Manager, Environment and Technical

January 2024

CONFIDENTIAL POSITION SPECIFICATION

Position Manager : Environment and Technical

Company : Alberta Pacific Forest Industries Inc.

Location : Boyle, AB

Reporting Relationship : Director, Maintenance, Engineering and Technical

Website : https://alpac.ca/

Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. produces paper pulp, bio-methanol, and renewable energy and is North America’s newest and largest single-line kraft pulp mill. The mill directly employs 400 people and supports more than 1,000 indirect jobs throughout Alberta. At 5.9 million hectares in land base, Al-Pac manages the largest contiguous 3rd party certified forest in the world, under Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification (FSC C022642).

Each year, Al-Pac produces around 620,000 air dried metric tonnes of kraft pulp. This product is shipped to consumers around the world and used in many applications, including personal care products (tissues, diapers, etc.), packaging, and specialty products (countertops, dashboards, leatherettes, and other decorative laminates). Al-Pac’s approach to renewable energy is key to helping the mill grow beyond the traditional pulp market. Through research, innovation and investment Al-Pac relentlessly pursues several emerging clean energy initiatives. The renewable energy sources come from forest biomass, where bark and other organic residue are combusted to create enough steam to drive three large turbines – these turbines generate up to 98 megawatts of electricity. This is enough energy to self-sustain the energy needs at the Mill site and any surplus power contributes to the Alberta electrical grid, enough to power, on average, fifteen thousand households each year.

Hokuetsu Corporation purchased Al-Pac in 2015 and the owners contemplate an aggressive growth strategy through diversification and investment. The new frontier requires a need to balance traditional, conservative "sunset" forest products culture with more entrepreneurial "growth" oriented leadership experience.

Alberta Pacific operates within a Forest Management Agreement (FMA) area to sustainably harvest deciduous and coniferous trees. An FMA is an area-based tenure agreement between a forest company and the Government of Alberta that gives a forestry company the right to establish, grow and harvest timber. The FMA provides Al-Pac with a secure fibre supply.

This agreement is reviewed and negotiated every 20 years, or earlier at the company’s request. In return, Alberta Pacific assumes primary responsibility and accountability for forest management planning and public consultation and seeks to maintain healthy forest ecosystems on the FMA. The company is responsible for managing the timber resource to provide a sustainable supply of wood, while considering wood consumed by other forest companies, the energy (oil and gas) industry and natural disturbances, such as forest fires.

Alberta-Pacific produces renewable energy from forest biomass to power its mill-site and sell any surplus to the Alberta power grid. In October 2009, the company received funding from the Government of Canada’s Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program. The program was designed to make investments that improve energy efficiency and the environmental performance of their facilities. Alberta-Pacific qualified for $62.8 million in funding based on the amount of a liquid by-product the company produces that is used to generate renewable energy.

Since this time Alberta-Pacific has constructed and commissioned a 30 km transmission line, installed a power substation on the mill-site to control and regulate power coming in and out of the mill and installed a condensing steam turbine and generator to produce additional power.

Al-Pac’s mill site is located in northeast Alberta, approximately 200 kilometers north of Edmonton. Most of the team members live in the nearby communities of Lac La Biche, Boyle, Plamondon and Athabasca, all of which are within easy driving distance of the mill. The region offers a wonderful lifestyle and an enriching environment for families, education, organized sports, arts, outdoor recreation, and community spirit. In addition, Al-Pac manages an office of approximately 20 team members focused in the areas of Finance, Business Development, Sales & Logistics, Information Technology and Compliance in downtown St Albert. This role offers a compressed work week, working four ten-hour days per week (Monday to Thursday) and will be based out of the mill site in Boyle, Alberta.

Al-Pac is seeking a Manager, Environment and Technical, to work out of our mill site in Athabasca. The successful candidate will be responsible for three teams that work together to ensure our environmental, quality, and customer compliance.

The Environment Team ensures compliance by monitoring the mills performance to parameters under our provincial operating approval for air, water, soil, recycling and landfill. The team provides input to all mill and corporate projects to maintain our environmental compliance, supports our CSR work and continues to manage our ISO 14001 program.

The Process Team provides engineering and technical support for all pulp mill operating areas. This includes process analysis for optimization, input to projects, and support for the customer service and the environment team.

The Quality Assurance/ Lab Team provides technical knowledge to resolve customer concerns, manages our ISO 9000 program, and provides lab data analysis for pulp quality, environmental monitoring and process optimization.

This opportunity is best positioned for a seasoned professional who brings a track record of working in a similar environment and is qualified in a relevant discipline, including chemical or environmental engineering, or physics, biology or chemical sciences.

Alberta Pacific is looking for a tenured leader who is persuasive, influential, energetic, communicative, and passionate who can operate in an agile fast paced environment. The ideal candidate will have expertise in people management, leading change, promoting engagement in teams and fostering accountability. They will also focus on succession management and supporting staff development and advancement within Al-Pac.

Based in the mill site, reporting to the Director, Maintenance, Engineering and Technical, the Environment and Technical Manager will have overall responsibility for:

▪ Oversight for 10 – 20 team members, including scheduling and performance management.

▪ Ensuring appropriate input is provides to all initiatives from an environmental, process safety, and customer quality perspective.

▪ Overseeing systems and procedures and maintaining appropriate files to ensure compliance to:

a. Environmental Operating Permit

b. APEGA permit to practice as it relates to process engineering

c. ISO 9001 Quality System

d. ISO 14001 Environment Management System

▪ Constantly seeking opportunities for continuous improvement within the facility.

▪ Recommending and prioritizing lists of initiative or projects which need to be addressed to meet changing regulatory conditions or to ensure the continued compliance of the facility.

▪ Supervising the air quality, water quality, solid waste and hazardous waste programs to include the surveillance, storage, disposal and record-keeping programs.

▪ Support the mill in implementing continuous improvements that support our objective to improve and grow the operation.

▪ Responding appropriately to citizen and regulatory agency concerns.

▪ Monitoring for instances of environmental concern in mill activities (e.g. excessive noise, contractor activities and unusual discharges) and arranging for corrective action.

▪ Proven safety conscious individual with the ability to develop and promote safety awareness throughout Alberta Pacific.

▪ Ten + years’ progressive experience working in a similar environment.

▪ Three + years experience in a leadership capacity.

▪ Strong Preference for Technical Diploma or Degree in Environmental or Chemical Engineering, Physical or Biological Science disciplines; Equivalencies may be considered. Professional Engineer capable of APEGA registration is an asset.

▪ Demonstrated ability to lead teams in a timely and cost-effective manner with focus on attaining goals.

▪ Proven at making significant and sustaining changes through behaviors and coaching.

▪ Basic understanding of pulp and paper processes, preference will be given to direct experience of the industry.

▪ Strong skills in planning, organization, scheduling and safety.

▪ Experience in cold weather operations.

Within the first 12 months in the role, the Environment & Technical Manager will have:

▪ Create strong relationships with the Al-Pac leadership team and operational leaders.

▪ Gained the trust and engagement with peer leaders to positively align the company with required environmental and technical measures.

▪ Successfully demonstrated engagement and leadership within their own team.

▪ Introduced incremental continuous improvement.

Reports to:

▪ Director, Maintenance, Engineering and Technical

Key Stakeholders:

▪ Director, Production

Peer Business Unit Managers:

▪ Chemical Recovery and Utilities

▪ Fiber Line

▪ Pulp Finishing

▪ Maintenance Services

▪ Reliability Services

▪ Health, Safety, & Security

▪ Woodlands

▪ Decision Quality – Making good and timely decisions that keep the organization moving forward.

▪ Ensures Accountability – Holding self and others accountable to meet commitments.

▪ Drives Results – Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.

▪ Optimizes Work Processes – Knows the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, with a focus on continuous improvement.

▪ Builds Effective Teams – Builds strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.

▪ Develops Talent – Developing people to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals.

▪ Collaborates – Builds partnerships and works collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.

▪ Nimble Learning – Actively learns through experimentation when tackling new problems, using both successes and failures as learning fodder.

▪ Instils Trust – Gaining the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity.

▪ A competitive annual salary including a company-paid pension at 7% and matching RRSP up to 3%.

▪ Company-paid dental and extended health benefits, including a health care and taxable spending account and supplemental life insurance.

▪ A compressed work schedule (Monday – Thursday, 7.00am to 5.00pm).

▪ Four weeks annual vacation to start, increasing with years of service.

▪ Relocation assistance program, depending on eligibility.

▪ A team-based culture that encourages work-life balance.

Sector Leader, Industrial

Direct: 778-903-1249

simon.mcdonald@kornferry.com

Senior Associate, Industrial

Direct: 778-302-9997

swathi.rajan@kornferry.com