Colonel I.D.M. Egener, CD (Retired)

Colonel of the Regiment 2002-2006

Colonel Egener was born in Toronto, Ontario in July 1938 and spent his formative years in London, Ontario.  He attended the Royal Military College in Kingston Ontario and the University of Western Ontario where he was granted a Bachelor of Engineering Science (Mechanical Engineering) in 1961.

He was posted to The Fort Garry Horse and held a series of Regimental appointments in Petawawa and North West Europe.  In 1964 he attended the Technical Staff Course at the Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham, UK.  He returned to Canada to the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps School, Trials and Evaluation Unit, in 1966.  He was a student at the Canadian Army Staff College in 1967 and joined the Strathcona’s as a Squadron commander in Germany in 1968.

On return to Canada in 1970, he completed a two-year Master of War Studies program at the Royal Military College.  This was followed by a tour as Senior Canadian with the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan.  In 1973 he was appointed Commanding Officer of the Strathcona’s in Calgary.

Following regimental command, Col Egener served as Assistant Military Attaché (Army) and Acting Military Attaché in Washington D.C. In 1977 he returned to Kingston on the Directing Staff of the Army Staff College.

In 1978 he accepted a position with Nova Corporation of Alberta (then Alberta Gas Trunk Line) to be involved with a small group in the development of the Western Petrochemical Project.  Here he occupied a number of challenging positions before being transferred on executive loan to the Alberta Government in Edmonton in 1983 to be Managing Director of Alberta Public Safety Services (a Deputy Minister level position).

He remained in the public service of Alberta for the next twelve years as Chief Executive Officer of this provincial government agency responsible for the development of legislation, advising the minister and cabinet and administering the organization responsible for disaster and emergency preparedness, response and recovery and hazardous material regulation in Alberta.  Also during this period he was instrumental in the establishment of the Major Industrial Accidents Council of Canada and he served on the Council’s Board of Directors and as its Chairman.

In 1995 he retired from public service and formed a consulting company, Summit Enterprises International Inc (S.e.i.) which focussed on crisis and risk management as well as general management services.  In 1998, S.e.i. became associated with Global Change Strategies International Inc., one of Canada’s leading consultancies in the climate change and global warming field.  His clients include the federal, provincial and municipal governments, leading Canadian corporations and a number of international governments and agencies.