ARC Energy Investment Forum 2018 “Playing to Win”

Speakers at the ARC Energy Investment Forum 2018 included:

  • Humera Malik, Keynote Speaker (Toronto, Canada) Founder and CEO of Canvass Analytics
  • Sean Burke, Keynote Speaker (Windsor, Canada) General Manager for Canada’s 2018 Men’s Olympic Hockey Team
  • Morgan Bazilian, International Policy Expert (Denver, USA) Executive Director of the Payne Institute and a Research Professor of Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines and former Lead Energy Specialist at the World Bank
  • Grant Arnold, Renewable Power Developer (Calgary, Canada) President and CEO, BluEarth Renewables
  • Jacqui McFarland, Efficient Work-space Guru (Calgary, Canada) Senior Associate, Interior Design, Stantec Architecture
  • Jana Taylor, People and Operations Expert (Calgary, Canada) Principal, TechSprout Inc.
  • Jennifer Coulson, ESG Risk Expert (Victoria, Canada) Senior Manager ESG Integration, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BcIMC)
  • Eric Axford, Sustainability and Social Innovation (Calgary, Canada) Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Suncor
  • Sha-Chelle Manning, Innovation Expert (Irving, USA) Director, Corporate Innovation at Pioneer Natural Resources Company
  • Kenton Prindle, Emerging Technologies Expert (Austin, USA) Google Cloud Solutions Engineer
  • Bill Farren-Price, Middle East Oil Expert (Winchester, United Kingdom) Founder and CEO, Petroleum Policy Intelligence
  • Michael Crothers, Global Oil Expert (Calgary, Canada) Shell Canada President and Country Chair and Vice President, Canada Integrated Gas
  • Denise Weeres, Financial Regulator (Calgary, Canada) Manager, Legal, Corporate Finance Alberta Securities Commission
  • Wellington Holbrook, Technologies and Banking Expert (Calgary, Canada) Chief Transformation Officer, ATB Financial
  • Kevin Brent, Investment Portfolio Manager (Calgary, Canada) Vice President, Investment at BlueSky Equities Ltd.
  • Peter Tertzakian, Host (Calgary, Canada) Executive Director, ARC Energy Research Institute
  • Jackie Forrest, Host (Calgary, Canada) Director of Research, ARC Energy Research Institute

 

Detailed Speaker Biographies:

Humera Malik, Founder and CEO of Canvass Analytics

Disruption. Transformation. Transition.

These words are ubiquitous in business today. Much of the change is being driven by advances in the data sciences. You can view the innovations as daunting or as a huge opportunity for “Playing to Win” against your competitors. Our opening speaker, Humera Malik, is undaunted and will teach us about the latter.

Humera is the founder and CEO of Canvass Analytics, where she drives the vision and strategy for changing the way industrial companies think about and use operational data. Humera has worked with some of the largest businesses around the world to transform their business strategies, enter new markets and create new revenue streams. Specifically, Humera has worked with Microsoft, AT&T and Bell Enterprise where she was responsible for defining innovative enterprise business solutions targeting several key industries – Transport, Manufacturing, Retail and Energy.

Humera has received various recognitions with most recent being a recipient of the Women of M2M/IoT award and is a sought-after entrepreneur and expert to speak about the impact of industrial artificial intelligence on the global economy.

Sean Burke, General Manager for Canada’s 2018 Men’s Olympic Hockey Team

How do you build a winning team, when the rules of the game change abruptly? Ask Sean Burke, General Manager of the Canadian Men’s Hockey Team representing Canada in Pyeongchang, South Korea this February.

Mr. Burke and his management team had to make a fast pivot this past September when the NHL announced their players would not compete in the Winter Olympics. Sean has overseen the selection of the coaching staff and, on short notice, the players that will represent Canada in the greatest sporting event of the year. What qualities did he look for in the staff and players? What elements of the team were the most critical for the team’s success? What was the Olympic experience like?

Sean’s insights draw on decades of hockey experience including playing for 8 different NHL teams over 18 seasons and his own Olympic experiences. Sean played hockey for Canada in the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics and won a silver medal in 1992.

Morgan Bazilian, Executive Director of the Payne Institute and a Research Professor of Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines and former Lead Energy Specialist at the World Bank

How is the future of energy changing internationally? What policies are being put in place in growth centers like India and China, and what are the implications for oil, gas and renewables? Ask Morgan Bazilian, the EU’s former lead negotiator for low-carbon technology at the United Nations climate negotiations and a leading expert on international energy policy and investment.

Dr. Bazilian’s work has ranged from fiscal policy, to systems analysis, to infrastructure investment, to market regulation and governance. He holds two Master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in areas related to energy systems and markets, and has been a Fulbright fellow.

He holds, or has held, several academic affiliations including at Columbia University, Cambridge University, the Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He is on the editorial boards of Environmental Research Letters, Energy Strategy Reviews, and Energy Research and Social Science. He has published over 100 articles in learned journals. His book, Analytical Methods for Energy Diversity and Security is considered a seminal piece in the area of energy finance and security. His work has been published in Foreign Affairs, Nature Energy, Nature Climate Change, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Dr. Bazilian is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Council on Energy, and on the Global Advisory Council of the Sustainable Finance Programme at Oxford University.

Grant Arnold, President and CEO, BluEarth Renewables

Can costs for new renewable projects get any lower? Could grid-scale batteries hit a turning point? Ask Grant Arnold, a renewable power generator operating hydro, solar, and wind projects across Canada with over 20 years of commercial and technical experience.

Grant has been President and Chief Executive Officer of BluEarth since 2015 and he is responsible for leading the executive team and guiding the company’s strategic growth plan. Grant joined BluEarth in 2011 as Vice President, Business Development and, subsequently, he was promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer.

Grant’s experience spans engineering design, environmental impact assessments, stakeholder relations, project management, regulatory approvals, construction and operations in Canada and internationally. Prior to joining BluEarth, Grant held several leadership roles in the renewable energy and natural gas business units at Suncor. Grant was responsible for overseeing Suncor’s Canadian wind power portfolio, including, at the time, joint venture interests for over 750 MW in development, under construction and in operation.

Grant received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Masters of Engineering from the University of Alberta, and obtained his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Calgary. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta.

Jacqui McFarland, Senior Associate, Interior Design, Stantec Architecture

How do you design effective spaces that trigger innovation, foster collaboration, and spark high performance? Ask Jacqui McFarland, an award-winning designer with Stantec Architecture.

Jacqui is known for her ability to design uplifting work environments that reflect a company’s mission, business strategy, and unique culture. She has ‘seen it all’ in terms of office design during her 30 years in the design industry, and will share stories of designs that succeed, and trends that are affecting workplace design of the future.

Beyond design, Jacqui is committed to coaching others to reach their highest potential. She taught and served as Department Chair in the Interior Design program at Mount Royal University, involved in curriculum development, teaching, and leadership. She received a Faculty of Distinction award from Mount Royal University, and two Presidential Citations from the Interior Design Educators Council. She presently serves on the Council for Interior Design Accreditation Standards Committee, and sits as a Board Member for Calgary Reads.

Jana Taylor, Principal, TechSprout Inc.

Jana organizes energetic people. An accomplished tech executive, Jana’s career adventures have led her into senior corporate roles in strategy, marketing and managing people in today’s knowledge economy. She’s worked in big telecom and energy companies, from Silicon Valley to Calgary, but her passion has been startups and hyper-growth businesses in web services and software.

She’s grateful to have been in on the ground floor of companies like iStockphoto and Benevity, which are great Calgary examples of homegrown innovation and ‘constructive disruption’. She’s currently a Principal at TechSprout, where she leads People Operations, advising companies on how to reinvent their human resources to adapt to fast-paced, competitive changes.

Jana is passionate about kids coding, women in tech, and growing the tech sector in Alberta.

Jennifer Coulson, Senior Manager ESG Integration, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BcIMC)

When investing in energy, how are large institutional investors factoring risks from climate change and ESG?  Ask Jennifer Coulson, who oversees ESG analysis for one of Canada’s largest pension fund managers.

Jennifer Coulson has worked in financial services for 16 years.   She began her career in the mutual fund business working for a national firm that specializes in responsible investing solutions. As a senior member of the Public Markets Department at BcIMC, she now oversees ESG risk analysis for portfolio companies; engages with companies to manage ESG risk; develops public policy submissions on ESG matters of broad relevance to the investment industry; and oversees the proxy voting program.

Jennifer has an undergraduate degree in Environment & Resource Management from the University of Western Ontario as well as a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University. She is in the process of pursuing the Institute of Corporate Directors designation (ICD.D) and serves on the Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC) Investor Stewardship Committee and the 30% Club of Canada Steering Committee (the 30%  Club’s goal is to increase the proportion of women on boards of directors)

Eric Axford, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Suncor

How can an integrated oil and gas company respond to new demands from stakeholders, including investors who are asking for more information on climate change and other environmental risks and local communities that are asking for increased inclusion on decisions that shape major projects? Ask Eric Axford, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Suncor.

Eric plays a key role navigating the many complex external relationships and strategic collaborations required for Suncor’s ongoing economic, environmental and social performance leadership. Eric oversees Suncor’s sustainability strategy, public policy and government relations, communications, and deepening the company’s indigenous, stakeholder, and community relations. He is also accountable for Suncor’s social innovation agenda, including oversight of the Suncor Energy Foundation.

Prior to assuming this role Eric served as executive vice president of business services, leading a wide range of central functions at the company including environment, health and safety; sustainability and communications; government relations; information and process management; and enterprise technical. Since joining Suncor in 1996, Eric has held a number of senior upstream, downstream and corporate roles right across the company. Before joining Suncor, Eric held senior policy positions with the Alberta government.

Eric has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Calgary and a master of business administration from the University of Alberta.

Sha-Chelle Manning, Director, Corporate Innovation at Pioneer Natural Resources Company

Who better to tell us what’s needed to win in the oil and gas company of the future than Sha-Chelle Manning? She’s the Director for Corporate Innovation at Pioneer Natural Resources.

Sha-Chelle is a proven executive, entrepreneur, technologist, and venture investment manager. She attributes her track record of delivering high-impact, high-value results to the teams she brings together—top talent from many disciplines and industries.

Based in Irving, Texas, her team is responsible for developing and driving technology innovations that have made Pioneer a leading independent in the “Shale Revolution.” She has created partnerships which have been key at helping to solve challenges for Pioneer and the industry as a whole with drilling technologies, subsurface analytics, advanced communications, and advanced materials. To drive technical innovation internally she created and manages an in-house “Shark Tank” to vet, fund, field test, and deploy technology with Pioneer’s highest executives.

Sha-Chelle is also on the Board of Directors for Astrotech Corporation, a highly creative technology company with a history of providing satellite services and sending cargo and science into space. Past positions include Managing Director for Nanoholdings, a clean tech venture firm, and board member for Texas’ Emerging Technology Fund. As well, she spearheaded the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which resulted in the Nanoeletronics Research and Manufacturing initiatives that is hailed as one of the most valuable models for the Semiconductor Industry.

Kenton Prindle, Google Cloud Solutions Engineer

Kenton Prindle, a Solutions Engineer at Google, will talk about how artificial intelligence and machine learning is making the oil and gas industry smarter and more competitive.

He is a subject matter expert for Oil and Gas in areas including HPC/Cloud Computing. In his role at Google, he is responsible for building/deploying engineering solutions for Google Cloud Platform centered around geophysics and machine learning/AI for customers. He strives to apply current and upcoming AI/ML technologies to materialize proofs of concept and drive long-term transformations.

Prior to his current role, Kenton spent 10 years in the Oil and Gas industry, responsible for emerging technologies as a lead research Geophysicist at Woodside Energy, and as a Senior Geophysicist in Technology at Hess Corporation.

Outside of work he is a rock climber and father of two energetic children. As well, Kenton strives to improve the awareness of how large-scale compute and cognitive computing can aid oil and gas companies to reduce risk, increase success and further their understanding subsurface data probabilities using automated and data driven workflows.

Kenton has a PhD in Geophysics from University of California, Santa Barbara, where he worked in collaboration with Caltech and the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) to build subsurface velocity models to help understand crustal dynamics of earthquakes.

Bill Farren-Price, Founder and CEO, Petroleum Policy Intelligence

How are the rules of the game changing in the oil markets? Can producers continue to rely on OPEC? What is Russia’s end game? Ask Bill Farren-Price, a sought after speaker on oil markets and Middle East politics with 23 years of experience.

Bill Farren-Price founded Petroleum Policy Intelligence (PPI) in 2010 to provide advisory and research services on global energy to oil trading, investment and research clients. At PPI, he leads Gulf coverage and the client-facing side of the business, establishing and responding to clients’ research needs and coordinating PPI’s core intelligence networks in the MENA region. PPI research provides clients with an inside track on the forces shaping energy policy and its geopolitical context, through bespoke client-driven research, political risk research and scenario-building.

He has contributed articles, opinions and is frequently quoted in worldwide publications, news wires, and on TV, including the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Daily Telegraph, the International Herald Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, Reuters, Bloomberg and AFP.

From 2007-2010, he led oil research at New York-based hedge-fund advisory Medley Global Advisors. He holds a BA from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

Michael Crothers, Shell Canada President and Country Chair and Vice President, Canada Integrated Gas

Super majors have a lens into the world of changing oil supply and demand. A veteran of Shell’s operations around the world, Michael Crothers will share his lens with us.

Effective January 1, 2018, Michael Crothers took on the lead responsibility in Canada for Shell’s Integrated Gas business, which includes an interest in the proposed LNG Canada project. Michael will have a dual role as both Vice President, Canada Integrated Gas while remaining Shell Canada President and Country Chair.

In 2017, Michael held the position of Executive Vice President, Oil Sands leading the organization through the oil sands divestment. Michael returned to Canada in January 2015 as Vice President, Unconventionals North America after spending more than three years as the Managing Director of Shell E&P Ireland leading the Corrib gas venture.

Michael joined Shell in 1987 as a Process Engineer and during that time he has built a broad operations experience base including roles in manufacturing, chemicals, supply, distribution, HSSE, unconventionals, and offshore wells. Michael has led large, complex operations, joint ventures and the development, execution, commissioning, and start-up of mega projects. Leading teams across Shell’s upstream and downstream businesses, his assignments have taken him to over 30 countries throughout Asia, Europe, Africa and North and South America.

Michael was born and raised in Calgary and graduated in 1984 as a Chemical Engineer with distinction from University of Alberta. Michael and his wife Cheryl have three children – twin girls and a son. When he is not on an airplane, Michael enjoys cycling the hills in NW Calgary or do-it-yourself jobs around the house.

Denise Weeres, Manager, Legal, Corporate Finance Alberta Securities Commission

The financial rules of the game are set by the regulator. At the Alberta Securities Commission Denise oversees a team of 11 staff that develops and recommends an array of rules for Corporate Finance.

Denise is one of the ASC’s representatives on the Canadian Securities Administrator’s Regulatory Sandbox. This committee supports businesses seeking to offer innovative financial products, services and applications in Canada. Recently the committee has been considering issues associated with cryptocurrency and various initial coin or token offerings.

Prior to her role at the ASC, Denise has served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to an oil sands mining company as it grew from a dozen to 300 staff. She has also previously served as General Counsel to the ASC and as Manager of Corporate Finance Policy at the predecessor to the TSX Venture Exchange. Denise has also practised corporate/commercial and securities law in Calgary and Vancouver, and has acted for both senior and junior companies and their underwriters in connection with various financings, mergers and acquisitions.

Wellington Holbrook, Chief Transformation Officer, ATB Financial

Advanced technologies and banking are not often mentioned in the same breath. Unless you’re Wellington Holbrook.

As Chief Transformation Officer of ATB Financial, Wellington’s team is focused on pushing forward and disrupting the financial industry by re-imagining the way banking works for people. His mind is always on imagining a world where banks contribute to the success of personal and commercial clients by leveraging the best digital, data and innovation talent in the world.

Wellington has worked at ATB in several roles including Executive Vice-President, Retail Financial Services and Executive Vice-President, Business & Agriculture since joining the team in 2010. Previously, he spent 15 years at the Business Development Bank of Canada in various senior executive roles in several areas including commercial financing, mezzanine and venture capital.

Passionate about making Alberta a better place, he also serves as a board member of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Calgary Convention Centre Authority.

Academically, Wellington studied business at the University of Manitoba and did his Masters at the University of Oxford.

Follow ATB’s transformation journey at www.atbalphabeta.com or connect with Wellington on twitter @Wellington_ATB.

Kevin Brent, Vice President, Investment at BlueSky Equities Ltd.

Some are already “disintermediating” the financial establishment. Kevin Brent is one them.

Kevin leads a multi-disciplinary investment team at Bluesky Equities, a Calgary based family office, where he manages an investment portfolio of which both energy and venture capital are significant components. As an early stage investor, he is constantly evaluating disruptive advances in technology both within and outside the energy industry. Bluesky sits outside of the traditional investment fund regulatory regime, allowing his team to make cryptocurrency denominated investments in a rapidly changing financial marketplace.

Prior to Bluesky, Kevin was part of the strategic planning team for a national railroad, and a wholesaler for an independent mutual fund company. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Saint Mary’s University and is a CFA charterholder.

Peter Tertzakian, Executive Director, ARC Energy Research Institute

He has clocked over 30 years of experience in the business of energy, spanning all systems from oil and gas to renewables. Peter’s passion is studying how society evolves its energy use and applying the lessons of the past into today’s strategic business issues. His holistic knowledge of physics, innovation, finance and economics allows him to inspire audiences on how to think about the pressing issues on the future of energy systems. Peter has an undergraduate degree in Geophysics from the University of Alberta, a graduate degree in Econometrics from the University of Southampton UK, and a Master of Science in Management of Technology from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Calgary and has lectured at many leading universities and conferences around the world.

Jackie Forrest, Director of Research, ARC Energy Research Institute

Jackie ForrestJackie actively monitors emerging strategic trends related to energy. She is an author and sought after public speaker with 20 years of experience in the energy industry. She has written numerous blogs and columns on energy issues. She is also a recognized expert in analyzing oil and gas systems in a carbon constrained world. Prior to joining ARC, she was the leader of North American crude oil research for IHS CERA. Jackie has published more than 16 public papers on energy issues, including five papers on life cycle GHG emission from crude oil. Jackie attended the University of Calgary where she received an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering. She also has an MBA from Queens University.

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