in 2022, we have continued to develop our governance policies. In Programs, we have delivered five speed mentoring sessions that have successfully matched 26 mentors to 87 mentees with a large report of members getting jobs and getting promoted. We have delivered three Masterclass series that have improved our members knowledge on how to tackle the licensure process and two Masterclass series for Proactive job search that helped our members get better jobs and engineering jobs. Today we are creating the platform for the talent pool. Our focus for the next couple of months is to ensure that every Black Canadian Engineer or Engineering graduate is visible in our talent pool. Our partnership team has worked very hard to line up many potential talent partners interested in our talent pool. We would continue to execute our impactful mentoring and masterclass programs. We are also gathering data to understand the needs of our members who are interested in being entrepreneurs and how our partners can support them to succeed.
I am asking that you continue to promote BEC to your colleagues and others in your network so that we may succeed together.
Thank you.
Engineers Canada accepting award nominations
Each year, Engineers Canada recognizes engineers and engineering students for their exceptional work in the engineering community through their awards program. The various categories highlight important contributions in engineering,
engineering education, community involvement, the advancement of women in engineering and significant accomplishments in engineering. Nominations for the 2023 Engineers Canada Awards program are now open until January 13, 2023.
For more information visit:
engineerscanada.ca/awards.
Join PEO Council
Are you passionate about engineering? Do you value PEO’s role of protecting the public interest?
Here’s your opportunity to join PEO Council and help shape the regulator’s future as it undergoes its most significant transformation since its creation in 1922.
PEO is seeking professional engineer candidates for the 2023 Council elections that reflect the diversity of its licence holders and who can provide a balanced perspective and problem-solving attitude to all discussions, are knowledgeable about board governance and understand the principles behind professional self-regulation.
If you’ve never thought of running for Council before, consider the impact you can make by:
Bringing your engineering, work and life experiences and leadership to bear on the policy decisions Council makes to continuously improve regulation of the practice of engineering; and
Influencing PEO during one of the most critical times in its 100-year history through an enterprise transformation encompassing enhanced governance, and operational and organizational change.
Generally, Council meets at least four times a year, although additional meetings/workshops are
scheduled as necessary. As a member of Council, you will also:
Develop and drive PEO’s strategic direction;
Approve PEO’s budget;
Provide direction on regulatory priorities; and
Ensure the responsible use of resources to effectively regulate the practice of engineering.
Application Timeline -
Nominations for the 2023 PEO Council elections open on October 17,2022 and close on November 25, 2022. Voting for the 2022 Council elections opens on January 13, 2023 and closes on February 17, 2023
Interested Applicants
If you have the time, knowledge, skills and desire to serve your profession at the highest level, we invite you to help build a stronger PEO by seeking a position on Council.
To learn more, please contact Ralph Martin, Manager, Secretariat, at rmartin@peo.on.ca
Additional information on PEO and the Council elections is also available at www.peo.on.ca.
People Spotlight - Introducing BEC Membership Manager
Ijeoma Omodu, P.Eng., M.Eng., MBA.
Ijeoma holds a bachelor's (Mechanical) and masters (Environmental) Engineering degrees from Nigeria and an executive MBA from University of Alberta. Ijeoma also hold several industrial and Leadership recognitions and certifications.
An experienced international energy professional, with entire value chain experiences (Exploration, Production, Regulatory, Refining and Transportation), working in the industry in Nigeria, Europe, North America and in multiple positions including Consulting, Engineering, Pipelines, Operations, Projects, Strategy formulation & implementation, Business leadership and Management of Change.
In Canada working for Enbridge Pipelines and Shell Canada Limited, both Federally regulated, Ijeoma have executed projects from Coast to Coast to Coast including Canadian North, working in communities large and small.
Ijeoma is passionate about sustainable energy utilization, the interacting dynamics of energy systems with policies/politics and the corresponding corporate and operational strategy alignment work needed to make them executional, valuable & sustainable. Ijeoma is also a wife and mother of 5 including two engineers, passionate about human development, working
through entropy and continuously diversifying her culinary skill sets.