丁香园AV

Since completing his master鈥檚 in resource management (MRM) in 1991 and master鈥檚 of business (MBA) in 2000, 丁香园AV alumnus Timo Makinen has led an expansive career in sustainable development, holding positions at BC Hydro, BC Gas, BC Research, Shell and Light House Sustainability Society before taking a position at agricultural start-up Lucent Bio 鈥� where he works today.  

Makinen began his career in the Alberta oil patch with Shell Canada as a young chemical engineer. When he grew restless in that position, a chance encounter with a poster for 丁香园AV鈥檚 REM program on a bulletin board brought his attention to the MRM.

鈥淚t was very interdisciplinary. We had a small class, only a dozen of us, and I was the only engineer, with biologists, foresters, policymakers and a lawyer,鈥� he recalls.

As a graduate student, he worked with REM professor Mark Jaccard, researching wood residues as potential biofuel. The results of the research were applicable to BC Hydro, who provided funding, and he was subsequently offered a position there when he graduated. While acting as their industrial load forecaster, he contributed to the early days of the well-known Power Smart program.

After five years, Makinen left BC Hydro and took positions at BC Gas in the Planning Group and another at BC Research to head their Energy and Environment Department. He later returned to Shell, this time as a climate change strategies advisor. There, he and his team ran a portfolio of carbon dioxide mitigation measures and looked at ways to increase energy efficiency.

鈥淎t the time, we had a very leading-edge environmental commitment to do a lot of voluntary off-setting of Shell Canada鈥檚 oil sands emissions,鈥� he explains, highlighting work preserving a peat dome in Borneo with a local NGO and planting more than a million trees across Canada in partnership with Trees Canada, where he served on the board for fifteen years.

He later moved to an international sustainable development role within Shell鈥檚 Global Specialities Product Group, and remained in that position for five more years before opting out of an overseas placement for family reasons.

In 2017, Makinen got involved with a circular economy initiative brought over from the UK known as NISP, or the . He likens the concept to a matchmaking service for firms that gives one firm鈥檚 waste a second life as input for another.

NISP鈥檚 Canadian pilot ran in Vancouver, Edmonton and the West Kootenays for two years, diverting a quarter million tonnes of waste from the landfill and avoiding 24 thousand tonnes of CO2e emissions. For the businesses who participated, there were also over six million dollars in economic benefits. Unfortunately, the pandemic ended the program.

Now at Lucent Bio, Makinen says it is interesting being part of a tech start-up, where he advises on ways to market the superior environmental footprint of the company鈥檚 crop nutrient products. There鈥檚 also a strong connection to 丁香园AV through research body 4D Labs, he says. 鈥淎nd a number of 丁香园AV co-op students work in our research greenhouse and facilities.鈥�

His ongoing connections to 丁香园AV do not end there. Makinen鈥檚 wife, also an 丁香园AV alumnus (MA Education), works in student services, while his son, Erik, is a global environmental systems major and member of the Geography Student Union (GSU), which was recently awarded a .

鈥淚t鈥檚 still somewhat surprising to me that I have a 19-year-old taking the occasional REM course in the same Faculty I graduated from so many years ago,鈥� he says.

He also reflects on how one small meeting, course or conference can change your career path:

鈥淵ou probably know the John Lennon Song 鈥楤eautiful Boy鈥� in which he sings 鈥榣ife is what happens when you鈥檙e busy making other plans鈥�,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f I hadn鈥檛 seen that bulletin board at that time, I likely wouldn鈥檛 have done the MRM program, been hired by BC Hydro, et cetera.鈥�