Management Team
Ben Hume
President and CEO
Through direction of the Management Team, Ben is responsible for the successful implementation of Alco's strategic plans, resulting in improved company performance to our customers, employees and shareholders. Ben spent several years in the food processing equipment industry in addition to holding several senior marketing positions including Corporate Marketing Manager, North America, for a multinational corporation. Ben is a graduate of the British Columbia Institute of Technology with a diploma in Administration. Ben is currently a member and past Chairman of the National Board of Directors for the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.
Peter Siemens
Product Manager, Mirage
Peter has been with Alco for over twenty years and has served in various positions including welder, foreman, plant manager, and sales representative. Peter has extensive knowledge of aluminum products, computer-aided design and the construction industry in general. As the Product Development Manager for Mirage, he is responsible for providing customers and the Company with a sustainable product advantage through the development and improvement of existing and future products and manufacturing processes. This responsibility includes producing engineering documents used for training by all other departments within Alco with emphasis placed on consistency and quality throughout the manufacturing process.
Mark De Beer
Chief Financial Officer
Mark De Beer joined Alco Ventures in April 2008 having held various previous management and finance roles and in both Canada and South Africa and was previously Chief Financial Officer of the Canadian parts distributor, Reliable Parts Ltd. Mark immigrated to Canada from South Africa 8 years ago and has financial management experience in multiple industries including banking, manufacturing, distribution, software development, taxation, and healthcare. He has an MBA from the University of Wales Cardiff Business School and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, an organization leading the training and development of senior management in corporate governance. While Mark has more than 18 years experience in progressively more responsible financial management roles, his hands-on management style, desire to mentor and develop people and passion for operations, sales and business strategy support the management of Alco. Mark stays active in the community and keeps his skills honed by lecturing part-time at the local University of Phoenix campus where he teaches, Organizational Behaviour, Business Strategy, Accounting, Financial Management and Economics to both under-graduate and post-graduate working adult students undertaking their MBA education.
Hugh Alley P.Eng.
Operations Manager
Hugh joined Alco in 2007. He is responsible for all activities related to order fulfillment including supply chain, production and logistics at the three Alco operations. Hugh is an industrial engineer and has worked as a consultant and as an employee in a wide range of public and private organizations. He came to Alco after seven years with the consulting arm of Grant Thornton LLP where his focus was helping clients improve processes and productivity. Prior to that, he worked for WorkSafe BC, and before that he had his own consulting industrial engineering firm where his clients were primarily small and mid-size manufacturing firms.
Hugh is a graduate of the University of Waterloo (systems design engineering), Cornell University (resource economics) and Vancouver School of Theology. He is an occasional lecturer at UBC's Faculty of Commerce and has written frequently about lean production and business decision-making. Hugh is currently on the Board and chairs the Public Affairs Committee of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters BC Division.
Hugh lives in Burnaby with his wife and two teenagers. He and his daughter both do sprint kayaking; his daughter who paddles at the national level leaves him far behind. Hugh and his son build things together.
Doug Ewert
Manager, Information Technology
Doug joined Alco in 1989 and spent 18 years with leadership responsibilities for Accounting, Finance and Information Technology. Doug is a Business Administration graduate from the University of Fraser Valley and a Certified General Accountant. Computer programming and exploring new technologies is one of Doug’s key hobbies so it was no surprise that he decided to take on the leadership of the Information Technology Team full time in 2007. In 2009 Doug became certified as a Microsoft Professional and has acquired several other Microsoft related accreditations.
Doug lives in Abbotsford with is wife Kathy, and Salsa their dog. Together they enjoy the outdoors and travel to new places.
Sharon Muelaner
Manager, Special Projects
Sharon Muelaner is Manager of Special projects at Alco. Sharon joined the company in 1990 in a general accounting position. Since then she has held a series of positions with increasing responsibility in the Accounting Department including many years as Alco's Controller. During her tenure in the Accounting Department, Sharon received her Certified General Accountants designation. Her 18 years of experience with Alco enables her to bring a wealth of information to her new position as Special Projects Manager where she will focus on managing, organizing and implementing long term, corporate projects from vision to execution.
Excellent customer service, very professional. This was a repeat purchase, we have 3 screen and love them! 