Kirsten Nielsen – H.H. Angus and Associates Ltd.

Our Digital Services team was well represented at the recent AWS Summit Toronto 2025 event.

This year’s event focused on two groups – Day 1 was dedicated to AWS partners like HH Angus' certified specialists, and Day 2 welcomed the entire AWS community.

Augusto Valdivia, our AWS DevOps Specialist, who has also presented at previous AWS Summits, took in the full event. Augusto is an AWS SysOps Administrator Associate, AWS Certified Developer Associate, AWS Professional Solutions Architect, and AWS Big Data Specialist. He has attended numerous AWS Summits in Canada and abroad, and took a few moments to share his impressions of the Toronto event.

Augusto:
Both days were packed with learning, inspiration, and future-looking announcements. But more than anything, they were a chance to connect — with my team, with peers, and with the wider AWS community.

Day 1 – Partner Summit Highlights

Day One was all about partners and the deep dive into AWS’s latest portfolio. Topics included:

The Anatomy of Speed
Industry Solutions & Security
Generative AI and Migration/Modernization
AWS Marketplace evolution

The biggest spotlight was on Agentic AI. AWS introduced a portfolio that connects tools like Amazon Q, AWS Transform, Amazon Connect, Nova models, and Bedrock, all tied together with new SDKs and services to build intelligent agents.

Key themes:

Flexibility with OSS and partner integrations
Customization guardrails to build responsibly
Vertical solutions for industries like SAP, Oracle, and mainframes
AWS Transform as the first agentic AI service for migration and modernization, with impressive results like faster documentation assessment and reduced licensing costs

Day 2 – Open Summit Themes

The second day zoomed out into the future of cloud. The evolution was clear:

From Generative AI assistants → Generative AI agents → to Agentic AI systems
Less human oversight, more automation, and multi-agent systems capable of reasoning like humans

This shift toward agentic AI signals the next chapter in cloud — where workloads don’t just run in AWS, but make decisions, automate workflows, and adapt in real time.

Team Insights

What made this Summit even better was discussing takeaways with my HH Angus team:

Aaron St. Germain shared:

“The sessions on serverless development, real-time data analytics, and workload optimization gave us clear best practices for Lambdas and streaming data pipelines. We even had hands-on activities and games that made the learning fun!”

Paul Vandenberk highlighted:

“There’s a growing reliance on AI to handle the huge amounts of IoT data. A unified name space is critical for data purity, making sure analytics today and AI tomorrow actually deliver value.”

Veerpal Kaur mentioned:

“The keynote was inspiring, and the hands-on Lambda workshop gave me a deeper view of serverless. I also attended sessions on analytics and Agentic serverless chatbots — it felt like a glimpse into the future of intelligent applications.”

Gary Chang summarized:

“GenAI was everywhere. The key is learning how to integrate it with our existing datasets, especially in digital twin solutions for the AEC industry. We can borrow lessons from industries that are already ahead in AI maturity.”

Community and Connections

One of the most rewarding moments came at the end of the Summit: meeting leaders from the AWS community, reconnecting with peers from the AWS Community Builders program, and sharing a dinner where we talked about the next big thing we want to organize together.

Moments like these remind me that AWS isn’t just about technology. It’s about people, collaboration, and building a stronger community together.

The AWS Summit Toronto 2025 showed us where cloud is heading: faster, smarter, and more agentic than ever before.

I’d love to hear from others who attended: What were your top takeaways?
And if you couldn’t make it this year, follow me on LinkedIn for more AWS, DevOps, and Terraform reflections — I’ll keep sharing the lessons and the community spirit!

Augusto Valdivia

AWS DevOps Specialist
Digital Services

Nous sommes ravis d’annoncer que Geneviève Rochette s’est jointe à HH Angus en tant que Responsable régionale pour notre bureau de Montréal.

L’arrivée de Geneviève au sein de notre équipe de direction nationale renforce encore davantage notre gestion opérationnelle, ainsi que notre engagement à poursuivre notre croissance au Québec.

« Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir Geneviève au sein de HH Angus. Ses compétences en leadership, sa grande expérience en ingénierie et ses relations de longue date dans le secteur seront déterminantes pour étendre notre présence au Québec. Son expertise spécialisée dans l’environnement bâti sera très utile à nos clients pour atteindre leurs objectifs. »
Paul Keenan, Président

Dans ce nouveau rôle, Geneviève s’appuiera sur 25 ans d’expérience dans l’industrie du génie-conseil dans divers secteurs. Avant de rejoindre notre équipe, elle a fait toute sa carrière chez Stantec, où elle a débuté comme étudiante stagiaire avant de gravir progressivement les échelons pour occuper son dernier poste de directrice – Bâtiments.

Le portefeuille de Geneviève comprend des immeubles commerciaux, des institutions financières, des grands magasins de détail, des usines pharmaceutiques, des entrepôts automatisés et des installations industrielles légères, ainsi que de nombreux projets dans le domaine des soins de longue durée (SLD) et d’hébergement pour personnes âgées, un secteur en pleine expansion à l’échelle du pays.

En tant que Responsable régionale, Geneviève supervise une équipe de 25 professionnels au bureau de Montréal qui desservent plusieurs secteurs d’activité au Québec et dans tout le pays, notamment les soins de santé, l’aménagement de bureaux commerciaux et de locaux locatifs, les installations essentielles, l’aviation, l’éducation, entre autres. Le bureau de HH Angus à Montréal a été officiellement établi en 2011 avec le Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) comme projet principal pour lequel nous avons reçu le prix Schreyer, le plus grand prix d’ingénierie au Canada, pour nos solutions d’ingénierie novatrices. Parmi les projets actuels et récents, citons le nouveau terminal de l’aéroport de Montréal Saint-Hubert, l’aménagement du siège social de Novartis Canada, un centre de données ultramoderne pour un client confidentiel et les travaux de modernisation en cours au Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM).

Félicitations, Geneviève, et bienvenue dans notre équipe!

Pour rejoindre Geneviève afin de discuter de votre prochain projet :
genevieve.rochette@hhangus.com
Tél. : 514.600.1360 | 877.549.7521 (numéro sais frais)

We’re delighted to announce that Geneviève Rochette has joined HH Angus as Regional Leader of our Montreal office.

The addition of Geneviève to our national leadership team further strengthens our operational management, as well as our commitment to grow in Quebec.

“We’re excited to welcome Geneviève to HH Angus. Her leadership skills, solid engineering experience, and long-standing industry relationships will be critical to growing our presence in Quebec, and her specialized expertise in the built environment will be of great benefit to our clients in achieving their goals.”
Paul Keenan, President

In this new role, Geneviève will be drawing on 25 years of experience in the consulting engineering industry across a range of sectors. Prior to joining our team, she built her entire career at Stantec, starting as a co-op student and steadily advancing through senior roles, culminating in her most recent position as Principal – Buildings.

Geneviève’s portfolio includes commercial buildings, financial institutions, major retail outlets, pharmaceutical manufacturing, automated warehousing, and light industrial facilities, as well as many projects in long term care (LTC) and seniors housing, a rapidly expanding sector across the country.

As Regional Leader, Geneviève oversees a team of 25 professionals in our Montreal office servicing multiple industry sectors in Quebec and across the country, including healthcare, commercial office and tenant fitouts, mission critical facilities, aviation, education, and more. HH Angus’ Montreal office was formally established in 2011 with the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) as our primary project for which we were awarded the Schreyer Award – Canada’s highest engineering award – for our innovative engineering solutions. Current and recent work include the new net zero Montreal Saint-Hubert airport terminal, Novartis Canada’s head office fitout, a state-of-the-art data centre for a confidential client, and ongoing upgrades at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM).

Congratulations Geneviève and welcome to our team!

Connect with Geneviève to discuss your next project:
genevieve.rochette@hhangus.com
T: 514.600.1360 | 877.549.7521 (toll-free)

We're pleased to announce that Daniel Tannous has joined HH Angus as Consultant Leader in our Angus Connect Division.

Daniel will be playing a key role in guiding clients’ strategic technology vision and planning, optimizing their operations and leveraging cutting-edge solutions to address their most pressing technology challenges. He is based in our Montreal office.

PSP-accredited and a subject matter expert in network engineering, Daniel brings a depth of experience with P3 projects and compliance engineering, as well as project management experience, supported by excellent problem-solving skills.

Daniel’s sector experience ranges from healthcare facilities and data centres to manufacturing and telecom installations. As Consultant Leader, he will be building on his fifteen years of progressively senior roles, including Network Engineer, Technology Team Lead, and Physical Security & Technology Lead:

“I'm very much looking forward to contributing to the excellent work of the Angus Connect team and their mission of helping deliver better healthcare in our own communities by leveraging the best technology solutions. Successfully planning, designing, and implementing a complete healthcare technology ecosystem requires a diverse team of experts, each bringing unique knowledge and perspectives. I’m proud to be part of such a collaborative and forward-thinking group.”

As an Electrical Engineer specializing in Information Technologies, networking and physical security systems, Daniel has developed solid expertise in the healthcare sector, guiding several hospitals in the design and implementation of reliable network infrastructures under the P3 procurement model. His mastery of numerous IP systems ensures that clients obtain the IT infrastructure that meets their functional and operational objectives.

“We’re excited to welcome Daniel to our team as a senior leader based in our Montreal office. His extensive experience advising many different client types in the roles of network and security engineer complements our evolving advisory services in technology systems consulting, particularly with our healthcare clients. Daniel will be leading new projects across Canada for Angus Connect, as well as bringing his expertise to our current projects with Trillium Health Partners, SickKids, and Lakeridge Health.”
‒ Megan Angus, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Digital Services

To find out how Angus Connect can add value to your next digital transformation or information technology project, contact our Angus Connect team or visit our website at angusconnect.com.

Megan Angus,

RN, MBA, Lean, EDAC, Principal

Senior Vice President

megan.angus@hhangus.com

Kelly Henderson,

BASc., MBA, Principal

Associate Director

kelly.henderson@hhangus.com

Anthony Ho has been chosen by Canadian Consulting Engineer as one of 2025’s ‘Top 10 Under 40’, as CCE celebrates Canada’s next generation of consulting engineering leaders!

As an Associate Director, Principal and Mechanical Engineer, Anthony has long been recognized at HH Angus for his engineering skill, leadership, commitment to mentoring, and dedication to growing our commissioning team and scope of work. We are delighted that he is now being honoured in the industry as well.

Laying the groundwork

Anthony and his family came to Canada from Hong Kong in 1994. He learned the value of hard work from his parents; it was their example that led Anthony to pursue engineering and shaped his worldview that opportunity is a privilege not available to all, no matter how deserving.

Those lessons remain top of mind as Anthony takes on the opportunities ahead, sharing strategies for growth with those around him and coaching them to succeed. This approach is part of what makes Anthony an effective team leader - not only is he a technical expert in his field, but his management and support in the growth of an entire team of junior engineers has been exceptional.

Anthony joined HH Angus after graduating with Honours at the top of his class in mechanical engineering at the University of Waterloo, and has impressed at every stage of his career.

Commissioning specialization

Early in his career development, Anthony expressed an interest in learning how to commission buildings - a complicated, multi-step process of detailed inspection that ensures all building systems and equipment are functioning properly before the final handover of a facility to its occupants. Commissioning is a unique specialty service that requires both deep technical knowledge and a nuanced approach. Not only does it involve the development of highly sophisticated test scripts, but also managing the sometimes challenging relationships between stakeholders, including owners, contractors and consultants.

Anthony embraced the opportunity to master the new specialization and eventually became a Certified Commissioning Professional (CPP). He worked closely with his manager to grow our commissioning services by expanding the functionality of in-house tools and consistently bringing in projects under budget while maintaining a high quality of work. These successful results were recognized by a growing roster of repeat clients, and helped the division to build the business case for increased hiring to support the pursuit of larger and more complex commissioning projects. Anthony is now responsible for the firm’s Commissioning business development, training and leadership

The importance of mentorship

Over the course of his 13+ years at HH Angus, Anthony has seen his focus on solving engineering problems expand to include mentoring staff and taking an active role in their career planning.

He transitioned seamlessly into the role of Manager, heading a team with multiple mechanical engineering leads, mentoring junior/intermediate employees, directing engineering design and commissioning assignments for key mission critical clients, managing employee performance, and maintaining excellent client relationships. Anthony currently oversees a large team in alignment with his transition into the Associate Director role. His instinct to lift up those around him has contributed to the career growth of many young engineers at the firm

Some of Anthony’s significant contributions at HH Angus include:

Solving engineering challenges on greenfield and retrofit projects for high resiliency data centres
Development of process flows for inhouse BIM design
Design for high containment labs (CL3) and vivarium
Management of staff across Canada to deliver projects internationally.

Recently, Anthony served as the discipline lead for an important project representing over one million square feet of greenfield data centres in Canada. He is working with an international team of consultants and client stakeholders at the ground level to deliver this complex project where he is responsible for multiple scopes of work. Anthony’s colleagues know him to be extremely hard-working, approachable, and a leader with exceptional technical knowledge that he generously shares.

Congratulations, Anthony – you are a very deserving recipient of CCE’s ‘Top 10 Under 40’ honour!

Click here for CCE Magazine article - see Page 9