Ernest M. Thiessen, PEng, PhD

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President, CEO & CTO
Inventor & Principal Founder

Dr. Thiessen is President of iCan Systems Inc. of which Smartsettle is a division. He is responsible for the direction and management of the company as well as its government, industry and community affairs. Thiessen has led iCan's research and development efforts to implement the ICANS patent creating the world’s first secure multiparty negotiation support system on the Internet.

Prior to founding iCan Systems Inc. in 1993, Thiessen worked for 17 years as a consulting engineer and researcher in Canada and in Nepal. Most of this work related to water resource systems, planning and development on a project that received the UNESCO International Hydropower Association (IHA) Blue Planet Prize at the United Nations Conference of Parties on Climate Change in 2005. Thiessen's responsibilities on this project were the feasibility and preliminary design of the irrigation component. A notable achievement of this project was the facilitation of negotiations between His Majesty's Government of Nepal, the United Mission to Nepal and the local beneficiaries on the Andhi Khola Project regarding an unconventional plan to develop an irrigation project in such a way as to give unprecedented benefits to the poorest of the community. This plan came to be known as the AKWUA Strategy and was later the subject of Thiessen's Master's Thesis.

Thiessen received his PhD degree from Cornell University in 1993, majoring in Water Resource Systems in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. While at Cornell University, Thiessen developed an efficient methodology to solve very complex negotiation problems. This methodology has been patented and is now being used by Smartsettle.

Dr. Thiessen is an author or co-author of the following publications:

2004	Thiessen, E.M. and John Zeleznikov Technical Aspects of ODR Proceedings of the 3rd Annual UN Forum on ODR 2004
2003	Thiessen, E.M. and Ken Fraser Mobile ODR with Smartsettle Proceedings of the 2nd Annual UN Forum on ODR 2003
2003	Thiessen, E.M. and Andrea Soberg Smartsettle Described with the Montreal Taxonomy Group Decision and Negotiation Journal, Vol. 12 No. 2, March, pp. 165-170.
2001	Thiessen, E.M. and Debbie Law Smartsettle User Guide.
2000	Thiessen, E.M. and J. McMahon Beyond Win-Win in Cyberspace. 15 OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL. 643
1998	Thiessen, E.M., D.P. Loucks, and J.R. Stedinger Computer-Assisted Negotiations of Water Resources Conflicts. Group Decision and Negotiation Journal, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 109-129.
1994	Thiessen, E.M. and D.P. Loucks, "Computer-Assisted Negotiation System (ICANS)," in: Proceedings., Workshop on Computer-Assisted Negotiations, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, May.
1993	Thiessen, E.M., D.P. Loucks, and J.R. Stedinger Experimental Results with ICANS: an Interactive Computer-Assisted Negotiation Support System. Proceedings of the 18-19 June 1993 "Application of Advanced Information Technologies: Effective Management of Natural Resources" ASAE Conference in Spokane, Washington.
1993	Thiessen, E.M. ICANS: An Interactive Computer-Assisted Multi-party Negotiation Support System. PhD Dissertation*, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1993. Dissertation Abstracts International, 172p.
1992	Thiessen, E.M., and D.P. Loucks "Computer-Assisted Negotiation of Multi-objective Water Resources Conflicts," Water Resources Bulletin, American Water Resources Association, 28(1), 163-177, February.
1986	Thiessen, E.M. Complementarities between Irrigation Development Objectives in Nepal: The AKWUA Strategy. Master's Thesis, Cornell University.
1983	Thiessen, E.M. AHREP Headrace Irrigation: Preliminary Feasibility Report. United Mission to Nepal, Box126, Kathmandu, Nepal.