Matko Papic

Mechanical Engineering Technology '99, School of Manufacturing and Automation
Chief Technology Officer, Evans Consoles

Matko Papic arrived in Calgary as a refugee nearly three decades ago with only a small duffel bag to his name. War had interrupted his engineering education in Croatia, and it was time for a fresh start.

"I came from a place where everything was difficult to a place where everything seemed possible," he says. "I never looked back."

That doesn't mean the transition was easy. Papic was devastated when his Croatian post-secondary education didn't align with Canadian university entrance requirements. "But SAIT welcomed me with open arms and worked to figure things out."

Two short years later, Papic was a SAIT graduate in his first engineering job as Senior Design Lead with Calgary-based Evans Consoles. Over the next 25 years, he progressed within the internationally focused company and today is Chief Technology Officer. He oversees technical and strategic development of the company’s portfolio of 15,000 control room units currently handling mission-critical operations in every corner of the globe — and beyond.

"Our customers are the best in the world — from Fortune 500 companies to government agencies in military intelligence as well as critical infrastructure, 911 centres, air traffic control towers and even NASA."

While his team's most recent project with NASA was a control room for their Perseverance Rover project, most of Papic's work is more grounded.

If you travel the full loop along the Calgary Ring Road, for example, you'll pass dozens of control rooms that Papic’s team has created. Their work usually happens behind the scenes, but it occasionally finds the spotlight.

"It feels like every time I turn on the TV, I see an Evans Controls centre in the background," says Papic. "We even worked with Universal Pictures to design the control room in Jurassic World."

Those projects may be fun, but for Papic, the work is ultimately about people.

"There's nothing like giving an air traffic controller or 911 operator access to the technology and situational awareness they need to be able to focus on the call they're taking," he says. "It can make a huge impact."

So can a career focused on delivering 25 to 30 of those control rooms to international destinations every month. "Being exposed to different realities, cultures, ways of thinking and problem-solving has given me a global perspective," says Papic. "I'm so lucky to wake up every morning excited to go to work and make a difference in the world."