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).

Krystal Tendler 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.

Jackie grew up on a farm north of Saskatoon and still has family members who are farming. She is passionate about sharing knowledge of agriculture and bioscience. Jackie earned a bachelor degree in Visual Communications from the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, AB. Since then, she has had a wide range of work experience, ranging from designing interpretive centres, to co-owner of a weekly newspaper. She has been with Ag-West Bio since 2005, starting as the Communications Assistant, and taking the role of Communications Director in 2008. Jackie's duties at Ag-West Bio include communications strategy, media relations, marketing, social media, publication development and website maintenance. She also works with the bioscience community on a variety of communications and outreach endeavours, including serving as chair for the Biotech Week committee, and coordinating the Science Zone for Ag in the City.

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.

Denise dairy farms with her husband Kevin at McLean, SK. They milk between 170 and 180 cows and farm about 1500 acres of land. Denise and Kevin are proud parents of four grown children and two teenagers. Denise has worked as a teacher, but now devotes all of her time to their farm. She has been a board member for SaskMilk for the past two years. Denise's two main passion are farming and youth. She enjoys every aspect of farming and feels that as farmers they have a wonderful opportunity to work with their own families. Denise also enjoys working with and training young employees on their farm. Outside of farming Denise enjoys participating in music and watching their children's sports activities.

Jill McDonald is the Executive Director of SaskBarley. Reporting to an elected board of six producers, Jill ensures that SaskBarley identifies, develops and supports research, market development and extensions initiatives that ensure long term, profitable and sustainable barley production for Saskatchewan farmers. Previously, Jill worked for Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP), for a private advertising company and more recently as a lecturer and research associate at the University of Saskatchewan, as well as running a small business with her husband. Recently, Jill retired from the board of the Saskatchewan Horse Federation after serving over ten years with that organization in a variety of roles, including four years as Vice-President of Finance. Jill holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Saskatchewan. Originally from a cattle ranch near Indian Head, Jill and her family currently reside on a farm just outside Saskatoon where they continue to breed and train warmblood horses.

Kathy Doucette is an Environmental Health & Safety Coordinator with Cargill. In her work, Kathy collaborates to lead and deploy strategic initiatives to build a safety first workplace culture. Kathy also leads her peers across the province on key community enrichment programs that focus on promoting food security, nutrition and sustainability. She grew up on a grain farm in Saskatchewan, is inspired by her young daughter, and is confident in the future of agriculture when you provide kids with opportunities to learn, explore, be inquisitive and come to their own conclusions.