Jordan Solomon

President and CEO, ECOSTRAT Inc.

Jordan has been President and CEO of Ecostrat for over 20 years where he oversees the Biomass Advisory Group and the Biomass Supply Group. He has overseen the supply of more than 5MM tons of biomass feedstock to projects around North America. As head of Ecostrat Advisory, Jordan has led supply chain de-risking teams for JP Morgan, Shell, Enviva, NREL, DTE Energy, Macquarie Bank, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Southern Company, Rentech, Noresco, EDF, Sweetwater, Solvay, McKinstry, LaFarge, PGE, Eastman, Coca-Cola, Johnson Controls, Siemens, and the Canadian government. He is presently the leading partner with US National Laboratory INL in a 5 year project to develop the new US National Standards for Biomass Supply Chain Risk for the US Department of Energy.

Matt Lucas

Managing Director, New Energy Risk, California

Matt leads New Energy Risk's business development activities where he brings past experience from early-stage startups, corporate venture, and climate policy. Matt received his PhD in engineering from UC Berkeley.

Karim Ibrik

Vice President, Azimuth Capital Management

Karim’s responsibilities include sourcing and evaluating potential investments, developing investment theses, and financial/technical due diligence with a particular focus on low carbon fuels. Prior to joining Azimuth Capital Management, Karim worked with Shell in a number of engineering and technical management roles, with a focus on gasification, hydrogen, and gas-to-liquids. Karim holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University and is currently pursuing an MBA/MS in Energy & Resources from Stanford University.

David Berliner

Head of Deal Structuring, Clean Energy, VanCity Community Investment Bank

David and VanCity Community Investment Bank have acted as the project finance lender to over $100M of transactions in solar, geoexchange, district heating, energy efficiency, and wind. Previously, David co-founded CoPower Inc. which was acquired by Vancity in 2019. David has been named "Emerging Solar Leader" by the Canadian Solar Industries Association and "Top 30 Under 30" by Corporate Knights. He holds an M.P.A. from Columbia University and a B.Sc from the University of Toronto.

Duncan Ramage

Partner, Head of Private Equity, Forum Equity Partners

Duncan leads the Private Equity group at Forum Equity Partners and is focused on delivering innovative capital solutions and strategic support to entrepreneurs and developers, largely in the energy transition, building services and telecoms sectors. Forum invests project equity, growth equity and buyout equity in ESG-centric opportunities throughout North America. Established in 1996, Forum has 25 years of experience in infrastructure, real estate and private equity investment and development, and currently manages $1.6 billion of assets.

Mahima Sharma

Director, Environment, Innovation, and Mill Regulations, Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC)

Mahima manages industry positions on specific environmental regulatory topics at the mill-level including climate change, water, air, and chemicals, and also oversees the innovation file to help position the sector in leveraging the power of biomass to support a low-carbon economy. In addition, Mahima oversees the analysis and reporting of key sustainability performance indicators including energy, environment, and health and safety parameters for the pulp and paper and wood products sectors. Her work is instrumental in ensuring FPAC maintains its reputation for housing the latest and most relevant scientifically verified data on environmental performance. She has completed a Master of Chemical Engineering, as well as two undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry from the University of Ottawa. She also completed a Master of Health Administration, where she held an internship position with the senior leadership team at The Ottawa Hospital. Mahima is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Volunteer Ottawa in the National Capital Region.

Jim Pepper

Director of Engineering, Wood Renewable Energy

and Power USA

Jim Pepper, Director of Engineering, Wood Renewable Energy and Power USA

Sarah Van Exan

Executive Director, GreenPAC

Sarah has worked with or for all levels of government, managing environment, governance, and justice files. As Managing Director of Green Economy Canada, she led the expansion of a non-profit network dedicated to supporting business sustainability. Sarah first joined GreenPAC as part of the 100 Debates on the Environment team to make sure the environment was a top issue in the 2019 federal election. She sits on the board of a youth-focused charity in Kenya, and co-chairs a climate action group in her community.

Ian Thomson

President, Advanced Biofuels Canada

Ian has been President of Advanced Biofuels Canada (ABFC), the national trade association for advanced biofuel producers and developers, feedstock suppliers, and fuel distributors in Canada, since its inauguration in 2016. Its members have 14 billion litres of installed global capacity, and include both Canadian and global biofuel producers, and the leading next generation technology developers. ABFC, and its predecessor organization Western Canada Biodiesel, has provided over 15 years of guidance in Canadian federal and provincial fuels, carbon pricing, and climate policy. Ian currently chairs an advocacy coalition of non-fossil clean fuel trade associations and NGOs focused on an effective federal Clean Fuel Standard.

Brian Foody

President and CEO, Iogen Corporation

Brian joined Iogen in 1982 and became the company’s CEO in 1986. He has been responsible for the formation and operation of the company’s strategic alliances and overseen Iogen’s technology development and positioning. Under his leadership, Iogen became a world leader in cellulosic ethanol, and built a successful business manufacturing industrial enzymes. Brian holds Bachelors degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering and a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all received in 1980.

Chris Hessler

Managing Partner, AJW Inc.

Christopher Hessler founded the government relations firm AJW and is recognized as one of the country’s foremost experts in environmental market mechanisms and renewable fuels policy. With three decades of experience, he specializes in leveraging public policy to help clean technologies enter and thriv.e in energy and environmental markets

Ralph Torrie

President, Torrie Smith Associates

Ralph Torrie played a central role in putting global warming on the international environmental agenda.  He conducted the first low carbon scenario analysis for Canada, pioneered the methods now used internationally for local climate change response strategies, and continues to help public and private sector clients identify and pursue the opportunities being generated by the current global energy transition.

Chris Henderson

President, Lumos Energy

Chris is Canada’s pre-eminent Clean Energy Advisor to Aboriginal communities. where he advises how to effectively secure and leverage partnership positions in clean energy projects across Canada.  Chris also guides utilities, financial firms, corporations and governments on engaging and partnering with Aboriginal communities. His book, Aboriginal Power, was published in 2013. Chris is also Program Designer of the Indigenous Clean Energy 20/20 Catalysts Program, and Chair of the GLOBE Series of Conferences and Exhibitions. He is an honorary member of several Aboriginal communities.

Don Roberts

President & CEO, Nawitka Capital Advisors Ltd.

Don Roberts is President & CEO of Nawitka Capital Advisors Ltd, an investment banking and advisory boutique focusing on the global clean energy and forest products industries.  (http://www.nawitka.com).  Prior to starting Nawitka in 2013, Mr. Roberts was a Vice-Chair of Wholesale Banking, and Managing Director in Investment Banking with CIBC World Markets Inc. In this position, he founded and led the Bank's cross-functional Renewable Energy & Clean Technology Team. He also provided senior coverage for companies in the global forest products industry.

Chad Joshi

CEO, Advonex International Corporation

Chad is a seasoned executive who specializes in building technology companies through collaboration and strategic partnerships. He has led privately-held and venture-backed companies from pre-revenue through market and product development to significant revenues.  Dr. Joshi is responsible for overall corporate strategy.  He negotiated and leveraged strategic investments from lubricant and feedstock suppliers to launch Advonex and build the company into an award-winning innovator in bio-based chemicals with ingredients that exceed the performance characteristics of their petroleum-based counterparts. Previously, he served in operating positions with Owl Power Co. and Resolute Marine Energy, and founded Energen, a motion control solutions company which sold its image stabilization technology to Panavision Federal Systems. Chad holds a Sc.D. from MIT, and has over 60 patents and peer-reviewed publications.

Sandy Ferguson

Principal, SF Consulting

Sandy heads up SF Consulting, an independent forest and bioeconomy advisory company.  Throughout her career she has worked in senior business development and strategic roles with private, not-for-profit, and government organizations. She most recently served as VP Corporate Affairs at Conifex Timber Inc. a Canadian forest products and biomass power producer, and the Director of Marketing at the BC Bioenergy Network. She is a board member of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada and the Canadian Bioeconomy Conference. 

Alex Gorodetsky

Director Business Development, Steeper Energy

Alex has over 23 years of renewable energy and industrial technology commercialization experience. He formerly held roles of Vice President Sales Engineering and Director of Global Technology in the field of plasma gasification where he led the scale-up of the world’s largest municipal waste plasma gasifier. He worked in high-tech manufacturing, where he commercialized several high-temperature coatings processes for the petrochemical industry. He is a chemical engineer and MBA graduate of the University of Alberta, Canada.