OSPE - The Voice - June 2020 - 5

CEO'S MESSAGE

OSPE was looking forward to celebrating many things this
summer, as you'll see in this issue. It's the 20-year anniversary
of our organization, and to mark our beginnings we have a
timeline spread of many of our achievements.
Aside from that, you will find a supplement
detailing the motivations behind the
creation of the Ontario Engineering
Academy, a one stop hub for engineers to
retool, upskill, and pivot for the fluctuating
needs of industry.
Unfortunately, our celebratory mood has
been hampered by the very real concerns of
the global pandemic, COVID-19. We have
seen COVID-19 leave a path of destruction
in its wake; deaths, sickness, and a wounded
economy have been the story of the last few
months, and in the upcoming months, we'll
be dealing with the damage left behind.
During the tumult, I was proud to see
the OSPE team swiftly respond by working
from home. With the use of online tools,
we have been able to settle into a working
routine that mimics our office life and
allows us to fully participate in the social
distancing measures mandated by the
government. We recognize the importance
of these measures in curbing the spread,
and have been working out of our homes
since early March. We will continue to do
so until the government determines it is
safe for us to return.
COVID-19 means that many events
have been altered or postponed. Our
Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held
online, we will be hosting a virtual career
event, and have pushed in-person events
to the Fall and Winter, with the hope we
can hold them. We've been hard at work
transitioning these events, hoping we can
play our role in jumpstarting the economy
when the time comes and provide engineers
the same level of service when ready.
While we've kept our regular focus

on long-term planning and building that
The COVID-19 situation has been a
provides the engineering community
challenge for us all. In the true spirit of
a sense of continuity, we've also been
engineering-challenges are opportunities
providing COVID-19 related information
to lift society and work towards its
as we can. Outgoing President, Tibor
betterment. I'm proud to say that our team
Turi, Ph.D., P.Eng., and I, along with our
at OSPE responded proactively to the shift,
new President, Réjeanne Aimey P.Eng.,
and the broader engineering community
MBA, have been happy to provide weekly
has taken a true social perspective.
updates via YouTube that
focus on how OSPE and
Beyond OSPE, I'm proud to see the
engineers are responding
engineering committee confront the
to events. Alongside this,
issues from COVID-19 directly. I'm happy
we have been regularly
to report that amidst the doom and gloom
updating our blog with
COVID-19 information and
in the news, there have been several
have a dedicated resources
stories of engineers uniting and rising to
page on our website. In
the challenges that the pandemic creates.
March, we provided a free
online webinar on working
from home with tips for our engineering
community. Lastly, I'm proud to say
OSPE partnered with the Ontario General
Contractors Association and Alliance
Creative Marketing to donate 10,000 masks
to healthcare workers.
Beyond OSPE, I'm proud to see the
engineering committee confront the
issues from COVID-19 directly. I'm happy
to report that amidst the doom and gloom
in the news, there have been several
stories of engineers uniting and rising to
the challenges that the pandemic creates,
namely: witnessing engineers repurpose
and retool production lines to meet the PPE
Sandro Perruzza
and ventilator needs, pandemic modelling
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,
that has assisted public health officials,
Ontario Society of Professional Engineers
and individual engineers that have been
stepping up to donate their time and skills
to mitigating the spread of the virus.

Summer 2020 THE VOICE

5
OSPE - The Voice - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of OSPE - The Voice - June 2020
