Elevated Access | The Inside Story
34 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingWelcome to Elevated Access, a podcast about the access required for energy and infrastructure developments across North America.
Join me, Chad Hughes, as we meet with those at the top of their field whose experiences have helped shape the energy and infrastructure landscape – leaders who get access.
Whether you’re a business leader, project developer, or professional who has been part of the access journey, or simply interested in what enables development, this podcast sheds light on the depth of care and attention that goes into securing access for development – and just how big of an undertaking it is.
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Episodes
S03|E06 - Generational Shifts and Adaptability in the Energy Industry with James Thurston
March 11, 2024 07:00 - 51 minutes - 49.5 MBChad Hughes invites James Thurston, a longtime friend and experienced land agent, to the show to discuss insights on their generation and its alignment with the industry. James Thurston reflects on his journey, emphasizing the importance of networking and building relationships during his time in the land agent program. He shares how chance and curiosity led him to the field, working on the Alliance pipeline and later in various locations across Western Canada. James explores the unique cha...
S03|E05 - Green Energy Initiatives with Blandon Granger
February 26, 2024 08:00 - 49 minutes - 47.8 MBHost Chad Hughes welcomes Blandon Granger, Supervisor of Real Estate Services for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), to the show. Blandon has been in the energy industry at SMUD for the past seventeen years and supervises asset management and complex acquisitions. He talks with Chad about the impacts of EV charging and urban development on his role. Blandon explains that SMUD has a “very aggressive” zero carbon plan and by 2030 wants all their energy to be from clean sources...
S03|E04 - Jennifer Tidmarsh
February 12, 2024 08:00 - 48 minutes - 47 MBHost Chad Hughes welcomes Jennifer Tidmarsh, Vice President of Indigenous Relations & Partnerships with Ontario Power Generation, to the show. Jennifer talks about the development of small modular reactors in the nuclear space and the challenges surrounding presenting those solutions to the community. Jennifer explains some of the public perceptions around nuclear power that have been shaped by events like Three Mile Island, Fukushima, and Chernobyl, and even pop culture references like the...
S03|E03 - Pablo Gutiérrez
January 29, 2024 08:00 - 50 minutes - 49.1 MBHost Chad Hughes welcomes Pablo Gutiérrez, Managing Director of O’Gorman&Hagerman professional services firm, to the show to talk about what it’s like to acquire land access and engage with the public in Mexico. O’Gorman&Hagerman started in corporate law but moved to provide agrarian services which is where they now specialize. Pablo explains that Mexico has public and private property, just like the US and Canada, but they also have ejidos and communities which are social property mainly ...
S03|E02 - Robert McCallum
January 15, 2024 08:00 - 41 minutes - 40.7 MBHost Chad Hughes welcomes Robert McCallum, President of McCallum Environmental, to the show. Robert has been working in the environmental consulting industry for over 25 years and he specifically brings his experience in working across varied Canadian provincial jurisdictions to the conversation. Robert is a professional biologist registered in Alberta and though he started his career in oil and gas, in 2003 he was pulled into a renewable energy project and has been working in the renewable...
S03|01 - Gordon MacNair
January 01, 2024 10:00 - 38 minutes - 37.8 MBIn the inaugural episode of Elevated Access’ third season, Chad Hughes is joined by Senior Real Estate Infrastructure Advisor Gordon MacNair. Gordon has spent time with the RWA and worked across more than six countries. He shares advice along with the similarities and differences between the jurisdictions. Gordon worked in the BC Ministry of Highways and later for Ontario Hydro, among other companies in his career, which has given him great experience in acquiring land for major land assemb...
S02|14 Tim Robillard
June 02, 2023 07:00 - 58 minutes - 56 MBChad Hughes is joined by Tim Robillard, Vice-Presisdent of Engagement & Operations for Communica Public Affairs, to discuss the energy transition. Tim draws from his background and experience to talk about how the energy transition may create new interests or concerns for stakeholders in the future. Tim has been in the energy industry in various roles for over 25 years. He got his start in peer mediation programs in high school which taught him the value of people talking things through. Me...
S02|13 - Jeff Burke
May 19, 2023 07:00 - 41 minutes - 40.4 MBChad Hughes welcomes Jeff Burke - Environment, Land and Emissions Governance for TC Energy - to the show to talk about non-technical risk across jurisdictions. Jeff addresses common challenges that can be expected whether you’re in Canada, the US, or Mexico, and shares great advice for land access professionals. Jeff started out in construction and maintenance projects for a Canadian national railway company. Through that he gained an understanding of the ways in which industry impacts land...
S02|12 - Jon Lovink
May 05, 2023 07:00 - 55 minutes - 53.2 MBJon Lovink, Western Canada’s most experienced media coach, joins Chad Hughes on the show to talk about trust and the media. Jon has a program called CRED which is effective for building trust in scenarios from one-on-one conversations to crisis or media. He gets into details with Chad. Jon describes how he started in news, first as a reporter and eventually as a senior producer for CBC News, which led him to coaching. His speciality, what his company focuses on, is media coaching. At its co...
S02|11 -Charles Neustaedter
April 21, 2023 07:00 - 47 minutes - 46 MBChad Hughes welcomes Charles Neustaedter, the Realty Section Manager at the City of Surrey in BC, to the show to discuss negotiations. Their conversation covers different types of negotiating as well as the importance of preparation in determining the right approach to use. When Charles started at the City of Surrey in 1993, things were very different. He has seen a lot of growth in both the city and technology surrounding his job through the years. He also credits his time with the City a...
S02|10 - Eric Barnett
April 07, 2023 07:00 - 51 minutes - 50 MBChad Hughes welcomes Eric Barnett, Director of Development for Vistra Corp, to the show to discuss A&D activity in the renewable space as well as evaluating and mitigating risk. Eric has a long career in land and much to share with access professionals and developers alike. Eric explains how his current role involves assessing how to repurpose real estate owned by the company. They are focused on renewables and Eric is excited by the challenges of looking into the environmental aspects of ...
S02|09 - Mark Bradley
March 24, 2023 07:00 - 36 minutes - 36.6 MBChad Hughes welcomes Mark Bradley, Principal Owner of Marram Consulting Ltd and Team Lead at Trans-Northern Pipelines Inc, to the show to discuss “the quiet coexistence between pipeline operators and the public”. Mark shares from his wealth of experience in building post-construction relationships. Mark’s education is in urban and regional planning, a bit of an untraditional background for someone in the land world. While his classmates dreamed of designing beautiful neighborhoods, Mark de...
S02|08 - Andrea Carolan
March 10, 2023 08:00 - 44 minutes - 43.2 MBChad Hughes welcomes Andrea Carolan, Managing Director of Public Private Property in Adelaide, Australia, to the show for insight into challenges in her sector. Andrea talks about her career in valuation and sheds light on what approaches are different between urban and rural appraisal. Following her father into valuation, Andrea identifies as a second generation valuer. She still uses things she learned through his mentorship and philosophies. She founded her company, Public Private Proper...
S02|07 - Thomas Schaffer
February 24, 2023 08:00 - 49 minutes - 48.4 MBChad Hughes hosts Thomas Schaffer, Senior Manager for Transmission Right-of-Way at American Electric Power, on the show to discuss the work AEP is doing and how they engage with customers in meaningful ways. They delve into Thomas’ career history and what the future has in store for the industry. Thomas came into acquisition through working a summer job at the courthouse in Columbus, Ohio. He started learning about title ownership at the courthouse and that led into easement which ultimat...
S02|06 - Richie McNally
February 10, 2023 08:00 - 41 minutes - 42.4 MBChad Hughes welcomes Richard McNally of O R Colan to the podcast to discuss his career in the right of way space. They discuss human resourcing complexities and resource scarcity in the industry, drawing on Richard’s extensive experiences and insight. Richard is Vice President of ORC’s Utility Division which he says gives him the opportunity to use his history as a go-getter and to trust and delegate to the strong leadership team beneath him. He highlights how ORC puts a strong focus on the...
S02|05 - Nikki Sitch
January 27, 2023 08:00 - 44 minutes - 45.4 MBChad Hughes invites Nikki Sitch, Manager of Land and Community Inclusion at Kiwetinohk Energy Corp, to the show to talk about her career journey and the insights she has on attributes that lead to success. As Nikki talks, it becomes clear that she lives what she believes in regards to creating your own future. Nikki claims she got into land “by fluke” as she moved from receptionist at AltaGas to being a Junior Land Admin in the Land Department. She learned on the job and enjoyed it, so she ...
S02|04 - Kala Belding
January 13, 2023 08:00 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBChad Hughes invites Kala Belding, Technology Strategy Manager of Wireless Real Estate for Telus, to the show to share her insights on the key attributes that lead to success in real estate management or access roles. Kala’s career journey has given her clear sight into what skills and attributes of her own aid in her current role. Kala describes how each of her previous career roles equipped her with knowledge that, when paired with her natural attributes, makes her well suited to her role...
S02|03 - Mike Anderson
December 30, 2022 08:00 - 42 minutes - 43.8 MBChad Hughes welcomes Mike Anderson, Manager of Surface Land at Tamarack Acquisition Corp, to the show. Chad centers this episode around Indigenous participation in the industry. Mike is able to shed a lot of light on what Tamarack has been doing in their approach to building relationships and creating opportunities for Indigenous communities through their projects. Mike has been a surface land agent in Alberta for twenty-two years and progressively made his way up through junior, intermedia...
S02|02 - Brent Leftwich
December 16, 2022 08:00 - 56 minutes - 56.5 MBChad Hughes welcomes Brent Leftwich, President of Leftwich Management Inc., to the show. They discuss Brent’s 32+ years experience leading Contract Land Staff (CLS), which he transformed into one of North America’s largest independent right of way and land management companies. Brent shares how he grew the business, introduced key technological advancements, and his insights into the right of way industry. Brent Leftwich earned a BA in Geography with a concentration in Urban Planning and Pu...
S02|01 - Paul Scannell
December 02, 2022 08:00 - 49 minutes - 49.4 MBChad Hughes welcomes Paul Scannell, Manager of Real Estate and Title for Geenex Solar LLC, to the show to talk about title in relation to access. Paul has the better part of 15 years of experience in the sector and sheds light on the intricacies of title, including how minerals for subsurface can affect surface rights. Paul Scannell started in oil and gas research after college before meeting someone who identified his knack for understanding title. That meeting led him into doing title wor...
13 - Jon Yoachim
March 16, 2022 07:00 - 32 minutes - 34.4 MBChad Hughes meets with Jon Yoachim, innovator and Founder of Part & Parcel, to discuss Jon’s background in land access and dive into the details of Part & Parcel. As a matchmaking marketplace that connects access professionals with companies that are hiring, Part & Parcel is set to be a fascinating new resource for the industry. Jon Yoachim has a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate and Land Use Economics, has worked in land acquisition for the likes of Hillard Energy and Faulk & Foster, and ...
12 - Glenn Miller
February 23, 2022 08:00 - 53 minutes - 53.5 MBChad Hughes welcomes Glenn Miller, Land Negotiator and Energy Professional, to the show to discuss his 25+ year career. Together, they dig deep into Glenn’s learning experience with an offshore gas exploration project off the East coast of Cape Breton Island. Glenn Miller grew up on a mixed grain farm North East of Calgary which instilled in him a strong work ethic and respect for the land. In the early 80s a well was drilled on their home quarter and that piqued his interest in how it work...
11 - Dayna Morgan
February 09, 2022 08:00 - 41 minutes - 42.9 MBDayna Morgan, COO at BRITT RADIUS, discusses how the land access industry is changing. She shares how stepping into leadership alongside two other strong women has propelled personal and professional evolution that serves employees and clients alike. Dayna started work at BRITT RADIUS when she was still in university; she enjoyed the work and found a strong mentor in founder Ray Ramsay who invited her to stay on and learn from him. She speaks firsthand to the value of mentorship and in havi...
10 - Nicola Millions-Hollamby
January 19, 2022 08:00 - 45 minutes - 42.8 MBNicola Millions-Hollamby is an Instructor and Coordinator in the Olds College land access training program. Nicola sheds light on the qualities that make students successful, the relevance and transferable content contained in the course material, and how the industry has contributed to the program’s success. Nicola had, in the past, pursued land agent studies at Olds College which led to her career in the land access sector and her work in the oil and gas and utilities sectors. From there ...
09 - David Gould
December 15, 2021 08:00 - 53 minutes - 49.3 MBDavid Gould has over 32 years of experience as a mediator, working to help others resolve conflict. David and Chad Hughes explore the nature of conflict, breaking down how our stories are told, and David shares advice on how he deals with and de-escalates conflict ahead of time. While David Gould started his career as a lawyer, a litigator, he engaged in mediation training in 1988 and, in his words, became “enamored with it”. He has mediated in situations as varied as with the Canadian insu...
08 - Travis Warren
December 01, 2021 08:00 - 54 minutes - 54.6 MBTravis Warren has extensive experience securing access for renewable energy development across the United States. He discusses with Chad Hughes some of the key differences between access needs for renewable energy projects versus access required for pipeline projects. Travis began his career in land access in 2006 in the renewable sector. He trained on the job with a company in Texas and learned both access and renewable energy at the same time. While the majority of his career has been sup...
07 - Dan Tocher
November 17, 2021 08:00 - 45 minutes - 46 MBDan Tocher, Vice President Stakeholder Relations for Greengate Power, has worked on some of the largest renewable energy projects in Canada. He walks Chad Hughes through his career and the skills that have assisted him in becoming a leader in his field, and how he deployed these skills in acquiring the access required for the Travers Solar Project. Dan Tocher grew up in Guelph, Ontario and it wasn’t until he moved to Alberta in 2005 when someone offhandedly said to him “you should be a land...
06 - Chris Lupaschuk
November 03, 2021 07:00 - 53 minutes - 53.4 MBChris Lupaschuk started in land acquisition in 2005 while attending Olds College. In 2017 his career journey led him to a copper mining project in the Republic of Serbia where he developed the first successful land acquisition and resettlement program in the country. Moving from Canada to Serbia was a giant leap for Chris Lupaschuk and his family but in examining the opportunity he realized that “it really had to do with the adventures, when we actually looked on a map and saw where Serbia...
05 - Chris Bakker
October 20, 2021 07:00 - 1 hour - 59.7 MBChris Bakker has over 20 years of access experience in the oil and gas and mining sectors. In today’s episode, he breaks down lessons he’s learned and experiences he’s had that have shaped how he approaches business with his company Avanti Energy. In 2002/2003 Chris worked in Eastern Europe, specifically in Romania, where he says things worked in a manner that was 180 degrees different from how they work here. That eye-opening experience taught him to very much consider the culture and comm...
04 - Jason Gouw
October 06, 2021 07:00 - 56 minutes - 56.1 MBJason Gouw has 25+ years of experience managing land acquisition and engagement programs and has seen substantial changes in the industry with how stakeholders and Indigenous communities participate. He believes collaborative relationships and transparent engagement are the keys to the progressive future of land access. Having grown up on an irrigation farm, one with cows, Jason was no stranger to agricultural considerations but he knew early on that farming was not his path. After an enjoy...
03 - Sandy Grigg
September 22, 2021 07:10 - 1 hour - 62.6 MBSandy Grigg has 45 years of public sector real estate and consultancy experience. He’s gained much insight through every facet of his career, but one of his most valued takeaways is that collaboration and person to person relationships define success. From relatively humble beginnings as a clerk with Ontario Hydro, Sandy has worked through every aspect of real estate from property acquisition to appraisal to project planning and more. Something he realized early on was that “the more you ge...
02 - Andrew Hamilton
September 22, 2021 07:05 - 1 hour - 63.5 MBAndrew Hamilton’s 20+ year career in the energy sector has taught him many lessons, but none greater than the careful skills and transparency necessary in dealing with stakeholders. And he says “The easiest way to be consistent is to be honest.” Andrew Hamilton counts his career path as an “accidental journey”. Out of high school he studied forestry in university which he decided wasn’t for him, but the handful of soil courses he took really resonated. An agriculture degree and soil science...
01 - Michael McPhie
September 22, 2021 07:00 - 49 minutes - 53.7 MBMike McPhie holds a philosophy of taking time for conversation and sincerity; he finds this serves him well in his work navigating the natural resources sector. With over two decades of experience, Mike shares what he’s learned from success and failure in his career. Having earned a Bachelor of Science in physical geography from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, then a Master of Science in environmental management and business from Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC, Mike’s career...
Coming Soon: Elevated Access
August 24, 2021 17:33 - 54 seconds - 3.53 MBComing Soon: Elevated Access, a podcast about the access required for energy and infrastructure developments across North America. Join me, Chad Hughes, as we meet with those at the top of their field whose experiences have helped shape the energy and infrastructure landscape – leaders who get access. Whether you’re a business leader, project developer, or professional who has been part of the access journey, or simply interested in what enables development, this podcast sheds light on the...