Event

Lindsay Brumwell

JPAC Chair

Elizabeth McDonald

President & CEO
Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance

Elizabeth McDonald has over 25 years experience as a senior executive, industry advocate, industry advisor and board member in government relations, advocacy, organizational management, and communications. Since August 2012, she has been president and CEO of the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance (CEEA), developing new communication tools and launching CEEA’s surveys of Canadians on energy efficiency and conservation. Prior to her appointment at CEEA, she was president of the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA), the national trade association that represents the interests of all aspects of the solar industry in Canada. There she worked closely with all levels of government, especially the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). McDonald sits on the Building Code Conservation Advisory Council (BCCAC) for Ontario’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and on the Steering Committee for Global Alliance for Energy Productivity. Previous to her work in energy efficiency and conservation, she was CEO at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association and also held senior executive positions in other Canadian trade associations in the broadcasting and communications sector.

Robert Varney

Moderator
JPAC member

Considered one of the nation’s most experienced and respected environmental leaders, Robert Varney is a former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) New England Regional Administrator, who currently is President of Normandeau Associates, a science-based environmental firm with eighteen offices in 12 states. He was the longest-serving regional administrator and top environmental official in New England and is credited with instituting many innovative approaches and policy initiatives that have served as national models. Prior to EPA, Mr. Varney was one of the nation’s longest-serving state environmental commissioners, appointed by three Governors of both political parties.

Bob is nationally recognized for his efforts on global climate change; energy efficiency and renewables; homeland security and preparedness; clean air, clean water and safe drinking water; superfund and brownfields cleanup and redevelopment; environmental justice and healthy communities; restoration of rivers, lakes and coastal areas; strong and consistent enforcement and compliance assistance; strengthening partnerships; and improved agency management and performance.

Mr. Varney has chaired the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), State/EPA Superfund Policy Forum, Federal Ozone Transport Commission (OTC), Governmental Advisory Committee to the US Representative to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission and New England Governors Conference Environment Committee. He also was a member of EPA’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council and currently serves on the NH Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the CEC Joint Public Advisory Committee (US, Mexico, Canada). Bob is the recipient of numerous environmental awards such as the EPA Lifetime Achievement Award, NE Water Works Association’s John H. Chafee Award, Environmental Business Council of NE’s Paul Keough Award and the ECOS Founder’s Award.

David Martínez Biro

JPAC member

Dale Austin

Government Relations Manager
Cameco Corporation

Dale Austin is the Ottawa-based manager of government relations for Cameco Corporation. He has worked on topics related to energy and the environment for most of his career, in both public and private sectors.  His career began in the federal civil service in Canada where he provided strategic advice on energy, climate, and nuclear safety policy issues at both Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). In the private sector he worked with ConocoPhillips Canada on innovation program design, climate and environmental issues. Prior joining Cameco, Austin was the co-founder of Tessellate Inc., a management consulting firm that focused on the application of innovation ecosystems to challenges facing Canada’s natural resource sectors.

Jorge Arturo Aburto Anell

Direction of Biomass Transformation
Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo

Dr. Jorge Aburto holds a B.Sc. in food chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); the DEA and Ph.D. from National Polytechnique Institute of Toulouse (INPT), France; and was visiting researcher in the AgroBiotechnology Institute (IFA-Tulln) of the Agricultural University of Vienna (BOKU), Austria.

He has been research chemist at the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP) since 2000 and is currently project leader and head of the Biomass Conversion Division. Aburto’s main research areas are bioproducts for applications in the petroleum industry, biomass deconstruction and conversion, production of lignocellulosic ethanol, enzyme kinetics, petroleum biorefining, precipitation inhibitors of asphaltenes, and petroleum transport through oil/water (O/W) emulsions. He is the author of several international articles and book chapters, and holds various patents. He is recognized in Mexico as National Researcher, level 2.

Gary Sutherland

Relationship Manager, Business Development
Acquisitions and Strategy Group, Hydro Québec

Gary Sutherland is Relationship Manager, Business Development, for the Business Development, Acquisitions and Strategy Group at Hydro-Québec. He has been with Hydro-Québec since 2007, working previously in public affairs and as a media spokesperson in the generation, transmission, and export fields. Sutherland has considerable previous experience working for intergovernmental organizations and for an international environmental NGO in the energy sector. He holds a master’s degree in international relations.

Nicolas Bossé

Senior Vice President, Regulatory and Governmental Affairs
Brookfield Renewable

Nicolas Bossé is senior vice president, governmental and regulatory affairs, for Brookfield Renewable in North America. He oversees all governmental and regulatory matters related to the organization’s energy trading, generation and marketing efforts, as well as water rights and licenses for the business’ assets.

With more than 15 years of experience in high-tech product licensing and international mergers and acquisitions, Bossé has a vast knowledge of transmission and merchant generation, as well as regulatory coverage for the majority of the North American wholesale energy markets.

Holder of a baccalaureate degree from the Université Laval (Quebec, Canada) and a master’s in economics from the Université du Québec à Montréal (Quebec, Canada), he currently serves on the boards of the Quebec Association for the Production of Renewable Energy, the Canadian Electricity Association, and the National Hydro Association (United States).

Gustavo Alanís-Ortega

Moderator
JPAC member

Gustavo Alanís Ortega received his law degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, where since 1994 he has taught the environmental law course as a full professor at the law school. Alanís Ortega also holds a master’s degree in international law from the Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, DC. Since August 1993, he has been president of the Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (Mexican Environmental Law Center—CEMDA), a public interest environmental law firm based in Mexico City. He is also active as a columnist for El Universal, one of Mexico’s most widely read and influential newspapers; and columnist for the bimonthly journal Derecho ambiental y ecología published by the Centro de Estudios Jurídicos y Ambientales (CEJA). He is a member of the seventh cohort of the Leadership on Environment and Development Program (LEAD) of El Colegio de México.

Alanís Ortega serves on the boards of directors of the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) and the World Commission on Environmental Law (CEL) of the IUCN Environmental Law Programme. He is also a member of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), the Climate Change Advisory Committee in Mexico, and the Environmental Law Advisory Group at the Department of Sustainable Development of the Organization of American States (OAS). Between April 2008 and January 2015, appointed by the Mexico City Legislative Assembly, he served on the Citizen Board of the Office of the Environmental and Zoning Prosecutor (Procuraduría Ambiental y del Ordenamiento Territorial—PAOT) and, from 2009 to 2016, he was part of the Public Participation Group of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which contributed to make the company more socially responsible.

In December 2012, Alanís-Ortega was named to the CEC’s Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) for the third time, having previously served from 2001 to 2004 and 2008 to 2011.

Carlos Ortiz Gómez

Director General for Research, Technological Development and Training of Human Resources, Ministry of Energy, Mexico

Carlos Ortiz Gómez is responsible for the research agenda and training of human resources of the Ministry of Energy (Sener) in Mexico. Prior to joining Sener, Carlos worked as a consultant in the development of energy strategy and urban development Cornfield Arroyo Seco in Los Angeles, California, and Hunters Point in San Francisco, as well as at several cogeneration projects in Mexico and the United States.

Since 2009, Ortiz Gómez has been involved with the Funds for Research and Technological Development of the Mexican energy sector, supplying consultancy services to agencies like the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tenología (National Council of Science and Technology) and Sener, and collaborating with companies like Alianza FiiDEM and the Corporación Mexicana de Investigación en Materiales, S.A. de C.V. (Comimsa). In 2013, he was appointed to head information and energy studies at Sener and, in 2015, as director general for Research, Technological Development and Training of Human Resources.

Ortiz Gómez has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of South Florida and studied sustainability at the Universidad Iberoamericana.

Graziella Siciliano

US Coordinator of the CEM’s Energy Management Working Group
US Department of Energy

As a Senior Fellow in the Office of International Affairs (US Department of Energy), Graziella Siciliano has been coordinator for the Energy Management Working Group (EMWG) since 2012. The EMWG is a multilateral effort of 17 governments within the Clean Energy Ministerial and the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation to promote policies and programs that encourage and facilitate the transition to a global clean energy economy.  Working with government experts from member countries, Ms. Siciliano builds collaboration on strategies to accelerate implementation of energy efficiency practices in the industrial and commercial sectors worldwide.

Before joining the US Department of Energy, Ms. Siciliano worked for three years as a program manager at the US non-profit Alliance to Save Energy on programs focused on building capacity of utilities to implement demand-side management programs and increasing public procurement of energy efficient appliances and equipment.

Ms. Siciliano earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Butler University (2002) and a master’s in energy and environmental policy and economics from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (2009).

Andrew Hejnar

Energy Manager
3M Canada

With more than 15 years of experience in the field of energy efficiency, Andrew Hejnar is 3M Canada Company’s Energy Manager. His focus at 3M Canada is on energy performance improvements and greenhouse gas emission reduction at the company’s manufacturing facilities across Canada as well as in commercial buildings. Hejnar also specializes in the implementation of Energy Management Systems and Energy Management Information Systems, including the ISO 50001 Energy Management System and Superior Energy Performance System.

Hejnar holds a master’s degree in energy management and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario and a Certified Practitioner in Industrial Energy Management Systems. He has also completed various industry certifications, including the Advanced Certificate in Facilities Management, and has accreditations as Certified Energy Manager, Certified Energy Auditor, and Certified Carbon Reduction Manager.

Graham Campbell

President, Energy Council of Canada

An expert in the oil and gas industry and the energy economy, Graham Campbell was appointed president of the Energy Council of Canada in 2013, following positions in policy research at the Conference Board of Canada and as the executive director of the Sustainable Energy Research Centre at Carleton University. In the area of international energy collaboration, he has served as the chair of the International Energy Agency’s senior technology committee, and as co-chair of the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy. Campbell’s career began with Shell Canada Resources and continued through roles in various federal departments and regulatory agencies concerned with energy, mines and natural resources, and aboriginal affairs, culminating as director general of the Office of Energy Research and Development for the Energy Sector with Natural Resources Canada from 1997 to 2008. He has a broad perspective on energy issues based on his work in a range of energy sector organizations engaged in exploration, energy regulation, technology development and policy research.

Eric Dannenmaier

Moderator
JPAC member

Kevin B. Martin

Assistant Professor, Department of Technology
Northern Illinois University

Kevin Martin, assistant professor in the Department of Technology at Northern Illinois University, leads the Building Energy Efficiency, Ergonomics, and Management (BEEEAM) Laboratory. Dr. Martin’s primary research interests include human-centric building control systems, with a focus on lighting technology. He has been involved in research on renewable energy systems, industrial energy efficiency, hydrogen vehicle infrastructure construction and modeling, as well as development of fuel cell plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. He has been involved in research projects sponsored by various federal and state agencies, such the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, the US Trade Representative, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Daryll Nazarene

Director, Public Sector Lighting Solutions
Philips Lighting Canada

Daryll Nazarene, director of public-sector lighting solutions for Philips Lighting Canada, is a senior business executive with more than 25 years of experience in the information technology and energy management industries at IBM and Johnson Controls. He has worked extensively in both the private and public sector markets, developing large commercial projects, and justifying energy savings projects exceeding $50 million in value. His diverse background and experience in the manufacturing, distribution and design engineering industries have transferred well to the public sector in the government, education and healthcare industries. Nazarene has also owned and managed a consulting business that delivered business process reengineering services to the automotive industry. He holds a LEED GA accreditation from the Green Building Certification Institute (now Green Business Certification Inc.) and actively applies sustainability initiatives to all energy management projects.

Juan Antonio Dorantes Sánchez

Partner
Aguilar & Loera, S.C.

A lawyer now in private practice in Mexico City, Juan Antonio Dorantes specializes in international trade and regulatory affairs. He holds degrees from Mexico’s Escuela Libre de Derecho, Geneva School of International Relations and Diplomacy in Geneva, Switzerland, He also pursued post-graduate studies in EU’s Private Law and Legal Marketing at the University of Cantabria, Spain.

From May 2008 to April 2016, Dorantes held the position of Director General of International Trade Rules at the Secretariat of Economy (Secretaria de Economía). In that role, among other responsibilities, He has been Mexico’s lead for the negotiations on technical barriers to trade, regulatory cooperation and regulatory coherence of Free Trade Agreements at multilateral, regional or bilateral level. In that role, Mr. Dorantes was also Mexico’s lead for the Intellectual Property negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and supervised the negotiations of the chapters on Trade and Environment, TBT, Regulatory Coherence, Trade Remedies, Competition/State Owned Enterprises and SPS.

In 2008, he was designated as one of three panelists in the WTO dispute brought by the US against China regarding Measures Affecting Trading Rights and Distribution Services for Certain Publications and Audiovisual Entertainment Products (WT/DS363). More recently (2015), he was appointed again as a panelist in the WTO dispute “Russian Federation – Measures on the Importation of Live Pigs, Pork and Other Pig Products from the European Union” (WT/DS475).

Between 2002 and 2007 he served as economic counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, chairing the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (2003) and the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (2006).

Robert E. Moyer

Director
Submissions on Enforcement Matters and Legal Unit

Lindsay Brumwell

JPAC Chair