Board of Directors

Timothy Kozmyk

“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.”

— Colin Powell

A man of vision, Timothy Kozmyk has earned a reputation of excellence and innovation. He has been an executive, entrepreneur and investor, and has built success into each and every one of his ventures.

Timothy joined Kansas-based Koch Industries in 1980. Koch was the second largest privately owned company in North America, and it was a tremendous experience for Timothy. A geologist by trade, Koch gave him the opportunity to move into management and the executive. It is there where Timothy honed his business and leadership skills.

After nearly twenty years at Koch, Timothy wanted to build something from the ground up. With a group of colleagues, Timothy took over the management of fledgling BlackRock Ventures in 1999. BlackRock, a publicly-traded exploration and production company, focused on Canadian heavy oil.

BlackRock was a great success and gained a reputation for using innovative approaches for acquiring strategic land accumulations and producing heavy oil. This success and reputation made BlackRock a very attractive investment and, in keeping with their exit strategy, ultimately lead to their acquisition strategy by Shell Canada in 2006.

After the sale of BlackRock, Timothy spent his time and efforts on building strategic growth companies. It is this line of interest that ultimately led him to Rainmaker. The vision of Rainmaker and the unique model devised by Clark Grue captivated Timothy and resulted in his joining Rainmaker’s board as chairman.

Lois Mitchell

“Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men.”

— Albert Einstein

Bridging the gaps between people, businesses, communities and even countries has been Lois Mitchell’s passion since the early days of her career and the key to her success. Modest, yet extremely effective, Lois has built her professional and philanthropic lives using this innate ability. She has started a number of successful businesses and has raised millions of dollars for worthy causes.

A teacher by trade, Lois found her entrepreneurial spirit in the 1970s when she started a successful sport merchandising business. She built her business from the ground to encompass all of Western Canada before selling it in 1980.

In her next venture, Lois combined her teaching roots with her business experience in Amherst Consultants, a corporate training firm specializing in sales, communication and leadership training and development. Based in Calgary, Lois took the business nationally when she accepted exclusive contracts with major corporations in Toronto and Vancouver. Lois diversified Amherst to include sport sponsorship engineering in 1997.

Lois extends her vast business knowledge to a wider range of volunteer and charitable causes. She is Chair of the board of directors for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce; is a member of the New York-based American Symphony Orchestra Volunteer Council; is on the board of directors for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, based in Toronto; is the vice chair for the Global Business Forum; is the chair for the Advisory Board of the Latin America Research Centre at the University of Calgary; was for 12 years the Honourary Consul of Colombia for Alberta and Saskatchewan; and is the chair for the 2008 IIHF World Woman’s Under-18 Championship.

Today, Lois makes use all of her experience, skill and worldwide network as the director of the board and senior advisor at Rainmaker. She feels passionately about Rainmaker and its mission to bridge the gaps between expanding organizations and their potential new markets by forging new, beneficial relationships. After all, that is what Lois does best.

Clark Grue

“The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

The cornerstone of Clark Grue’s career is his ability to foster strong, positive relationships; to connect individuals, businesses and even governments in the spirit of cooperation and growth. It is this ability which has been the guiding force behind his career and success.

In 1999, after serving as a vice president with Network Innovations, Edmonton born Clark was chosen to establish the British Trade and Investment Office in Alberta. Recognized for his abilities to build strong relationships, Clark was the ideal candidate to establish this first-of-its-kind national representation in a foreign market. An initiative of Tony Blair’s government, the British Trade and Investment Office became a huge success under Clark’s direction; a tradition it continues to this day.

A builder to the core, Clark moved on in 2004 to Calgary Economic Development (CED) to help rebuild the organization. As the vice president of investment and trade development, Clark and his handpicked team were successful in turning the organization around and revitalizing it and many of its fine programs. Thanks to Clark’s and his team’s direct efforts, CED was once again in a position to raise the profile of Calgary and its realized and future potential on the world stage.

A strong believer in people, Clark has honed his innate capacity to cultivate talent and empower. His track record of achievement is based on finding the right people and rallying them in a common pursuit. Be it the development of a first-of-its-kind British Trade and Investment Office in Alberta or working to rebuild the CED, Clark has reached his goals, shoulder to shoulder, with his capable teams. One of the results of this passion for people and for building organizations led to Clark being named one of Calgary’s “Top 40 Under 40” in 2005.

Today, Clark has brought his passion for people and fostering new relationships together in Rainmaker. He has handpicked a team perfectly suited to build an organization dedicated to bringing together businesses expanding into new, lucrative markets with key individuals and organizations; priming the venture for success.

A husband and father of four, Clark attributes his abilities and success in both his personal and business lives to his love of sports. His years of playing competitive sports such as basketball and soccer have given him the skills to work as a team, focus on a common goal and respect the individuals he’s working with. Clark has further developed his leadership abilities through coaching sports, music and professional development.