
Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo is an economic engine for Alberta and Canada. It’s a wilderness paradise, with over 100,000 square kilometers to explore – an area larger than Kentucky or Indiana. And it’s home to a highly skilled workforce, with strong Indigenous roots and people from over 90 countries working together.
Over 65% of Canada’s crude oil is extracted from our oil sands. We hold most of the Athabasca Oil Sands, a geological deposit with the third-largest recoverable oil reserves in the world. More than 3.3 million barrels of oil equivalent are produced daily, supported by a network of logistics, transportation, manufacturing, construction, and hospitality businesses. Production is growing, with plans for several expansions or new projects in development.
The development of the oil sands is a story of innovation. Developing a commercially viable crude oil product from the sandy deposits didn’t stop with the first breakthroughs. Continued innovation has improved the efficiency, sustainability, and quality of these processes.
FMWB provides superior road, rail, and air connections. Fort McMurray International Airport offers regular non-stop flights to destinations like Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto. The region’s major highway, Alberta 63, is a high-quality twinned north/south route. Announced provincial investments to improve east/west routes to British Columbia and Saskatchewan will unlock greater possibilities in the region.
Alberta has Canada’s highest labour force participation rate, and FMWB is leads the province for this metric. The regional population is over 106,000, with about three-quarters of people living in the immediate urban area. Skilled trades demand in key industries has encouraged the development of a highly skilled workforce. Keyano College is the region’s premier post-secondary institution and provides ongoing education and training.
FMWB is a welcoming community. Stories of workers arriving for a short-term contract but changing plans to put down long-term roots are common. High quality of life, a diverse community, family-friendly amenities, and a strong social fabric attract new arrivals each year.
Alberta offers the lowest corporate tax rate in Canada, an advantage that is compounded by Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo’s proximity to strong industrial growth, available land, and skilled workforce.
Reliable utilities and our cool climate have recently attracted interest from data centres and other technology providers. Major new commercial developments are attracting new brands and retailers. As Alberta’s population continues to grow at a record pace, new local housing projects are being planned.
One of the biggest projects for FMWB will the Pathway Alliance carbon capture and storage network across northeast Alberta. Regulatory approval for the $16.5 billion project was secured in spring 2024, with planning for the next steps in the project underway. This project will unlock new opportunities for manufacturing, construction, and other sectors.
Our Business and Investment Attraction Team work closely with the municipality and local partners to deliver a smooth experience for new businesses and investors. Over the past few years improvements in permitting and processes have reduced wait times, and new incentives offer improved ROI for projects.
We look forward to working with site selectors on securing valuable opportunities in our region.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Check out our past experiences.
Our Site Selectors will share their insights on the latest trends and best practices, and provide you with information you need to make informed decisions about your economic development efforts.
Paige Webster started his firm in 2013. Paige has worked with many projects across many industry sectors including: aerospace, bio tech, geo-thermal, wind & solar, warehouse/distribution, office projects, data centers, corporate centers and the retail sector. Paige has been working in site selection and economic development for twenty years.
Paige has had extensive site selection experience as he was the Western Regional Real Estate Manager for Aaron Rents. Paige was able to facilitate and expand the major retail expansion for Aaron Rents in the Western United States.
Paige has had experience in the Economic Development arena too. He was the former Economic Development Director for the Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation. Paige’s experience includes working with back office, warehouse distribution, bio-tech, software development companies and food processing companies for the Yuma area.
Paige did extensive work in cross border economic development and was a member of the Border Trade Alliance (BTA) and worked closely with the Arizona Governor’s Office on cross border issues in Mexico. Paige was on the Workforce Development Board and was also a Board Member of the Arizona Association of Economic Development (AAED). Paige has also received the CEcD designation during his career in Economic Development.
Paige also worked for the Arizona Department of Commerce as the Northern Arizona Representative, assisting companies to expand or relocate to the State of Arizona with projects related to injection molding, warehouse/distribution, back office, agro-business, bio-tech, high tech, aviation.
Paige has received his BS in Regional Development from University of Arizona and has also received his MBA in Global Management from the University of Phoenix. Paige resides in Phoenix, AZ and loves to fly fish, play golf, hunt and scuba dive.
Sabrina Champagne works for SLS, LLC as Senior Incentives and Tax Advisor.
Sabrina has spent the past two decades engaged in various aspects of tax credit consulting. Some of her accomplishments include providing federal and state tax credit advice to many leading Fortune 500 companies yielding millions of dollars in annual savings. She has facilitated numerous negotiated incentive packages to offset costs associated with corporate expansion and training activities. She has also worked with the Ministry in Canada to implement the Targeted Wage Subsidy program for a large US retail corporation. She uses a consultative approach when forming partnerships with clients to capture both negotiated and statutory credits to reduce their effective tax rates.
In her spare time, she can be found volunteering at various community events throughout
Indianapolis and surrounding areas. She finally hung up her skates after playing ice hockey for many years, and now spends hours in her organic garden.
specializing in energy and utility consulting. For the past two years, he has served as the Managing Director of SUSA International, which provided energy and utility consulting and major asset disposition. Prior to SUSA, he was Chief Consultant to Lykins Energy Advisors (“Lykins”) and was the founder of STEP Resources, an energy consulting and management company, which he sold to Lykins in late 2015 after growing it from a start-up to managing more than $200 million annually in energy spend for customers. He is also an Affiliated Consultant to KMK Consulting Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of KMK Law firm. He has more than 30 years of experience as an executive and trusted consultant/advisor to his clients, including site construction and developments, utility infrastructure and operations, large deal structuring, strategic planning, and contract negotiations.
Greg has executed more than $2 billion in energy/utility related transactions and more than 10 million sf of real-estate development and site selection projects. He has developed and implemented effective strategies for a variety of companies, including The Boeing Company, Sprint and several Fortune 100 companies. He has more than 30 years of experience in the energy/utility industry, where he has worked on executive leadership roles, business development, electric trading/marketing and electric operations.
He is on retainer by the economic development arm of the state of Ohio (JobsOhio) to assist with large energy/utility issues to attract companies to the state of Ohio. He is also currently involved in large scale site selection for data centers, some of which are 1,000mW in size and include large scale generation projects.
Greg served on the board of the European American Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the Japan America Society of Greater Cincinnati. He is a past board president of The One-Way Farm Children’s home. Greg attended Miami University and was accepted to the Farmer School of Business. He and his family are strong supporters of the Dragonfly Foundation, which he is a former board member.
William R. Parsons is the Principal at WRP, LLC, who oversees Credit & Incentive Practice data analysis team and primarily focuses on data driven site selection and complex tax/business incentive negotiations. He is a graduate of the University of South Florida with bachelor’s degrees in political science and international studies, and an associate degree in astronomy.
With nearly ten years of experience, William has worked on a diverse book of projects from agriculture to aerospace. Currently William is focused on assisting aerospace, defense, and manufacturing clients meeting their future growth requirements and environmental, sustainability, and governance (ESG) goals.
Outside the office, William is a well-rounded individual who enjoys ice hockey, shooting sports, photography, watercolor, and wine. On weekends, he and his wife enjoy driving back country roads in search of scenic watering holes to enjoy live local music. While he will always be a Virginian at heart, where he was born and raised, he now calls Florida home after living there for over seventeen years.
EXPERIENCE
Ann Rybka is a Director with Atlas Insight. With almost 20 years of combined experience as a tax and incentive consultant, she is widely regarded as an expert in the industry providing her clients with location strategy and multi-state economic development and financial incentive negotiation services.
Ann’s primary responsibilities include the guidance of companies through the site selection process, as well as the review and implementation of state and local incentive packages including research, negotiation and documentation of these programs. She leads all project related negotiations, minimizing risk for her clients through the use of complex financial analysis which includes a 10-year P&L cash flow model for each project. In addition, Ann utilizes her legal background to provide creative savings solutions to her clients through legal analysis, tax legislation and letter rulings.
Prior to joining Atlas Ann was employed at Cushman & Wakefield and before that at Jones Lang LaSalle. After receiving her JD, Ann began her career at KPMG, LLP with the State and Local Tax Practice/Strategic Relocation and Expansion Services Division. Ann is a sought after and frequent guest speaker to state, regional and local governments where she provides insight into the development of strategic regional plans to attract and retain workforce and business investment. She is also a frequent author for national site selection publications on topics such as minimizing business risk, attracting and retaining new talent, attracting foreign direct investment and financial incentives.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts, Hamline University
J.D., Hamline School of Law/Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Andrew is a business development and sustainability advisor to Casne Engineering, focusing on the data center industry, and the board chair of CarbonCo, a carbon credit and forestry protection firm.
Previously at OSIsoft (now AVEVA), he held the dual roles of Director for Executive Engagement for the global Customer Advisory Board and Regional Executive Councils and the Sustainability Market Principal, helping customers leverage their operations data to develop sustainability solutions. While at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew led the ENERGY STARÒ Product Specifications Development Team, which helped businesses and individuals protect the environment by identifying products with superior energy and water efficiency.
He is an Infrastructure Mason and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
Anna Sepic is the Senior Vice President of SRS International in Phoenix, Arizona, US and specializes in investment sales for industrial properties and land. Anna represents clients nationally and internationally.
Anna previously served as Senior Vice President at NAI Horizon and Vice President at LevRose Commercial Real Estate. Prior to joining LevRose in 2019, she worked solely for her investment company, AMS Renauts Investing, LLC, which she opened in Augus 2011. Through her investment company, Anna honed her off market acquisition skills and developed a deep understanding for the Metro Phoenix market. It led to a successful transition into the brokerage business, and with her prior principal perspective, lead to a successful client following for buyer-representation.
Notable Clients
Post Road Group
Global Ties
Logistics Property Co.
Keeley Properties
Blue Ocean Development
Rockefeller Group
Ray Development
Education
Master Real Estate Development, Arizona State University
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Bachelor of Science in Justice Studies and Social Inquiry
Minor in English
Languages
Croation and English
Executive Director, Greenview Industrial Gateway (GIG)
Kyle has been a leader in expanding private and public sector investment for more than 20 years. He has significant experience negotiating and managing multi-billion dollar contracts,
Focussed on infrastructure planning, utility corridors, servicing capacity, and overall design,
this wealth of experience has ideally positioned him for his current role as Executive Director for the Greenview Industrial Gateway (GIG).
The pre-engineering and planning completed has positioned the GIG to house Wonder Valley and the worlds largest data centre complex.
Join us at Suncor Community Leisure Center to learn from the expert Site Selectors!
Telephone: +1-780-791-0070, Address: 1 MacDonald Drive, Fort McMurray, Alberta T9H 5C5
SiteLink Forum Hotel will be at Pomeroy Hotel, 10108 Manning Ave, Fort McMurray, AB T9H 2C3, Canada
Special SiteLink Attendees can receive a discounted rate.
Please ask for SITELINK FORUM RATE!
Call +1 (888) 788-0504
Elevate your event experience with our Complementary Events-a curated collection of immersive gatherings designed to complement and enhance your special occasions."
Take a closer look at the event agenda to see what we've got in store.
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Registration Open: Regional Recreation Corp of Wood Buffalo – North Ballroom (1 C.A. Knight Way, Fort McMurray, AB, T9H 5C5)
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Opening Reception: Regional Recreation Corp of Wood Buffalo – North Ballroom (1 C.A. Knight Way, Fort McMurray, AB, T9H 5C5)
7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Exclusive Sponsorship Only Dinner with the Site Selectors. (Location To Be Determined)
Thursday, June 5, 2025
7:30 – 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast: Regional Recreation Corp of Wood Buffalo – North Ballroom (1 C.A. Knight Way, Fort McMurray, AB, T9H 5C5)
8:00 – 8:15 a.m.
Welcome: Mr. Paige Webster, President, Webster Global Site Selectors and Local Dignitaries
8:15 – 8:45 a.m.
Paige Webster, Webster Global Site Selectors
8:45 – 9:00 a.m.
SiteLink Forum Break
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.
Andrew Fanara, Casne Engineering
9:30 – 10:00 a.m.
Sabrina Champagne, SLS, LLC
10:00 – 10:15 a.m.
SiteLink Break
10:15 – 10:45 a.m.
SiteLink networking with Site Selectors. These rapid-format interaction sessions between attendees and site selectors are extremely valuable and an opportunity to promote your community’s economic development efforts.
10:45 – 11:15 a.m.
William Parsons, WRP, LLC
11:30 a.m – 5:00 p.m.
SiteLink Recreation Activities. (Box Lunch included) unique to SiteLink, this is the time for you to unwind and join your peers in unique recreation options including: . You will enjoy the activities we have planned for you and expand your network at the same time.
6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Dinner with Keynote Speaker: TBD Regional Recreation Corp of Wood Buffalo – North Ballroom (1 C.A. Knight Way, Fort McMurray, AB, T9H 5C5)
Friday, June 6, 2025
7:30 – 8:00 a.m.
Breakfast: Regional Recreation Corp of Wood Buffalo – North Ballroom (1 C.A. Knight Way, Fort McMurray, AB, T9H 5C5)
8:00 – 8:30 a.m.
Ann MW Rybka, Atlas Insight
8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
SiteLink Interaction with Site Selectors (Break)
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.
Anna Sepic, SRS International
9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Greg Elam, Blackfin Consulting
10:30 – 12:00 p.m.
Lunch and Round Table of Questions and Answers with all Site Selectors.
Don’t miss out on these upcoming events!
Register today to unlock a world of knowledge, networking, and opportunities.