Spotlight: Mark Oleniuk P. Eng

Introducing EPS’ Co Founder, Mark Oleniuk

Even if he hadn’t been an engineer, Mark Oleniuk probably still would have founded his own company.

“To be self-employed, and have the flexibility of running your own business; it’s something I always had a strong interest in.”

But even though his entrepreneurial spirit may have eventually brought him down the same path, his degree in mechanical engineering and his experience as a professional engineer certainly gave him the skill-set and the work ethic that has helped him establish and grow the company over the past five years.

Mark and his business partner, Harpreet Singh, founded the project and construction management  company EPS in 2011 in Mark’s hometown of Saskatoon. It started with just the two of them contracting out their services to various local clients, but as they became more established, they grew the company, expanded into Ontario, and now boast 25 to 30 professionals working on varying-sized projects across Canada.

Building EPS

While completing his engineering degree, Mark worked a couple of summer engineering positions with oil and gas and mining companies. After graduating, he did a six month contract at a Cameco mine site in Saskatchewan before heading to Australia where he worked for a mining consultancy. There he got to learn a great deal about the mining business and work on a number of different projects varying in size and scope.

When he returned to Canada, he did project management work with Graham construction in the oil and gas industry, and eventually worked his way up and took on projects on his own that were more complex in scope. From there, he made contact with Harpreet, and they decided to try to make a go of it on their own and establish EPS. The rest, as they say, is history.

As Managing Partner, Mark’s basic role revolves around business development, courting new clients, and managing some of the company’s operations.

But every day is a little bit different. From spending time in the office ensuring things are running smoothly, to meeting with clients about their projects, to meeting with potential new clients, to developing proposals, things are always changing.

“The phone never stops ringing and emails are constantly coming in!” he says. “So it’s usually a busy schedule from morning to night and a seven-day-a-week job when you run your own business.

 

Read more from Mark’s interview with Explore Engineering here