John Schaden had been on the job for less than 48 hours when I sat down to talk with him last month. Mark Bartkoski, outgoing president of the mine, says Schaden is a great person to take over the role of president for Conuma Coal. “When I talked to the board about coming up, I had told the board I wanted to pick my successor. Had a chance to look at John’s background. He’s a very good value match. He’s good people.”
Schaden describes himself as “a simple mining engineer. My whole career is based in mining industry.”
While he’s originally from Ontario, he has spent much of his career in Western Canada.
Born and raised in Belleville, Ontario, Schaden says it was about a 35 minutes drive to Kingston, where he attended Queens University. “I applied for Electrical Engineering,” he says. “There’s no mining in my family. My father was an electrical technologist his whole life, that’s why I thought Electrical Engineering. He was always badmouthing engineers so I thought I had to go be one. But the first year is common courses. Part way through the first year, you tour the different disciplines, and mining attracted me most. It had a balance of geology, civil engineering, mining and processing that attracted me.”
Schaden started in Calgary with Manalta Coal. He moved to Hinton after less than a year, where He was a Junior Engineer. After that, he spent five years at Fording. “That’s where I really cut my operational teeth,” he says.
After that, he went back to Manalta in Calgary, then back to Hinton. “All through this I was progressing through my career. After that, I went into the Engineering Construction Business for 13 years.”
He says right around this time, the oil sands were taking off, so he went into oil sands. “People were migrating from Gregg River in Hinton to the oilsands. They were starting truck/shovel and that was a limited skill set for oil and gas. They were desperate for engineers. And the processing side of coal processing was the same as processing oil sands. I started working on business development, as I wanted to understand that side of the business. I worked on many projects, up to Senior VP with them.”
In 2013, he was approached by a new mining company, that had taken over one of the mines near Hinton where Schaden had worked previously. “They were looking for someone to look after their operations in Canada and I was looking to get back into operations. In engineering and construction you don’t really operate anything. You design, you build, and then you hand over.”
Shortly after, the mine was sold to Westmoreland Coal. “That’s where my exposure to the US side of the business came in. What I learned through that was miners are the same at heart. Now I’ve ended up here at Conuma.”
Schaden wasn’t looking for a new job. “I Got a call from Brian Sullivan through LinkedIn. He asked if I would be interested. I wasn’t looking, but it sounded very interested. Mark and I worked together at Coal Association of Canada, and when I found it was his position, I was interested. I knew Mark, I knew his passion and integrity. I said I was interested. Came out here, met the team, saw it first hand. That turned into an offer, and I accepted. But I wasn’t looking, I didn’t have my resume out. It was just an email out of the blue. If it is everything that Mark says it is, then it’s meant to be.”
Schaden says that what he brings to the table is stability and sustainability. “Mark spent 2.5 years starting up operations, mobilizing workforce and developing a brand. To do that at the same time as the market is starting to improve in terms of sales price for coal, you have to make quick decisions, you have to be nimble and quick on your feet. Now that the culture and brand and market and workforce is established, you start to develop a sustainable mode going forward. I call it a new normal. I want to focus on things we have complete control over. Opportunities to standardize. He had a particular role that he set up. I want to make sure it’s sustainable for the long run. That’s my strength and that’s what I bring to the table. Mark was a visionary. I provide solid, sustainable model, so that we’re predictable so that we’re ready going forward for future fluctuations in the market. No one knows more the potential for volatility in our business than Tumbler Ridge. That’s something that’s not in our control.”
But who is John Schaden as a person. He is a husband, a father and now a Grandfather. “My wife was an HR assistant at Manalta Coal,” he says. “She actually recruited me and arranged my move to Alberta. That’s where we met. All my time out west I’ve been with Louise.” He moved west in 1989. The two were married in 1995. Their three children (two of which are paternal twins) are now in their early 20s, and he has a two year old grandson.
“When I was single my focus was on my career. I still have the drive. Now we’re meeting with all of our crews, and I’m looking at the crews and thinking ‘what’s there story?’ You try and envision what their life is like That’s the grounding. The first child changes you. First grandchild changes you again. It’s hard to describe, but I’m not here for myself, but I’m here for all the people who are depending on us to be here for the long term. I’m looking forward to getting to know the community, and the community getting to know me. My commitment here is to make sure Conuma Coal continues to be around for the long term for the benefit of all of us.”
