An active member of the community, Mr. Hopfner enjoyed a distinguished banking career, having joined the Bank of Montreal in 1969 after graduating from the University of Manitoba. He worked with the Bank of Montreal throughout Manitoba and Saskatchewan and held executive positions with the Bank in Alberta and Ontario. He is also a graduate of the Banff School of Management.

Since retiring in January 2005, as Vice President Bank of Montreal Calgary, Chris has remained active in consulting while serving on various corporate and non-profit sector Boards. He has maintained his involvement with a variety of organizations in Calgary including the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, as a Director of the Calgary Convention Centre Authority and serves on the Board of Governors of Bow Valley College.

Wayne Chiu is the Founder, President & C.E.O. of Trico Developments Corporation and Trico Homes Inc., established in 1989 and 1993 respectively. Wayne graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from the University of Manitoba and is a qualified master builder. Mr. Chiu’s insightful and dynamic leadership has fostered industry leading growth and the more recent establishment of the TricoFreedom (resort and recreational development) and TricoUrban (inner city and in-fill) subsidiaries to broaden the scope of Trico’s operations.

Mr. Chiu’s corporate and entrepreneurial acumen is balanced by his desire to support and enrich the communities in which he builds. As a father of three, Wayne and his wife and business partner Eleanor are major supporters of the Kids Cancer Care Foundation and have supported such diverse organizations as the Calgary Chinese Community Services Association, UNICEF Canada, Asian Heritage Month, Immigrant Services Calgary, Bow Valley College, Leighton Art Centre and GlobalFest. Wayne has been recognized as an “Immigrant of Distinction” by Immigrant Services Calgary and was awarded the “Generosity of Spirit Award” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals for his philanthropic work within the community. Trico Homes has also been honoured as one of “Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies” (2005-2008) and as one of the “Best Workplaces in Canada” (2006-2008), along with more recent recognition from the Better Business Bureau of Southern Alberta (2006 Ethics Award), Volunteer Calgary (2007 Leaders in Business) and the City of Calgary (2008 Citizenship Award for Commerce). Wayne has chaired and held directorships in numerous business and community organizations, and currently serves on the Boards of Bow Valley College, West Island College and Calgary based Bio-Tech firm, ResverLogix, while maintaining an active role in many other community and entrepreneurial ventures.

Al Trellis has 25 years of experience as a custom home builder and is a highly acclaimed consultant in the home building industry. He is a co-founder of Home Builders Network, which provides management consulting, marketing, residential design, and land planning for home builders throughout the United States and Canada. Collectively, HBN’s clients build 3,000 homes per year with a sales value of $1.2 billion. Six of their clients have been awarded the prestigious “America’s Best Builder” award through the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

Working with Design Basics, the leading home plan service for builders, HBN created the Neighborhood in a Box series of house plans. Al is a noted author of numerous books on residential construction, including his most recent book “Building with an Attitude”. He has served as chairman of the NAHB Custom Builder, Education, and Business Management committees. As chairman of the Custom Builder Committee, he helped create the Custom Builder Symposium, and chaired the symposium for its first five years.

A frequent speaker at national and local seminars and workshops, Al has been consistently rated as one of the country’s leading speakers at the NAHB National Convention. Al has been actively involved with strategic and operational planning at Trico since 2003, and maintains a significant role in the growth of the company.

Mr. Ross has been a partner of Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP since 2002 and prior thereto, was a partner with McCarthy Tetrault LLP. He practises extensively in the taxation area and is a specialist in cross border financing, partnerships and trusts, M&A, corporate reorganizations and structured finance while he has been widely published in scholarly journals. David has a B.A. and an LL.B. from the University of Alberta and a Diploma in Law from the University of Oxford (New College).

Mr. Ross’ affiliations include involvement with the Rosslynn Charitable Foundation, Alberta Law Society, Canadian Bar Association, Canadian Tax Foundation, Canadian Petroleum Tax Society, Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners and the Tuesday Tax Group, while he has also acted as corporate secretary for public companies. David is a speaker and contributor to various national and international associations and corporations with respect to tax related matters.

Mr. Ross is married with 4 children and is an active member of the local business and charitable community.