Latest / Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam / A Coffee with Matt Schellenberger from The Edmonton Construction Association

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A Coffee with Matt Schellenberger from The Edmonton Construction Association · Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam

• 0:14
  Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the ABA Coffee In The Park.
• 0:18
  My name is Cam Milliken, and I'm here with my co-host extraordinaire, Jennifer Herrick, the Executive Director of the Acheson Business Association.
• 0:25
  Hi, Jennifer.
• 0:26
  Well, good morning, Cam.
• 0:27
  How are you on this kind of chilly, kind of sunny day.
• 0:30
  I know, it's a unique day, isn't it?
• 0:32
  But it's nice.
• 0:33
  We had snow the other day.
• 0:34
  It did.
• 0:35
  That's kind of melted.
• 0:36
  Well, that's expected.
• 0:37
  Yeah, so no, you know what?
• 0:38
  It's a great kind of sort of springish day.
• 0:40
  It's getting there, slowly but surely.
• 0:41
  Slowly but surely.
• 0:42
  Yeah.
• 0:42
  So hey, everybody, we just want to let you know that we're coming to you live from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson.
• 0:52
  That's right.
• 0:52
  So if you hear some noise in the background, coffee machines whirring, people talking, kids screaming, it's because we're coming to you live.
• 0:59
  So don't worry about any of that.
• 1:01
  It just adds to the ambiance.
• 1:03
  Jennifer, tell us about some very important people.
• 1:05
  Cam, we would like to thank our Gold Corporate sponsors, which include the Myshak Group of Companies, Genics, Parkland County, and Bow Valley Credit Union.
• 1:13
  That's right.
• 1:13
  Without them, we would not be able to do what we do.
• 1:16
  So we want to thank them.
• 1:17
  They're awesome people.
• 1:18
  Anything else we need to know or you want to tell us?
• 1:21
  No?
• 1:21
  Let's just kick it off.
• 1:22
  Why don't we just get right into it?
• 1:24
  Introduce our guest today.
• 1:26
  Well, our guest today is Matt Schellenberger, who's the Director of Corporate Development for the Edmonton Construction Association.
• 1:33
  Right On! Welcome, Matt.
• 1:35
  Good to have you.
• 1:36
  Thank you.
• 1:36
  It's a pleasure to be here.
• 1:37
  Yeah, this is great.
• 1:38
  So hey.
• 1:39
  We'll kick it off like we always do.
• 1:40
  We ask this.
• 1:41
  The first question we ask everybody.
• 1:42
  That's right.
• 1:43
  So Matt, tell us a little bit about yourself.
• 1:46
  Where were you born?
• 1:47
  Where did you grow up?
• 1:49
  Well, I was born in Edmonton.
• 1:51
  I've spent most of my time in and around Edmonton.
• 1:55
  Grew up just west of Spruce Grove on Campsite Road, which is now Jen Heil Road.
• 2:02
  So we've been absorbed and I've moved north.
• 2:07
  So I live a little bit north of Spruce Grove now.
• 2:08
  So I ask this question every time because I'm always curious.
• 2:11
  What high school did you go to?
• 2:12
  Spruce Grove Composite.
• 2:14
  Okay, go Spruce Grove.
• 2:15
  What was the mascot?
• 2:16
  The mascot.
• 2:16
  Oh my goodness.
• 2:18
  I always ask that.
• 2:20
  Do we usually get it wrong?
• 2:21
  No.
• 2:22
  Some people don't know.
• 2:24
  I'm trying to remember, right?
• 2:25
  I don't know.
• 2:25
  Was it an eagle or what was it?
• 2:27
  I don't know.
• 2:28
  Anyway.
• 2:29
  Yeah, a panther.
• 2:30
  I mean, we were panthers.
• 2:32
  Well, I guess it was a panther.
• 2:34
  Yeah.
• 2:34
  Did you play sports?
• 2:35
  Did you do anything like that?
• 2:36
  Did play sports.
• 2:37
  Played volleyball, basketball.
• 2:39
  Played soccer and played on the high school teams.
• 2:43
  Yeah, right on.
• 2:43
  I was the short guy who tried to pretend he was as fast as he could be.
• 2:46
  I was more of a defensive mind.
• 2:48
  I know.
• 2:49
  I was like that too.
• 2:50
  I always pretended I was taller than I was.
• 2:52
  Yeah.
• 2:52
  Till reality sunk in.
• 2:54
  Yeah, I was like, you are what you are.
• 2:56
  You are.
• 2:56
  I think I reached my peak at about 14.
• 2:59
  Yeah, yeah.
• 3:00
  It's great when you're 18 and can still get into the movies for child.
• 3:03
  It's true.
• 3:08
  Matt, what did your mom and dad do then?
• 3:10
  So my mom was a teacher.
• 3:12
  She taught in a variety of places.
• 3:14
  She actually taught in Enoch for a number of years.
• 3:16
  Oh, really?
• 3:17
  Okay.
• 3:17
  At Kitaskinaw, Milgrove for most of her career and then eventually Woodhaven before she retired.
• 3:25
  Okay.
• 3:25
  Was she elementary, junior high, high school?
• 3:28
  She was, she started in junior high and then ended in elementary, but sort of bounced around between kind of grades five and nine.
• 3:35
  Right.
• 3:36
  Were you ever in the school that she was teaching in?
• 3:38
  I was not. She knew better.
• 3:38
  You were not?
• 3:39
  Okay.
• 3:39
  Yeah.
• 3:42
  Well, we've had guests on before, where their parents were teachers.
• 3:45
  I don't know if that went well, so anyways.
• 3:48
  I'm sure I would have been a handful.
• 3:50
  Yeah.
• 3:50
  She knew better.
• 3:51
  That's good.
• 3:52
  I was also, actually, I spent most of my junior high time in Stony Plain.
• 3:56
  Okay.
• 3:56
  At Meridian Heights.
• 3:58
  I was a French immersion student.
• 3:59
  Oh, yeah.
• 4:00
  Yeah.
• 4:01
  Which was super fun.
• 4:02
  Yeah.
• 4:02
  Meridian Heights was a great school.
• 4:03
  It still is a great school.
• 4:05
  Yeah.
• 4:05
  But we had a really solid group of just people in sports and other things that we did.
• 4:11
  But did you carry on with French immersion or did you?
• 4:14
  I did.
• 4:14
  Yeah.
• 4:15
  So that's what took me back to Spruce Grove Composite, which had just taken on that program at the time.
• 4:20
  And then I did my first year of university at the Faculte Saint-Jean.
• 4:24
  Oh, you did.
• 4:24
  Okay.
• 4:25
  That's fantastic.
• 4:26
  Yeah.
• 4:26
  That's really cool.
• 4:27
  Yeah.
• 4:27
  It was fun.
• 4:28
  Eventually, the programming meant I went to the U of A standard, but I always enjoyed my time doing French.
• 4:37
  And my kids are doing it now.
• 4:39
  Yeah.
• 4:39
  My daughter did the same.
• 4:41
  Yeah.
• 4:41
  Yeah.
• 4:41
  But I asked her now, can you speak French?
• 4:43
  And she goes, no.
• 4:44
  It's tricky.
• 4:45
  If you don't keep it, six years of French, can you talk French?
• 4:48
  Or we'll hear somebody talking French.
• 4:50
  I'll go, do you understand that?
• 4:51
  She goes, no.
• 4:52
  Yeah.
• 4:52
  I'm like, well, what was that all about?
• 4:54
  What?
• 4:54
  Was that a waste of time or what was that?
• 4:56
  Oh, it's tricky.
• 4:56
  But no, she would never trade it for anything.
• 4:58
  It was good.
• 4:59
  Yeah.
• 4:59
  Can you speak French?
• 5:00
  I still can speak pretty good French, but it's not like, it's not as tight as it should be.
• 5:05
  Because we don't practice it as much.
• 5:07
  But I find, you know, I travel a little bit down East, usually once or twice a year.
• 5:12
  Yeah.
• 5:13
  And of course, when you get down to Ontario, especially, you just hear so much more of it.
• 5:17
  And it's nice to have.
• 5:18
  Yeah.
• 5:19
  I think it's...
• 5:20
  You're right.
• 5:21
  It is good to have.
• 5:22
  I was offered a job once in Montreal, and I went down to check it out.
• 5:26
  And I went into, everywhere I went into, they talked to me in French.
• 5:30
  So I said, no, I didn't.
• 5:31
  I didn't take the job.
• 5:33
  No merci.
• 5:34
  No merci.
• 5:34
  English, English.
• 5:35
  They're looking at you.
• 5:37
  Anyways, no, I didn't do the job.
• 5:38
  Okay.
• 5:39
  So high school, then you went into university.
• 5:41
  University, yeah.
• 5:43
  U of A.
• 5:44
  I was a dabbler.
• 5:45
  So I came out of university with a lot of interests, including music, education, girls, all the things.
• 5:57
  And you know...
• 5:59
  What degree is that?
• 6:00
  I'm just wondering what degree that is.
• 6:01
  It sort of melded into a general arts degree.
• 6:06
  It did, yeah.
• 6:07
  An honours history and poli-sci degree.
• 6:09
  Yes, it did.
• 6:12
  This is good.
• 6:12
  I love this.
• 6:13
  It started in business.
• 6:15
  That was...
• 6:15
  Statistics was not my thing.
• 6:17
  Not your friend.
• 6:18
  Yeah.
• 6:19
  But we...
• 6:19
  Yeah.
• 6:20
  At the same time, I was busy kind of with a band, and we were trying to become rock stars.
• 6:27
  We want to talk about this.
• 6:28
  Yeah.
• 6:29
  You told...
• 6:29
  You let this cat out of the bag a little while ago with us, and we've been talking about it ever since.
• 6:34
  Oh, yeah.
• 6:34
  Yeah.
• 6:35
  Okay, Matt.
• 6:36
  So when did you get the bug for music?
• 6:39
  When did this all start?
• 6:41
  So my mom did the momly thing and put me into piano lessons at about 6, 7.
• 6:48
  And that wasn't the beginning of the bug.
• 6:50
  That was the arduous, learn it, Bach, Beethoven, all that stuff.
• 6:56
  But my mom, to her credit, and she tells me this story.
• 6:59
  She said, sometimes she'd have conversations with our teacher, like my music teacher, and she'd say, he doesn't practice.
• 7:06
  And my mom would say, well, he practices with you a half hour a week.
• 7:10
  And that's all I need right now.
• 7:11
  I love your mom.
• 7:12
  So yeah.
• 7:14
  She has patience.
• 7:15
  Because can I just interject here?
• 7:16
  I know this isn't about me.
• 7:18
  My mom put me in piano lessons.
• 7:20
  And after the third lesson, the teacher said to my mom, gave her her money back and said, I don't think this is going to work.
• 7:27
  So that hit the wall.
• 7:28
  That was after the third lesson.
• 7:30
  I was done.
• 7:32
  Well, anyway, sorry.
• 7:33
  Luckily, she didn't give up.
• 7:34
  No, that's good.
• 7:34
  Neither of them.
• 7:35
  Yeah.
• 7:36
  So how many years did you do piano?
• 7:38
  So I kept going till about, so about 12, it started to hit.
• 7:43
  Oh, okay.
• 7:43
  And then I, you know, by then I had progressed.
• 7:47
  Yeah.
• 7:47
  And I learned some theory and some other things.
• 7:50
  But that's when you start as a young person.
• 7:52
  And I'm an only child.
• 7:53
  So I didn't have the older brother or sister saying, yeah, hey, learn this, do this.
• 7:57
  Yeah.
• 7:58
  But some friends started saying, hey, you know, have you heard this band called Nirvana or Pearl Jam?
• 8:03
  Or Guns N Roses or any of those, right?
• 8:07
  And so then it was, OK, well, excuse me, Mrs.
• 8:11
  Teacher, I can't remember her name, sorry.
• 8:14
  If you're listening, it'll come to him eventually.
• 8:18
  Can I learn November Rain instead of Ode To Joy?
• 8:25
  And that was the beginning.
• 8:26
  And then from there, piano moved to guitar, which, and then I started getting together with some friends and we started the journey.
• 8:35
  Yeah.
• 8:35
  Right.
• 8:36
  And guitar was something I picked up really fast because I just had the energy for it.
• 8:40
  And then it went from very quickly from about 12, 13 to jamming in my parents' again.
• 8:47
  Thanks, mom.
• 8:49
  Yeah.
• 8:50
  Living room at a lot of decibels. Living room?! I was gonna say Garage! Yeah.
• 8:54
  It was living room and then it was downstairs.
• 8:56
  Yeah.
• 8:57
  I had to go to the basement.
• 8:59
  I was drums, so It was like, you're in the basement, kid.
• 9:02
  Okay.
• 9:03
  Great.
• 9:03
  Yeah.
• 9:04
  We were living room and then my room downstairs, which was just below my mom's office.
• 9:10
  So she had vibration going through as she did her work after teaching.
• 9:18
  So yeah, from there, it kind of took off for us a little bit through high school.
• 9:23
  How did you pick your bandmates?
• 9:25
  Yeah, I was going to say.
• 9:26
  Well, so our singer, who's a local guy, Corey Haley.
• 9:31
  He's now principal at Memorial.
• 9:34
  He was a guy who...
• 9:35
  Shout out to Memorial.
• 9:36
  Hey, hey.
• 9:38
  He was a guy that we knew who could sing.
• 9:39
  He had been Meridian Heights choral stuff.
• 9:41
  So, hey, you're the singer.
• 9:44
  My buddy, Mike, you can play guitar.
• 9:47
  You're the guitar player.
• 9:48
  Can you teach me?
• 9:49
  Okay, good.
• 9:50
  Do we know anyone who can play bass?
• 9:52
  Oh, Andrew Goche.
• 9:54
  Doesn't play bass, but he wants to come hang out.
• 9:55
  Go buy a bass.
• 9:56
  You know what?
• 9:58
  I hear this story about so many bands, the bass player, never played bass.
• 10:03
  And all of a sudden, the guys play bass, and then they're like megastars.
• 10:06
  Anyways.
• 10:07
  All right.
• 10:07
  And then the original drummer was my cousin, who was great, but he was 13 at the time.
• 10:12
  We were only 17.
• 10:14
  But we, you know, when we jumped to 18 and he's 14, my aunt said, yeah, maybe not.
• 10:21
  Not the influence.
• 10:22
  You know.
• 10:23
  What was the band name?
• 10:25
  So the band name was Haven.
• 10:27
  Haven?
• 10:27
  Haven, yeah.
• 10:28
  And that took a, we went through a few iterations.
• 10:32
  But Haven became the one.
• 10:34
  The one.
• 10:36
  Yeah.
• 10:36
  And we did our first album, if you want to call it that.
• 10:40
  Yeah.
• 10:41
  Through a good friend, Shane Pierce is his name.
• 10:43
  But he recorded it at Milgrove School, in the library.
• 10:47
  In the library.
• 10:48
  On tape.
• 10:48
  No.
• 10:49
  It was a 16 hour Sunday.
• 10:51
  Wow.
• 10:52
  We used Milgrove because mom worked at Milgrove.
• 10:54
  Yeah.
• 10:54
  Yeah.
• 10:54
  And we laid down an epic album.
• 10:58
  Epic.
• 11:00
  That still to this day we have.
• 11:02
  Yeah.
• 11:02
  It sounds like a bunch of 17 year olds trying to record an album.
• 11:06
  But you know, it was the start of something.
• 11:09
  Where did it land on the charts? Top.
• 11:13
  We knocked out U2, as I remember, right?
• 11:17
  Were you guys doing gigs and stuff?
• 11:19
  Yeah.
• 11:19
  So we started doing gigs then.
• 11:20
  And then it started to get a little bit more serious.
• 11:23
  So in university, there was a scene.
• 11:27
  Yeah.
• 11:28
  And there was more of a scene around at that time than I would say there is now.
• 11:33
  So we started doing little shows.
• 11:34
  Spruce Fest, Spruce Fest, wow.
• 11:37
  Spruce Fest 99 was, yeah.
• 11:41
  But did you play, did you play Farmer's Days in Stony?
• 11:44
  We weren't ready for Farmer's Days yet.
• 11:46
  But Spruce Fest, we did at the Elks Hall.
• 11:48
  At the Elks Hall.
• 11:49
  At the Elks Hall, 14 bands or something like that.
• 11:51
  Oh man.
• 11:52
  Yeah.
• 11:52
  Wow.
• 11:53
  So then eventually we ended up more in the city and playing some of the clubs at the time, Side Track, Urban Lounge, other places like that.
• 12:00
  No, you still were in university.
• 12:02
  Still in university.
• 12:03
  And then slowly things started happening.
• 12:05
  So we did a second album and got a manager.
• 12:08
  Come on.
• 12:08
  A manager.
• 12:09
  Yeah.
• 12:10
  He was somebody who saw us at a pub on the south side.
• 12:13
  Yeah.
• 12:13
  Came up, leather jacket, tall, about 6'5, long hair, glasses, loved us.
• 12:19
  And you're going, I'm kind of scared.
• 12:22
  Yeah.
• 12:22
  I'm interested.
• 12:23
  He ended up being amazing, actually, and helped us get a lot of great gigs over the years.
• 12:29
  So did you go beyond Edmonton?
• 12:31
  We did, eventually.
• 12:32
  Yeah.
• 12:32
  So eventually we did, you sort of climb this path, and there were some other bands doing at the time, Tupelo Honey, Fifth Season, who became Social Code.
• 12:42
  Yeah.
• 12:43
  Oh, Social Code.
• 12:43
  Yeah.
• 12:44
  So some of those bands we were playing with.
• 12:46
  Yeah.
• 12:46
  And then at that, you would start doing sort of bigger stuff.
• 12:49
  Yeah.
• 12:50
  And we started doing that, which eventually got us to things like Stage 13, which with Nickleback.
• 12:55
  Yeah.
• 12:55
  Wow.
• 12:56
  You know, some of those big shows and little tours around everywhere from basically White Horse down to the southern border and East.
• 13:04
  And then we recorded an album that cost King's Ransom at the time.
• 13:09
  Yeah.
• 13:09
  But we paid it back.
• 13:10
  So your third album.
• 13:11
  It was our third album.
• 13:12
  Yeah.
• 13:13
  And that's pretty great.
• 13:15
  I had a place called Power Sound with a gentleman named Phil Anderson, who was a real gem of a guy, still records.
• 13:22
  But yeah, really proud of those albums.
• 13:26
  And then we did The Push.
• 13:27
  We tried.
• 13:28
  We got some interest from a few labels, but it never kind of got over the top, which again, did you want it to like, was that your goal or were you guys?
• 13:40
  At the time, you have the starry eyes.
• 13:42
  But we were practical enough.
• 13:44
  Yeah.
• 13:44
  We all got basically degrees and other things.
• 13:48
  And we're still taking care of what we need to take care of.
• 13:52
  Sure.
• 13:53
  I was probably the one that was mostly willing to quit everything to just focus on this.
• 13:57
  And that's what happens, right?
• 13:58
  Is that the crossroads?
• 13:59
  Yeah.
• 14:00
  And a few of us, I was more of an adventurous soul at that time.
• 14:06
  Right.
• 14:06
  I still have a little bit of that.
• 14:08
  But a few of us, our bass player, our singer, well, they met some of their forever people.
• 14:14
  Sure.
• 14:15
  And then of course, the tensions, not tensions with us, but tensions within the system.
• 14:20
  Did you have like inner band fights?
• 14:22
  There was lots of throwing chairs through windows.
• 14:25
  Really?
• 14:25
  Oh, I love that.
• 14:27
  Every great band fights. Creative differences.
• 14:31
  It's like, that's their history, right?
• 14:33
  You know what?
• 14:33
  We couldn't afford to throw chairs through windows.
• 14:35
  No, because you have to pay for it.
• 14:37
  Do you trash hotel rooms?
• 14:39
  That's what I want to know.
• 14:41
  No, I wish I could say I was that kind of hooligan, but it's too respectful for a gentleman for that.
• 14:48
  So you're doing this, you're traveling, you're rock stars, loving the life.
• 14:53
  Now, Matt, I know that you're married.
• 14:55
  When did you meet your wife and where?
• 14:58
  Yeah.
• 14:58
  Was she like a groupie?
• 15:00
  No.
• 15:01
  She would be the anti-groupie.
• 15:02
  The anti-groupie, yeah.
• 15:05
  I love it, I love it.
• 15:06
  I needed an anti-groupie by the way.
• 15:08
  Exactly.
• 15:08
  Yeah, somebody to bring me down to earth.
• 15:13
  That's great.
• 15:14
  In a great way.
• 15:15
  Yeah, where did you meet her?
• 15:16
  So I met her at Eastside Mario's in Spruce Grove.
• 15:21
  Really?
• 15:21
  And I'll tell this story.
• 15:25
  It's the only time I've ever been fired from a job and I earned it.
• 15:29
  So I was- At Eastside Mario's.
• 15:30
  No, I was working at Boston Pizza.
• 15:33
  And at that time, a ton of great friends from Boston Pizza.
• 15:37
  By the way, Joe, who owned it at the time.
• 15:39
  Yeah.
• 15:40
  We've had Joe Scalzo.
• 15:41
  We've had this conversation.
• 15:42
  So he's aware of this.
• 15:43
  So I'm not letting the cat out of the bag too much.
• 15:45
  If you're listening, Joe, yeah, your pizza is still good.
• 15:47
  Yeah, we love it.
• 15:48
  Yeah.
• 15:49
  But working at the bar, too many friends, maybe too many deals under the table.
• 15:54
  So after about nine months, Angel sat down with me.
• 16:01
  I remember her name too.
• 16:02
  Yeah.
• 16:02
  Said, hey, I'm gonna have to let you go.
• 16:03
  I said, yeah.
• 16:05
  You knew that was coming, eh?
• 16:06
  Yeah, I saw that was coming.
• 16:07
  So I ended up getting a job at Eastside Mario's.
• 16:09
  It was very quickly after from Brent Gitzel, actually, who owns SandyView, right?
• 16:16
  So thanks, Brent.
• 16:18
  And that's where I met Elizabeth, my wife.
• 16:21
  Was she working there or what?
• 16:23
  She was working there.
• 16:24
  Yeah, and so we started working together.
• 16:26
  We were in different relationships at the time.
• 16:28
  Oh, okay.
• 16:29
  Mine started to go a little sideways, so did hers.
• 16:34
  And after it went sideways.
• 16:37
  Oh, there's so much to say here.
• 16:42
  These are the 20s. Was it love at first sight?
• 16:44
  Come on, be honest.
• 16:45
  Was it like, this is...
• 16:46
  You know what?
• 16:48
  We couldn't not talk to each other and be around each other.
• 16:50
  Yeah, there you go.
• 16:51
  So no wonder your other relationships were going down.
• 16:53
  Yeah, it was.
• 16:54
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:56
  But it certainly wasn't like this...
• 16:58
  It was a winding road a little bit.
• 17:00
  More on my side.
• 17:01
  Yeah.
• 17:02
  In between us fully getting together, there was about a year of me living in Australia and New Zealand and Thailand.
• 17:09
  Oh, okay.
• 17:09
  And why?
• 17:10
  Did you just need to get away?
• 17:11
  I needed to get away, which was a bit of a reframing, in a good way.
• 17:15
  You know, some of the music stuff had been piling up and sort of the tensions there and some life stuff.
• 17:21
  And just, you know, I think it was about 24, 25.
• 17:23
  And it's that, okay, grow up, feel, but I'm not really sure if I'm ready.
• 17:28
  Right, right.
• 17:29
  So yeah, I left for about a year.
• 17:31
  But halfway through that, she joined me in Thailand.
• 17:34
  Come on.
• 17:34
  And we had a great six weeks.
• 17:37
  So I didn't last, I went back to Australia.
• 17:39
  Then after that, it was pretty sure that I was coming back.
• 17:43
  And she was going to be that girl for me.
• 17:44
  So you weren't in the band anymore.
• 17:46
  Did she ever hear you play?
• 17:48
  Oh, of course.
• 17:48
  Oh yeah, okay.
• 17:49
  So she did.
• 17:50
  Yeah, so then I came back and I was, I was about 26, 27.
• 17:55
  Anyway, we got engaged at 28.
• 17:56
  Yeah.
• 17:57
  Married at 29.
• 17:58
  Yeah.
• 17:59
  Wow.
• 17:59
  And now two boys.
• 18:01
  Yeah.
• 18:01
  We live just north on the farm.
• 18:04
  Sure.
• 18:04
  And it's, yeah, the rest is, I don't know if I'd say history, but.
• 18:07
  No, no, no.
• 18:08
  She's still putting up with me.
• 18:09
  Well, yeah.
• 18:12
  So you came back, Matt, you got married.
• 18:16
  Where did your career journey take you?
• 18:19
  So I sort of, when I came back, there was a few different opportunities.
• 18:25
  One actually was, my dad had started a company called Ranchers Meats, which if you might recall, 2004, I believe, we had that whole Mad Cow Scare.
• 18:39
  Yes, that's right.
• 18:40
  Yeah.
• 18:40
  So my dad had been in government.
• 18:44
  He was an MP for 16 years out of Wetaskiwin in that area.
• 18:50
  And then he'd worked in the provincial government for a number of years.
• 18:52
  So he's, and we're fourth generation cattle farmers.
• 18:55
  So people started calling and saying, hey, as somebody that's been around it, what can we do here as farmers?
• 19:03
  Because meat prices are really tanking.
• 19:06
  Yeah, it was killing farmers.
• 19:07
  I know that my cousin was a beef farmer at the time.
• 19:10
  Yeah, and the industry, as it unfortunately still is kind of, it was fairly monopolistic, right?
• 19:16
  So at the time, there were a couple of different groups in Alberta and Saskatchewan and other places trying to get co-ops together.
• 19:24
  And Ranchers was a co-op.
• 19:25
  And it actually, we eventually got to a place where they almost opened a meatpacking plant here in Acheson.
• 19:31
  Isn't that right?
• 19:32
  Yeah.
• 19:32
  Okay.
• 19:33
  Which is now just across the road there.
• 19:34
  And I think it's a government sort of repository.
• 19:37
  Oh, yeah.
• 19:38
  The warehouse there.
• 19:39
  The warehouse.
• 19:39
  Yeah.
• 19:40
  So I worked there for about two-ish years, which had some awesome experiences.
• 19:47
  When they got the building done, we went down.
• 19:51
  There was a purchase of all of the interior machinery components from a packing plant in Mississippi that had gone through all kinds of legal things.
• 20:02
  Yeah.
• 20:02
  Was a bit of a money laundering thing.
• 20:07
  So we went down and bought all that stuff, brought it up here.
• 20:11
  So I worked doing some of that stuff.
• 20:13
  Yeah.
• 20:14
  Anyway, unfortunately, with pricing.
• 20:16
  So by this time, it was about 2007, 2008.
• 20:19
  And if you recall, everything got expensive.
• 20:22
  Yeah.
• 20:23
  So that was I foray into that.
• 20:25
  And then I had a foray into the financial world with financial planning and all kinds of different things.
• 20:32
  So that I enjoyed.
• 20:34
  But as we were getting close to having our first son, it was okay.
• 20:40
  What do I want to do?
• 20:41
  Right.
• 20:42
  And so I started asking people, asking friends.
• 20:47
  And a friend of mine, his mom worked at a recruiting firm and connected me with kind of a whole foray of opportunities, which ended up being the Edmonton Construction Association, which is that's 13, 14 years ago.
• 21:00
  Wow.
• 21:00
  So I've been there.
• 21:02
  I've been there a good time, right?
• 21:04
  So let me ask you a question.
• 21:05
  So you say you were fourth generation cattle farmers.
• 21:07
  Yeah.
• 21:08
  Did you ever think maybe I'll, I mean, I know the market was terrible.
• 21:12
  Yeah.
• 21:12
  But did you ever think maybe I want to do this?
• 21:15
  Maybe I want to be a rancher?
• 21:16
  Yeah.
• 21:17
  I wish I could say yes.
• 21:18
  Yeah.
• 21:19
  Well, you know, we still have some cattle.
• 21:22
  We have 50 head.
• 21:23
  So very, very sort of casual.
• 21:26
  Sure.
• 21:26
  50 head.
• 21:27
  You have 50 head.
• 21:27
  Yeah.
• 21:28
  But when I was growing up, we had about 150.
• 21:29
  Okay.
• 21:30
  My dad was always working full time.
• 21:31
  Mom worked full time.
• 21:32
  So it always had been that.
• 21:34
  Yeah.
• 21:35
  So again, the idea of, okay, you see it now, if you want to make a living at it, you've got to work.
• 21:42
  Yeah.
• 21:42
  It is your full time job.
• 21:43
  It is.
• 21:44
  Yeah.
• 21:44
  It is.
• 21:45
  Yeah.
• 21:46
  We're going to have 27 head here coming up.
• 21:48
  Yeah.
• 21:48
  And luckily, I don't have to do it, but it's a full time caretaker job.
• 21:52
  It is.
• 21:52
  It really is.
• 21:52
  Yeah.
• 21:53
  So yeah.
• 21:53
  Yeah.
• 21:54
  So I'm glad and I'm glad we're still doing it.
• 21:56
  The boys get to see it now.
• 21:58
  And as you age or as I've aged, you sort of see it more for what it is.
• 22:03
  I think you've got to grow into it.
• 22:05
  Yeah.
• 22:05
  But yeah, I mean, it was never something where it was sort of like, okay, let's take this big.
• 22:10
  Let's do it full time.
• 22:11
  Go after it.
• 22:12
  Yeah.
• 22:12
  And I'm a person who has multiple interests anyway.
• 22:16
  Sure.
• 22:17
  So some people I know they can find their passion project.
• 22:19
  Yeah.
• 22:20
  I have too many passions.
• 22:21
  At least that's what my wife knows.
• 22:22
  No.
• 22:23
  That's good.
• 22:27
  Yes, you can.
• 22:34
  We won't talk about it.
• 22:34
  It's not about me today.
• 22:35
  It's all about you.
• 22:36
  But yeah.
• 22:37
  Well, that's really cool.
• 22:38
  OK.
• 22:38
  So you joined the Edmonton Construction Association.
• 22:41
  Yeah.
• 22:42
  Yeah.
• 22:42
  Tell us a little bit about that.
• 22:43
  Yeah.
• 22:44
  Yeah.
• 22:44
  So, I mean, I had not been around not for profits, and I certainly didn't really understand, you know, what the Edmonton Construction Association was.
• 22:56
  I'd been around a bit of home building and other things, but not from the side of, you know, understanding the industry.
• 23:02
  So I got engaged there as a marketing communications person, and then quickly got to know sort of what the association land was like.
• 23:12
  Right.
• 23:12
  And membership associations and business associations.
• 23:16
  I mean, I don't have to tell you guys.
• 23:18
  Yeah.
• 23:18
  So, like, they're cool places, right?
• 23:20
  Tell us a little bit, like, what is the role of the Edmonton?
• 23:22
  What do you guys, why do you exist?
• 23:25
  Yeah.
• 23:25
  So, we're the largest construction association, Western Canada, for commercial ICI.
• 23:31
  So, we touch a bit of institutional, a little bit of industrial, but mostly commercial construction.
• 23:38
  And we have about a thousand member firms.
• 23:40
  Really?
• 23:41
  From your bigs, your PCLs, Ledcors,Ellis Don's, all the way to mom and pops who work in the commercial industry.
• 23:49
  And we're really designed, it's close to a hundred year organization.
• 23:54
  It was designed at the beginning, and still we do, is to provide opportunities to those members on procurement.
• 24:02
  Sure.
• 24:02
  So we still manage the procurement opportunities through all of the public entities.
• 24:09
  So that would be your province and cities, region, all that.
• 24:12
  And then there's an advocacy and government engagement component, of course.
• 24:16
  Sure.
• 24:17
  And then you get into things no different than any business association, with networking, education opportunities, all kinds of different things.
• 24:24
  But I've enjoyed it, because, well, construction is a fantastic industry.
• 24:29
  Yeah.
• 24:30
  We have a lot of shining star companies that have come out of Edmonton.
• 24:35
  Yeah.
• 24:35
  You know, the PCLs, Stantec, right?
• 24:38
  Clarks, all those.
• 24:39
  Sure.
• 24:39
  So, and then for me, it's really the people, right?
• 24:43
  I mean, I'm a people person, and those, you get to support an industry, you get to sort of stand in between certain issues on behalf of an industry.
• 24:55
  But our board is, over the years, I've gotten to know a ton of great leaders, no different than the ABA board, or any of these boards.
• 25:03
  You get to know a ton of great people who are really serving our community.
• 25:06
  Right.
• 25:08
  And supporting what I think is great city building, right?
• 25:12
  For sure.
• 25:13
  Great industry, but yeah.
• 25:16
  Matt, we'll see if you want to tell us this or not, but what's next for Matt Schellenberger?
• 25:22
  What's, we know something, but are you going to say and announce it?
• 25:27
  Do you want to announce it here on our podcast?
• 25:29
  Yeah.
• 25:30
  This is it.
• 25:31
  We love cutting-edge news.
• 25:33
  Breaking news, Matt.
• 25:34
  Breaking news, ABA Coffee In The Park, breaking news with Matt Schellenberger.
• 25:38
  Okay, Matt.
• 25:39
  Yeah.
• 25:39
  Well, you know, I was just saying to Cam.
• 25:42
  I got my paperwork in on Friday, so I'm officially running for Division III, Parkland County Councillor.
• 25:49
  Fantastic.
• 25:49
  It is fantastic.
• 25:50
  It is.
• 25:50
  I'm excited.
• 25:51
  Okay.
• 25:52
  Parkland III.
• 25:52
  There it is.
• 25:53
  Yeah.
• 25:53
  Division III.
• 25:54
  There it is.
• 25:54
  You heard it here.
• 25:55
  You heard it here.
• 25:56
  Good.
• 25:56
  Good.
• 25:57
  You'll be seeing them at your door.
• 25:58
  So why?
• 26:00
  No, but it's a good...
• 26:01
  It is.
• 26:02
  It is.
• 26:02
  It is.
• 26:03
  Yeah.
• 26:03
  I say it a bit tongue in cheek, only because we know enough to know enough, but it's like, why?
• 26:09
  Yeah.
• 26:09
  You know, people ask me...
• 26:11
  So there's the why generally, and I think there's the why, Parkland County.
• 26:15
  Why generally?
• 26:16
  It's been in my...
• 26:17
  It's in my DNA.
• 26:18
  Yeah.
• 26:19
  Well, yeah.
• 26:19
  With your dad, obviously.
• 26:21
  Yeah.
• 26:21
  I grew up at a kitchen table where my mom, who's a self-identified sort of leftist, and my dad, a right conservative, were...
• 26:32
  I bet those two were interesting.
• 26:33
  They were.
• 26:34
  Over pork chops.
• 26:35
  That was probably a pretty interesting day.
• 26:37
  I got...
• 26:38
  Yeah.
• 26:38
  You got both a good education on those things.
• 26:40
  Yeah.
• 26:41
  Okay.
• 26:41
  So, I mean, it's been something I've cared about and talked about for a long time.
• 26:46
  Not necessarily running, but just politics generally.
• 26:48
  And for me, the opportunity at Parkland County is municipal politics, to me, is sort of that...
• 26:58
  like, it's the ground level, but it's important to understand how government is really, you know, working with community.
• 27:05
  Yeah.
• 27:06
  It's outside of parties.
• 27:07
  I know parties are creeping in here now in Edmonton and Calgary, but here it's still not.
• 27:12
  Yeah.
• 27:13
  And I think, you know, if you're going to...
• 27:16
  Wherever my career goes in terms of politics, and if I do provincial or federal, you got to understand, you know, the municipal side first.
• 27:23
  Absolutely.
• 27:24
  It's the grassroots of it.
• 27:25
  It is.
• 27:25
  It really is.
• 27:26
  It's whether if you're in an urban area or a rural area, it's the grassroots.
• 27:30
  It is.
• 27:30
  It is.
• 27:31
  And I think, again, the Tri-region has so much opportunity in front of it.
• 27:36
  But, you know, my work with the Edmonton Construction Association has, you know, taught me how municipal politics can impact growth and development.
• 27:45
  100%.
• 27:47
  And I want to be a part of some of the decision making.
• 27:49
  Well, I think this is great.
• 27:51
  I like when you say things like, I'm starting here and who knows where it'll end.
• 27:54
  So, I hope that one day we're looking back on our podcast and we say, we had that Prime Minister on our podcast.
• 28:04
  Or that Premier on our podcast.
• 28:07
  So, I've been known to call that out a little bit.
• 28:10
  So, I'm just saying, I think, you know, Mr.
• 28:14
  Premier.
• 28:15
  Anyway, Danielle, we still love you.
• 28:16
  You're awesome.
• 28:17
  Yeah, nonetheless.
• 28:18
  Not there yet.
• 28:18
  No, no.
• 28:19
  But you know what, Matt?
• 28:20
  I just want to say thank you for doing it.
• 28:22
  Yeah.
• 28:22
  Because public service is really hard.
• 28:24
  Especially these days.
• 28:25
  Yeah, especially these days.
• 28:26
  No, it really is.
• 28:27
  And we need great people like you running.
• 28:29
  Thank you.
• 28:29
  No, politicians are, you know, I think, yeah, it's just, it's a tough job.
• 28:34
  And it's tough on your family, and I'm sure you've weighed all that.
• 28:38
  Did you have conversation with your dad?
• 28:39
  Did you sit down and say, dad?
• 28:41
  Yeah.
• 28:41
  And did he give you those, that great sage advice?
• 28:45
  Yeah, you know, I will say when I told him that I was doing it, there was a bit of a, you know, you feel this warmth of it.
• 28:55
  And he's super excited.
• 28:57
  Yeah.
• 28:58
  Got a smile on his face.
• 28:59
  He's already ready to say, yeah, this is our talking about, you know, he's gonna be out there knocking on doors.
• 29:05
  The other thing.
• 29:06
  Good for him.
• 29:06
  And he's still as connected as ever.
• 29:08
  So in terms of the issues and what he wants to do.
• 29:11
  That's fantastic.
• 29:11
  So yeah, I look forward to doing this with a lot of people.
• 29:15
  It takes a village to be different than we are, right?
• 29:17
  For sure.
• 29:18
  But I am looking forward to doing it with him.
• 29:20
  Well, thanks for letting us in on it.
• 29:21
  That's great.
• 29:22
  Well, Matt, 30 minutes.
• 29:24
  That's been almost 30 minutes.
• 29:26
  It doesn't take long.
• 29:27
  One final question.
• 29:29
  What's the best piece of advice you've been given either personally or professionally that you carry with you to this day?
• 29:36
  So, you know, one of the things that's hard for people, I think, and a lot of people, and I gotta remind myself, and I have been given tons of advice over the years by a lot of great mentors.
• 29:46
  But when we talk about being our best in every situation, so one mentor always said to me, and I sort of, I gleaned it from him, and he said, I always try and lead where I stand.
• 30:01
  So when I'm in a situation, it's good.
• 30:03
  How am I giving my best in that situation, whether it's, you know, being open, whether it's being communicative, listening to people, and then providing, right?
• 30:12
  So leadership is an every day choice, right?
• 30:15
  It's how we show up.
• 30:17
  And it's, you know, the curiosity, it's all those types of things.
• 30:20
  So I always think about that.
• 30:23
  And it's impossible to always be perfect at those things.
• 30:27
  But if we think about those things in a positive mindset, I think we're going to give our best in every moment.
• 30:31
  Yeah.
• 30:33
  Excellent advice.
• 30:34
  Wow.
• 30:35
  Well, thanks.
• 30:37
  This has been great.
• 30:38
  Thank you so much, Matt.
• 30:39
  And all the best, to you.
• 30:40
  And we'll be watching.
• 30:41
  Yeah.
• 30:42
  Thank you.
• 30:47
  Search his band out on iTunes.
• 30:49
  I know.
• 30:49
  I want to see if it's actually there.
• 30:50
  We should have asked him if it's on iTunes.
• 30:52
  But yeah, what a great story.
• 30:53
  What a great guy.
• 30:54
  Matt's a really awesome guy.
• 30:55
  Matt's a fantastic guy.
• 30:56
  Really appreciate him taking the time.
• 30:58
  So yeah, good podcast.
• 31:00
  Thanks, everybody, for listening.
• 31:01
  Really appreciate it.
• 31:02
  Don't forget to tell your friends, your neighbors, your business associates, your enemies.
• 31:07
  If you don't have a friend, make one so you can tell them about the ABA Coffee In The Park podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
• 31:13
  Or you can go to www.Achesonbusiness.com and download them there.
• 31:19
  And subscribe.
• 31:20
  Yes, subscribe.
• 31:21
  That's important.
• 31:22
  Because then you'll be reminded every time a new podcast comes up.
• 31:26
  Every Thursday at noon.
• 31:27
  Yeah, it's exciting.
• 31:28
  But thanks, everybody.
• 31:29
  We appreciate it.
• 31:30
  Thanks for listening.