OUR TEAM

Mark Kuppe founded Acero in 2006 and remains the Chief Executive Officer. He has over 25 years of Oil and Gas experience in Project Engineering and Management. Mark has been involved with various sizes of projects that range from wellsite installations to facility optimizations to international EPFs, CPFs, terminals and more. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta (1990) and is a registered member of APEGA, APEGS and APEGBC. Mark stays involved in the day to day operations of Acero while occasionally still providing Project Management and Engineering support where needed.

Salim Zaghmout has been a part of the Acero team since 2011. He brings over 20 years of extensive international project engineering experience in the energy industry; from design through to and including, construction and commissioning. Salim is technically involved in the day-to-day details of on-going project execution; whether directly dealing with clients or providing support to the senior managers. Salim is the bridge between the frontline workers and the resources needed to allow them to most effectively execute their work.

Mike Krebs has been a part of Acero since 2011. He has over 28 years of international and domestic Oil and Gas experience in both equipment fabrication and EPCM environments. As a Project Manager, Mike has spent the last 19 years managing oil and gas facility upgrades, well-site tie-ins, pipeline projects, and the design and engineering of heavy oil equipment packages and heat exchangers. With his penchant for “Quality”, Mike is not only a Senior PM at Acero, but also a Director and the VP of QHSE and Project Services. Since 2013, Mike has been responsible managing and improving the Acero Health and Safety program, consistently achieving COR audit scores above 95% year after year. Mike has also been leading the team for achieving and maintaining ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certification and implementing ISO 45001:2018 into the well-established Safety Program at Acero.

John Fayad brings to Acero a technical background as well as a Project Managerial and business acumen that stretches from the Middle East and Africa to North and South America. John spent several years as a construction field engineer in the United Arab Emirates before immigrating to Canada. At Acero, John has acted as Project Manager, Project Sponsor and as well, as Acero’s VP of International Operations. John’s experience affords him both technical and commercial awareness of all aspects of his projects.

Rola Bittar joined the Acero team as the V.P of Finance & Administration in 2011. Since 2008, her experience has been in private accounting (primarily financial and managerial) within in the manufacturing, telecom and oil & gas industries. Her current responsibilities include analyzing financial information, preparing financial reports, performing financial forecasting, transmitting and approving domestic and international payments, insuring accounts receivable and accounts payable, increasing efficiency and improving workflow through creative process improvements, and insuring Acero’s human capital. She also sets goals, business metrics and standards, comparing analyzed results to ensure departments meet their milestones. Rola has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Mount Royal University.

Richard Enns has over 30 years of experience in process design and project management. His experience includes conceptual design, detailed specification, commissioning and start-up of land-based and off-shore oil and gas production facilities, gas plants, refineries and petrochemical facilities, as well as multiphase and dense phase pipeline systems on land and undersea. He has been published in technical journals, taught technical seminars and has contributed presentations to both clients and professional societies.

Ken Olshaski has over 29 years of experience in civil structural design and team lead management in the oil and gas industry. His experience ranges from conceptual and detailed design to involvement in the development of project studies (FEED), DBM's, project scope and specifications, budget estimates, manpower loading and scheduling. Projects worked on include well tie-ins to oil batteries, large compressor stations to process facilities and many other brownfield and greenfield installations. Ken holds a Bachelor of Science Degree (1988) from the University of Alberta and is registered with APEGA, EGBC and APEGS.

Ginette Brown is an experienced regulatory and compliance specialist with over 17 years of experience plus 9 years of experience in procurement. She is a SAIT graduate in Chemical Engineering Technology, and CET with ASET, with a vast knowledge of BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan regulations. Ginette manages the regulatory applications for facility and pipeline projects, ensures compliance for application audits with the AER, coordinates pressure piping registration applications, checks notification letters, prepares regulatory strategies, provides regulations and advice to engineers during the design phase of a project.

Randy Unrau brings over thirty five (35) years of experience in the design, construction, modification and troubleshooting of gas processing and oil production equipment, usually in the role of Project Manager and/or Project Engineer. His responsibilities have included equipment procurement and sizing, development of budgets and schedules, management of engineering and mechanical teams, as well as the coordination of construction contractors and consultants, cost control, and FEED studies. Randy received his B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Calgary.

Rohan Balkaran is results-driven, safety-focused professional engineer who brings a valuable set of skills and broad range of field experience to the design table; having worked extensively in the field (primarily in central and northern Alberta) for the better part of the past decade. Rohan has worked in conventional gas conditioning and oil processing facilities troubleshooting, de-bottlenecking, optimizing, designing and operating. He is enthusiastic in resolving challenges of various complexities as a member of a team, independently (as he has operated in the field), or through leadership as a project manager. Rohan brings a practical understanding of “how things are really done”, to the design stage of projects; resulting in project outcomes that are technically grounded and aligned with how they are truly implemented in the field; minimizing rework, redesign and/or redlining.

Hugo Barroso is a Project Manager with over 10 years of oil and gas experience in western Canada, and over 5 years of field operations experience in South America. He possesses solid working knowledge of ASME B 31.3, B31.8, CSA Z662, API 11P, API 650, API 653, API 12J and API RP 14E as well as a combination of technical office know-how and practical field installation requirements.