2023 Alberta Climate Summit Bringing Albertans together to lead the energy transformation

Dave Kelly

Dave Kelly is an award-winning host, writer, and interviewer. From his beginnings as a TV Host, Dave has spent decades leading conversations with business and political leaders across North America and beyond. Ellen Degeneres selected Dave as the moderator and interviewer for her multi-city tour across Canada, he hosted a conversation with President Barack Obama in Calgary and sat down for a conversation with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in Montreal.

Dave is the co- founder of Kelly Brothers Productions, a video and entertainment company. 

Land Acknowledgement and Welcome on behalf of the Pembina Institute

John Van Ham

John Van Ham is the senior director of the Pembina Institute's industrial decarbonization group. He has held executive director, environment and executive director, business sector alignment and business relations roles at Alberta Innovates and Alberta Innotech, and major leadership roles in environment and public policy with ConocoPhillips Canada. He also worked at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and has extensive experience in cleantech and carbon technologies across many sectors including oil and gas, refining and upgrading, hydrogen, electricity and renewables, agriculture, and mining. 

Chris Severson-Baker

Chris Severson-Baker is the executive director of the Pembina Institute. He worked with the Institute from 1996 to 2016, then spent three years at the Alberta Energy Regulator before returning in 2020, most recently serving as senior director of the industrial decarbonization group before becoming executive director in 2022. He is a leading expert on responsible energy development, with specific expertise in oil and gas, oilsands and electricity. Chris holds a B.Sc. in environmental and conservation science from the University of Alberta and a Master of Arts in environment and management from Royal Roads.

Keren Tang

Keren Tang is City Councillor for Ward Karhiio in Edmonton and a Board Member at the Climate Caucus and at Alberta Municipalities. She is a public health advocate, community organizer, city builder, and a mom. Prior to being elected, Keren worked with private, public, and civil society on urban wellness, civic participation and engagement, and health promotion. Having lived in various communities around the world both large and small, Keren has made her home in Edmonton with her husband and young daughter because it is a city where everyday Edmontonians have a voice in shaping its present and future.   

Sara Hastings-Simon

Sara Hastings-Simon serves on the Pembina Institute's board of directors. She is a professor in the department of physics and astronomy and school of public policy at the University of Calgary where she directs the Masters of Science in Sustainable Energy Development. She is a macro energy system researcher and her work is focused on understanding how low-carbon energy transitions happen at the intersection of technology, business, and policy, and how policy responses can improve outcomes.

Sara is co-founder and co-host of Energy vs Climate, a webinar and podcast that explores the energy transition in Alberta, Canada, and beyond. She is also an expert member of the panel for Clean Growth with the Canadian Climate Institute, and a member of the board of directors of Emissions Reduction Alberta and the Pembina Institute.

Her previous roles include Director of Clean Economy at the Pembina Institute, founder of Business Renewable Centre Canada, and practice manager for Clean Technologies at McKinsey & Company. She holds a PhD in physics from the University of Geneva.

Paul McLauchlin

Paul McLauchlin was elected President of Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) in November 2020. He the Reeve of Ponoka County, currently serving in his fifth term on council.

Paul McLauchlin’s professional background is multi-faceted. He is a field biologist, environmental scientist, works in public consultation and communications, and is also a resource/conservation management specialist. His consulting business is in the area of project management, multi-stakeholder programs, ecological, indigenous, and socio-economic, predevelopment assessment, and public consultations for resource and energy projects.

He holds an MBA in Finance with the University of Leicester, where he researched the barriers and motives of renewable investment of households in rural Alberta.

Bea Bruske

Bea Bruske was re-elected for a second term as President of the Canadian Labour Congress at the CLC’s 30th Constitutional Convention, held in Montreal in May of 2023. She was first elected to the position at the 29th Constitutional Convention, which was held virtually in 2021. She is only the second woman to hold the position.

For more than three decades, Bea has served workers and their families as an activist, workers’ advocate, negotiator, community organizer and labour leader. Her experience has served her well as President of CLC in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before her election as President, Bea served as Vice-President of the UFCW Canada National Council, which sets the strategic direction for the national union and its more than 250,000 members across the country. She had previously served as Secretary-Treasurer for UFCW Local 832, where she was responsible for the largest private-sector union local in Manitoba.

Bea’s passion for the rights of working people was ignited in 1987 when she and her UFCW Local 832 co-workers held the line for 125 days to achieve a fair contract at the Westfair grocery chain in Manitoba. Over the next seven years, Bea took on roles as a shop steward, health and safety committee member, and was elected by her fellow members as a vice-president of the Local’s executive board. She is a graduate of the University of Manitoba’s Labour Studies program.

Kim Carter

Kim is responsible for delivering BluEarth’s HR strategy, policy, and programs, and for providing functional leadership and guidance to BluEarth’s corporate and operations management teams. Kim has over 20 years of Human Resources experience.
Prior to joining BluEarth in 2018, Kim was a member of the human resources team at Repsol where she was responsible for ensuring the successful integration of Talisman Energy with Repsol, to form one of the world’s largest global energy groups. Kim has provided strategic human resources support and delivery for diverse organizations from start-up organizations as well as large global companies in the oil and gas, chemicals and manufacturing industries, including Calfrac Well Services, Devon Energy, Talisman Energy and Repsol.
Kim studied Sociology at the University of Calgary and at the University of Lethbridge and has a Master of Business Administration from Royal Roads University. Kim is a member of Chartered Professionals in Human Resources – Alberta (CPHR), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and World at Work.

Premier Danielle Smith

alberta.ca/premier

Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Federal Minister of Energy and Natural Resources

Jonathan Wilkinson was re-elected for a third term as Member of Parliament for North Vancouver on September 20, 2019. Jonathan has served as MP since 2015 and was previously the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard from 2018 to 2019 and Minister of Environment and Climate Change from 2019-2021. Prior to joining the Cabinet, Jonathan served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. He is currently Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, a portfolio he has held since November 2021.

Prior to entering politics he spent more than 20 successful years in the private sector, having held leadership positions with a number of companies dedicated to the development of green technologies. His time as CEO of both QuestAir Technologies and BioteQ Environmental Technologies, in addition to his time as senior Vice President of Business Development with Nexterra, has provided him with extensive experience in the energy and environmental technology sectors. Jonathan also previously worked at Bain and Company, a leading global management consultancy.

A Rhodes Scholar, Jonathan made use of his educational background in public policy when he worked as a constitutional negotiator and a federal-provincial relations specialist. He has served on several industry and charitable boards, including the United Way of the Lower Mainland and the B.C. Technology Industries Association. He has also formerly served as a board member and treasurer of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. Jonathan has deep roots in North Vancouver, where he has spent the last two decades raising his family alongside his wife, Tara. An avid runner and outdoorsman, Jonathan also served as a coach for the North Shore Girls Soccer Association.

Jennifer Mergy, Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs, US Embassy Ottawa

Jennifer Mergy provides economic policy direction for U.S. Mission Canada and leads the economic section at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa. A career member of the U.S. Department of State’s Senior Foreign Service, she most recently served as International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Director at U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Jennifer’s prior assignments include Director and Senior Advisor to the Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Resilience at the U.S. National Security Council in the Executive Office of the President and Senior Advisor in the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources. She had multiple postings in the Middle East and Africa covering a range of economic issues such as development, economic security, commercial diplomacy, and counterterrorism programing. Jennifer was also a Department of State Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellow to France, covering migration, labor, and health affairs.

Jennifer holds bachelor’s degrees from the University of California, Davis, a master’s degree from the University of London, and a PhD summa cum laude from the University of Paris. Her languages are French and Arabic. She hails from San Francisco.

Danny Cullenward

Danny Cullenward is a climate economist and lawyer focused on the design and implementation of scientifically grounded climate policy. He is a Senior Fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, a Research Fellow with the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy at American University, and the co-author of Making Climate Policy Work (with David G. Victor). He holds a JD and PhD from Stanford University.

Peter Tertzakian 

Peter Tertzakian is an economist, investment strategist, author, podcaster, and dynamic public speaker. Using entertaining stories, he has a unique ability to distil, clarify, and communicate complicated issues surrounding energy, economics, and the environment. His presentations inspire, guide, and spark discussion on some of the most important topics of today.

A respected industry leader, Tertzakian is frequently called on to share his knowledge of strategic business issues with investors, corporate leaders, policy makers, and educators. His Energyphile project, including his latest book, The Investor Visit, and Other Stories: Disruption, Denial, and Transition in the Energy Business, embodies his unique approach to analyzing today’s challenges. Tertzakian’s previous books — A Thousand Barrels a Second and The End of Energy Obesity — were both international bestsellers.

Na'im Merchant

Na'im Merchant is the Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada. He is passionate about the potential for carbon removal to meet climate goals while driving positive economic and social change. He previously founded Carbon Curve, a consulting practice focused on scaling up carbon removal working with start-ups and non-profits in North America and Europe. He is a Policy Fellow with Elemental Excelerator and hosts the Carbon Curve podcast on scaling carbon removal. Na'im brings 10+ years of leadership experience in non-profits that expanded access to health innovations around the world. He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. 

Sean McCoy

Sean McCoy is an expert at technical and environmental assessment of climate mitigation technologies. He is an Assistant Professor in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary. He was formerly a staff scientist at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2016-2018) and an energy analyst at the International Energy Agency (2011-2016). He leads the CanCO2Re initiative, a multidisciplinary research project that aims to assess the role for sustainable, equitable, cost-effective and rapidly deployable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies in meeting Canada’s net-zero targets. In his past roles, has developed tools for life cycle and techno-economic assessment of energy and emissions reduction technologies. He was awarded the US Secretary of Energy Achievement Honor Award for work as a member of the “Getting to Neutral Carbon Emissions” team, and supported development of government policy on CCS in multiple countries and regions, including the Province of Alberta.

Carson Fong

Carson Fong is a senior analyst at the Pembina Institute, focused on carbon dioxide removal and corporate renewable energy procurement through Business Renewables Centre-Canada. Earlier this year, he co-authored the report "Engineered Carbon Dioxide Removal in a Net-Zero Canada". His previous experience spans across sustainable finance, oil and gas, and process optimization. Carson holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Alberta, and a Master of Engineering in industrial engineering from the University of Toronto. He is based in Edmonton.