Photo (L to R):  The Honourable Russ Mirasty, Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, presenting Dave Kent, M.Sc., P.Eng., FEC the prestigious Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan Meritorious Achievement Award.

The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Saskatchewan (ACEC-SK) honoured Dave Kent, M.Sc., P.Eng., FEC as the 2022 recipient of the prestigious Lieutenant Governor Meritorious Achievement Award at their annual Awards of Distinction on November 15, 2022, in Saskatoon, SK.

For David Kent, engineering was a calling from a young age. Dave grew up on a farm near Grenfell where as a child he was known to yank a motor out of a grain auger to power an old 1930s buggy! To help around the farm, he built a seed-flow detector for the seeder. Throughout his life, if Dave saw a need to make something better, he acted.

There are few people who have had a greater impact on engineering in Saskatchewan than Dave Kent. In his 45 years of professional practice, Dave has worked on a wide range of industrial and municipal projects.

For example, in Moose Jaw his designs and water management planning were instrumental in cleaning toxins from the aquifer under the city, and in Regina, Dave was the project manager for the award-winning Wascana Lake Urban Revitalization Project, also known as The Big Dig.

In the 1970s Dave earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Geotechnical Engineering, both from the University of Saskatchewan.

He began his career working with EBA Engineering for five years, looking at permafrost issues in Canada’s north and designing artificial islands in the Beaufort Sea for oil exploration.

Dave went on to spend forty years with the Clifton Engineering Group. As Chief Engineer, Dave continues to provide strategic leadership at Clifton, as well as specialized technical leadership in hydrogeology, waste management projects, and implementation of Geographic Information Systems. Dave was also instrumental in implementing a quality management program within Clifton.

Dave feels strongly about the duty to give back to his profession. Over his career he has dedicated considerable time both to mentoring scores of young engineers, and in various roles and committees in support of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies - Saskatchewan, the Canadian Geotechnical Society, and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan.

Dave Kent has been given the rank of Fellow within Engineers Canada for his “noteworthy service to the engineering profession”.