Tony Franceschini, Edmonton, Member

Tony Franceschini is an accomplished businessman and community volunteer.

Born in Italy and raised in Toronto, Mr. Franceschini was educated in civil engineering at the University of Waterloo. An Edmontonian since 1976, Mr. Franceschini joined Stantec, a small engineering company, in 1978. Appointed as the company's third President and CEO in 1998 and retired in May 2009, Stantec grew into a 10,000 person global design firm under Mr. Franceschini's leadership.

Mr. Franceschini continues to serve on the Board of Directors of Stantec Inc., and is also on the Board of Directors of Esterline Technologies Corporation, ZCL Composites Inc., Aecon Group Inc., and CCI Thermal Technologies, Inc.

Mr. Franceschini is committed to good board governance and has participated on many volunteer and community boards including: past chair of Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories; former director and past president of the Edmonton Art Gallery; past director of the Edmonton YMCA and past director of the Edmonton Economic Development Authority.

Mr. Franceschini has also served on the University of Alberta Hospital Foundation, the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute strategy council and the Edmonton United Way cabinet. He is also a fellow of the respected Canadian Academy of Engineering.

In 2003, Mr. Franceschini was named one of Canada's top performing CEOs by the National Post Business magazine and was awarded PSMJ's Annual Design Industry Outstanding CEO of the Year award. He also received the 2005 Engineering Medal for Entrepreneurship, awarded by Professional Engineers Ontario and the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers and the 2005 Alberta Centennial Medal.

Most recently, Mr. Franceschini was named the top CEO by Canadian Business magazine and selected as the Canadian Business Leader of the Year by the University of Alberta's School of Business.