Larry Staples

P.Eng., FCAE

After following the organization with interest from its inception, Larry has been Chair of the WaterSMART advisory board since 2012. Larry brings to this role over 40 years of experience leading engineering consulting and research organizations.

In the past, Larry served as Chair of the Board for the Pressure Pipe Inspection Company, a Mississauga firm that won numerous awards for exporting Canadian high-technology services related to potable water transmission lines. Through this experience, Larry realized that water stewardship encompassed more than just better technology: vision, passion and policy wisdom were needed in equal measure.

Other previous experience includes co-authoring the Alberta Chamber of Resources multi-sector strategic study on the Alberta economy and resource development. He also served as CEO of C-FER Technologies, an entrepreneurial R&D organization that he helped found in 1984, and as Vice President, Engineered Products and Services, at the Alberta Research Council (now called Alberta Innovates).

Larry is well known for his volunteer leadership, which has spanned more than three decades in the engineering profession. He was honoured to serve as the 86th President of APEGA in 2005 and was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2009. He has been a Director on the Boards of several professional and community organizations, including Engineers Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Citadel Theatre. He was appointed as a public member on the registration committee of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta, and currently serves in that role on the Council of the Alberta Institute of Agrologists.

Larry and his wife Moira live in Edmonton, observing with delight the adventures of their adult children and grandchildren.