Bill Tuer: Bill is a lawyer and strategic consultant. In his current role as a lawyer, Bill focuses his practice in the area of commercial transactions and financing. After almost 35 years Bill retired from Norton Rose Fulbright (successor to Macleod Dixon) in 2015 to continue his practice independently. During his time at the firm Bill served both domestic and international clients in relation to transactions and commercial work around the world. In his final 12 years at Macleod Dixon Bill served as the firm’s global Managing Partner, responsible for offices in Calgary, Toronto, Moscow, Caracas, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro and Almaty, Kazakhstan. As Managing Partner, Bill led Macleod Dixon’s initiative to merge with Norton Rose becoming part of one of the world’s leading law firms with over 4000 lawyers and revenues of approximately $2 billion annually. Following the merger Bill served on the firm’s global executive committee for two years. In his current role as a strategic consultant Bill now advises professional service firms, including law firms, in connection with growth strategies, strategic positioning and organizational matters.

Mr. Darren Walkey: He has 10 years of experience working in agriculture value add in the areas of crop processing, product development and business development. He is currently a Provincial Agribusiness Specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture with a focus on crop processing and product development. He is responsible for helping companies to grow and develop through the removal of barriers, accessing funding, expertise and innovation, and developing network connections. Prior to joining the Ministry in 2018 he was the Business Director for the University of Alberta’s Crop Protein and Cellulose Program, where he bridged the gap between industry and academia. In this role he was responsible for building, maintaining and developing industry partnerships and networks that could facilitate the utilization of the program’s innovations and bring industry projects and investment into the program. His diverse background also includes two BA’s from the University of Calgary, and MSc in research valuation and project decision making from the University of Alberta.