Red Seal Machinist
Millwright/Machinist Instructor
Matt Sumner started out working in the machining and millwright trades back in his high school years, and he has been at it ever since in a wide variety of industries, hunting out as many adventures as possible.
After completing high school in Revelstoke, BC, he attended the Millwright/Machinist Program at Selkirk College in 1995. He then worked locally for some time before finishing his machinist apprenticeship in Alberta. Throughout his apprenticeship, he was lucky enough to work in manufacturing and repair and retrofit in the oil and gas industry as well as wood and fibre, mining, medical, aerospace and many other sectors. Later in his career, he went on to work with heavy machining on components weighing in at over 50 tonnes apiece. In addition, Matt worked for a number of years selling, supporting and teaching software for computer-controlled machines and robotics. Prior to starting at Selkirk College in 2018, he had been part owner and operator in several companies in manufacturing, research and development, and software for manufacturing.
As one of the instructors in the Millwright/Machinist Foundation Program, Matt has come full circle and is helping his students to start their exiting careers on the right foot. Using his own experiences to provide guidance in learning, he is excited to be part of the amazing team at Selkirk College and part of this important time in his students’ lives.
When classes are out, Matt is usually with his wife and two sons snowboarding or hiking in the local mountains, wakeboarding on the lake or mountain biking on the trails.