Axia Appoints Advisory Board of Respected Energy Leaders
Vancouver, British Columbia, July 30, 2007— Graham Carter, President and CEO of Axia Software Corporation today announced the company has elected five distinguished members to join its advisory board. Encompassing respected business and energy industry leaders, the board will take responsibility for contributing to, and driving, Axia’s business goal to be the leading asset management and capital planning software for the energy industry.
The advisors are Michael Costello, formerly President and CEO of the BC Transmission Corporation and BC Hydro; Mike Gardner, CEO of Recombo; Michael d’Abadie, Partner of d’Abadie Moody Charted Accountants; Jeff Allen, formerly CEO of Integral Energy, Australia, Trevor St Germain, President and CEO of Acclaro Management Corporation. Graham Carter is taking on the role of Chairman of the Board.
“We’ve reached a point in our business where we are gaining significant leads and customers, and we will be leaning on the expertise and experience of our advisory board to pave the right path for Axia,” comments Graham Carter, President and CEO, Axia Software Corporation. “I am personally extremely pleased that such a prominent group of business leaders agreed to join our advisory board. This speaks volumes of the challenges the energy market is facing and the quality of the solution we offer.”
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About Axia Software Corporation
With Corporate headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Axia utilizes two Regional Offices in Toronto, Ontario and Sydney, Australia along with strong ties through alliances and principal directors with the American market. Its intelligent asset management software REVEAL bridges the gap between corporate and engineering groups to optimize capital decision making.
Michael Costello
Michael Costello brings with him a wealth of business experience and leadership skills. As recently as 2005, Michael was the President and CEO of the BC Transmission Corporation, and prior to this he was President of BC Hydro and Power Authority. He also held the positions of Deputy Minister of Finance and Secretary to the Treasury Board and Assistant Deputy Minister of the Provincial Treasury for the Government of British Columbia.
Michael has held positions on over 20 Boards and Councils. Michael has served as the Chair of the Canadian Electricity Association, and Chair of the Energy Council of Canada. At present he is on the Board of the Ontario Power Authority, In Transit BC, and the Vancouver Island Health Authority. In addition he is a sessional Lecturer at the University Of Victoria School Of Public Administration.
Michael was the recipient of the Businessman of the Year (Vancouver 2003) Consumers’ Choice Award and was selected as one of Vancouver’s Top 100 Influential Business Persons in 2004. He holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Manitoba.
Mike Gardner, CEO, Recombo
Mike is currently CEO of Recombo, a leading provider of online agreement and secure electronic signature/digital signature software
Mike is the past President of ERP software manufacturer Cayenta where he was responsible for developing the strategic vision for the company and all of its products. Mike grew Cayenta significantly during his 6 year tenure, achieving strong financial results and increased levels of customer satisfaction.
Mike has over 15 years of management experience and a strong strategic operations background in software development, transportation/distribution, and retail e-commerce. He is the past President of the Board of Directors of the ALS Society of British Columbia and a member of the Board of Directors of ALS Canada. Mike’s MBA is from Queen’s University. His undergraduate work was in Economics and Statistics at Ryerson University in Toronto and in International Business at Hanzehogeschool in the Netherlands. He was nominated as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 business leaders in 2002.
Michael d’Abadie, CA, Partner’ d’Abadie Moody charted Accountants
Michael founded the firm in 1984 and has been responsible for the growth and development of the firm over the years. His accounting career commenced in 1968 with Price Waterhouse in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1974 he migrated to Australia where he worked for Coopers & Lybrand in Brisbane for two years. After coming to Vancouver, he worked as an Exchange Examiner at the Vancouver Stock Exchange for three years, then returned to public practice in 1979 with Grant Thornton in Vancouver.
Michael has extensive experience in the financial markets, which he gained through audits of stock brokerage firms, listed companies on the Vancouver Stock Exchange, a mutual fund dealer, and he also acted as the Chief Financial Officer of Haywood Securities Inc., a local brokerage house, for three years.
Over the years, Michael has served on numerous board of directors; for both profit and non-profit oriented enterprises.
Michael has used his international background and broad client base to implement creative tax strategies for many different situations. He also acts in a business advisory capacity to many of our clients who require professional guidance and direction. Michael placed in the top ten percent in Canada in the year he passed the Uniform Final Examination to obtain his CA designation.
Jeff Allen, Consultant
Jeff has had careers in the electricity industry spanning over 40 years, with a sound background in both strategic and operational areas of the Australian wholesale electricity market, Transmission and Distribution networks and Retail/Supply competition.
Jeff has held numerous executive and senior positions, including CEO, GM Networks and GM Network Services of Integral Energy in NSW. In addition to his Integral Energy career, he was the founding CEO of Energy Action Pty Ltd – a leading Australian retail energy broker and energy management services company as well as setting up his own consulting business.
Jeff has consulted widely in Australia and New Zealand in the areas of network regulatory and pricing submissions, asset management, engineering consulting in transmission, distribution asset assessments, process re-engineering and change management.
He is currently involved thru JN Allen and Associates Limited in the asset management and associated works management solutions area for asset intensive businesses throughout Australia and New Zealand. Jeff holds a number of company director positions.
Trevor St Germain, President and CEO, Acclaro Management Corporation
Trevor’s entire career has been dedicated to working exclusively in the North American power industry.
Trevor is on the forefront of reliability concepts and able to take ideas and create innovative applications that align with business objectives in the areas of asset management, process improvement, and maintenance.
Trevor has used these years of industry experience and asset management knowledge to develop a framework and process to determine asset health and system performance as part of a complete asset management business process for investment justification and decision support for capital planning.
He is currently a founder and CEO of Acclaro Management Corporation, a thriving BC company providing professional services to the power industry.. As well as a founder, and director of Axia Software Corporation.
Graham Carter, Chairman of the Advisory Board
Graham has a strong background in technology development and business integration.
Graham, a New Zealand native, has worked extensively in North America including Canada, USA as well as in Australia and New Zealand.
Graham has been recognized as being an emerging leader in technology adaptation at a business level, and has proven history in helping companies adopt new technologies, into every day business process.
Graham has been a founder and held numerous executive and director positions in the power industry, forestry industry and renewable energy sectors within both North America and New Zealand.
He is currently a founder and CEO of Axia Software Corporation. As well as a founder and board member of Acclaro Management Corporation a thriving BC company providing professional services to the power industry.
For further information, please contact:
Asa Zanatta, SPIRIT Communications
Tel: +1 604 408 1389/cell: +1 604 724 7755
E-mail: azanatta@spiritcommunications.ca