After 13 years at the helm of NORCAT, Don Duval will step down as CEO from the organization by the end of this year.
The Sudbury-based innovation and training centre made the announcement in a July 31 news release.
"Under Don’s leadership, NORCAT has established itself as the one-stop shop for all that is the future of mining technology and the global leader in skilled labour training and development for the mining industry,” Greg Maybee, chair of NORCAT’s board of directors, said in the release.
“His vision, leadership, and unwavering commitment have transformed NORCAT into an organization that plays an invaluable role in fostering innovation, venture capital, and education."
Duval said his decision to leave now, after more than a decade of successes, was a difficult one, but “the time was right.”
“You have that moment where you, as a CEO, reflect that you’ve accomplished what you set out to do,” he said in an interview.
“And over the last 12 months, I’ve really thought about it, and I just felt now that the time is right for a new leader to come in, take the helm, build on our platform, build on our success, and lead the organization into the next phase of growth.”
Duval took the reins of the organization from Darryl Lake in 2012, after serving as vice-president of strategy and operations at Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District.
Kicking off his tenure in July of that year, he was tasked with a turnaround and restructuring of the company, which was built on a foundation of “entrepreneurial spirit and resilience,” he said.
Under Duval’s leadership, NORCAT has had 13 consecutive years of year-over-year growth, and its physical footprint has expanded from two to six locations, including its Elko, Nevada, mine safety training facility, established in partnership with Great Basin College.
NORCAT has entered global markets with projects delivered in more than 20 countries, and it’s led the creation of the Sudbury Catalyst Fund, a seed stage co-investment venture fund focused on hard tech, the release said.
The organization has the highest customer and student satisfaction of any skilled labour training and development organization in the world, and it’s the number one skilled labour training and development organization for mining, Duval added, serving more than 30,000 mine workers globally per year.
NORCAT is the largest mining technology innovation centre in the world, and it’s become a market leader in developing and deploying virtual reality and augmented reality training programs, he added.
In 2021, NORCAT established its Underground Centre, an operating mine located in Onaping, north of Sudbury, that serves as an innovation and training centre.
Startups, small and medium enterprises, and international companies use the facility to develop, test and showcase innovative and emerging technologies in an operating mine environment. The Underground Centre also offers future mine workers experiential, hands-on training in an underground environment.
One of the centre’s signature events is Mining Transformed, dubbed the world’s first first tech exhibition in an underground operating mine, where buyers and investors can see mining technology in action underground.
Of the many milestones he achieved as CEO, Duval said establishing a corporate culture with solid values is the one that’s most personally significant.
“The tone from the top is critically important, and I’ve worked very hard to establish the tone, the corporate values, and the right culture to enable everyone to work together to deliver on our ambitious goals, and that is not easy,” he said in an interview.
“And therefore it is something that I feel is probably the single most proud accomplishment I can have in this organization.”
In the time he has left, Duval said he’ll work to ensure a smooth transition for his successor.
As to who that might be is a decision left to the board, which has set up a sub-committee to lead recruitment efforts. In the coming weeks, it will hire a search firm to begin that process.
Duval said he expects a new CEO will be in place in January.
As to his post-NORCAT plans, Duval said initially he’ll take some down time to spend with his family, and to “pause and reflect” before deciding what’s next.
But whatever his next chapter holds, Duval suggested he and his family will remain in the North.
“I am so happy with my social circle, my community,” he said. “We have very good friends here and I’ve come to absolutely love everything there is about living in Sudbury and Northern Ontario, more broadly. So we are committed to staying.”
