Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, February 22, 2024

Vice-President Olaf chaired the meeting. 

Honorary Rotarian Don (Blackie) Thistle passed away on February 7^th at the age of 97. Condolences from the Rotary Club of Corner Brook go to his family at this time of sadness.  Cremation has taken place and a memorial in memory of Don will be held later.

There was winner this week in the Toonie Quest West draw.

The Rotary team of Elaine, Neil, Linda, Verbon, and Kathleen was the winning team after playing against teams from CNA and Kinsmen. It was a great evening with lots of laughter and fun. Thanks go to Jackie and Lorraine who looked after questions and score keeping. Lenny Benoit was the emcee and he helped to make this such an enjoyable Winter Carnival event.

Program-chair Verbon introduced his guest Judy Jennings, mother of the guest speaker Adam Anderson before introducing the speaker, Adam. 

 Adam is President and CEO of Resource Innovations Ltd, a forestry consulting firm which has been doing work across Canada and beyond for many years. About 14 years ago, the club sent him – as a young professional – to Australia on a Group Study Exchange. He talked to Rotary about his entrepreneurial journey over the ensuing years. 

Adam began by noting that he has always been an entrepreneur at heart. He said that applying for the Group Study Exchange program was a very competitive experience and being selected was an honour. 

He continued by reflecting on his entrepreneurial experiences both good and bad. He started in 2007 by forming a company, Anderson Gates. Even with a few years of forestry experience he could see that changes were needed in the industry and realized that it was up to himself to help make the changes.  In 2010 he became the sole owner of the company resulting in being able to make decisions quickly, use technology in forestry management, learn from mistakes and to swivel in his approaches to problems if needed.  His aims are to make changes happen by being committed to do the best work and exceed expectations. 

 Adam is a professional forester with no formal business training who began by working with projects in Newfoundland and as his network grew his projects spread across the country and further afield. By 2015 he had a good team and a good reputation, and he began to look at other opportunities. 

 Over time he has come to realize that to be effective an entrepreneur needs to prioritize his time. This he has done so that today his Resource Consulting firm works with bigger industry players.   His work focus is on consulting resulting with projects in BC, long term contracts across Canada and several management contracts. In Newfoundland he would like to bring the industry together and really link forestry and technology.

He noted the impact of climate change on forestry particularly in the far north. The state of Canadian forests is changing, and each province needs long term agreements to deal with this change for the sustainability and management of its forests. 

Adam concluded by saying that he began by wanting to make changes to forestry management particularly in Newfoundland where bigger changes need to be made.   He hopes to see in the near future single forest management of Newfoundland forests. As an entrepreneur Adam has always had a vision which through hard work and by creating opportunities to make things happen, he has been able to improve the management and sustainability of forests in Canada,

Adam answered several questions before being thanked by Paula on behalf of the club.