AL KUPCIS
Al Kupcis was President and CEO of Ontario Hydro.
Al joined Ontario Hydro Research about 1973, and soon started moving up. He has a Ph.D. in Metallurgy from the University of Toronto (I believe), and spent a year at Oxford.
Al practically hired me into Ontario Hydro, but that’s not relevant here. In 1981, I applied for a job in Al’s Section in Research, which built automated ultrasonic inspection systems for CANDU nuclear reactor cores. Al was my boss for a couple of years, so I knew him personally.
ONTARIO HYDRO The NDE UnitAl was a terrific boss, probably the smoothest person I have ever worked for. Never got flustered, never raised his voice, never got excited, always was friendly. Unfortunately, he seemed to be practicing a different style as President of Ontario Hydro.
Al got promoted rapidly, and probably deservedly, and became President when Maurice Strong arrived. Al is ambitious and definitely a corporation man.
Ontario HydroAl is nominally not implicated in this case. However, there are rumors of some involvement.
Al resigned in August 1997, after announcing the shutdown of seven nuclear reactors, as record, plus a $6 billion dollar write-off.
Last I heard, Al was back in OHT (or Ontario Power Technologies) as a consultant, helping sell the place.