MELANIE STOREY – President
Melanie began her career in Land Administration in 1979 in a small oil and gas company and soon after had the rare opportunity to work with a small group of people to start a new company and was responsible for all aspects of land contracts and mineral and surface administration. The company was purchased by Poco Petroleums Ltd. in 1987 where she continued her career in Contracts Administration. In 1995 she took on the role of Supervisor, Land Contracts & Administration. In 1999 Poco was purchased by Burlington Resources where she took on the role of Manager, Land Contracts & Administration. A few years later Burlington was acquired by ConocoPhillips Canada where she continued in her role as Manager, Land Contracts & Administration until October 2007. Melanie’s long-time interest in the "system and data" side of the business lead her to take on a new challenge at Penn West Petroleum Ltd. where she is currently employed as a Sr. Business System Analyst supporting Mineral & Surface Land.
Melanie joined CAPLA at its inaugural meeting and has volunteered on many committees including Education, Conference, and Mentoring. She also served on the Board of Directors for six years prior to re-joining the Board of Directors in 2009. She is a strong supporter of continuous learning and is a member of the CEAMS Education Committee who are currently developing an EAM Program with SAIT, as well as sitting on the Board of Directors of CEAMS from 2005 – 2010. As a member of CAPL, she is also volunteering on the ISC/CAPLA/CAPL working group.
BENTE NELSON – Vice-President, Director Strategic Planning
Bente is the Team Lead of Surface Land Asset Management with Cenovus. Bente has over 35 years of progressive industry experience and brings to CAPLA a unique talent for creative and strategic planning. She is well recognized as a principle-based leader who has successfully lead high performing teams through significant and often complex company and industry changes. Bente has a successful track record in executing results based on a strong understanding of stakeholder and business requirements.
Her focus, along with the other Board members, will be the development of a long term strategic plan that would continue to move the association forward and be aligned to our members and industry business requirements for the future as well as meeting the current needs of today.
(403) 766-4022 Bente.Nelson@cenovus.com
LINDA WESTBURY- Past PresidentLinda started her career in the Oil & Gas Industry in 1985 and joined the Land Department at Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd. 25 years later and two company mergers, she is currently Manager of Land Administration at ConocoPhillips Canada.
As a strong supporter of education in our Industry, Linda has focused her career in the administration of B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan properties. She spent 10 years as a SAIT Instructor supporting the Land Certificate Program. She joined CAPLA in 1994, volunteered on various committees and has held portfolios on the Board of Directors as Standardization Director, Director of Government Relations, Vice President and President.
MICHELLE SPORTAK – Treasurer
Michelle began working as a Mineral Land Administrator in the Oil & Gas Industry in 2006. Michelle has worked as an administrator and contract analyst with teams in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. She continues to further her career by working at a private company where she is responsible for all aspects of land including surface land and joint venture.
Michelle started volunteering with CAPLA in 2007 as the Board Development Committee chair. Most of her time in this position involved assisting the Board in its transition to a Board of Governance, and seeing the benefits this has created for the health and sustainability of the Board of Directors, and the benefits for CAPLA’s membership. Michelle joined the Board of Directors as the Treasurer in 2011.
MARION LEONARDO – Director Government Relations, Alberta
In 2006, Marion moved from Edmonton to Calgary to pursue a career in the oil and gas industry with ConocoPhillips Canada, her current position is a Supervisor in the Mineral Land Department. Prior to that, she worked for 22 years at the Alberta Department of Energy working in many areas within the Tenure Branch. The highlight of her career at the Department of Energy was being part of the team who designed and implemented e-Postings and e-Bidding. Since 2007, Marion has been an instructor at SAIT, teaching the Introduction to Land course which is part of the Petroleum Land Certificate Program.
Marion joined the CAPLA Education Committee in 2006 and served as a facilitator until 2008 when she became Chair of the Relations Committee. She joined the Board in 2009 and was appointed the role of Director of Relations. She is now serving her second term on the board, she currently holds the portfolio of Director of Government Relations - Alberta.
(403) 260-8395 Marion.Leonardo@conocophillips.com
CHRIS MACLELLAN, Director – Government Relations, BCChris began working as a Mineral Land Administrator in the Oil & Gas Industry in 2007 with Suncor Energy Inc. Since early 2008 Chris has been handling the day to day Administration of properties in both Alberta and British Columbia. He is always looking to build on his Land knowledge base and in 2010 he added the administration of Saskatchewan to his daily work load. In March 2011, Chris moved over to Rife Resources Ltd. to concentrate on Freehold Administration.
Education is very important to Chris. In addition to earning a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Calgary he also completed the
Petroleum Land, Contract & Administration Foundation Certificate from Mount Royal College in 2008. In December 2010 he completed the Petroleum Land, Contract & Administration Advanced Certificate
Chris has been a CAPLA member since his arrival to the Industry in 2007. He enjoys the association and in 2009 he joined the Special Events Committee as a volunteer. That summer he chaired the sub committee responsible for organizing the CAPLA Golf Tournament. 2011 marks the second year of Chris’ term as Director of Government Relations for B.C.
DARLENE BELLAND, Director – EducationDarlene began her career in the Oil and Gas Industry over 20 years ago and has been involved in all aspects of land in both large and small companies.
During this time she developed an expertise in Saskatchewan land and was a CAPLA volunteer for the committee developed by ISC when Saskatchewan Land Titles converted all paper titles to electronic (online) titles. She also volunteered for CAPLA on numerous occasions including the team developed for Alberta Crown transitioning to ETS and during the process of standardizing Continuation Packages. Throughout her career and different employment opportunities Darlene’s broad knowledge of land has allowed her to mentor numerous junior colleagues in developing their careers in industry.
Darlene is currently developing an expertise in North Dakota while performing all aspects of land in a core area for the company she is presently employed by.
Darlene joined CAPLA shortly after the organization got started and brings energy, commitment and determination to the Education sector of our association.
Cathy Lotwin is the Team Lead - Land Reporting, Integration and Metrics at Talisman Energy Inc. A land asset management specialist for over 20 years, Cathy’s experience includes positions in a number of Oil and Gas Exploration companies, as well as an Oil and Gas Software and Service provider. She has held responsibilities in multiple jurisdictions throughout Western Canada and the United States. Her experience includes Mineral Lease Administration; Contracts Analysis; land and interdepartmental business process design; land systems development, implementation, conversion, training and support; and special projects.
In addition to the positions she has held in industry, Cathy has shared her knowledge with hundreds of students as an instructor in SAIT’s Petroleum Land Administration program. A strong supporter of the land discipline, she holds memberships in two US associations; the American Association of Professional Landmen and the National Association of Lease and Title Analysts. Cathy is an inaugural member of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Land Administration who has held numerous volunteer positions, served on the board as Director of Information Systems for 3 ½ years and is currently the Chairperson of the CAPLA Leadership Forum.
Complimenting her energy industry experience, Cathy has also been a facilitator of personal development workshops and a personal coach.
After completing her Bachelor of Arts at University of Lethbridge in 2004, Autumn Wilton began her career as a Mineral Land Administrator with Cavalier Land. While working, she completed her Land Administration Certificate at SAIT, and later the Advance Certificate at Mount Royal. In 2007 Autumn joined BP Canada, broadening her experience to include Land Contracts. In the summer of 2010 she began working on her MBA through Edinburgh Business School and broke out on her own as a consultant for Traxis Solutions Inc.
Autumn began volunteering for CAPLA in 2005. She volunteered on various committees before chairing the events committee in 2009, and the 2011 CAPLA Conference. She believes that volunteering has been the most rewarding experience of her career and encourages members to be more involved in the association.
(403) 233-1937 autumn.wilton@traxissolutions.com
T. CATHY MILLER, CEOT. Cathy Miller accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer of CAPLA starting on July 15, 2008. Cathy works with the Board of Directors to implement the strategic plan and leads the staff team who manage the day to day operations including member services and all programs and events.
Cathy Miller, CAE (Certified Association Executive), is an innovative and progressive leader with more than 30 years of solid experience in the not-for-profit sector. Prior to her work with CAPLA she held the positions of Executive Director for the Calgary Emergency Women's Shelter and The Arthritis Society, Alberta & NWT Division.
Cathy has significant experience with voluntary boards of directors, guiding change, creating strategies for success, fundraising and building strong teams. Cathy was presented with the 2011 Consumer Choice Business Woman of the Year Award (Calgary).
Cathy coaches a marathon speed walking team and she successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with her daughter in 2007.