New NRCB chair, Board member appointed
The Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) is pleased to announce the appointments of Sandi Roberts as chair and Laura Dunham as a governance member of the Board of the NRCB, effective December 13, 2024. The Alberta government made the appointments through Order in Council on December 4, 2024.
Sandi has been a member of the Board of the NRCB since October 2020, following a three-year term as an Acting Board member. She knows the confined feeding industry very well from her time as an NRCB approval officer from 2002 to 2010, and also understands the challenges faced by municipalities as a member of council with the Town of Carstairs from 2010 to 2017. As a councillor she chaired or participated in numerous sub-committees, including the Policy and Governance Committee, the Municipal Planning Commission, and the Municipal Development Committee. Sandi’s early career focused on education, spending 17 years as an instructor at Olds College, including a three-year stint as coordinator for the agricultural engineering technology program, and a one-year term as acting dean of the trades and technology department.
Sandi holds a Bachelor of Science in agricultural engineering, and is a professional engineer. She has always been an active community volunteer and is currently a member of the Central Alberta Regional Assessment Review Board and the Intermunicipal Subdivision and Development Appeal Board for Carstairs, Didsbury, Sundre, and Cremona.
Sandi will take over from Peter Woloshyn who has been Board chair since December 2017. Before that, Peter served as CEO of the NRCB from May 2006 until his appointment as chair, for a total of more than 18 years with the organization.
Laura Dunham joins the Board from the Land and Property Rights Tribunal (LPRT) where she makes decisions for surface rights and expropriation matters, as well as land planning, development, and tax assessments. Prior to her role with the LPRT Laura spent seven years as supervisor and lawyer with the Expropriation Litigation Practice Group with the City of Edmonton. During her tenure with the City of Edmonton Laura was an executive committee member of the “Women@the City” steering committee and co-chair of the Joint Worksite Health & Safety Committee. Before joining the City of Edmonton Laura spent 12 years in the Department of Justice Canada as a lawyer in the Civil Litigation and Advisory Services branch primarily dealing with commercial development and Aboriginal land claims within the national parks.
The Board of the NRCB is responsible for quasi-judicial reviews under the Natural Resources Conservation Board Act, appeals under the Agricultural Operation Practices Act, and governance.