Executive

Antonio Alves, Director

Antonio Alves is a multinational project manager with 20 years of experience in control and automation systems, including coordination of equipment design, monitoring project costs and schedules, integration, on-site startup, and customer relations for customers in Canada, USA, and Latin America.

He holds a bachelors degree in electrical engineering and a bachelors degree in business administration and is presently concluding a master’s degree in Automated Production Engineering at ETS (École de technologie supérieure) where he has also lectured in the Electrical Engineering and Automated Production Engineering programs.

He has worked for leading Canadian companies including CAE and SIDEL and is presently a member of the displays group of CMC Electronics (formerly Marconi).

Diana Bouchard, Director

Holder of a M.Sc. (Computer Science) degree from McGill and an ISA member since 1979, Diana worked at the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (Paprican), for 26 years as a scientist in their Process Control group. She was active in process modeling and simulation, expert systems and statistical data analysis. She now offers scientific and technical writing, editing and translation services.

After serving as President of the Montreal Section (1994-95), Diana spent 10 years in various positions at the international Society level, including District 13 Vice President, Publications Vice President and Chair of the Board of Department Vice Presidents. She has also been Program Chair and Membership Chair of the Montreal Section and occupies the latter position now. She also wrote a computer column for the NewsMeter (section magazine) for 15 years and contributed the chapter on Computer Technology to the ISA textbook, Fundamentals of Industrial Control. She is now also editor of the NewsMeter.

James Bouchard, Treasurer

James works in the Johnson & Johnson plant in Montreal where he has been engaged in project engineering, machine control and facilities management for over 30 years. He is actively involved in corporate projects to economize on water and energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He has an MBA from McGill University and a B.Sc. in physics from Sir George Williams (now Concordia).

James has been an ISA member since 1978 and served as Montreal Section Treasurer for several years in the late 1980's and early 1990's. He served as Section President in 1995-96, then became active in the ISA Publications Department and eventually became the first Vice President of the new Web Activities Department in 2003. He continues to be a member of ISA's Engineering and Science Policy Committee. He wrote the chapter on Programmable Controllers for the ISA textbook, Fundamentals of Industrial Control.

Patrick Bouwman, Director

Patrick graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering in 1976. He is Coordinator of the Department of Industrial Electronics at Vanier College, Montreal. As a member of the Department he has written numerous instructional manuals including ones in Electronics, Signal Processing, Automation, Process Control, PLC Programming, and Robotics. He has over 22 years of industrial experience in the design of military electronics and biomedical instrumentation; including more than ten years of operating his own company specializing in research, design and development of data acquisition and signal processing systems for medical applications. In addition he has provided design and consulting services to the process control and automation industry and participated in research conducted at McGill University by custom-designing equipment for medical applications.

Jason Duhème, Director

Jason Duhème is the second new member of our Montreal Section Board this year (the first was André Michel who was introduced to you in the July issue).

Jason graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, specializing in Control Systems, from Concordia University in 1992. Earlier, he completed his degree in electrotechnology from Vanier College, specializing in Instrumentation and Process Control. For the last 12 years, he has been working for Air Liquide Canada specializing in Instrumentation and Control. His interest has always centered on instrumentation and automation, which he has expressed by working for such companies as ISI Controls, Raycon Controls, and Laurentide Controls. He has also taught courses in instrumentation and automation at Vanier College in the Department of Industrial Electronics.

Guy Gauthier, Director

Guy holds two bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering (energy transport – Université Laval) and in automated production (ETS), as well as a master’s in electrical engineering, with a concentration in automation, from École Polytechnique.  He has taught since 1993 in the Department of Automated Production Engineering at ETS and has been a professor there since 2000.  In 2008, he completed a doctoral degree, with a thesis on Iterative Learning Control Applied to Thermal Forming, at McGill University.  His fields of expertise include various aspects of automation (programmable controllers, GRAFCET, sensors, actuators) as well as process control.  In 1988, he received the silver medal of the Governor General of Canada in recognition of the academic standing he attained during his bachelor’s studies at ETS.

Smaïn Médar, President

Smain Medar, now President of the ISA Montreal Section, is an engineer with Imalog Inc., a Montreal-based company offering Ozone and ultraviolet automation solutions to water and waste-water treatment plants. He taught as a Professor in two Engineering schools in France. He holds a Ph.D. in Automatic Systems from the Institut National Polytechnique in Toulouse and a Master’s in Automatic Control and Industrial Computing from Paul Sabatier University. His research on Fault-Tolerant Control has been published in a number of academic journals and presented at international conferences. He also worked for several years in the field of automation, electrical, and HVAC product distribution, covering particularly the industrial sector. He was a member of the board of the ISA Montreal Section and its president-elect in 2007–2008. He is also a member of the Quebec Order of Engineers and the IEEE.

André Michel, Director

André Michel graduated from Laval University in Electrical Engineering in 1984. He was an ISA Member in the eighties but was inactive because he was working overseas. He reconnected with ISA in 2001 and started to become more involved in the organization in 2007 when he got involved in the organization of ISA Expo in Houston. Once again, this year he is involved in the Process Automation Track. After several years in the United States, he recently returned to Montreal and founded the Canadian branch of Brillig Systems. His record of accomplishment includes several multi-million-dollar automation projects for Fortune 500 companies around the world. He is also a member of several other organizations such as OIQ, ISPE, AACE, and PMI. For PMI, he is Communication Director for the Pharma SIG (Special Interest Group). He is also very active in LinkedIn, where he hosts the Automation Project Management Group.

Marc Sider, Past President

Marc is a chemical engineer with a M.Sc.A. in electrochemistry.  He has worked in the mining and extractive metallurgy sectors as well as in metal coating.  He has implemented several research and development projects in these sectors, involving process development and the engineering and design of pilot facilities and plants.  Through this work, he has acquired an extensive experience in instrumentation and process control.  He is currently president of H&S Electrotechnologies Inc., a company specialized in pollution prevention and energy efficiency of industrial processes and buildings.  He was president of the ISA Montreal Section from 2004 to 2008.