Profile : Project Manager of Research and Development at Inversa Systems

By Jennifer Campbell, Telegraph Journal | link to original article

Joel Richard was working for a “big-big” Australian company – namely the billion-dollar Eaton Corporation – when he was head-hunted by a New Brunswick company and asked to return to his home province.

The timing was perfect for the University of New Brunswick engineering graduate who was happy to go from “the big, tough, unforgiving organization in the middle of a global recession, which made it a rather unfriendly place to be, to the down-home east start-up.”

Now project manager of research and development at Inversa Systems Ltd., the 27-year-old leads the team that develops technology for industrial and civil inspections. Using computed axial tomography (CATscan), the company can see engineering problems that aren’t visible to the naked eye. For example, they’ve had success using the technology to inspect culverts for erosion of soil not otherwise visible because it’s beneath the road.

“Every spring, you see roadway collapses because you couldn’t identify where the problem areas were,” Richard explains. “We go in and identify the areas that we can repair, versus replace. It’s a big cost savings – the buzzword is budget optimization.”

At this point, Inversa is a 10-person company and Richard finds himself in a fairly senior management position. His two superiors, the company founders, both took part in the Wallace McCain Institute’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program and suggested that he take part in another, the second-in-command program. It helps the 2iCs of organizations understand their roles and improve their performance.

His most important lesson so far is that there’s “a balance between the health of a business or organization and the well-being and fulfillment of the individuals within it.”