| Vittoria Bellissimo Vittoria Bellissimo is the Executive Director of the Industrial Power Consumers Association of Alberta (IPCAA), a market, policy and regulatory advocacy organization that includes consumers from oil and gas, pipelines, agriculture, forest products, petrochemicals and steel industries. Previously, Vittoria was a Project Manager in Market Structure at the Ontario Power Authority, and had roles in procurement at the Ontario Ministry of Energy, renewable energy research at the Scottish Parliament, and construction IT at the University of Maribor, Slovenia. Vittoria has a M.Sc. in Environmental Sustainability from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Engineering from Queen’s University, Canada. She is a licensed professional engineer (Ontario). | |
| Dale Beugin As Research Director, Dale leads the Ecofiscal Commission's research team in developing analysis, insight, and policy recommendations on environment-economy issues. He is also an Associate at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and Principal of Sky Curve Consulting, specializing in environmental policy and economics and energy. As a consultant, Dale has provided analysis and support to a diverse range of clients including the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE), Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada, Industry Canada, multiple provincial governments, the World Bank, and the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. Previously, he worked as Policy Advisor at the NRTEE, leading research on carbon pricing and climate policy. He holds a masters degree in resource and environmental management from Simon Fraser University. | |
| Francis Bradley Francis Bradley is the Chief Operating Officer of the Canadian Electricity Association (CEA) . A frequent speaker on security issues, public opinion towards electric utilities, and restructuring of the electricity industry, he was a co-author for 5 years of the annual North American Electric Industry Outlook published jointly by the Washington International Energy Group and CEA. Mr. Bradley is the Energy and Utilities Sector representative on the National Cross Sector Forum overseeing Canada’s Action Plan for Critical Infrastructure, a member of the National Advisory Committee of Canada’s Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, and co-chairs, along with the Standards Council of Canada, the Smart Grid Standards Advisory Committee. | |
| Sophie Brochu Ms. Brochu has been active in the energy industry for more than 25 years. She began her career in 1987 as a financial analyst for SOQUIP (Société québécoise d’initiatives pétrolières). She was promoted Vice-President in 1992. In 1997, she joined Gaz Métro, as Vice President, Business Development. In 2005, Ms. Brochu was appointed Executive Vice-President. Since 2007, she has held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Gaz Métro. Ms. Brochu graduated in economics from Université Laval, in Québec City, where she specialized in the energy sector. She sits on the Board of Directors of Bank of Montreal, Bell Canada and BCE Inc. Ms. Brochu is involved with Centraide of Greater Montreal. She is the Chair of Forces Avenir which promotes students involvement in their communities. She is cofounder of “ruelle de l’avenir”, a project aimed at encouraging students in the Centre-Sud and Hochelaga neighbourhoods of Montréal to remain in school. Finally, she sits on the Board of Directors of La Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon. | |
| Gerry Cauley Mr. Cauley oversees NERC’s mission of assuring the reliability of the North American bulk power system. As president and CEO, Mr. Cauley directs key programs affecting more than 1,900 bulk power system owners, operators, and users, including mandatory reliability standards, compliance monitoring, enforcement, situation awareness, event and risk analysis, reliability assessments and forecasting, cyber and physical security, and government relations. Mr. Cauley also oversees the operations of eight Regional Entities who support the reliability mission across North America by implementing delegated responsibilities at the regional and local levels. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Cauley served as president and CEO of the SERC Reliability Corporation, one of the reliability Regions covering 16 states in the southeastern and central United States. During this time, he established new programs for monitoring and enforcing compliance with mandatory standards, developed training and educational programs and a program to track reliability recommendations. Prior to his CEO career, Mr. Cauley served as vice president and director of Standards at NERC and was instrumental in preparing NERC’s application to become the government-certified electric reliability organization. He spearheaded the development of an initial set of mandatory standards to ensure the reliability of the bulk power system in North America. Mr. Cauley was also a lead investigator of the August 2003 Northeast blackout and coordinated the NERC Y2k program, supervising the reporting and readiness of 3,100 electric organizations in the United States and Canada. Over a 35-year career, Mr. Cauley has been driven by a keen interest in serving the public while performing roles of increasing responsibility in the areas of electricity reliability and nuclear safety. He served as the program manager for grid operations and planning at the Electric Power Research Institute. He was a training consultant and established comprehensive reliability and safety training programs at dozens of electric utilities for electric system operations, nuclear and fossil plant operations, substations, and distribution systems. Prior to his career in the power industry, Mr. Cauley served five years as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mr. Cauley earned a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a master’s degree from the University of Maryland in nuclear engineering, and a master’s degree in business administration from Loyola College - Baltimore. Mr. Cauley is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mr. Cauley also serves on the Board of Directors for the United States Energy Association. | |
| Linda Coady Linda Coady is Chief Sustainability Officer for Enbridge, a leading North American energy delivery and infrastructure company. Prior to joining Enbridge in 2013, she was Vice-President of Sustainability for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. She is also a former Vice-President of World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF-Canada), and a former Vice-President of Weyerhaeuser Canada. In 2015 Linda was a member of the Climate Advisory Panel to the Government of Alberta. | |
| Cary Coglianese Cary Coglianese is the Edward B. Shils Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he currently serves as the director of the Penn Program on Regulation and has served as the law school’s Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs. He specializes in the study of regulation and regulatory processes, with an emphasis on the empirical evaluation of alternative regulatory strategies and the role of public participation, negotiation, and business-government relations in policy making. His most recent books include: Does Regulation Kill Jobs?; Regulatory Breakdown: The Crisis of Confidence in U.S. Regulation; Import Safety: Regulatory Governance in the Global Economy; and Regulation and Regulatory Processes. Prior to joining Penn Law, Coglianese spent a dozen years on the faculty at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also has taught as a visiting law professor at Stanford and Vanderbilt, founded the Law & Society Association’s international collaborative research network on regulatory governance, served as a founding editor of the peer-reviewed journal Regulation & Governance, and created and now advises the daily production of RegBlog.org. A co-chair of the American Bar Association’s administrative law section committee on e-government and past co-chair of its committee on rulemaking, he has led a National Science Foundation initiative on e-rulemaking, served on the ABA’s task force on improving Regulations.Gov, and chaired a task force on transparency and public participation in the regulatory process that offered a blueprint to the Obama Administration on open government. He has served as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, Environment Canada, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. | |
| Sean Conway Sean Conway is a public policy advisor in the Toronto office of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP specializing in energy issues. He is also a visiting fellow at the Ryerson University Centre for Urban Energy. Between 1975 and 2003, he served as a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly and was Minister of Education and House Leader in the Government of Premier David Peterson from 1985-1990. | |
| James Coyne James M. Coyne, Senior Vice President, is an energy industry expert who provides financial, regulatory and strategic support services to clients in the power and gas utilities industries. Drawing upon his industry and regulatory expertise, he regularly advises utilities, public agencies and investors on business strategies, investment evaluations, cross-border trade, rate and regulatory policy, capital cost determinations and energy markets. He is a frequent speaker and author of numerous articles on the energy industry and regularly provides expert testimony before federal, state and provincial jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada. He testifies on matters pertaining to the cost of capital, capital structure, business risk, alternative ratemaking mechanisms and regulatory policy. Prior to Concentric, Mr. Coyne worked in senior consulting positions focused on North American utilities industries, in corporate planning for an integrated energy company, and in regulatory and policy positions in Maine and Massachusetts. Mr. Coyne holds a B.S. in Business from Georgetown University with honors and an M.S. in Resource Economics from the University of New Hampshire. | |
| Tyson Dyck Tyson Dyck is a partner at the law firm Torys LLP, where he has practiced in the firm's energy and environmental groups for over a decade. In the energy sector, Tyson has worked extensively on the development, permitting and financing of generation, transmission and distribution projects across Canada, including over 50 wind, solar, hydro and gas projects. Tyson has also advised some of the country’s largest greenhouse gas emitters on cap-and-trade regulations, emissions offset projects, climate change disclosure and other emerging issues in the field. He has published extensively in these areas, including as a former Fulbright Fellow at Stanford Law School. Tyson is currently recognized as a leading lawyer in environmental law. | |
| Judith Ferguson Judith was appointed Executive Vice President, Regulatory, Legal and Business Planning on March 1, 2016 and prior to that she was the Vice President, Corporate Affairs. Judith oversees all legal and regulatory aspects of Nova Scotia Power's business and is also focused on the strategic direction and the various ways our company can contribute to the economic viability of the province. Judith retired from the Province of Nova Scotia where she held the position of Deputy Minister of Justice. Prior to this appointment Judith served as Deputy Minister of Labour & Advanced Education, Office of Immigration and Status of Women; Assistant Deputy Minister and then Deputy Minister of Community Services. She began her career in government as a legal advisor for the Nova Scotia Department of Justice. Judith holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kings College. Judith recently joined the Board of Directors of Phoenix House and the Nova Scotia Community College and is a past member of the Board of the Children’s Aid Society of Halifax. | |
| Janet Fraser Janet Fraser is BC Hydro's Senior Vice-President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Human Resources Officer. She first joined the Executive Team as the Senior Vice-President, Energy, Regulatory & Business Planning in April 2015 and added the Communications and Human Resources functions to her portfolio later that year. She also previously served as the company's Chief Regulatory Officer. Janet leads the team responsible for integrated resource planning, economic and business development, conservation and energy management, regulatory, business planning, enterprise risk management, policy and reporting, human resources and communications. Seeing the value in collaboration and unified direction, she is focused on working with the entire Corporate Affairs team to ensure the company is planning and driving towards the same goals. Prior to joining BC Hydro, Janet spent seven years with the British Columbia Transmission Corporation in a number of senior leadership roles. In addition, she held a variety of roles in the resource sector at Westcoast Energy and Fletcher Challenge. Born and raised in British Columbia, Janet is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) by profession. | |
| Willie Grieve Willie Grieve has extensive experience in utility regulatory reform, price regulation and competition policy development. He brought 25 years of experience to his role when he became the first permanent chair of the Alberta Utilities Commission on February 1, 2008. Immediately prior to his appointment to the Alberta Utilities Commission, Mr. Grieve was the vice-president of regulatory affairs with TELUS Corp., where he oversaw the firm’s regulatory policies and played a significant role in the regulatory evolution of Canada’s telecommunications sector. Earlier, Mr. Grieve practised law in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, concentrating on public utility and telecommunications regulation and competition policy as well as construction law. Mr. Grieve is a graduate of Carleton University in political science and the University of Saskatchewan College of Law. He is a member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan and the Law Society of Alberta, and received an Alberta QC designation in 2012. He was also recently elected, in 2014, as the chair of CAMPUT. Mr. Grieve is a former professional musician, is active as a community volunteer and currently serves as a member of the board of governors of MacEwan University. | |
| Martine Hébert Martine Hébert is senior vice president and national spokesperson for the CFIB. In addition to being a member of the senior management of the CFIB, she directs all communications and legislative activities in Quebec, while acting as a spokesman in the country on national issues related to SMEs. A BA (1988) and an MA (1990) in economics from the University of Montreal, Martine has over 20 years experience in public and government affairs. She gained the experience by being president of her own firm specializing in public affairs, and that, for nearly 10 years. During this period, she acted as a consultant with customers mainly composed of industry associations and professional groups and companies recognized throughout Quebec and Canada. Previously, Martine has, among other position, served as Director of professional and governmental affairs at the Association of Certified Human Resources Professionals of Quebec and various political offices at the provincial level. Over the years, she has worked on a number of issues of interest to managers of SMEs, particularly in terms of: taxation, labor laws, economic, regulatory, human resources management, energy, etc. In addition, Martine is the author of the book The Secret of lobbying, first practical book published on the subject in Quebec. She also taught the first course in government relations at the University of Montreal and was co-founder and president of the Quebec Association of lobbyists and the Fondation l'Actuel. Finally, Martine was designated Graduate of honor 2010, economics sciences from the University of Montreal. | |
| Scott Hempling Scott Hempling is an attorney, expert witness and teacher. As an attorney, he has assisted clients from all industry sectors—regulators, utilities, consumer organizations, independent competitors and environmental organizations. As an expert witness, he has testified numerous times before state commissions and before committees of the United States Congress and the legislatures of Arkansas, California, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. As a teacher and seminar presenter, he has taught public utility law and policy to a generation of regulators and practitioners, appearing throughout the United States and in Canada, Central America, Germany, India, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria and Peru. The first volume of his legal treatise, Regulating Public Utility Performance: The Law of Market Structure, Pricing and Jurisdiction, was published by the American Bar Association in 2013. It has been described as a "comprehensive regulatory treatise [that] warrants comparison with Kahn and Phillips." The second volume will address the law of corporate structure, mergers and acquisitions. His book of essays, Preside or Lead? The Attributes and Actions of Effective Regulators, has been described as "matchless" and "timeless"; a Spanish translation will be widely circulated throughout Latin America, through the auspices of the Asociación Iberoamericana de Entidades Reguladoras de la Energía and REGULATEL (an association of telecommunications regulators from Europe and Latin America). The essays continue monthly at www.scotthemplinglaw.com. His articles have appeared in the Energy Bar Journal, the Electricity Journal, Energy Regulation Quarterly, Public Utilities Fortnightly, ElectricityPolicy.com, publications of the American Bar Association, and other professional publications. These articles cover such topics as mergers and acquisitions, the introduction of competition into formerly monopolistic markets, corporate restructuring, ratemaking, utility investments in nonutility businesses, transmission planning, renewable energy and state–federal jurisdictional issues. From 2006 to 2011, he was the Executive Director of the National Regulatory Research Institute. Hempling is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches courses on public utility law and regulatory litigation. He received a B.A. cum laude in (1) Economics and Political Science and (2) Music from Yale University, where he was awarded a Continental Grain Fellowship and a Patterson research grant. He received a J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was the recipient of an American Jurisprudence award for Constitutional Law. Hempling is a member of the U.S. Department of Energy's Future Electric Utility Regulation Advisory Group. More detail is available at www.scotthemplinglaw.com. | |
| Colette D. Honorable Commissioner Colette D. Honorable was nominated to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Barack Obama in August 2014, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2014 for a term that expires in June 2017. An attorney, Commissioner Honorable came to FERC from the Arkansas Public Service Commission, where she served since October 2007, and led as Chairman from January 2011-January 2015. As Chairman of the PSC, Honorable oversaw an agency with jurisdiction over 450 utilities and approximate annual revenues of $5 billion. She was charged with ensuring safe, reliable and affordable retail electric service. During her tenure, Arkansas led the South and Southeast in comprehensive energy efficiency programs, and electric rates were consistently among the lowest in the nation. Honorable is past president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, where she focused on pipeline safety, reliability, resilience, fuel diversity, and workforce development during her one-year term. She has testified before Congress on multiple occasions on a range of energy issues. Prior to joining the Arkansas PSC, Honorable served as chief of staff to then Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe and as a member of the governor’s cabinet as Executive Director of the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board. Her previous employment includes service as a consumer protection and civil litigation attorney, a senior assistant attorney general in Medicaid fraud, and as an adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. A native of Arkansas, Honorable is a graduate of the University of Memphis and received a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. | |
| Travis Kavulla Travis Kavulla is a Montana public service commissioner first elected to office in 2010. In addition to his work on the Montana commission, he is involved in regional activities to promote efficient markets, the reliability of the grid, and a commonsense response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon-dioxide regulations. He is the President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and serves on the California ISO’s Energy Imbalance Market Transitional Committee. Prior to his election to the PSC, Mr. Kavulla worked as a journalist, serving as associate editor for National Review and contributing to many other publications. Mr. Kavulla earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard, and was a Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, England, where he obtained his Master’s. He is a fourth-generation Montanan. | |
| Amanda Klein Ms. Klein is Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel at Toronto Hydro. Prior to this role, she was Director of Rates and Regulatory Affairs at Toronto Hydro. Ms. Klein joined Toronto Hydro in 2011. As a member of the Executive Management team, Ms. Klein is responsible for leading all aspects of the company’s rates and regulatory affairs, legal services and provincial stakeholder activities. Ms. Klein has extensive experience in regulatory and corporate/commercial law. Prior to joining Toronto Hydro, she was a lawyer in private practice in Toronto. Ms. Klein holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of British Columbia, and is a Member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. | |
| Andrew Leach Andrew Leach is an energy and environmental economist and is Associate Professor and Academic Director of Energy Programs at the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from Queen’s University, and a B.Sc (Environmental Sciences) and M.A. (Economics) from the University of Guelph. He recently completed work as Chair of Alberta’s Climate Change Leadership Panel, and in 2012-2013 spent a year on leave from the University of Alberta as Visiting Scholar, Environment Canada, where he worked mostly on greenhouse gas policy for the oil and gas sector. Outside of work hours, his free time is spent with his two kids, Will (7) and Caroline (6), as well as tweeting, blogging, cycling, and running. | |
| Rosemarie Leclair Rosemarie Leclair was appointed Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Energy Board in April 2011. In this role, Ms. Leclair’s focus has been to evolve the regulatory process to be more consumer centric, provide greater access to consumers and improve the adjudicative process. Ms. Leclair earned a degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Ottawa and became a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1985. She has spent more than 25 years in the broader public sector in senior positions including the City of Ottawa – where she held the position of Deputy City Manager of Public Works and Services for five years. In 2005, Ms. Leclair joined the Hydro Ottawa Group of Companies as its President and CEO until her appointment to the Ontario Energy Board. Ms. Leclair has served as a Special Advisor to the Province of Ontario and has held positions on the board of directors for various energy associations, along with United Way/Centraide Ottawa. She was twice named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and was recognized as an Honoured Champion by the United Nations Association in Canada in 2009. | |
| Eric Martel Éric Martel took office as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hydro-Québec in July 2015. In this capacity, he is responsible for the company’s strategic objectives. Immediately upon his arrival, Mr. Martel set out four priorities for the government-owned corporation: proactive communication, sustained growth of the company’s activities and improving customer service and productivity. Prior to his appointment at Hydro-Québec, Mr. Martel worked at Bombardier from 2002 to 2015. During that time, he acted as President, Bombardier Business Aircraft, where he managed some 12,000 employees throughout the world. He also held the position of President, Customer Services and Specialized and Amphibious Aircraft at Bombardier. Under his leadership, the Customer Services team expanded its international footprint, generating significant and sustained growth in revenue as well as improving customer satisfaction survey results. During his career at Bombardier, Mr. Martel succeeded in implementing a solid quality culture throughout the organization, particularly in the course of his duties as Vice President, Quality, Achieving Excellence System and Transformation. He also held a number of operational senior management positions. Before joining Bombardier, Mr. Martel worked for various high-profile international companies in the aerospace manufacturing sector, such as Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce, as well as for Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods. Éric Martel holds a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering (1991) from Université Laval. He has been actively involved in Centraide of Greater Montréal since the early 2000s. | |
| Nicole Martin Nicole Martin is a Senior Director (Energy, Commodities and Utilities) in the Canadian Corporate Ratings group at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services in Toronto. Her role as a senior analytical resource and sector expert includes chairing complex committees and ensuring application of Standard & Poor’s criteria. Prior to joining Standard & Poor’s in 2002, Nicole acquired a thorough understanding of the Canadian utility sector and ongoing global electricity market restructuring during her almost twenty years in the industry in a variety of capacities that included operations, financial, and strategic planning positions. She has worked for both a major Canadian integrated utility as well as for a large transmission company, and has provided consultative services to utilities in Hungary, Thailand, and Korea. Nicole received her Bachelor of Applied Science degree from the University of Toronto in 1979 and her Masters of Engineering degree from McMaster University in 1982 and has been a registered professional engineer in the Province of Ontario since 1983. | |
| Shawn McCarthy Shawn McCarthy is the global energy reporter for The Globe and Mail, working in the paper’s Ottawa bureau for the Report on Business. In that role, Mr. McCarthy covers the energy sector, including oil and gas, nuclear, renewable energy and demand side issues. He deals with major economic trends at a national, continental and international level, with a particular focus on federal policy and environmental regulations. He also covers environmental issues such as climate change and nuclear waste disposal. Among other stories, Mr. McCarthy has covered the Paris climate summit; the federal government’s changes to environmental approval process for major resource projects, and the rapidly changing dynamics in North American oil and gas production. He was nominated for a National Newspaper Award for his coverage of the energy sector in 2009. Prior to assuming the energy beat in 2006, Mr. McCarthy served as The Globe’s New York correspondent for three years, with responsibility for business, politics and human interest stories, including the aftermath of 9/11. While there, he covered several high-profile corporate fraud trials including Enron in Houston and Martha Stewart. He was also part of The Globe’s team covering the 2004 U.S. election campaign. Mr. McCarthy served as the parliamentary bureau chief for The Globe and Mail from 2000 to 2003, and prior to that, wrote on finance and economic policy, including the previous Liberal government deficit battle in the 1990s. He has worked as a business reporter for the Toronto Star and for The Canadian Press. He began his journalism career in Alberta, working briefly for the Calgary Sun and at Ted Byfield’s Alberta Report magazine. A native of Philadelphia, Mr. McCarthy attended the University of Alberta as a foreign student and attained a bachelor’s degree in English literature. He met his wife, Karen, at the UofA and never went home, though he remains an ardent Phillies and Eagles fan. He also has a master’s degree in journalism from Carleton University, and completed the Canadian Securities Course. He has four grown children. | |
| Dan McFadyen Dan McFadyen Executive Fellow and Program Director Extractive Resource Governance Program The School of Public Policy Dan McFadyen is an engineer with nearly four decades of experience in the public service and the energy sector. Dan joined The School of Public Policy as an Executive Fellow in September, 2013 and was appointed Program Director, Extractive Resource Governance Program at The School in June, 2014. Prior to joining The School, Dan served as Chairman and CEO of the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) from February 1, 2008 until December 2012. As Chairman, Mr. McFadyen was responsible for directing the ERCB’s regulatory mandate governing energy resource development in Alberta. Before joining the ERCB, he served as Alberta Deputy Minister of Energy from January 2006 to December 2008. Over the course of his career, Mr. McFadyen has served as: • Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy with the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, • Deputy Minister of Energy in Nova Scotia, and • Senior leadership positions with the Saskatchewan public service including the Saskatchewan Research Council, Department of Industry and Resources, and Department of Energy and Mines. Mr. McFadyen received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manitoba and is a non-practicing member of the Association of Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta. | |
| Nicolas Muszynski Nicolas Muszynski has devoted his career to the Canadian renewable electricity sector and has worked over the last 14 years on the development of wind, solar, transmission and energy storage projects across the country. Recently he led the development and delivery of the first grid connected 4MW battery storage facility in Ontario. As a board member for Energy Storage Ontario, Nicolas is working closely with electricity sector stakeholders interested in Energy Storage in Ontario and more broadly across the Canadian Market. In his role as Director of Energy Storage for the Canadian market, he is responsible for the development of Renewable Energy Systems Canada Inc.’s energy storage business. | |
| Chris Neme Chris Neme is a Co-Founder and Principal of Energy Futures Group (EFG). He specializes in the design, implementation and evaluation of energy efficiency policies and programs. Over his 20+ years in the energy efficiency industry, Chris has worked for regulators, other government agencies, advocates and utilities in more than 25 different states, several Canadian provinces and several European countries. His work has addressed the robustness of energy savings goals, efficiency program performance metrics and related financial incentives, cost-effectiveness screening, the conduct of efficiency potential studies, the design of successful efficiency programs, the use of geographically targeted efficiency to defer T&D upgrades and the bidding of efficiency resources into capacity markets. Chris has testified as an expert witness before regulatory commissions in 10 different jurisdictions in the United States and Canada, led several different training courses on the elements of “best practice” efficiency program design, and authored a number of papers and reports on a wide range of efficiency program and policy topics. | |
| Pierre-Olivier Pineau Pierre-Oliver Pineau (PhD, HEC Montréal, 2000) is a professor in the Department of Decision Sciences of HEC Montréal and has been Chair of Energy Sector Management since Decembre 2013. He is an energy policy and management specialist, with a focus on electricity reforms. His research focuses on electricity market integration and on optimal approaches to balancing energy production and consumption. He has worked in Canada, Africa, Latin America and the Nordic countries and has published papers on all these regions. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of Energy Sector Management. He is a member of CIRODD (Interuniversity Research Centre for the Operationalization of Sustainable Development) and of CRÉ (Ethics Research Center). He held positions in Canada at the University of Victoria (School of Public Administration, 2001-2006) and at Concordia University (Economics Department, 2000-2001). He sits on the Board of directors of the Canadian Association for Energy Economics. | |
| Sharhzad Rahbar Shahrzad Rahbar is the President of Industrial Gas Users Association. Dr. Rahbar brings twenty years of progressively senior experience in the gas industry. Prior to joining IGUA she served as Senior Vice-President with the Canadian Gas Association. She has been an active contributor to the development of energy, technology and regulatory policy in Canada. Shahrzad served on the Executive Committee of the International Gas Union, on the Board of Natural Gas Technology Centre, as Vice-Chair and founding director of QUEST. Shahrzad Rahbar has a PhD in mechanical engineering from the UK and two patents to her name. She is also a graduate of the Director’s Education Program from the Rothman’s School of Management at the University of Toronto. | |
| Daniel Richard Daniel Richard was appointed President of Hydro-Québec Distribution on January 14, 2013. This Hydro-Québec division provides a secure supply of electricity to the Québec market by means of a distribution grid comprising more than 115,000 km of lines. The division has 6,000 employees serving 4 million customers throughout Québec. At the time of his appointment, Mr. Richard was Vice President – Distribution System at Hydro-Québec Distribution, a position he had held since May 2011. From 2008 to 2011, he served as Vice President – Customers at Hydro-Québec Distribution. Daniel Richard began his career with the company in the 1980s as a water systems engineer at Hydro-Québec Production. Subsequently, he held many positions related to electricity supply and demand management in various business units responsible for strategic planning, finance and international activities. Mr. Richard obtained a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Applied Science from the École Polytechnique de Montréal. He has been a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec since 1979. | |
| Nancy Rubin Nancy Rubin is a partner at Stewart McKelvey in Halifax where she has practiced since graduating in 1991 with an LLB from the University of Ottawa and a BSc from Dalhousie University. She’s been recognized in Best Lawyers In Canada in the areas of Energy Regulatory Law, Defamation and Media law, and Corporate and Commercial Litigation. In 2013, she was named to Lexpert’s Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Litigation Lawyers in Canada for Defamation and Media Law. In addition, Best Lawyers named her Halifax’s “Energy Regulatory Law Lawyer of the Year" in 2013 and “Defamation and Media Law Lawyer of the Year” in 2015; and Benchmark Canada named her as a “Local Litigation Star (General Commercial)” in 2015. Nancy regularly appears before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board in matters relating to electricity and natural gas utility rate hearings, renewable energy and cost of service, efficiency programs, feed-in tariffs, payday loans and petroleum products pricing. She is currently the President of Ad IDEM/CMLA (Canadian Media Lawyers’ Association), and sits on the National Advertising Standards Council. Locally, Nancy chairs the Supreme Court Liaison Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of Phoenix Youth Programs. She also guest lectures at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie and Kings College Journalism School. In 2012, Nancy was appointed Queen’s Counsel, a designation which recognizes professional integrity, good character and outstanding contributions to the practice of law. | |
| Richard Schultz Richard Schultz is James McGill Professor of Political Science at McGill University where he has taught since 1979. He was educated at York University, Toronto (BA and PhD) and as a Commonwealth Scholar at the University of Manchester, England (MA). He has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, the Program on Information Resources Policy, Harvard University, the Canadian Studies Center, Duke University and the Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School, Harvard University. He has served as a researcher for four royal commissions, as an advisor to the Minister for International Trade for the Canada-U.S. free trade negotiations, and has consulted for a number of government agencies and departments as well as private corporations. He is the author, co-author or co-editor of eight books, the most recent being Rules and Unruliness (McGill Queen’s University Press, 2014) and more than fifty articles and book chapters. He is currently working on a manuscript titled “Contested Networks: The Bureaucratic Transformation of Canadian Telecommunications 1976-1993". | |
| Douglas Simpson Douglas Simpson is a graduate of British Columbia Institute of Technology and has a diploma in Electrical Engineering Technology. He has 35 years of experience in the electrical industry including the areas of substation construction and maintenance, system operations, market development and regulatory affairs. His regulatory experience includes intervention in British Columbia Transmission Corporation’s Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) proceeding in 2005 and numerous ISO Rule proceedings before the Alberta Utilities Commission. Doug Simpson has been the Director, Regulatory Affairs at Alberta’s Utilities Consumer Advocate for the last year. In his current role he has been involved in and provided oversight on dozens of consumer interventions in Alberta Utility Commission proceedings including utility applications for: capital trackers, general tariff, generic cost of capital, and performance based regulation rates and factors. | |
| C. Peter Watson Peter Watson was designated as the Chair and CEO of the National Energy Board of Canada on June 13, 2014. His term is for a period of seven years, on a full-time basis. Mr. Watson has extensive senior executive leadership experience in energy, natural resources and environmental issues. In his most recent position as Deputy Minister of the Alberta Executive Council from 2011 to 2014, he was responsible for the administration of the Executive Council Office, Cabinet and committees, and was also Head of the Alberta Public Service. Mr. Watson served as Deputy Minister, Alberta Department of Energy (2008–2011), Deputy Minister, Alberta Department of Environment (2005–2008), and Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Assurance Division, Alberta Environment (2002–2005). Previous to these senior positions with the Alberta government, Mr. Watson served as Regional Director, Southern Region, Alberta, and held various engineering and management positions at Alberta Environment. Mr. Watson is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta. He was named Alberta’s Resource Person of the Year in 2011 by the Alberta Chamber of Resources. Mr. Watson holds a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Alberta. | |
| Adam White Adam White is Chief Executive Officer of Powerconsumer Inc., a company he founded to simplify—and automate—energy management for consumers. Previously, Adam was President of the Association of Major Power Consumers in Ontario. Mr. White’s prior career includes private sector roles in public and regulatory affairs, policy advisory roles in public service, and as an advocate for non-governmental organizations and interests. Adam teaches energy policy to engineering students at the University of Toronto. | |
| Byron Williams Byron Williams is the Director of the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. PILC legal counsel are currently involved in regulatory proceedings before a variety of provincial and federal tribunals including the Manitoba Public Utilities Board, Manitoba Clean Environment Commission, the National Energy Board and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Tribunal. Byron's practice focuses on consumer, environmental and human rights law. He has extensive experience on issues related to the hydro-electric, automobile insurance, telecommunications and payday lending industries. For more than twenty years, he has been involved in issues relating to the environmental and economic regulation of Manitoba Hydro. Byron teaches Poverty and the Law at the University of Winnipeg. He also guest lectures at the Robson Hall Faculty of Law on issues related to administrative advocacy as well as gender and the law. In 2013, Byron was named the first ever recipient of the Manitoba Law Society's Richard J. Scott Award for his work in advancing the rule of law through advocacy, litigation and teaching. In 2015, he received the Canadian Bar Association Legal Aid Leader Award. | |
| Jennifer Winter Jennifer Winter Area Director, Energy and Environmental Policy, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary Dr. Jennifer Winter (PhD, Calgary) is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Energy and Environmental Policy Area at The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary. Her research is focused on the effects of government regulation and policy on the development of natural resources and energy, and the consequences and trade-offs of energy development. Jennifer is one of The School’s most prolific authors. She has authored several School of Public Policy research papers, including three examining Canadian energy literacy, two on the safe transportation of crude oil, and a paper on the idea of “green jobs.” Other projects she is currently working on are an analysis of Alberta’s emissions-reduction policies, and the role of internal trade barriers in diminishing productivity. Jennifer is actively engaged in increasing public understanding of energy and environmental issues, and was recognized for this with a 2014 Young Women in Energy Award. Prior to joining The School of Public Policy, Jennifer worked at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, researching Canadian labour markets. Dr. Winter also serves on the Future Leaders Board of Directors of the World Petroleum Council Canada. | |
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