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AIAC, CCAA to host new conference on building aviation workforce

Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace have joined forces to host a new conference program to focus on building a skilled workforce for the country’s aerospace and aviation sectors. The virtual two-day conference, called Embracing Uncertainty: Building the Skilled Workforce of Tomorrow, is set to take place from Feb. 16 to 17, entirely online, with early bird pricing available until the end of this week.

Leaders from the two associations, AIAC and CCAA, will be joined by more than a dozen speakers from different sectors of the industry to look at a range of challenges and opportunities since the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated skilled-labour shortages in Canadian aviation.

The conference program begins at 11:00 am EST on Feb 16, with the following speakers already confirmed. More information about their sessions and the event can be found here.

• Mike Mueller, President & CEO Aerospace Industries Association of Canada;
• Robert Donald, Executive Director, Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace;
• Dr H.J. Kowal, CD, rmc, BEng, MSAe, MA(SS), MDS, PhD, PEng, BGen (Ret’d), Royal Military College of Canada;
• Christina Wilen, National Expert at the Directorate General for Defence & Aerospace Industry and Space Programs (DG DEFIS) at the European Commission;
• Christian Lévesque, Professor, Department of Human Resources Management, HEC Montreal;
• Cassandra Bowkett, Post-doctoral researcher at HEC Montréal and lecturer at the University of Manchester;
• Flavio Volpe, President, Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA);
• Rahul Gangal, Americas Head of Aerospace and Defense, Roland Berger;
• Beatrice Perier Agostini, Director, Next Generation and Workforce, Aéro Montréal;
• Victoria Belbin, Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic Canada Aerospace & Defence Association (ACADA);
• Moira Harvey, Executive Director, Ontario Aerospace Council (OAC);
• Wendell Weibe, Chief Executive Officer, Manitoba Aerospace;
• Brenda Baker, Director of Operations, AAR Airframe Maintenance – Windsor;
• Scott Cadwell, Operations Supervisor, Cascade Aerospace Inc.; and
• Andy Nureddin, Fleet Leader 7500, Bombardier Aviation.