CREDENTIALS

The President and founder of Blue Sands Associates Inc. is Penny McGill. Blue Sands Associates Inc. works with blue chip companies who are increasing their competitive strength through strategic alliances. Our philosophy is that purpose, commitment and creativity coupled with a strong working relationship, create the foundation for reaping the rewards of a strategic alliance. Without this foundation, the alliance is at risk.

It is our belief that every alliance is unique. Blue Sands Associates Inc. offers proven capabilities to meet the exclusive needs of our customers. We partner with our customers to look forward and formulate solutions that deliver results based on in-depth analysis and due diligence. Integral to delivering value to our customers is business and technology expertise formed through our own strategic alliances.

To demonstrate our capabilities, we have featured projects for review. >>Selected Project Experience (pdf file 71kb)

Introducing the Blue Sands Associates Team:

Penny McGill, President
Diana Poirier, Principal
Linda Foster, Manager

Blue Sands Associates Inc. also introduces our:
Strategic Alliance Partners.

Penny McGill

"I believe the highest achievements are born when people have the freedom to express and contribute their unique strengths and character. Honesty, compassion, power and capabilities can be aligned on a strong foundation of values and objectives to bring out the best in everyone. It is with this formula, I discovered that strong working relationships lead to winning results.

Beginning as an information technology professional, I pursued an aptitude for business and for linking people. Discovering the untold story holds a special fascination for me. And the story is revealed through telling evidence and measures for success.

Team celebration of success is the final reward. I reflect back over my accomplishments and have a lasting sense of passion, comradeship and pride for the achievements. I carry forward that sense in keen anticipation of learning, partnering and realizing future successes."

For more than 20 years, Penny has helped large corporations to set strategy, formulate approaches, implement solutions and, achieve results across multiple companies, divisions and business units. In nearly all cases, the most difficult challenges faced were building collaborative working relationships to achieve the desired results. Penny's successful track record speaks to key strengths in boundary definition, process effectiveness, measurement processes, relationship performance and project management.  

Penny has held leadership positions in corporations including Bank of Montreal, Accenture, Ernst & Young and General Foods. She has consulted with many clients including several large Canadian Banking and Insurance institutions, Business Services firms, Consumer Products companies, and government organizations. Overall, Penny's core industry experience is in financial services, technology and consumer products.

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Diana Poirier

"I believe that the most successful working environments are those where responsibilities and boundaries are clear, both collaboration and innovation are encouraged and, commitments made are then commitments met. On each and every engagement I maintain these firm principles. Wherever possible, I work at instilling these principles with the people and corporate cultures I encounter.

A successful working environment is key to introducing change. Whether the change is bringing in new business partners, organization structures, tools or processes, it is challenging at the best of times. Moreover, when dealing with unproven or dysfunctional situations, implementing change becomes extraordinarily difficult. Relying on basic principles has proven to me that successful working environments can consistently be transformed from difficult situations.

I think of myself as a project leader with a strong sense of people and an ability to create effective working environments. My objective is to make an implementation as easy and efficient as possible. The success of an engagement is measured by client staff who gain a new, clear sense of purpose and procedure after I deliver expected results. My reward for a job well done is a sense of accomplishment plus shared learnings along the way."

Over the last 15 years Diana has worked with different clients, each of whom have unique environments and high expectations for change. Diana's extensive project management abilities and strong process orientation enabled her to help implement major systems and process changes. Her remarkable aptitude for working and communicating with people allowed the changes to be achieved with even greater success. Diana has core strengths in solution delivery, technology design, process/procedure implementation and, employee relations.

Diana has spent most of her 15 years working with Accenture and then Stratix Technologies - both IT management consulting firms. Her clients have spanned many industries and include such companies as CIBC, Enbridge Consumers Gas, Royal Bank and Confederation Life.

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Linda Foster

"I believe in the value of team diversity that builds on individual and cumulative strengths. Working together to set achievable goals harvests strong commitment and even stronger results. Individuals can soar when granted independence and accountability by taking charge of their own development. Success is achieved through team participation, strong leadership and individual support.

Strong relationships emerge from honest, open-minded communications and a cornerstone of integrity and trust. This is the foundation of success and provides the bridge between like and unlike groups. Through setting an example, I have experienced the benefits of joining forces.

One does not shine without the effort and support of those around them. During my career, I was entrusted with the privilege of influencing others through leading, training and coaching. I received my greatest rewards from their achievements and successes. I appreciate the give and take from respected colleagues and friends and, look ahead to nurturing valued allegiances."

Linda has 20 years of experience in setting up and supporting office management and procedures. She has established and redesigned procedures and workload distribution in customer service and employee training functions. Linda contributed to company-wide business improvement projects by advocating departmental requirements and then, implementing new solutions. She was effective at maintaining critical relationships with other departments through ongoing communications and professionalism. Linda's overriding focus on the customer has enabled the right solutions to happen as expected and the desired results to be achieved.

Linda has experience in Retail Distribution and General Contracting having worked for companies including Nike Canada inc., Ainsworth Electric and Comstock. Her earlier experience with administration gave her a solid basis to advance her knowledge and capabilities in customer service, training and management. Linda's strengths have enabled her to focus on helping business operations run smoothly.

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