In recognition of decades of leadership in preserving the environment with engineering and geoscience
We awarded Jay Nagendran, P.Eng., FCAE, ICD.D, FEC, FGC (Hon.) because of his commitment to protecting the environment and the public interest. He has provided leadership on many pressing issues of our time through his dedication to the natural world and conservation.
Jay Nagendran was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. His early education was spent at Trinity College, Sri Lanka. Jay’s interest in engineering came to him as a young boy growing up in Sri Lanka, a country known for its ancient irrigation systems. His father was an irrigation engineer working for the government of Sri Lanka and began taking Jay to on-site inspections. When he was 18 years old left Sri Lanka to pursue an education in chemical engineering at the University of California, Davis. He then joined his family in Canada and worked as an industrial approvals engineer with the provincial government. Jay continued his education in Canada where he completed his Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta.
Throughout Jay’s career, he has taken on many leadership roles. He was the President and CEO of the Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency; he was the Vice President of the Sri Lanka Canada Friendship Association; he served on the Senate and Board of Governors at the University of Alberta; he was a member of the Natural Resources Conservation Board; he was a Manager of Environment and Engineering at the Alberta Special Waste Management Corporation; and Assistant Deputy Minister for the Alberta government.
He was part of several World Bank Group teams on environmental issues and he was one of twelve experts invited by the Council of Canadian Academies to research and write a report on reducing the environmental impact of oil sands development in Canada. He also co-developed a sustainable development strategy for oil sands development, at a time when it was growing at a rapid pace in Alberta. Over the years he has been given many awards and elevated to a Fellow of multiple prestigious engineering associations.
Jay Nagendran is a Board-Certified Environmental Engineer with the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and a Qualified Environmental Professional with the Institute of Professional Environmental Practice. He is the CEO and Registrar of The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta, and he also heads the engineering society that regulates the practices of professional engineers and geoscientists in Alberta, Canada, a group that has more than 70,000 members. As CEO and Registrar of the largest self-regulating agency in Western Canada, his current projects revolve around administering the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act, which sets up and monitors the regulatory framework that protects Albertans.
The Sri Lanka Foundation thanks Jay Nagendran, P.Eng., FCAE, ICD.D, FEC, FGC (Hon.) for his steady stewardship of environmental causes as conservation of resources for future generations is of the utmost importance. He has dedicated his engineering career to balancing the needs of society with the natural world we all share.
