Jim Locke, P.Eng
President
The principle co-founder of one of the earliest and most successful natural gas marketing companies in Canada, Cibola Canada, Jim brings over 25 years of natural gas experience to the team. His initial direct purchase company Cibola, grew to over 200 industrial clients and in 1997, 6 years after the company initiation, Cibola was purchased by Coral Energy, a member of the shell family of companies. Jim worked briefly as president of Coral Energy before leaving to start Canadian Energy Strategies Inc, a 100% Canadian owned and operated company in 2001.
Richard Schurr, B.A. B.Ed
Vice President Sales & Marketing
Richard is a co-founder and principal of Canadian Energy Strategies, inc. (CESi). Before joining Cibola Canada as Senior Sales Account Manager, Richard was the North American Sales Manager for FMC, engineering and manufacturing headquarters in Pennsylvania . As an engineered flow measurement design and technical sales specialist, he traveled all over the USA and Canada and worked with the major oil companies for design, sales, start up and commissioning of flow measurement metering for gasoline, diesel, and ethanol blending systems. He was also involved with the Canadian Consumer and Corporate Affairs regulatory committee. Richard joined the Cibola team in 1995. He was then the Sales and Marketing Manager for Coral Energy (Shell Gas Marketing) for Eastern Canada until joining CESi in 2002. Richard brings a vast knowledge of technical and regulatory information as well as his natural gas marketing and analytical expertise.
Vince Yee
Director, Mid-Markets
Mr. Yee is a 17 year veteran of the energy industry and possesses in depth knowledge of the natural gas industry. He learned the business of the energy industry during his 7 years at Union Gas Limited headquartered in Chatham, Ontario. Having held various roles in Gas Supply and managing the Direct Purchase group, he also spent 4.5 years with a related energy marketing group in the role as Manager, Asset Management. In this position he was responsible for management and gas supply procurement for a portfolio of industrial clients. Mr. Yee is part of the company’s Sales and Business Development team and is responsible for all sales with new and existing customers in Canada.
Andrew Locke
Sales Associate
Andrew Locke has recently joined Canadian Energy Strategies after completing an Undergraduate Degree from Brock University in Economics. A strong and passionate focus on the commodity markets is why Andrew has chosen to work in the Energy industry; where he intends to apply his theoretical and fundamental knowledge in the natural gas market. Andrew was an account manager at Xerox where his core responsibilities were to proactively manage current customers as well as acquire new accounts. Andrew prides himself in maintaining strong customer-focused relationships with a responsive and professional demeanor.
Steven King
Manager Finance and Operations
Steven has a background in accounting that spans over 10 years and several different industries. As an accountant you are always looking for ways to help reduce spending costs. With his knowledge it will help our customers to develop forecasts and budgets to optimize their bottom line. He will also analyze utility bills to ensure that you are in the right rate class with the utility. He is able to use these avenues to help the customer optimize their utility spending costs.
Warren Locke, P.Eng
Director, Gas Supply & Operations
The newest member to the CESi team, Warren brings a background in engineering specifically suited to commercial, industrial, and institutional projects. His work as a manager in a consulting engineering firm has given him working knowledge of the burning equipment required to run each facility, and specifically efficiencies of burning equipment. He intends to translate this engineering experience to help provide custom tailored gas solutions to each client.
Carrie Couch
Office Administration Manager
With a background in the financial and manufacturing industry, Carrie is able to apply the fundamentals learned from both to the natural gas environment at CESi. She has a broad range of administrative experience and is accustomed to hosting pivotal roles as either a ‘front line’ or 'behind the scenes’ team player.