We are pleased to announce the appointment of our new Hydro, Dams and Water Vice-Presidents. This group will strengthen our executive leadership, positioning KGS to better serve our clients and deliver custom engineering solutions built for lifelong relationships.

Adam Pawlikewich: Vice-President – Power and Energy
With over 27 years of experience, Adam brings extensive expertise in delivering electrical systems for large-scale hydroelectric and industrial projects. In this role, he will lead our power and energy services as well as our electrical discipline across the company.

Dami Adedapo: Vice-President – Dams and Earth Science
In this role, Dami will be focused on advancing our dams and earth science portfolio while continuing to lead our geotechnical practice. With over 27 years of experience, he will provide strategic guidance on complex projects involving dam safety, geotechnical engineering and seismic risk.

David S. Brown: Vice-President – Water Management
Over his 28 year career, David has built his expertise in hydrologic and hydraulic design and resilient water infrastructure. In this role, David will lead strategy and client development across our water management, hydro and dams work.

Dave MacMillan: Vice-President – Hydro and Water
With more than 40 years of industry experience, Dave has helped shape many of KGS’s most significant projects and client relationships. He will provide strategic guidance and mentorship to the leadership team while contributing to major hydro and dam projects.

Together, Adam, Dami, David and Dave bring together decades of experience. Their leadership will drive KGS forward as we continue to support our clients across North America and beyond.

As we celebrate our 40^th anniversary, this milestone is about more than reflecting on our history. It’s an opportunity to give back by supporting organizations that make a meaningful difference in the communities where we live and work. In honour of this, KGS donated a total of $40,000 to four community organizations, each doing meaningful work to help improve the lives of those around them. 

Supporting Possibility: Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation – Adaptive Bike Program 

Helmut Graumann, Founding Principal, selected the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation –Adaptive Bikes Program, an initiative that gives children and youth the opportunity to experience the milestone of riding a bike. The program provides customized adaptive bicycles that are designed and modified by a team of engineers and rehabilitation specialists to meet each child’s unique needs. 

Learn more about the work they do here: https://crf.mb.ca/

Empowering Women and Gender-Diverse Individuals: The North End Women’s Centre  

Dave MacMillan, Founding Principal and Vice-President – Hydro and Water, chose the North End Women’s Centre (NEWC), Winnipeg’s longest-running inner-city women’s centre. NEWC provides programs and resources for women and gender-diverse individuals, helping create pathways to stability and community connection. The organization’s longstanding commitment to inclusion and support has made a meaningful impact on countless lives throughout Winnipeg.  

Learn more about the work they do here: https://newcentre.org/

Creating Safe Spaces for Youth: Rossbrook House 

J. Bert Smith, Founding Principal, selected Rossbrook House, an organization that supports more than 1,000 children and youth between the ages of 6 and 24 each year. Rossbrook House offers far more than a safe place to be. Its programs include off-campus school programs, supports for young mothers, sports and recreation, Indigenous cultural programming, leadership development opportunities, music education, and a healthy kitchen program that provides daily meals while teaching valuable life skills. Through its holistic approach, Rossbrook House helps young people reach their full potential.  

Learn more about the work they do here: https://rossbrookhouse.ca/

Supporting Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Riverview Health Centre  

Demetrios Kontzamanis, Founding Principal, selected the Riverview Health Centre Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program. The program supports individuals living with the effects of traumatic brain injuries and provides specialized rehabilitation services that help people manage functional limitations, regain independence and improve their quality of life. Through expert care and support, the program plays a critical role in helping patients navigate their recovery journey. Helene Kontzamanis presented the donation on his behalf. 

Learn more about the work they do here: https://rhc.mb.ca/services-programs/acquired-brain-injury-rehab/

Celebrating 40 Years Through Community Impact 

We are grateful for the important work being done by these organizations. Their dedication to serving others inspires us, and we are honoured to support them as part of our 40th anniversary celebration. 

Here’s to 40 years of building stronger communities together. 

Yehia Ibrahim has been announced as the new Mechanical Department Head in our Mississauga office.

Since joining KGS Group in the spring of 2022, Yehia has brought valuable technical expertise and leadership to the Mississauga team. As a Mechanical Engineer, he has designed HVAC, plumbing, compressed air, hydronic, steam and natural gas systems for food and beverage, industrial, pharmaceutical and commercial projects. His broad expertise and collaborative approach have made a positive impact on both our projects and our team.

During his time at KGS, Yehia has taken on lead design roles for all mechanical balance of plant elements at the Coniston, Stinson and Matabitchuan generating stations. He also led due diligence efforts with Innergex Canada for the acquisition of Canadian hydro assets, working alongside a small multidisciplinary team.

Yehia is a dependable engineer who brings strong leadership and collaboration to every project. Throughout his career, he has taken on numerous leadership, coordination and client-facing responsibilities, consistently earning the trust of clients and colleagues alike. His technical expertise, commitment to teamwork and ability to build strong relationships make him well suited for this leadership role.

“I am looking forward to working more closely with the team, supporting everyone’s success and continuing to build a collaborative environment so we can keep doing great things together and take on new challenges as a team,” says Yehia.

Congratulations Yehia!

Our second annual Purple Carpet Award winners have been announced!

These awards recognize employees who bring KGS Group’s purpose, mission, vision and values to life every day. Whether it’s delivering technical excellence or showing strong leadership, mentorship and collaboration, these awards celebrate team members who consistently go above and beyond.

Congratulations to this year’s winners:

• Excellence in Action – Giles Smalley, Urban Streets Lead / Senior Transportation Engineer, Winnipeg
• Extra Mile – Brooke Irving, Water Resources GIS Lead, Winnipeg
• Outstanding Leader – Michael St. Germain – Electrical Assistant Department Head, Mississauga
• Mentor the Future – Scott Murison, Structural Design Lead, Winnipeg
• Rookie of the Year – Yashish Sharma, Water Resources Engineer-in-Training, Vancouver

We want to extend our congratulations to all the winners and their exceptional dedication to KGS. Watch the video below to learn more about why they were chosen!

When KGS Group was founded 40 years ago, there were no offices across North America, no sophisticated document management systems and no digital workflows. There were only a handful of people in a small office, a growing stack of projects and a young administration team helping hold everything together.

Two of these earliest administrators were Pina Di Canio and Heather Ironside, who joined KGS within weeks of each other in 1988. Nearly four decades later, they have witnessed this small Winnipeg-based group of four engineers grow into an international engineering consulting firm, serving clients across North America and beyond.

But let’s take a step back.

For Pina, the decision to join KGS came down to a gut feeling. As a recent grad out of South Winnipeg Technical College, Pina was looking for her first corporate job. She remembers Dave MacMillan, Founding Principal, telling her about the company, its size and how passionate everyone was about their work. She immediately felt an energy that stood out to her.

“They really wanted someone new on the team,” recalled Pina. “I submitted my resume, was interviewed, and got the job offer all in the same day.”

Heather’s path was similarly straightforward: fresh out of Red River College, she saw a job posting pinned to the bulletin board and applied immediately. She interviewed soon after and received an offer the very next day. It would become her first, and only, full-time corporate job, turning into a decades-long career.

“I had an interview with a competitor around the same time, but I had a good feeling about KGS Group, and I knew that’s the job I wanted to pursue,” Heather remarked.

Administration at KGS looked very different in the late 1980s than it does today. Reports arrived handwritten, proposals were painstakingly assembled by hand and a single typo meant spending hours fixing the mistake. Soil logs were prepared on typewriters, dot matrix printers loudly handled one page at a time and deadlines still existed, but there was no online folder to throw documents into.

“You just had to get it done,” said Heather. “It was a different way of doing stuff. You just had to do it.”

The work was demanding, but Pina and Heather both remember the way the atmosphere of the office felt: it was special.

Beyond the work, family picnics were annual highlights, employees knew one another’s spouses and children, and it felt like a second home.

“The company was built on a family-oriented culture,” said Pina. “Today, it’s rooted in the same values of care, respect and support for employees.”

That sense of connection extended beyond the office walls. As one of the first voices that clients heard when they called KGS, Pina saw firsthand how relationships helped build the business. Long before customer relationship management systems existed, she knew many callers by name and worked to ensure every interaction felt personal.

As KGS grew, so did the complexity of the work that flowed through the Administration Department. Major projects generated boxes of reports, increasingly complex submissions and new responsibilities. But with the growth also came opportunity.

“The work started coming in across Canada from Kenora and Thunder Bay to the Yukon. We must have been doing something right because we kept getting bigger projects,” Heather said.

Today, both women look around and see an organization that is almost unrecognizable from the one they joined, in the best way possible. The technology has changed, the offices have multiplied and the company has grown into something better.

However, some things still remain the same.

“I feel good,” said Heather, reflecting on KGS’s growth. “The Administration Department has really made a lasting impact on the history of KGS Group.”

“We are proud of the part we played in making this place as great as it is today,” adds Pina.

Forty years later, the projects may be larger and the teams more diverse, but the people behind the scenes remain an important part of what makes KGS a continued success. It is a reminder that every great engineering story is also a story about the people who helped make it happen.

Turning 40 is a remarkable milestone, and one worth celebrating. At KGS Group, this anniversary has given us many reasons to reflect on the people, culture and shared commitment that have shaped our organization over the past four decades. This year’s Employee Appreciation Day was the perfect time to honour the team behind our success, and we made sure the celebration matched the occasion.

Across all our offices, teams came together for a day of celebrating. From food trucks and sweet treats to magicians, photobooths, games and even a now-infamous dunk tank, the energy and enthusiasm were unmistakable. It was a chance to step away from the day-to-day, enjoy time with colleagues and celebrate the people who make KGS what it is.

As we continue recognizing 40 years of KGS, we’re grateful for the team that has carried us from our early days to the multidisciplinary, employee-owned firm we are today. Every milestone we reach reflects the people behind it, and this celebration was our small way of saying thank you.

In celebration of the 13^th annual International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), we’re recognizing the women of KGS Group and their contributions. INWED is a global initiative that celebrates women in engineering and the impact they have across the profession. 

This year’s theme, Engineering Intelligence, goes beyond technical expertise – it’s the combination of knowledge, experience and leadership used to solve complex challenges. 

We asked women across KGS what Engineering Intelligence means to them, and their responses reflect the range of perspectives and insight across our teams and the work we do every day.  

Watch the video to hear what they had to say.  

The Women of KGS Committee 

The Women of KGS Committee is dedicated to building connection, opportunity and equity across our organization. Through networking, advocacy and professional development, the committee supports women at all stages of their careers while helping shape a more inclusive and diverse workplace. 

The Women of KGS is aligned with industry-wide efforts, including the 30 by 30 initiative, which aims to have 30% of newly licensed engineers be women by 2030. At KGS, we’re commitment to increasing diversity across all levels of the organization and building a more representative workforce. 

Highlights from this year’s initiatives 

Women Who Lead Panel 

In March, KGS hosted a virtual Women Who Lead panel featuring six emerging leaders from across the organization. 

The discussion explored: 

• Personal leadership journeys and career pathways 

• Challenges faced and lessons learned  

• Practical advice for growth and navigating career development 

The panel created space for open, honest conversation and provided valuable insights for employees at all stages of their careers. 

30 by 30 Conference 

KGS was a Trailblazer Sponsor of the 30 by 30 Conference, Beyond Boundaries: Collaborating for Collective Action. The three-day conference in May brought together the SETT (science, engineering, trades and technology) community with the objective of advancing gender equity and fostering more inclusive workplaces and learning environments. 

KGS staff members who attended connected with peers across the industry while exploring actions individuals and organizations can take to improve workplace culture, policies and retention. They also gained insight into best practices for addressing barriers to entry and advancement for women in engineering. 

WinSETT professional development 

This spring, KGS partnered again with WinSETT (Women in Science, Engineering, Trades and Technology) to host a virtual professional development session. 

The session, “Working Collaboratively Across Generations,” focused on: 

• Understanding similarities and differences between generations in the workplace 

• Building stronger intergenerational relationships 

• Identifying strategies for effective communication and collaboration 

Women of KGS Teams channel  

We introduced the Women of KGS Teams channel as a dedicated space to support connection and community among women across the organization. The channel provides an opportunity for women to connect, learn from one another and share ideas or resources that resonate with them.  

Cupcakes and Conversations 

Our 6th annual Cupcakes and Conversations event brought women together from across the organization to connect beyond their immediate teams and build relationships in an informal and welcoming environment. 

We’re excited to share that Amy Wtorek has joined the KGS Winnipeg team as the Hydro Structural Department Head.

Amy brings with her over 20 years working in structural engineering and design with much of that time with Manitoba Hydro working as an internal consultant to various groups, specialized in the design, upgrading, restoration and maintenance of transmission line infrastructure, substations, and telecommunication structures.

In addition to her utility sector experience, Amy has worked in commercial building structural design and wood truss system design, providing her with a broad technical foundation across multiple sectors of the structural engineering industry.

As a leader, she is recognized for her approach to collaboration, her passion for developing strong technical skills and her ability to deliver practical engineering solutions in multidisciplinary environments.

We look forward to seeing the continued success of the hydro structural team with Amy leading the charge.

At KGS Group, supporting mental health is an important part of how we care for our people. We believe a healthy workplace is one where employees feel supported, respected and connected, and where well-being is recognized as essential to both individual and organizational success.

Throughout the year, we create opportunities that encourage connection, reduce stress and support overall well-being. From team activities and wellness events to educational sessions and informal moments of connection, we aim to foster an environment where people can bring their whole selves to work and feel supported in doing so.

This May we recognized Mental Health Awareness Month, reflecting our ongoing commitment to building a workplace culture that prioritizes mental health, connection and balance. Take a look at some of the activities our team participated in!

It was the winter of 1990 when Rob Kenyon travelled to Lac Seul, and KGS Group was still making a name for itself.

For Rob, hired the winter prior as Senior Geotechnical Engineer, working on large projects felt familiar. For KGS Group, it was an opportunity for a small, recently established firm to showcase its capabilities to the world.

The Lac Seul Dam, part of the Ear Falls Generating Station, is a powerhouse and headworks dam and spillway control structure on the Winnipeg River system. It was jointly administered by Ontario Hydro (now Ontario Power Generation), Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg Hydro (later merged with Manitoba Hydro), Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

The structure, built in the 1930s, was declining due to time and the environment. The dam’s deck was a highway crossing up to the mid 1980s, and years of roadway salt exposure had deteriorated its concrete.

The rehabilitation of the structure required solid engineering expertise, careful planning and effective control of the construction work. “We had to take off the road deck, and we were mapping and demolishing the weathered and salt-affected concrete,” said Rob, who served as the Resident Engineer for the project execution. “Pier by pier, bay by bay.”

Twenty bays to be exact, eight for the powerhouse intake and 12 for the spillway structure, each roughly 75 feet tall. Each bay was assessed, repaired and rebuilt, all while keeping the dam in service. A maximum of four spillway bays could be taken out of service at a time to enable Ontario Hydro and the Lake of the Woods Control Board to maintain spillway capacity. Something that required careful sequencing, robust temporary works and absolute confidence in design.

The temporary works at the intake and west abutment gravity dam, one of the project’s most effective solutions, were conceived by Helmut Graumann and former KGS employee, Jim Wedgewood.

“They employed a simple moveable cofferdam system that isolated individual bays,” notes Rob. “Once put in place, water pressure sealed the system against the concrete face and piers, allowing crews to work in the dry, demolish weathered concrete surfaces, and rebuild structural elements. The intake work also included supply of new sectional bulkhead gates designed by Demetrios Kontzamanis.

Rob recalls that spillway pier repairs were completed behind existing spillway stoplogs, including pier reconstruction, upgrading of stoplog guides and sill beams, and anchoring of the spillway base slabs. Earlier chemical grouting of the foundation, designed and directed by Bert Smith had minimized seepage through the headworks foundations.

Our Founders designed and tendered this project the year before Rob got involved. The entire KGS team, consisting of six engineers and support staff at the time, was overjoyed when they were awarded the project in 1987 after being up against the five largest hydropower consultants in Canada. Their expertise and confidence paid off; the project proceeded with few surprises, on time and on budget, a rare outcome for a project of this scale and complexity.

For Rob, the experience reinforced the importance of clear design thinking and adaptability in the field. “We didn’t go in knowing all the answers,” he recalls, “but we knew we could figure them out. I could work without fear, because I knew the team was supporting me.”

When the project was completed, its impact on KGS Group extended beyond the project timeline itself. It provided financial stability for a young company just starting out, credibility and proof that we could deliver a major project for a reputable client. Our work on this project led to further dam rehabilitation and hydroelectric work across the country. It also established our relationship with several major hydro utilities, which remain amongst our largest clients today.

Nearly four decades later, the work done on Lac Seul stands as one of our foundational achievements. It has withstood the test of time, as a project that helped shape how we approach complex engineering work on high-risk infrastructure. While a relatively small project compared to today’s standards, Lac Seul set a trajectory in motion that, only a few years later, would see those same engineers called upon to protect entire communities from flooding at an unprecedented scale.

That story begins downstream.

We are proud to announce that Adam Ruberto is our new Structural Department Head for Thunder Bay.

Adam joined KGS in 2008 as a Structural Engineer-in-Training after completing his Bachelor of Engineering from Lakehead University. He has worked in our Thunder Bay and Mississauga offices, most recently, serving as Assistant Department Head for the structural engineering group. His expertise includes leading structural and multi-disciplinary projects within the commercial, industrial and institutional sectors.

Adam is experienced in structural analysis and design as well as in feasibility studies, concept and detailed design, rehabilitation and construction of new and existing structures and has extensive experience in structural condition assessments. He has also been a part of the civil/structural analysis and inspection aspects of water retention/dam projects.

Congratulations on your new role Adam!

KGS Group brought home an Award of Excellence from the 2026 Association of Consulting Engineering Companies Manitoba (ACEC-MB) Awards!

Congratulations to everyone who worked on this project.

The Little Long Dam Safety Project increased the Adam Creek Sluiceway’s discharge capacity by over 40% to meet Ontario Power Generation’s updated Inflow Design Flood requirements. The multidisciplinary team applied advanced geotechnical investigations, CFD and physical hydraulic modelling, and innovative structural solutions to design and construct four new sluice bays while keeping existing infrastructure safely in service. The project strengthened climate resilience, reduced environmental impacts such as Lake Sturgeon entrainment, and included significant Indigenous participation. Completed in 2025, it achieved exemplary safety, cost and schedule performance for a complex, high-risk dam safety upgrade, supported by effective collaboration with all partners

Read more about this project.