We will be updating you early next week as they continue their quest.

Singletouch board member, Ed Alfke, shares his entrepreneurial insight with Pepperdine University. See his passion as he share his story with these MBA, Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneur Law students, and graduates.

Graciela E. Martinez

Singletouch is excited to welcome Graciela Martinez to our Board of Directors. With over 25 year of technology and corporate leadership; Graciela brings a deep understanding of business strategy, operational improvement, and organizational alignment.

Daniel and Thomas Purcell are on a quest for gold at the 2012 Olympics in London.

The two brothers, aged 25 and 23, began their whitewater canoe slalom careers when they joined Cottonwood Kayak Club. The encouragement to join the club came from their mom, who thought it would provide strengthening and conditioning during the boys’ hockey off season. Daniel, who was 14 at the time, had constant shoulder injuries from hockey; he agreed that the rowing would help improve his upper-body strength. His 12-year-old brother Thomas quickly joined in. Little did their mother know she was encouraging a path that would inspire her sons to shoot for an Olympic gold medal.

Daniel and Thomas’s slalom careers were off to a successful start in that very first year as part of the Cottonwood Kaki Club zone 4 team, as the brothers won their event at the Alberta Summer Games. That hooked them on their new-found sport and they began to dedicate countless hours to training and preparing for competitions. During their time with the club, the two held the national title for four consecutive years. While training, they continued to attend school as usual, and both graduated high school and have gone on to college. Daniel attends the University of Lethbridge, where he is studying commerce marketing while Thomas is studying geology at Mount Royal University. In order to keep up their training, they attend classes in the fall semester and devote the spring and summer to competitions.

They have had the opportunity to train in Ottawa with the Canadian national team head coach and most recently in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the official U.S. Olympic training site for whitewater slalom. While training at the U.S. National Whitewater Center (USNWC), they competed and won the 2011 USNWC Slalom Race. Earlier this year, Team Purcell took the C2-M class at the Canoe Slalom Pan American Championships. Daniel and Thomas also won the C2-M class title at the 2011 Pan American Championship this year in Mexico. When the two are not training for a specific event, they spend time working out and training on their home course in Kananaskis, Alberta. In the new year, they will be off to Brazil preparing for the 2012 Olympic qualifications in March.

Whitewater canoe slalom is a relatively small sport that does not have the funding infrastructure of better-known sports so teams need to be self-funded and to find their own sponsors. Singletouch is proud to be one of many supportive sponsors that Daniel and Thomas have attracted. Singletouch CEO believes the brothers have an excellent shot at making the Canadian Olympic team for the 2012 London games.

As the two brothers gear up for their Olympic qualifying tournaments in March, their journey takes them to train in Brazil and we will be cheering them along.

Photograph by: Mark Ralston, AFP/Getty Images

Everyone knows that there has been an economic dip; however there are positive signs in the oil and gas industry that things could be turning around.  Attention in the U.S. is turning inward with the recent number of opportunities found for producing these much-needed energy resources.

The industry is looking beyond the Gulf and focusing more on inland areas such as Ohio, Louisiana and South Dakota. With the use of improved drilling methods such as fracking and horizontal drilling, “America will soon again be able to supply all of its own domestic natural gas needs — and perhaps for the next 90 years at present rates of consumption.”

However the U.S. is not the only country looking at its own resources to supply its energy needs, and will need to set itself as a leader to ensure stability in the marketplace.

Photo Credit: Performance Drilling Ltd

The oil and gas industry could well be shifting its focus westward with the recent change in the energy outlook for the United States. The Financial Times noted that “Many analysts expect that in the coming decade the U.S. will leapfrog Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s largest producer of liquid hydrocarbons.”

With the increased focus on discovering new methods of extraction and improved technologies, the U.S. could be the largest untapped resource.  In fact, McMoRan Exploration could prove its CEO, James “Jim Bob” Moffett to have been right about his hunch that drilling in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico would demonstrate profitability. MMR, which has been drilling in 20 feet of water off the cost of Louisiana’s Vermilion Parish, could learn later this month if its Davy Jones well will be as lucrative as first suspected.

Students at Tulane’s Freeman School of Business have been studying the oil and gas industry under Peter Ricchiuti and comparing these smaller offshore endeavors to those of larger stature such as BP. It is evident that there needs to be attention drawn to the resources in the U.S.; the question becomes, who will win the attention of investors and who will be most profitable?

Lucky raffle prize winner Matthew and Lindsay Hofer at a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game.

By Jennifer Seigler

Earlier this year, Singletouch Corporation supported our client Chemco’s annual charity fundraiser by providing a “Fun in the Sun” raffle prize. The winner’s package included airfare for two to Phoenix, three nights at The Wigwam Resort including golf, and tickets to a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game.

Chemco’s annual charity golf event took place at Legends Golf and Country Club in Edmonton where employees of this large electrical contractor enjoyed  golf and raffles throughout the day. This year, Chemco chose the Stollery Children Hospital as the recipient of proceeds raised by the employee-driven event.

Matthew Hofer was the lucky Fun in the Sun winner and enjoyed his trip to Phoenix in early November. Matthew said, “The only thing that could have been better would have been an Oilers win at the hockey game.”  Matthew was kind enough to share a few of his photos of the event with us and we were happy to have been a part of it al.

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Canada’s National Energy Board said today that oilsands production will rise over the next 25 years from its current 1.7 million barrels per day to about 5 million per day. This would vastly outstrip modest growth in Canada’s domestic requirements, leaving significant volumes available for export, including to new markets in Asia-Pacific. However, as the Edmonton Journal reported, expanding exports of oilsands production will not be easy with the European Union considering a new fuel quality standard that would hinder exports to that market and United States president Barack Obama facing considerable political pressure to block greater exports through pipeline projects such as Keystone XL. According to the Journal, the Pembina Institute’s Nathan Lemphers said, ”If any growth is to be seen from that industry, there will need to be a marked improvement in environmental management and regulation in the industry.”