Our Board

Arnold Balicki ranches with his wife Peggy, son Leonard and daughter Sarah. They own and operate the LB Ranch located north of Shellbrook, Saskatchewan, where they raise commercial and pure bred Black Angus cattle. Arnold has been involved with the SK VBP Program over a number of years as a presenter, an auditor and as a producer - his ranch is VBP audited. For the past 2 years he has served on AITC-SK board as a producer, representing the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association. He has served on the Board of Directors for Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association since 2005. AITC-SK has a special meaning for him, his daughter worked at AITC-SK during university. Her employment with AITC gave him insight as to what AITC-SK meant and how it brings a greater awareness about agriculture to Saskatchewan students. He has enjoyed serving on the AITC Board of Directors representing the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association.

Heather Boensch was raised on a mixed cattle and grain farm in South Western Saskatchewan. She received her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture majoring in Agronomy from the University of Saskatchewan, is a member of the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists (PAg), and Certified Crop Science Consultant (CCSC). Heather has worked in the agriculture industry for over sixteen years and brings experience in the areas of Strategy, Communications, Territory Sales Management, Recruitment, Agronomy, and Market Development. She is the Director of Business Resources for Winfield United where she oversees technical training and professional development, organizational development and financial services for Winfield United Owners.

Bob Tosh, PAg., FEA, is a Farm and Family Enterprise Advisor with MNP’s Consulting group. Drawing on his experience in strategic planning, cash flow projections, cost of production analysis and overall farm business planning, Bob has enhanced farm businesses throughout Saskatchewan. Through his work with farm families, Bob has become a specialist in family business succession planning, helping more than 200 families transition to the next generation. In addition, he has taken the Family Enterprise Advisors Program with the Sauder School of Business in B.C. and holds the Family Enterprise Advisor (FEA) designation. As a result of this and other non-farm related work, Bob now helps with the intergenerational transition of all types of family-owned businesses. Originally from the U.K., Bob spent his early post-school years working on farms and attending agricultural college. He then served in the British military before going on to attend university, where he gained a First Class Honors Degree in Agriculture from the University of Wales in Bangor. After nine years as a Farm Business Advisor in Scotland, Bob came to Canada with his family in 2008 and joined MNP as part of the Farm Management Consulting team in northern Saskatchewan. Bob also holds the Professional Agrologist (PAg.) designation and is a member of the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise (CAFE) and the Institute of Family Enterprise Advisors (IFEA).

Greg was born and raised in Nipawin, Saskatchewan, and experienced the importance of farming from spending time on his grandparents farm which made up much of the family's menu. Large gardens and berry-picking supplied fruits and vegetables while the meat supply included chickens, beef, and pork. Greg spent 8 summers through high school and university working for a local apiarist, Bob Knox, and learned the importance of diversified agriculture to the local, provincial and national economies. Greg recently retired after 30 years in education as a teacher, administrator, and finally a curriculum coordinator at the Ministry of Education in the area of Practical and Applied Arts. Greg wrote the Career Education curriculum for grades 6 to 9. As well Greg was the co-creator of the provincial Youth Apprenticeship program which has raised the profile of trades education in Saskatchewan schools. Greg is the proud father of two boys and lives in Regina with his wife, Shirley Humphries.

Krystal Aulie is the Agriculture Awareness Manager with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. She leads the Ministry's efforts to build society's trust in modern food production by engaging industry, supporting youth and consumer education initiatives, and working with federal and provincial partners to align programming. Krystal also serves as the Chair of the Ministry's Social Licence Oversight Committee which seeks to ensure the industry is 'doing the right thing' to address key threats to agriculture's social licence. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan and was the recipient of the Premier's Award for Excellence in the Public Service in 2016.

Dean Elliott has been the Science Consultant for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education since 2003. In this role, he is responsible for all K-12 science curriculum development in English, supporting implementation of science curriculum provincially, speaking to university science methods courses, and liaising with provincial and national science education outreach organizations. Dean previously spent 12 ½ years with the Saskatoon Public School Division as a secondary science teacher and two years as the school division education technology consultant. Dean is a past-president of the Saskatchewan Science Teachers’ Society, a recipient of the Canadian Association of Physicists Teacher of the Year Award, the Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada FuturEd Award, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan Friend of the Professions Award, the Premier’s Award for Excellence in Public Service and recently received the designation of Fellow of Engineers Canada (Honorary). Dean has a B.Sc. and B.Ed. from the University of Saskatchewan, an M.Ed. from the University of Oregon and an Ed.S. from the University of Georgia.

Brenda grew up in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Both of her grandmothers gardened and instilled that passion early on. She has fond memories of the family farm, north of Edmonton, although she did not grow up there. Brenda has a PhD specializing in weed ecology, and a Bachelors of Education. She has worked for the Crop Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada, University of Saskatchewan, and Saskatoon Public School Board, as well as being an independent consultant. Brenda has conducted hundreds of organic inspections, teaches an online course on organic weed management, and is delighted to be able to bring gardening and farming into the classroom.