Speakers

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
The Honourable John R. Baird, P.C., Former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs

John Baird is a Senior Advisor to various enterprises and a former Senior Cabinet Minister in the Government of Canada.

An instrumental figure in bilateral trade and investment relationships, Mr. Baird has played a leading role in the Canada-China dialogue and worked to build ties with ASEAN countries.  In addition, Mr. Baird has worked closely with international leaders to strengthen security and economic ties with the United States and Middle Eastern countries.

A native of Ottawa, Baird spent three terms as a Member of Parliament and four years as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as President of the Treasury Board, Minister of the Environment, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. Prior to entering federal politics, Mr. Baird spent ten years in the Ontario Legislature where he served as Minister of Community and Social Services, Minister of Energy, and Government House Leader.

Currently, Mr. Baird serves as a Senior Business Advisor with Bennett Jones LLP, a premier Canadian law firm. In addition, Mr. Baird sits on the advisory board of Barrick Gold Corp., the corporate boards of Canadian Pacific, Canadian Forest Products (Canfor), the FWD Group and PineBridge Investments. He also serves as a Global Strategic Advisor to Hatch Ltd, a Canadian global multidisciplinary management, engineering and development consultancy, and is a Senior Advisor at Eurasia Group, a global political risk consultancy.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Dr. Jack Mintz

Dr. Jack M. Mintz is the President’s Fellow of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary as of July 1, 2015 after serving as the Palmer Chair and founding Director since 2008.

He also serves on the boards of Imperial Oil Limited, Morneau Shepell and is chair and Vice-President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.  As of September 1 2015, he has been appointed as the National Policy Advisor for the accounting firm EY.

He serves as an Associate Editor of International Tax and Public Finance and the Canadian Tax Journal, and is a research fellow of CESifo, Munich, Germany, and the Centre for Business Taxation Institute, Oxford University.

Dr. Mintz held the position of Professor of Business Economics at the Rotman School of Business from 1989-2007 and Department of Economics at Queen’s University, Kingston, 1978-89. He was a Scholar-in-Residence at Columbia Law School 2016; Visiting Professor, New York University Law School, 2007; President and CEO of the C. D. Howe Institute from 1999-2006; Clifford Clark Visiting Economist at the Department of Finance, Ottawa; and Associate Dean (Academic) of the Faculty of Management, University of Toronto, 1993 – 1995. He was founding Editor-in-Chief of International Tax and Public Finance, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers from 1994 – 2001.

He chaired the federal government’s Technical Committee on Business Taxation in 1996 and 1997 that led to corporate tax reform in Canada since 2000. He also has served as chair of the Alberta Financial and Investment Policy Advisory Commission in 2007 that reviewed saving policy of the Alberta government.  In addition, in 2009, he served as the Research Director of the FPT Research Working Group on Retirement Income.  He served on the federal Panel on Healthcare Innovation in 2013-14 as well as the Minister of Finance’s Economic Advisory Council from December 2008-June 2015.

Dr. Mintz has consulted widely with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, federal and provincial governments in Canada, and various businesses and non-profit organizations. He has participated as an expert witness in numerous cases related to taxation or transfer pricing.

Dr. Mintz became a member of the Order of Canada in 2015 as well as receiving the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 for service to the Canadian tax policy community. Widely published in the field of public economics, he was touted in a 2004 UK magazine publication as one of the world’s most influential tax experts. Alberta Venture magazine has recognized him as one of the fifty most influential Albertans in 2008, 2010 and 2013. The Financial Post named him one of the five most influential Canadians in regulation in 2012. 

PANEL SPEAKER:
Clement Gaudet, Chief Operations Officer and President Canadian Operations, Zedi

As COO of Zedi, Mr. Clement Gaudet is responsible for the commercial production and delivery of all products and services of the company. Clem is also responsible for the direct oversight of Field Service and Operations. He brings over 35 years of experience in operations management, data communications, research, and development. Clem is a Professional Engineer in Electrical Engineering registered in both Alberta and Saskatchewan.

 

PANEL SPEAKER:
Mike Bauer, Managing Director & Region Manager, J.P. Morgan

Mike Bauer has 28 years of banking experience, the last 22 of which have been at J.P. Morgan. Mike heads the Canadian Middle Market banking practice for the firm and leads the coordination of the firms lending, investment banking, capital markets, cash management, and risk management resources to provide banking solutions to middle market Canada. The Canada Middle Market team includes bankers located in four cities, and covers clients and prospects across the country. Mike also sits on the extended management committee of J.P. Morgan Securities Canada and the Canada Risk Committee. Prior to taking on his current role, he was a client coverage banker to a diverse portfolio of Canadian corporations and had responsibility for business development, new client origination, and coordination of the firm’s delivery of capital raising, advisory, risk management and treasury services to our corporate client base. 

Prior to joining JPMorgan Mike was a banker at CIBC from 1988 and 1994. He has a BA (Honours) in economics from Queen's University and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University. He lives in Toronto with his wife, son and daughter.

PANEL SPEAKER:
Chad Danard, Managing Director, TriWest Capital Partners

Prior to joining TriWest in 2005, Chad Danard worked at Morgan Stanley in the Global Energy and Utility Group in New York and in the Canada Group in Toronto. While at Morgan Stanley, Chad was involved in a variety of M&A-related strategic advisory assignments, equity offerings and both private and public debt financings. He also spent time in India, where he co-managed the day-to-day operations for the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley Advantage Services.

Chad currently serves as a board member for the Calgary Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. Chad received a Bachelor of Commerce degree (finance concentration) from the Queen’s School of Business, where he graduated at the top of his class.

PANEL SPEAKER:
Irfhan Rawji, Principal, Totem Capital Corporation

Irfhan Rawji is a Principal with Totem Capital Corporation, a private capital firm focussed on investing in Western Canadian small businesses, and is a Venture Partner with Relay Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm exclusively focused on mobile computing.

Irfhan has been a strategic consultant, public company senior executive and investor for over 15 years. Irfhan has also been an Adjunct Professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia where he taught in the areas of finance, public policy, strategy and leadership.

Irfhan is presently Board Chair of two Totem Capital investee companies: Carrot Insights; and The Organic Box. Irfhan is also Board Chair of the Community Hypertension Prevention Initiative (CHPI), a partnership between the Federal government, private investors and the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada aimed at reducing the incidence of stroke; the CHPI represents an innovation in social finance as Canada’s first social impact bond.

Irfhan is actively involved in civic affairs as a Board Member of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, Vice Chair of Glenbow Museum, Treasurer of imagiNation150, member of the Harvard Business School Global Alumni Board, and member and Finance and Investment Sub-Committee Chair of the Calgary 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Bid Exploration Committee.

Irfhan holds an MBA with High Honors from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar and a BCom with High Honours from the University of British Columbia where he was a Wesbrook Scholar. He is a recipient of The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Heart & Stroke Foundation’s Award of Merit, the Sauder School of Business’ Teaching Excellence Award, and Business for the Arts’ Arnold Edinborough Award. Irfhan was recently recognized as member of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

PANEL SPEAKER:
Brad Johns, Partner, Yaletown Partners

Brad Johns is a Partner with Yaletown Partners, a private equity/venture capital firm investing in emerging-growth technology companies in Canada that enhance productivity and sustainability for industrial and enterprise customers.  Brad brings over 30 years of experience in private capital, product management, engineering, manufacturing, and business development, primarily focused on the information technology, telecommunications and energy sectors.

Brad joined Yaletown in 2011 and leads the Fund’s investments in Chaordix, co-manages the Accelerator Company investments in Fund II and the recently launched Accelerator Fund which focuses on early stage technology companies in Alberta, and led the Fund’s realized investment in Monexa, which was acquired by Netsuite in 2015.  Prior to Yaletown, Brad was VP, Business Development for Moneta Energy Services, a private natural gas storage and marketing company, and a partner at Moneta Capital where he was responsible for information technology and industrial technology investments. Previously, he was vice president of Launchworks, a Calgary-based technology-focused venture capital firm, where he was a key contributor to the fund’s performance, which significantly exceeded that of its vintage-year peers. Earlier in his career Brad was an executive at Calgary-based technology startups J-Commerce and MCK Communications, following a decade with Canadian telecommunications giant Nortel as a manufacturing process engineer and product management executive in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Brad has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University, a Masters in Systems and Robotics Engineering from McMaster University and an MBA from INSEAD. He is a director of the Venture Capital Association of Alberta, and a member and past chair of the A100, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping Alberta’s next generation of technology startups become successful globally.

PANEL SPEAKER:
Peter Kinash, CFO, Replicon Inc.

Peter Kinash has been the CFO of Replicon Inc. since 2002, and was Replicon's India COO from 2010 until August 2017. Replicon is a 20 year old cloud based software company with six offices in five countries and thousands of customers. Peter has served as a director and CFO of several public and private companies, all in the technology space, and been an officer or director of several companies during Canadian and US venture and public financings.  Prior to 2000 Peter led the KPMG Calgary Technology Practice for 10 years.

 

PANEL SPEAKER:
Cameron Hall, President, Canada and Global Head of Marketing, Solium

Cameron Hall joined Solium in 2013 to transform its marketing organization and help Solium rise to new levels. Standing at 6’8”, Cameron has a unique vantage of the business. In his current position, he provides executive oversight on Canadian customer service and business development, while leading Solium’s global marketing function. In this unique dual role, Cameron’s leadership has deep customer focus balanced with broad market awareness. In the past, he has held sales and marketing leadership positions with several Fortune 500 companies, including Coca-Cola and Monsanto, and has experience in the financial services industry with both Versus Technologies (acquired by E*Trade) and Oanda. Cameron graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Management Science and completed the Executive Development Program at the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management. He currently sits on the Board of Advisors for NASPP and is a member of the Global Equity Organization (GEO).

PANEL SPEAKER:
Matthew Wiener, Senior Vice President, Aon

Matthew Wiener is the head of the Aon Risk Solutions’ Transaction Liability team for the Southwest region. In this role, Mr. Wiener is responsible for the development and implementation of transactional-based risk solutions, including the deployment of insurance capital for M&A transactions through representations and warranties, litigation, tax and other contingent liabilities insurance. Mr. Wiener is based in Houston and is further supported by a New York-based team of 20 professionals in North America and colleagues in London, Hong Kong, Sydney and Bermuda who focus exclusively on transactional risk transfer. Prior to joining the Aon Team, Matthew was an attorney at Vinson & Elkins LLP, where he specialized in corporate finance and securities law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, public and private securities offerings, divestitures, and general corporate representation.

Matthew is a graduate of The University of Texas with a BBA in Finance and Georgetown University Law Center with a Juris Doctorate degree.

PANEL SPEAKER:
Patrick Lor, Managing Partner, Panache Ventures

Patrick Lor is Managing Partner at Panache Ventures, a $40m fund that will invest in over 140 seed-stage ventures over the next 3 years. He is also Partner at 500 Startups Canada, which has a portfolio of 36 seed companies concentrated in AI and enterprise software. 

Previously, Patrick was co-founder of iStockphoto, which was sold to Getty Images in 2006. More recently, he co-founded Dissolve, and was head of North American operations for Fotolia, which was acquired by Adobe in 2014. 

Patrick is also an active angel investor and LP in several venture capital funds including iNovia Capital, Version One Ventures, and Garage Ventures. He is also an advisor and mentor at several technology incubator programs, and is a charter member of thea100.org and thec100.org. 

 

PANEL SPEAKER:
James McClary, Partner, Bennett Jones LLP

James McClary advises on private equity transactions, public and private MA, and corporate and securities matters.

James joined Bennett Jones after seven years in New York and London, where he practised corporate law with a leading New York-based law firm. In this role, James worked with a range of U.S., Canadian, European and Asian companies, primarily in the fields of domestic and cross-border public and private MA and private equity transactions, as well as corporate governance and securities offerings.

James is a member of the American Bar Association and the Calgary Bar Association. James served as Co-Editor in Chief of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review and was President of the University of Toronto Students' Law Society.

PANEL SPEAKER:
Jon Spencer, Principal, TriWest Capital Partners

Jon Spencer joined TriWest in 2007 and is a Principal in the investment group. Prior to joining TriWest, Jon worked at RBC Capital Markets in the Global Energy Group where he was involved in a number of public equity offerings and mergers and acquisition assignments.

Jon currently serves as a board member for the Calgary Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. From 2008 to 2010, Jon served as President for the Calgary Chapter of the Richard Ivey School of Business Alumni Association.

Jon graduated with distinction from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, with an Honors degree in Business Administration.

PANEL SPEAKER:
Andrew Hall, Head of Environmental Markets, TMX Group

Andrew Hall is the Head of Environmental Markets at the Natural Gas Exchange in Calgary. He has been involved in trading, hedging and building carbon and renewable markets across Canada and the US for a decade. During this time, he built and managed one of the largest emissions trading desks in North America. Andrew has an undergraduate degree in sciences and an MBA in finance from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

 

PANEL SPEAKER:
Rob Hamaliuk, Director - Emissions, Alberta Climate Change Office

Rob Hamaliuk is the Director of Emissions Inventory and Trading at Alberta’s Climate Change Office. Responsibilities include design and implementation of Alberta’s offset trading system as well as the provincial greenhouse gas emissions inventory. Rob has been with the Climate Change Office since 2009. During this time Rob received an MBA with Specialization in Natural Resources, Energy and Environment from the University of Alberta. Prior to that Rob received two bachelor of sciences from the University of Alberta in Chemical Engineering  and Chemistry.  Rob had previously worked for an offset project proponent in southern China setting up landfill gas collection systems to collect and destruct methane, which generated credit that sold into the European Union’s Emissions Trading System. Rob and his wife, Amy live in Edmonton with their two children (dogs).

 

PANEL SPEAKER:
Kevin Moon, Environmental Markets Specialist, Capital Power Corporation 

Kevin Moon is an Environmental Markets Specialist at Capital Power, where he manages Capital Power’s Alberta Offsets portfolio and is focused on carbon offset origination, market fundamentals, and environmental policy and greenhouse gas regulations across Canada and the USA.  Capital Power is an independent power producer based in Alberta, and is active in most major North American environmental commodity markets, including Alberta SGER, WCI cap-and-trade, RGGI and RECs.  Kevin has 10 years of experience in the electricity sector, having previously worked in power trading, in international business development in the hydroelectric sector, and as an engineer.  Kevin holds a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from McGill University as well as an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona. 
 

PANEL SPEAKER:
Cooper Robinson, Managing Director, Cap-Op Energy

Cooper Robinson is a recognized sustainability expert with experience across many first-of-kind carbon projects. As Managing Director at Cap-Op Energy he is leading their mission of making sustainability profitable. Cooper’s passion for innovative sustainability and ability to interpret cross-disciplinary principles into business implications is well-suited to drive meaningful results. Cooper leads the team in its efforts to identify and exploit strategic opportunities that exist in evolving regulatory landscapes, proving that the energy sector can be more sustainable and more profitable.

PANEL SPEAKER:
Mélanie Lessard, AVP & Underwriting Counsel, Liberty International

Mélanie Lessard joined LIU in December 2011 as a Senior Claims Counsel handling complex claims in Specialty Casualty lines.  Since November 2016, Melanie has assumed the position of AVP & Underwriting Counsel and is involved in the development and underwriting of transactional insurance products, mainly Representations & Warranties Insurance.

Prior to joining LIU, Melanie worked at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) in Ottawa, at Liberty’s Home Office in Boston, and as in-house counsel for a major Canadian transportation company.  Mélanie has her License in Law from University of Ottawa and was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1997.  She obtained her MBA from UQAM in 2002.  She has 20 years of insurance experience.

PANEL SPEAKER:
John Forgeron, President, Compass Compression

John Forgeron joined Compass Compression as an owner and Vice President in March 2005. Three years later, after having established three successful, privately financed, oilfield rental companies, he became President.

As President, John amalgamated the aforementioned group of companies to create the Compass Compression of today. This merger assisted Compass and gave us the ability to grow through a significant industry downturn (2008 - 2010).

John has been in the gas compression industry since 1991. Before joining Compass Compression, he held engineering and/or sales positions at Imperial Oil Operations, Enerflex Systems Ltd and Toromont Industries.

PANEL MODERATOR:
Ramit Kar, General Manager for Western Canada, Uber

Ramit Kar is Uber's General Manager for Western Canada. At Uber he has helped pass Canada's first set of ridesharing regulations in Edmonton as well as launch Calgary, Red Deer and Lethbridge. He is currently responsible for BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Before joining Uber, Mr. Kar was a Senior Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company working with technology companies; a consultant with Canada's largest Venture Capital firms; and an investor and operator for several start-ups. He has a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Calgary and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

 

PANEL MODERATOR:
Barry Munro, National Leader Lead Advisory, EY

Barry is the National Leader of EY Canada’s Lead Advisory business and has 30 years of executive experience including advising on deal sourcing, valuations, negotiations and financings. He leads multi-disciplinary teams containing tax, legal, due diligence and accounting professionals. He specializes in all facets of corporate finance including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, valuations and financings. Over the past 15 years, he has been directly involved in 100+ M&A transactions and has previously been the Managing Partner of EY’s Calgary office and lead EY Canada’s Oil & Gas practice.

Barry holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is a Chartered Accountant. He also holds broker/dealer securities registrations in both Canada and the US and has completed EY sponsored executive education programs at the Harvard School of Business and at Insead in Singapore. He is a member of ACG and an associate member of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

 

PANEL MODERATOR:
Meghan Harris-Ngae, Associate Partner, Climate Change, EHS and Sustainability Services, EY Canada

Meghan is an Associate Partner at EY and leads the Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCASS) practice. She has over 16 years of combined international and local experience in climate change, sustainability and international government relations. Meghan provides geo-political issue advisory and assurance services to multinational clients around the world in the public, mining, energy, utilities and consumer products sectors.