Past-Presidents

APEGA has existed for almost 100 years, and for every year of its existence, there has been a president of Council to uphold the pillars that APEGA stands for: integrity, accountability, innovation, and service. Through the decades of change and growth, the men and women listed below led APEGA’s Council.

They have worked across the globe, from Mississippi to Venezuela, but all settled their talents here in Alberta. Each came from different walks of life, from serving in the Second World War, to teaching aeronautics, to instigating first-time overseas ventures. This incredible group made its mark on the world and on APEGA.

All of these outstanding people helped make APEGA what it is today, and all were thanked for their service with an Honorary Life Membership award—a framed medallion memento—inducting them as life members of APEGA.

1929: R. Bruce Baxter, P.Eng.

R. Bruce Baxter, P.Eng.

Born in Sherbrooke, Que., Bruce Baxter received much of his engineering training while on the job. He joined the Bell Telephone company in Sherbrooke upon graduating from high school then moved to Alberta shortly after to work as a district inspector for the provincial telephone department.

After working in Lacombe, Stettler and Calgary he moved to Edmonton in 1917 as the department's plant superintendent and chief engineer. Within eight years he became general manager and deputy minister of telephones for Alberta.

In 1928 Baxter became managing director of the Calgary Power Company. Within five years he was both vice-president of Calgary Power and managing director of its parent company, Montreal Engineering. Based in Montreal, he travelled thousands of miles to oversee the company's extensive power developments in Canada, South America and the Caribbean.

Baxter was elected to the Association of Professional Engineers of Alberta (APEA; now The Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta) first council in 1920 and was voted president in 1929.

He was also president of the Canadian Electrical Association in 1935 and 1936 and a director of the Prairie Power and Ottawa Valley Power companies. He passed away in Montreal in 1940.