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Our Leadership

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Leaders in Innovation

Since 2006, our leadership team has leveraged our collective knowledge and expertise to alter the landscape of process engineering. We bring practical attention to help understand and simplify the most complex engineering challenges by adapting to new technology and market conditions.

Nik Krpan

President, Consulting Engineer Nik is the President of Cheme and a Consulting Engineer with 20 years of progressive experience in process engineering and management (business and project). Learn More

Rino Parletta

Vice President, Principal Rino is the Vice President of Cheme Engineering, playing a key role in business strategy, management of operations, delivery of professional services, financial performance and future growth of the firm. Learn More

Chris Defina

Regional East Studio Head, Principal Chris is a Principal and the Regional East Studio Head at Cheme Engineering and has been with the company for 10 years. Since becoming a shareholder in 2017, he has been a key contributor to the growth, management and success of the organization. Learn More

Melissa Zacher

Infrastructure Development Leader, Principal Melissa is a Principal at Cheme Engineering with over 10 years of leadership, project management and engineering experience in the life sciences sector. Learn More

Lucy Wu

Director of Operations Lucy is the Director of Operations at Cheme, providing strategic direction for operational activities, with over 10 years of experience in engineering, construction, and project management. Learn More

Ben Lehtovaara

Director of Talent and Project Manager With more than 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Ben has become a well-rounded GMP facility expert with a portfolio of successful projects. Learn More

Lauren Box

Regional West Studio Head Lauren is the Regional West Studio Head with over 9 years of experience in single use technology, ultrafiltration systems, clean in place systems and clean utilities, and municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment. Learn More

Karen Yuen

Project Management Leader, Senior Project Manager Karen is a Senior Project Manager who brings value to Cheme’s life science customers, and has over 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing in both solid and sterile liquid dosage. Learn More

Allan Faurschou

Senior Engineer Allan is a licensed engineer with over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology processing systems, automation, construction, and project management. Learn More

Nicholas Ignagni

Process Engineer Nicholas is a Process Engineer at Cheme Engineering with over 10 years of experience in the design, build, commissioning, and validation of sanitary process equipment. Learn More

Michael Lam

Project Lead, Process Specialist With over ten years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, Michael is a commissioning and qualification SME (subject matter expert) and in-house creative designer. Learn More

Christine Thompson

Project Engineer Christine is a Team Lead involved in the project management, design, execution, and C&Q of improvements and upgrades on existing pharmaceutical manufacturing systems and utilities. Learn More

Samantha Stratton

Project Manager With over 10 years of experience in the chemical industry, Samantha is a Team Lead specializing in process development, technology transfer, project management and laboratory services at Cheme Engineering. Learn More

Kevin Kloet

Senior Engineer Kevin is a Senior Engineer with a range of front-line experience over more than 15 years, including project management, process engineering, process analysis, design and operations support. Learn More

Project Success

Quality Assurance Lab Scale Up & Relocation

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Large Scale HTST Automation

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Laboratory Conceptual Design for Asparagus Breeding

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Snack Packaging Expansion Project

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Compressed Air Upgrade Feasibility

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Vaccine Manufacturing Process Upgrades Project

We partnered with our client in the biotechnology industry to design, optimize, implement, and validate their existing biologic manufacturing process.

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Pet Food Fats and Oils Continuous Mixing System

An award-winning, independent pet food maker needed our help designing a custom system to create dog and cat food from fresh regional ingredients.

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Major Component Replacement Project

Cheme was engaged to design and commission equipment to support a Major Component Replacement (MCR) project at one of the largest electricity suppliers in Ontario.

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Beverage Quality Assurance Lab Project

Our client needed to relocate a high throughput beverage quality assurance laboratory to a high-rise building location without disrupting business continuity. Learn how Cheme helped.

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In Line Oil Winterization and Evaporation Production Suite Project

A pharmaceutical-grade botanicals oil producer approached Cheme to scale-up, design and optimize an existing multi-step extraction and winterization process.

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OSD Facility Expansion Project

A Canadian pharmaceutical client needed to expand manufacturing capabilities for oral solid dose production. Here’s how Cheme support our client’s execution of the manufacturing expansion.

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Sterile Compounding Optimization Project

Our client in the biotechnology industry required optimization of an antiquated sterile manufacturing process that is critical to vaccine formulation.

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Reverse osmosis system for water drinking plant.

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Join Our Team

Our employees are what make us great. We treat every hire as if it’s our most important hire.

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