Career

Leon Wasser’s Corporate History

2004-Present  Wasser Resources Inc., President

  • Provide sustainable strategic management consulting and support services in the areas of energy conservation, green energy, green building, waste reduction and management, infection control, real estate and risk management.
  • Clients include start-up companies, existing companies re-positioning themselves for the new green economy, non-profit organizations and government agencies.
  • Services include business plan development, operational and strategic reviews, market and sales plans and implementation and strategic communications.
  • Representative Clients and Projects:

Strategic Planning / Business Plan Development:

ecoCentral Green Building Products (Ottawa, ON)

Green Market Canada (Toronto, ON)

SustainaBuild Integrated Building Solutions (Toronto, ON)

Community Strategy and Energy Plans

Bathurst Lawrence Four Quadrants Association

Energy Conservation Projects

Allstream MTS (Markham, ON; Calgary, AB; Alderwood, BC)

Baycrest Centre (Toronto, ON)

DHL Express Ltd. (Brampton, ON)

GWLRA Commerce Court (Toronto, ON)

Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, ON)

Husky Injection Molding (Bolton, ON)

University of Toronto – Trinity College & Grad House(Toronto, ON)

Ventra Plastics FlexNGate (Kitchener, ON)

Business Development & Operational Support

All Eco Water Soluble Solutions Inc. (Toronto, ON & Palm Springs, CA)

Centre Joseph Renaud (Ville D’Anjou, QC)

PowerCon Optimized Power Solutions, Inc. (Toronto, ON)

2001 – 2004 York University, Director of Commercial Facilities

1996 – 2001  Manager of Commercial Facilities,

  • Successfully managed a diverse 2 million square foot portfolio of revenue producing operations including:
    • Research Facilities: Farquharson Life Science Incubator, Computer Methods Building, and York Lanes Research Centre
    • Commercial Recreational Facilities: Beatrice Ice Gardens, National Tennis Centre and Crestwood Valley Day Camp at Glendon Campus.
    • Historically significant campus properties including Hart House and Hoover House.
    • Inaugural site of Fokus Media’s innovative internet kiosk and streaming ad boards.
    • Created Toronto Star Campus Readership Partnership Agreement. Benefits included 5,000 daily newspapers, custom designed mega-racks, a sponsored speaker series and free advertising. Program later copied at many other campuses.
    • Coordinated most lucrative Canadian cold beverage with Pepsi Canada.
    • Negotiated Canada’s largest campus advertising deal with New Ad Media
  • Dramatically increased revenue to almost $2.5 million annually.

1993 – 1996  York University, Manager, York Lanes Mall & Office Complex,

  • Designed, planned and implemented a turn-around strategy for centrally located and highly visible 150,000 square foot campus mall and office complex.
  • Re-merchandised mall by leasing out untenanted 30% of mall to strong retailers including first campus locations for The Great Canadian Bagel, The Second Cup and Taco Villa.
  • Gradually replaced under-performing and delinquent retailers with stronger operators and more relevant services including major print shop and a large student oriented health clinic.
  • Renegotiated relationships with campus stakeholders using marketing and public relations.
  • Negotiated inclusion of York Lane into residence meal plan and capturing 40% of revenue.
  • Dramatically increased traffic by transforming York Lanes into primary campus event centre:
    • Partnered with Music Department to create weekly Java Jive student concert series.
    • Helped “York is U” to create Canada’s largest student Multicultural Festival which attracted 70 booths, 50 stage performances and 15,000 attendees to York Lanes.
  • Professionally administered office complex housing fourteen prestigious research centres.
  • Implemented environmental initiatives including campus tote bag, port-a-mug and intensive recycling of coffee grounds and waste cooking oil, energy conservation controls.
  • Doubled retail sales per square foot and more than doubled rental rates for new tenants.

1989 -1993  Glendon College, York University, Business Manager, Created new department at bilingual mid-town campus to administer residences, food, printing and special events.

  • Implemented “Service Excellence” strategy to transition 50 staff members to new department.
  • Developed comprehensive corporate identity and marketing program for new Glendon Business Office including publishing an annual full colour bilingual student handbook.
  • Initiated numerous facility upgrades including major capital renovations and energy retrofits.
  • Commissioned film shoots including Used People (Shirley Mclean), The Adjuster (Atom Egoyan), Black Marbles (Jamie Farr) and The Freshman (Marlon Brando & Matthew Broderick).
  • Hosted national and international conferences ranging from constitutional relationships to national women’s issues, global primate issues and vintage car expositions.
  • Doubled food revenue and tripled facility rental revenue, exceeding revenue at main campus.

1987–1989 York University, Executive Assistant, Physical Resources, Served as primary support person for $150 million campus redevelopment program.

  • Acted as Recording Secretary for all key departmental committees as well as for the York University’s Presidential Executive Construction Co-ordinating Committee.
    • Organized processes for selection of architects, engineers, urban planners and contractors.
    • Selected and implemented Primavera, Timberline and AutoCAD programs for department.
    • Co-ordinated environmental reviews required by management in support of development of University Master Plan, municipal Secondary Plan and operational needs.
    • Involved in campus energy projects including lighting retrofits, insulation upgrades, utility supply contracts and co-generation projects.

 1986– 1987 York University, Toronto, ON, Facility Planner, Planning & Management

  • Assisted with critical tasks in preparation for redevelopment of campus and Master Plan.
  • Liaised between York University, York University Development Corporation and IBI Group.
  • Developed SAS-based computerized database to inventory over 14,000 campus spaces.
  • Coordinated campus environmental and transportation and traffic studies for Master Plan.
  • Coordinated design and installation of university’s first comprehensive signage system

1984–1986  Defence, Construction Canada, Project Engineer, Borden, Toronto, London

  • Responsible for design review, tendering and construction management for renovations.
  • Assisted senior management in computerization of operations and in facility reviews
  • Projects: Supply Building, hangers, residences (CFB Borden), Royal Canadian Regiment Museum and Highbury Park (London) and Canadian Staff & Command College (Toronto).

1981 – 1983  Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Engineer in Training, Mississauga, ON

  • Participated in formal training program at Canada’s national nuclear design consultant.
  • Developed “Work Breakdown Structure” for the computerization of the design management process for Standard 600 MW Plant for the Integrated Project Management System Team.
  • Conducted design review for Bruce Nuclear Power Plant and initiated design changes related to seismic design requirements.
  • Promoted to second in command of $900M Cernavoda Romania Power Plant project.
  • Cernavoda project tasks included financial analyses and projection, liaison with Romania engineering team, design code comparison, technology transfer and design coordination.

1980-1981  M. Levis & Associates, Consulting Engineers, Montreal, QC, Junior Engineer

  • Performed key structural design work for high-rise residential condominium complexes.
  • Used ANSYS, a pioneering CAD CAM program, to perform design work.
  • Supervised and inspected placement of reinforcing steel and concrete pours.
  • Projects included Les Manoires Mackle (Cote St. Luc, QC), Les Promenades des Iles (Laval, QC) and 5500 Macdonald (Montreal, QC).

1979-1980  The ECE Group, Consulting Engineers, Montreal, QC, Junior Design Engineer

  • Assembled tenant unit electrical and mechanical drawing and specification tender packages for new shopping centre projects.
  • Projects included Cadillac Fairview’s Les Galleries St. Bruno (St. Bruno, QC) and Market Square (Saint John, NB)