Guest: NJ Ayuk (chair of an energy advocacy group)
NJ Ayuk believes he has a “dream job” – he gets to talk with everyone from climate activists to energy industry professionals every day. Based in South Africa, he gets to visit most countries in Africa, and sometimes to Asia, North America, and Europe. He works 10-15 hours per day but to him, this isn’t just a job – it’s a calling.
As the co-founder and CEO of Tru Earth, Brad Liski has to make sure the entire operation runs smoothly. This can mean putting together a leadership team that knows how to run everything even better than he can – and putting trust in them. This is a far cry from where finance and stockbroking, which was his original field of interest. Oddly enough, Brad thinks it was him being a bad employee and wanting to set his own destiny which drew him to become an entrepreneur, leading him to co-found Tru Earth, which makes eco-friendly laundry products.
Kim Haakstad’s job takes her all over the place. As CEO of the BC Council of Forest Industries, she represents the interests of British Columbia’s forestry product providers. Every day is different, especially with the timing of issues like US tariffs – all her life, people have depended on her to solve hard problems, which made her ideal for the role.
Society wants monopolies for certain things – mostly our utilities, such as power, natural gas, and so on. Mark Jaccard’s job is to lead a team that keeps those monopolies in check, as the CEO of the British Columbia Utilities Commission. In addition, he is a professor at Simon Fraser University in the environmental field. It’s a busy life but it was a long time coming, as someone who wanted to work in the economics part in the energy industry.
What kinds of legal issues does your business face? For Radha Curpen, a partner at McMillan LLP, this is what she tries to figure out for businesses all over North America. Her career in law was different from most, as it was in the French language in Manitoba and New Brunswick. Along the way, mentors helped her and gave her opportunities through cases that are in both English and French, which paved the way to practice law in more places and fields.
