Dave Akister – Honorary Life Award Recipient 2018

Dave Akister was born at Elrose, Sask., and raised on a farm in town called Kyle.

He launched a 14-year career with the media right out of high school, serving with Thompson Newspapers across Western Canada as a photographer, reporter, investigative journalist, sports editor, city editor, wire editor, managing editor and assistant publisher.

He capped his career in journalism as managing editor of the Yorkton Enterprise, which won all the major awards bestowed by the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association, including the Best All-Around Newspaper in its class.

Dave joined Brock & Associates, a fledgling advertising agency, in 1984 as an account executive, rising through the ranks as operations manager and general manager before becoming a partner in 1986. He bought out his remaining partner in 1990 and re-configured the company into the communications and management consulting business that it is today.

Throughout the years he has worked with, consulted for or provided assistance to such organizations as the Saskatchewan Recreation Society; Saskatchewan Public Works Association; Saskatchewan Recreation Facilities Association; Saskatchewan Economic Developers Association; Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association; Enterprise Saskatchewan; Saskatchewan Crown Corporations; Chambers of Commerce and municipalities as well as consulting for a wide variety of business and industries.

He represented the business sector as a member of the board of directors of the Saskatchewan East Enterprise Region, where he served as chair of the Governance Committee and the Potash Industry Committee.

For more than 27 years, he has served as the executive director of the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association. Dave’s company was hired by the board of directors in 1991 to conduct an evaluation of the association’s administration, operate the organization for a short term and find a new executive director. Although he narrowed a list of 40 applicants down to five, the board hired Dave instead.

During that time, he has been in on the formation and design of Crop Production Week; built prototypes of the Canadian Seed Institute Quality Assurance manuals; and helped design CSI’s original board of directors structure.

He revamped the former Stock Seed Committee into the current Seed Industry Advisory Committee, a think tank group of industry stakeholders that meets annually to discuss some of the toughest issues facing the industry. He also redesigned the Interprovincial Seed Industry meeting into a broad stakeholder forum.

Dave negotiated the current Saskatchewan Seed Guide contract which has become a significant source of revenue for the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association; developed the current E&P strategy for SSGA; oversaw two Saskatchewan seed industry economic impact studies which have been used to explain the seed industry to banks, government departments and other sectors of society; worked with Farrell Agencies to develop Seed Industry Plus, an insurance program designed specifically for seed growers and seed plant operators; and worked with Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation to develop a pilot project to improve coverage of pedigreed seed crops.

He has also facilitated numerous workshops and seminars on governance, communications, targeted marketing and management consulting. Dave has written numerous articles, columns and presentations promoting the seed industry, including a submission to the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. He helped develop technical resource manuals; has worked with U.S.-based authors and publishers on a book of quotes; and will be mentioned in an upcoming thesis by a University of Saskatchewan graduate student on the elements of good governance.

There have been 44 presidents in the 89-year history of SSGA, and Dave has served with 14 of them, making him the longest-serving administrator of the association. He has been involved in the coordination of four CSGA annual meetings; eight interprovincial meetings and 27 SSGA annual meetings. He has also served as president, chairman, secretary or as a member of a number of community volunteer groups and committees.

He was awarded an Honorary Life Membership in the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association in 2013.

Dave and his wife Stella live on an acreage north of Yorkton. They have a son, Jeff, who is a chef at Denny’s in Saskatoon; daughter Judy works in parts and shipping at Morris Industries in Yorkton. They also have a granddaughter, Deanna, who along with her husband Stephan lives in Thompson, Man., with children Makale and Kaydance.