Directors
Chris McCue, AScT, President & CEO
I didn’t really like school. I didn’t like the way it was structured. I felt like it wasn’t for me.
When I got out of high school, I got a job at a packaging plant loading boxes onto pallets and driving a forklift. It wasn’t hard to be a standout employee, and I could see pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to be something I could do for the rest of my life.
I saved some money and backpacked through Europe. I visited countries that don’t exist anymore: East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia… It was eye-opening. I learned a lot about myself.
When I returned home, I went back to school. I graduated from KPU’s Environmental Protection Technology Program and got a job with an Environmental Consulting Company.
My job involved collecting samples, lots of samples: from groundwater wells, augers, excavations, soil piles, and remediation systems. I liked the challenge of remediation systems and eventually I became a full time operator, maintainer and installer of remediation systems. It was a somewhat unique skillset that seemed like it could have a life of its own, so that’s what I did.
I founded McCue Environmental Contracting in July, 2000 with a focus on installing, operating and maintaining remediation systems. Our first employee was a guy from my EPT class, there were many more to follow.
As we honed our craft, we started to look other areas that required treatment systems. The opportunity to build a mine water treatment plant came and we took on the challenge. It wasn’t drastically different than the pump & treat systems we were accustomed to, just a bit bigger. It was a success.
Almost 25 years later, the team at McCue Engineering Contractors has developed PANAQUA™ Water & Wastewater Treatment Systems and I couldn’t be prouder of our accomplishments.
Lynda Smithard, PEng, Chief Operating Officer
I was encouraged by three men to become an engineer, which was probably rare for the early 90’s. My grade 11 Physics teacher told me I should seriously consider engineering school and my Dad jumped on that. Dad arranged for me to talk to a family friend, who was a chemical engineer in water treatment, and he convinced me to apply to engineering. 15 years or so later I hired him to work at McCue.
I went to University of Guelph because it was the first and only school that offered Environmental Engineering as a major at the time. I got a scholarship from the Federal Government for school and, as a result, got to meet Roberta Bondar! She gave me a copy of her book and inscribed it with “Lynda, With Best Wishes & Reach for the stars – see you there”. So that’s what I did, well, at least in the context of environmental engineering.
After I graduated, I moved west and started my career as an environmental consultant in their remediation section. I designed, built, and maintained remediation systems on contaminated sites. I spent a lot of time standing in a trench holding onto the end of a 20 foot length of PVC pipe. In fact, it’s where I met Chris; he was holding the other end.
Our paths diverged as I moved up the ladder in some large, prominent engineering firms, but I joined McCue as a 50% owner in 2008. I wanted to forge my own path; make my own decisions. The engineering team was small in the beginning, and I wore a lot of hats. I got good at process and mechanical engineering rapidly. I had to.
As the company grew the complexity of the systems also grew and we hired specialists. I am still involved in every project, though I am now more relied upon for my vision than my engineering skills. I’m still handy with a scale ruler though, don’t worry.
