Keynotes
Anthony Rossi
TerraCycle
Anthony Rossi is the VP, Global Business Development for Loop (TerraCycle company), a global platform that enables consumer product companies and retailers to shift from a disposable supply chain to a durable one. Anthony has been with Loop for 18 months and TerraCycle for 7 years. Before leading the global business development team for Loop, Anthony was the head of global business development for TerraCycle supporting the company’s growth in 21 markets around the world. Prior to joining TerraCycle, Anthony earned his business development stripes working in Toronto, Dijon, Budapest, and Vienna for some of the world’s largest professional service firms and financial institutions.
Session Speakers
Addison Kreuh
École Pine Grove Middle School
Addison Kreuh is 13 years old and is in grade 8. Addison like to play Hockey, Golf, play outside and is a beast on the Soccer pitch.
Andrew Stephens
Beverage Container Management Board
Andrew Stephens is a seasoned oil and gas executive with more than 35 years of experience with Suncor Energy Inc and predecessor companies. When Andrew retired from Suncor in 2012, he was Senior Vice-President, Business Services reporting to the CEO and President. In this role, he led Suncor’s information, supply chain and field logistics services. As a member of the Executive Team, Stephens also contributed to the strategic leadership of the company.
Andrew began his career in 1977 as a Process Engineer with Gulf Oil Canada at the Port Moody refinery. After joining Petro-Canada as a Project Engineer in 1979, he held senior leadership roles in operating and functional departments in the upstream, downstream and shared services areas. He was appointed an Officer of Petro-Canada in 1993.
Andrew holds a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta.
Andrew has served on the Board and as President of the Youth Science Foundation and is a past Chair and Honourary Member of the Energy Council of Canada. He is a past Chair and currently serves as a Director of Genome Alberta and is the Chair of the Beverage Container Management Board.
Anna Peyton
École Pine Grove Middle School
Anna Peyton is an 11 year old currently in grade 7. Her favorite subject is science and she is key member of Pine Grove’s Green Team. Other favorites include chocolate, cross-country running, baseball and the color “sunset orange”.
Anne Auriat
Edson & District Recycling Society
Anne Auriat is currently the manager of the Edson and District Recycling Depot located in Edson. The depot services the residents of Edson, Hinton and Yellowhead County. She has been directly involved with the recycling programs in these communities for the past 25 years.
In the early years of raising 4 children she found time to be serve as an elected official for six years on the Yellowhead County Council. During this time she sat on a number of regional committees and boards as both a Chairperson and board member.
In addition to her management duties Anne is co-owner of an environmental consulting/managing business, Silkstone Environmental Ltd. Anne also volunteers with numerous local non-profit groups.
Carlos Fiorentino
University of Alberta, Department of Human Ecology
Carlos is a Visual Communication Designer, design educator and researcher, with main interest on Design for Sustainability and Biomimicry. He teaches in the Department of Art & Design and Department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta, and in the Design Studies program at MacEwan University. His recent doctoral studies focused on biomimetic design and structural colour, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is co-founder of the Biomimicry Alberta regional network (2013), founder of the Design for Sustainability Research Group (2012), and more recently the UofA Biomimicry Innovation Hub (2018). His research and scholarship on sustainability allowed him to be part of the Sustainability Advisory Committee for the University of Alberta’s Sustainability Plan 2016-20, and the Education for Sustainability Steering Committee (ESSC) for the Sustainability Advisory Committee at Grant MacEwan University (2014-2015). In 2010 he introduced the first interdisciplinary undergraduate course focused on Design for Sustainability in Human Ecology, University of Alberta. He has disseminated his work contributing to book chapters, presenting in international conferences and symposia, and published in refereed journals and book chapters.
Carlos is co-founder (2004) and design consultant of Pix Design in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has worked professionally in the visual communication design field for more than twenty years. He has collaborated in research projects involving humanities computing and Information design (2005-2013), among them the Implementing New Knowledge Environments (INKE) project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the AGEWELL Assistive Technologies program, federally funded by Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) (2016-2018).
Caroline McAuley
Alberta Recycling Management Authority
Caroline McAuley is Chair of the Alberta Recycling Management Authority. Appointed by the Government of Alberta in January 2018, she is serving her first term. As Chair, Caroline is a strong advocate for made-in-Alberta recycling solutions, deregulation of environmental fees and expansion of the electronics program. Caroline continues to work closely with the Ministry and stakeholders to help achieve these goals.
In addition to being Chair, she has been a councillor with the Town of Vermilion since May of 2009 and is currently in her first term as Mayor. She brings her passion, vision and action to lead a stronger community. Her accomplishments include championing economic development, improving recycling in the community and addressing regional water issues. She has a Bachelor of Science degree with a focus on Nutrition and an MBA in Community Economic Development.
Caroline embraces the philosophy that when communities work together anything can be accomplished to make a better life for all. Together with her husband Cliff, Caroline resides in Vermilion and is a proud parent of three adult children, and four grandchildren.
Carolyn Jarvis
Global News
Carolyn Jarvis is Global News’ Chief Investigative Correspondent. During her 15-plus-year career her work has won numerous awards and acclaim, including the 2018 Canadian Screen Award for Best National Reportage. Her recent investigation entitled Canada’s Toxic Secret utilized two-and-a-half-years’ worth of reporting to expose a troubling trend of leaks and spills, and an accompanying lack of transparency regarding the public’s level of exposure to carcinogenic pollutants in Sarnia’s “Chemical Valley”. Canada’s Toxic Secret was distinguished with both a Silver World Medal from the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards and an Honourable Mention from the Canadian Hillman Prize.
Catherine Bangel
Bangel PR
Catherine Bangel has been telling Edmonton stories to local, Alberta and national audiences for over a decade. Prior to launching Bangel PR in 2012, Catherine worked as a journalist under her maiden name, Catherine Hillerud. She spent seven years working as a radio and television reporter at CBC Edmonton with stints at CBC Regina and CBC Yellowknife. Catherine then moved on to reporting for Global Television in Edmonton for seven years.
During her reporting career, Catherine has covered live breaking news including the Wabamun Oil spill, the RCMP shooting in Mayerthorpe, Alberta, Edmonton’s largest residential fire in the MacEwan neighbourhood, and numerous Federal, provincial and municipal elections. She has filed nationally over her career for CBC Newsworld, The National and Global National. Her stories have also aired on American networks NBC and CNN.
Catherine left journalism and entered the public relations field in 2009. She provided media relations, marketing and communications to the RCMP and the City of Edmonton, including Edmonton Fire Rescue Services prior to founding Bangel PR.
Bangel PR is a boutique public relations firm that is all about people, relationships and great storytelling. We bring them all together to help companies, not-for-profits, entrepreneurs and start-ups connect and make impressions. We share the heart and motivation behind what they do.
Our relationships with Alberta media come from having spent years working inside every newsroom and rubbing shoulders with reporters, assignment editors and production crews. Those relationships have helped us build audiences for some of Alberta’s most recognized brands through media placements, video production, content creation and social media management. We use our journalism skills to continue telling Alberta made stories.
Cherie Cohen
Cherie is a digital geek. Cherie is a data geek. Cherie is a natural-born storyteller. And Cherie loves building brands.
Cherie spent over 15 years on the for-profit side of the world, with large brands like CIBC, RBC, Rogers Cable, part of the launch teams at The National Post newspaper and Wish Magazine at St. Joseph Media, and two tech start‐ups, one that went BOOM! And the other bust.
More recently, Cherie spent a decade on the not-for-profit side of the world, engaging and mobilizing the public in creating social movements, activating social change and as a powerful fundraiser, with Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation, World Wildlife Fund – Canada, Indspire, (a National Indigenous Education Fund), and then more recently to CanadaHelps.
Cherie is a change agent and an unapologetic disruptor. As an early adopter of all things new in technology, Cherie has been playing in the digital space since 2004. The critical thinking and focused analytics of the digital space are not only rooted in the early days of her career, they continue to feature as a key part of her leadership toolkit to acquire, retain and engage audiences and donors alike. Cherie carefully weaves the many threads of digital and social media into her vision, as a digital‐first 360 professional.
Cherie is not a status‐quo leader, but rather one who is drawn to roles looking for important transformative direction to be taken, boundaries to be pushed; as such innovation has always been a guiding principle of Cherie’s. And not surprisingly, Cherie has a strong track record for affecting positive change with multiple stakeholders, both inside of organizations and externally, including the media and a variety of consumer and business corporate and Board audiences alike.
More recently, Cherie has channeled her energy as Mompreneur and Founder of MiraclEggz (www.miracleggz.com), to increase awareness and support, to champion and advocate for change of important legislation in Canada, and to raise funds for a cause that remains near and dear to her heart.
Cherie’s volunteer experience has spanned the length of her professional career. Starting with what used to be the Breast Cancer Honda Run for the Cure, and has since become CIBC’s event, Cherie was a volunteer with the first event back in 1994, then as a CIBC employee, rallying a full-scale internal staffing effort, and remained involved in the event even as she relocated to Calgary. Sitting on Boards, co-chairing galas, rolling-up her sleeves with the RCA, Green Calgary, as a Career Mentor with both the University of Toronto and Ryerson University, and as a volunteer yoga instructor for Lululemon, Cherie believes in paying forward her own good fortune.
Chief Greg Desjarlais
Frog Lake First Nation
Greg Desjarlais was born in High Prairie, Alberta, he has over 20 years’ experience in various capacities such as farming, recreational programming, economic development and First Nation Governance. Greg is an avid sports enthusiast who follows the cultural teachings learnt from his parents Albert and Alma Desjarlais.
Greg is in his 1st year of a two-year term elected Chief of Frog Lake First Nation. As an elected Chief, he is responsible to the needs of Frog Lake First Nation and its citizens; setting direction based on the Vision of the Nation, ensuring financial viability and accountability, enhancement and protection of community lands and assets, ensuring business is conducted responsibly and ensuring community’s values and needs are met.
He has chaired/co-chaired various Indigenous stakeholder engagement initiatives demonstrating his visioning for improving the quality of life in Indigenous communities. Greg has always been a strong advocate for environment and a clean and vibrant community. He believes as First Nation people that we should be leading the charge in protecting mother earth and programming that allows for us to demonstrate this stewardship is worth investing in.
Greg has helped Indigenous organizations in advocating for improved quality of life through further training, education and employment. He is a committed and respected leader.
Greg and his wife Benita have 2 sons and 1 daughter and 3 precious grandchildren. Greg and his wife Benita and daughter reside in Saddle Lake, Alberta.
Chris Grant
Alberta Bike Swap
Laura and Chris glanced at each other while cycle commuting one cold January day, met at the bike racks, and have been together since. They’ve both been cycling for decades and saw gaps in cycling safety, bike event parking, and cycling knowledge. As community builders, they modelled Alberta Bike Swap from a scribble at the kitchen table to what is it today; dozens of strategic alliances, thousands of attendees and thousands of bought, sold, and donated bikes, patented bike racks, and smiles. Lots of smiles. Alberta Bike Swap has been internationally recognized and are helping the rest of the world put on re-use events through their software and processes.
Chris’ bio
Due to eye sprain, Chris has stopped rolling his eyes when Laura tells him that she has another idea. Chris lovingly calls himself a barnyard engineer; he can figure out how things go together and improve them so that they actually work, especially Laura’s ideas. Chris recently retired as an instrumentation engineer. Though he’d like to spend his days executing a camper van build and working on racing lawnmowers, his retirement has been reduced to no free time because he’s busier than ever taking to market a patent pending product for RV protection.
David Dodge
Green Energy Futures
David Dodge is the producer of Green Energy Futures, a series of more than 230 documentaries on clean energy leaders, projects and technologies from across Canada. You can see his documentaries at GreenEnergyFutures.ca and listen to his features weekly on CKUA Radio across Alberta.
David is co-chair of Edmonton’s Energy Transition Advisory Committee that advises City Council on energy efficiency, energy and climate change resilience.
David produced 330 episodes of the award winning EcoFile Radio series on sustainability for CKUA Radio, has published two magazines and was production manager of Lone Pine Publishing. He has worked as both a journalist and a photojournalist.
He’s a past president of the Edmonton Federation of 159 Community Leagues (EFCL) and Evansdale Community League. He led a solar project at Evansdale that now produces 100% of its electricity on a net annual basis.
Dianne Saxe
Saxe Facts
Dr. Dianne Saxe is one of Canada’s most respected environmental lawyers, with 40 years’ unparalleled experience writing, interpreting, and litigating Ontario’s energy and environmental laws. An experienced team leader with substantial board experience; a skilled communicator with broad strategic vision. Hard-won expertise in government relations, corporate governance and public consultation. A can-do person always striving to make a difference. Now heading Saxe Facts, a business providing strategic advice and presentations on climate, energy and environment.
Edward Gugenheimer
Alberta Recycling Management Authority
Early in 2019, Ed Gugenheimer joined the Alberta Recycling Management Authority (ARMA) as their new Chief Executive Officer. Ed holds a Chartered Professional Accounting (CPA) designation and has over 25 years of experience in fiscal governance and management. Ed is a values-based, performance-driven, strategic leader whose executive experience has helped organizations grow and expand while maintaining their strength and culture. His background includes time with both the private and non-profit sectors and he is excited about the future of the recycling industry. His talent for strategic execution, financial, operational and risk management along with a passion for building a healthy organizational culture is the right fit for ARMA as they pivot towards the next stage of their future – one that includes innovation and a need to ensure we are leveraging all opportunities for Alberta’s recycling products.
Ed and his wife Leanne have one son, Addison, and they enjoy spending time at the lake, volunteering and community building.
Garret Steinhauer
Tribal Chiefs Employment and Training Services Association
Garret Steinhauer is from the Treaty Six region, and calls Whitefish (Goodfish) Lake #128 First Nation home. He has over ten years’ experience in the Employment and Training field. Prior to that he has worked at the grassroots level at the nations, by assisting in a literacy and numeracy program for two first nations. Garret has always been an avid outdoors and sports enthusiast. He has played college level sports and has grown up hunting, fishing and gathering with his grandparents.
Garret is currently employed with Tribal Chiefs Employment and Training Service Association (TCETSA), which provides employment and training services for Six North Eastern Alberta First Nations. He is also currently the chair person for the Oteenow Employment and Training Society, which provides employment and training services for the Edmonton Urban First Nations people. He believes through employment and training that we are able to empower our people up and make them more self sustainable.
He believes that we all have a part to play in the cleansing of mother earth and that this is a step forward in raising awareness for many First Nations people.
Gracie Baker
École Pine Grove Middle School
Gracie Baker is 13 years old and like to Draw, paint and is active in Archery, Badminton, soccer, swimming and basketball. Gracie also like to be outside walking her dog and likes turtles and horses.
Jamie Vieira
Thompson-Nicola Regional District
Jamie is the Manager of Environmental Services at The Thompson Nicola Regional District based in Kamloops, BC. He oversees the operation of 27 waste and recycling transfer stations serving primarily rural residents. Over the past 10 years Jamie has been intricately involved in transitioning the TNRD from unstaffed and unregulated transfer stations, to full service eco-depots providing a full suite of recycling options.
Jamie has a degree in natural resource science from Thompson Rivers University and is a member of the BC institute of Agrologists. He has worked in the solid waste & recycling field for over 11 years.
When not at work he can usually be found on the mountain bike trails around Kamloops or skiing up at Sun Peaks with his wife and two young daughters.
Jason London
City of Calgary
Jason works for The City of Calgary in Waste & Recycling Services where his primary focus is strategic planning and policy. His recent work has included advocating and building support for provincial extended producer responsibility, reducing construction and demolition waste, investigating innovative waste management technologies and working with regional partners.
Prior to joining the City of Calgary, Jason served as the Director of Operations for the Beverage Container Management Board (BCMB), where he managed policy development and directed BCMB’s compliance activities.
From 2011-13, Jason served as the Recycling Council of Alberta’s President following one year as a Director. During that time, he also served as a Director on the Board of the Alberta Recycling Management Authority. Jason continues to be the City of Calgary liaison with the Recycling Council of Alberta and is an active volunteer for his Calgary community association.
Jason holds the degree of Master of Business Administration in Executive Management from Royal Roads University, and a Diploma in Health, Safety and Environment Technology from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Jeff Dirks
KBL Environmental Ltd.
KBL is an Environmental company providing: industrial waste management, infrastructure abatement + demolition and contaminated site remediation. Jeff is a co-founding partner with a background in waste management, environmental consulting and technology development. This experience has helped drive KBL into new markets and business lines throughout Northern and Western Canada. Jeff’s role is to provide leadership through vision and by continually seeking new opportunities by identifying industry needs, emerging markets and assessing new technologies or concepts to provide unique solutions to service industry needs. This is driven by a passion to generate employment through environmentally sustainable practices and technologies.
Jeff has an education in Environmental Sciences and entered the workforce as a Technician in 2000. In the first 5 years of his career, he had been promoted several times advancing to a role where he evaluated opportunities to increase return on assets, evaluating new technologies for the business and part of the Merger & Acquisition team. This was for a public company which generated approximately $1B of revenue. This experience, coupled with amazing mentorship, drove passion to become a business owner. Jeff’s extremely happy to be a shareholder of a company that has achieved business success while fulfilling a personal passion to do better for our planet. Jeff’s Entrepreneurial journey started through learning from a family legacy of pioneering and hard work. This started by growing up on a family dairy farm in Alberta with parents who founded several other businesses. Jeff participates on industry or charity related boards as a way to give back.
Jeff Linton
Beverage Container Management Board
Jeff Linton is a highly skilled executive manager, coach and mentor with a proven track record of delivering influential leadership as well as operational excellence and efficiency in a broad range of business environments.
After a career of more than 15 years in the hospitality industry Jeff’s service-based skills took on an environmental focus when he landed in the beverage container industry managing at an operational level. From there he moved to represent all the depots as the Executive Director of the Alberta Bottle Depot Association where he served for more than 16 years. Jeff now represents the entire industry as President of the Beverage Container Management Board where he has been since 2015.
Jeff has a passion for people and innovation and believes that environmental action must be sustainable. He lives a lifestyle of environmental awareness, fairness and commitment to integrity.
Joel Baziuk
Global Ghost Gear Initiative
Joel is the acting Deputy Director for the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), a collective impact alliance started by World Animal Protection in 2015 and currently managed by Ocean Conservancy. The GGGI brings together NGOs, fishing industry, private sector, academia and governments to build evidence, define best practice and inform policy, and catalyse and replicate sustainable solutions to the problem of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG or “ghost gear”) worldwide. The GGGI currently has 98 unique member organizations and is supported by 14 governments and 6 high level affiliates, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UNFAO), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the OSPAR Commission, and the European Commission Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (EC DG MARE).
Joel has made appearances and spoken at numerous international conferences and events including the North Atlantic Seafood Forum (Bergen, Norway); BC Ghost Gear Regional Workshop (Richmond, British Columbia); Harbour Authority Association of BC Annual Meeting (Ucluelet, British Columbia; Vancouver, British Columbia); Global Ghost Gear Initiative Annual Meeting (Bali, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Miami, Florida; London, UK); Klosters Forum (Klosters, Switzerland); the Circular Ocean Innovation Competition (remote judge); Cordage Institute Annual Meeting (San Diego, USA); Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism Annual Meeting (Little Bay, Montserrat); SeaWeb Seafood Sustainability Summit (Bangkok, Thailand; Seattle, Washington); the Coast Waste Management Association Annual Meeting (Victoria, British Columbia); and the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (Vancouver, British Columbia).
Prior to taking on the role of GGGI Deputy Director, Joel worked for 20 years in the Canadian fishing industry, 13 of which were as Operations Supervisor for Steveston Harbour Authority, Canada’s largest commercial fishing harbour. During his time at Steveston Harbour, Joel started an end of life net recycling program to find a sustainable way to dispose of end of life fishing nets. In 3 years, this program managed to recycle some 150,000 kg of end of life nets.
Joel is also a recipient of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans Prix d’Excellence (2016) and a 2017 Canada’s Clean50 Honouree in relation to his net recycling work. He is also a past co-Chair for the City of Richmond’s Advisory Committee on the Environment, and a past President of the Harbour Authority Association of British Columbia.
John Coyne
Unilever Canada
John D. Coyne
Vice President, External Affairs & Sustainability, Unilever Canada Inc.John is well known for his leadership in corporate sustainability.He is a passionate activator of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever’s strategy to grow the business, reduce its environmental footprint and increase its positive contribution to society.John is Executive Chair of the Board of Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance, Inc., a director of Evergreen and Co-Chair of the Partners in Project Green steering committee, a major environmental initiative of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority. John has been recognized for his leadership in corporate sustainability by being named a Clean 50 honouree in 2013 and a Clean 16 honouree in 2018.In 2015, John was appointed as a member of the Ontario Government’s Climate Action Group advising the Ontario Minister of the Environment on effective climate change actions.
In 2018, John was honoured to receive the Canadian General Counsel Award for Environmental, Social and Governance Leadership. John is Co-Chair of the Circular Economy Leadership Coalition (CELC) that was launched in 2018 designed to accelerate Canada’s transition to a circular economy.In addition in 2018, John was appointed to the federal Plastics Advisory group advising Canada’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change on issues relating to plastics and the implementation of the Ocean Plastics Charter.
John also works closely with industry groups and other organizations.He is Chair of the board of the Look Good Feel Better Foundation and is Chair of the board of Cosmetics Alliance Canada. He is also Chair of Unilever Canada’s Pension Committee.
John Marshall
Statistics Canada
John Marshall has lived in Ottawa since 1997. He holds a MSc. in Planning from the University of Guelph and a B.A. in Political Studies from Trent University.
At his day job, he is a Manager at Statistics Canada and responsible for a number of projects that look at linkages between human activity and the environment. These include the Waste Management Industry Survey, the Households and the Environment Survey, the Survey of Environmental Goods and Services and many other files over his 22 years at the Agency. He has also been involved with several international projects focussing on solid waste and environmental practices and behaviours in households.
Raised in a rural Ontario community where he worked in his family’s construction business and served as a municipal councillor, John has three children and volunteers in a number of capacities in his community.
Laura Grant
Alberta Bike Swap
Laura and Chris glanced at each other while cycle commuting one cold January day, met at the bike racks, and have been together since. They’ve both been cycling for decades and saw gaps in cycling safety, bike event parking, and cycling knowledge. As community builders, they modelled Alberta Bike Swap from a scribble at the kitchen table to what is it today; dozens of strategic alliances, thousands of attendees and thousands of bought, sold, and donated bikes, patented bike racks, and smiles. Lots of smiles. Alberta Bike Swap has been internationally recognized and are helping the rest of the world put on re-use events through their software and processes.
Laura’s Bio
Laura has always been able to connect people, community, ideas, and things. Diagnosed with MS while in Pharmacy nearly 40 years ago, Laura knows the importance of science and education. She has a Math/Comp Sci degree with many continuing education medical and science courses. She wrote a carbon offset protocol in graduate school in 2007 on native over manufactured landscapes called Weapons of Grass Destruction. As a forward thinker who has learned to sit on her hands when someone asks for a volunteer, Laura spends her days developing the bike swap software and processes so that the rest of the world can put on bike swaps.
Lindsay Christianson
Plastic Bank
Like you, Lindsay cares deeply for Oceans, People, Animals, and the Planet. Lindsay’s mission is to collaborate with talented hearts and minds on high impact projects that stop Ocean plastic and Improve Human lives. He is an ambitious person who values building relationships, helping others with their goals and being a creative-ideas guy.
As a Director of Business & Partner Development at the Plastic Bank, Co-Creator of their Social Plastic Collection Credit, and an active member of the 3RI Project Standard Development Committee, he has become a contributing subject matter expert in the field of plastic neutrality, helping organizations assess and rebalance their plastic footprint.
Lindsay builds partnerships that aim to enable authentic corporate citizenship through purposeful work outcomes, that can generate narratives that inspire people into making impactful actions in their lives. With an entrepreneurial background in business development and risk management, Lindsay helps people connect their KPI’s to their key stakeholder narrative messaging. He works with People, Multi-National Brands and Enterprises to create collaborative partnerships that facilitate positive social environment change.
As a student of Unity, Lindsay is dedicated to lifelong personal and spiritual development and service to others.
Maja Vodanovic
City of Montréal
Maja Vodanovic is an executive member of the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) and Mayor of Lachine, a borough of Montreal. She is an active member of the CMM’s Environmental Commission, mandated to revise and propose amendments to Quebec’s waste management program, a system that is transforming in response to the Chinese national sword policy.
As a member of the National Zero Waste Council (NZWC), Maja co-chaired the Plastic Advisory Panel which produced a work document entitled « Regulatory Approaches for Priority Plastic Wastes ». The objective of which is to set out concrete solutions and suggest specific regulatory measures to prevent, and better manage, plastic waste.
Passionate about environmental issues, Maja has been actively involved in cleaning up our waterways and protecting our green spaces. One of Mrs. Vodanovic’s greatest challenge as Mayor, is to transform a 60-acre post industrial brown field in Lachine East into a Canada-wide model for a human-scaled ecological and sustainable development.
Mark Lozzi
PointChain Technology Inc
Mark is the CEO and co-founder of PointChain Technology. Mark is an experienced entrepreneur and investor with a deep understanding and history of high tech start-ups. Mark’s experience has come through business operations, strategy, and finance. At OutsideIQ, he led strategy and the commercialization of technology into the supply chain management industry, including a global partnership with Ariba. Notable exits to Apple and Exiger. Mark holds an MBA from San Diego State University.
Matt Moreau
Earth Group
Matt Moreau has been with The Earth Group since its inception as Earth Water, in 2005. He has helped in projects up to and including expansion into the United States & Europe, and the launch of new products such as Earth Coffee and Earth Tea. Matt is also proud to have joined his parents’ medical mission to Ecuador for eleven years, providing medical care to those who can’t afford it.
Melissa Gorrie
Waste Free Edmonton
Melissa is an environmental lawyer who has worked with all levels of government to push for policy and law reform. She has volunteered with numerous social justice and environmental organizations over the last decade, which has provided her with a wealth of experience in non-profit governance. She has also been involved in various environmental campaigns. She co-founded Waste Free Edmonton as a way to counter the frustration and sadness she feels in seeing the vast amount of waste produced in her community. Melissa is extremely excited to work with citizens, government, and businesses to reduce the amount of waste produced in Edmonton!
Odessa Ingarfield
It started when Odessa was 11 years old, volunteering at a tailor’s shop to understand the trade. She realized instantly that she never wanted to be a sewer but fell in love with what would become her career for over 20 years.
Holding a degree in textile science and clothing design with minors in commerce and linguistics she decided to attain full depth and breath of knowledge within her industry on a global scale.
Today her experience within materials/textiles; consumer goods; manufacturing and waste reduction stems from: analysis, development, innovation, testing, process optimization and reprocessing. She has had the privilege to work with global leaders such as: McKinsey and Company Consulting; Lululemon; Joseph Ribkoff; Federated; Under Armour; LeChateau; Western Glove Works; Volkswagen; Home Depot; Serta/Simmons; Sealy; Gehrson Lehrman Group; to name a few.
She writes on social media with the hopes to inspire long-term sustainable change through micro and macro process implementation; enhanced designs; shared insights; reduced packaging and innovative manufacturing with unified global efforts.
Dessius is Odessa’s current project which focuses on dissecting the material world for corporate, government and the general public.
Paul Henderson
Metro Vancouver
Paul Henderson is a Professional Engineer with 30 years’ experience in the municipal sector.
Paul is the General Manager of the Metro Vancouver Solid Waste Services Department leading the team responsible for waste reduction and recycling as well as residuals management for Metro Vancouver’s approximately 2.5 million people.
Paul has a degree in Bio Resource Engineering, a Masters of Applied Science in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia and a Masters of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.
Paul Long
ANIÁN Clothing
Paul Long is the founder, designer and owner of ANIÁN. Born in Calgary, Alberta, he spent most of his time in Canmore exploring the eastern Rockies. During weekends and on vacations, Paul would spend his spare time hiking and camping. Through these adventures in the mountains, he found a need for high quality clothing that would not only make it through winters in B.C. but would also be sustainable for his lifestyle.
ANIÁN got its start designing and manufacturing clothes for guides in the Great Bear Rainforest. In November 2013, Paul opened ANIÁN’s flagship store in Victoria. In 2019 alone, the company recycled over 30 tonnes of material. Most recently, ANIÁN was a runner-up at Canada’s esteemed ‘fashion takes action’ awards.
Paul completed his bachelor’s in tourism from Vancouver Island University in 2011.
Peter Demong
City of Calgary
As the elected representative for Ward 14, Peter Demong brings a successful business background, and entrepreneurial spirit to Calgary City Council. With 18 years as a business owner, and 25 years in the field of Logistics Management under his belt, he offers the ability to manage budgets and understand the needs of small and large businesses alike. His experience speaks to his practical views on civic matters, his knack for effective management, and his commitment to fiscal responsibility. Along with his compassion and sense of fairness, Peter’s voice on Council is one of common sense and realism.
Since his first term began in 2010, Peter has become experienced with almost every aspect of municipal management. He has spent time on the Standing Policy Committee on Urban Planning, the Calgary Economic Development Board, and the Enmax Board of Directors—to name a few. He also holds the Institute of Corporate Directors Director Designation. It was his involvement as the Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Utilities and Corporate Services however, that first sparked his passion for effective municipal waste management. Later, his position on the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association’s Executive Committee would make him a natural fit as one of Alberta’s strongest Extended Producer Responsibility supporters.
Peter Duck
Bow Valley Waste Management Commission
Peter holds a Master Degree in Environmental Studies with a background that ranges from hydrometeorology to wildlife ecology and environmental impact assessment. He began his career working for the Canadian Parks Agency’s interpretive program in Banff and Jasper National Parks planning and producing a variety heritage interpretation exhibits. Mr. Duck has also worked independently as an interpretive naturalist and instructor for many years.
Past activities have included serving as a wildlife technician for ecological land classifications including caribou and grizzly bear habitat evaluations. Peter is active as an advocate for environmental sustainability and has served on a number of local and national environmental advisory committees.
He is currently president of a local naturalist society and works for the Bow Valley Waste Management Commission serving as regional coordinator. From his office at the Francis Cooke Resource Recovery Centre, his work looks up the waste stream to municipalities, NGO’s and businesses to help ensure the circular economy becomes a reality. Peter believes that responsible waste management lies at the crossroads of economic and environmental sustainability and will stimulate the economic efficiency and environmental stewardship essential to supporting healthy lifestyles and ecosystems.
Peter Hargreave
Policy Integrity Inc.
Peter Hargreave is the President of Policy Integrity Inc., has over 14 years of experience in providing strategic advice to municipalities, producers and service providers in the development, implementation and oversight of public policy. Over the last two years, he has worked with municipalities, producers and service providers in understanding current challenges and finding solutions at the local, provincial and national level. He continues to play an important role in helping to shape Ontario’s new waste diversion framework, including new full producer responsibility regulations for tires, electronics, household hazardous products and printed paper and packaging.
Before establishing Policy Integrity Inc. in 2017, Peter spent six years with the Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) as the Director of Policy and Strategy where he helped lead the sector in developing policy around a more circular economy and helped respond to issues varying from transportation and taxation to climate change and environmental standards. In this role, he helped develop major reports establishing baseline data for the sector, creating environmental guidelines, outlining economic and environment opportunities, and providing policy direction on mechanisms like extended producer responsibility, disposal bans and disposal levies. These reports continue to influence and shape business and policy decisions.
Rob Ironside
Leftovers Foundation
Rob is an Environmental Engineer, is Co-Founder of Fresh Routes, and is the Operations and Social Enterprise Director for the Leftovers Foundation. With Rob at the operational helm for the Leftovers Foundation, his ‘big impact’ approach has brought on national grocery store chains to redirect their excess food to social service agencies, totaling close to 5 tons of food per week. Rob’s experience ranges from sustainability consulting in Zambia to working in the oil industry in Calgary. Rob specializes in systems thinking, strategy design and implementation, and problem solving. Rob previously sat on the board for Engineers Without Borders Canada.
Roger Redman
École Pine Grove Middle School
Roger Redman has been teaching and coaching for over 30 years. This year Mr. Redman is teaching Science, Math, a Sports Option and is helping run the recycling program at École Pine Grove Middle School.
Roxanne Doerksen
T.R.A.D. Worm Industries Ltd
Sometimes, life throws a wrench in the machine and that is exactly how T.R.A.D. Worm Industries was born. For Roxanne Doerksen, an ERT (Environmental Reclamation Technologist), the predictable success of any project is the planting medium and vermicast is an excellent soil amendment. By using organics that are slated for the landfill as feedstock for the worms, this is an excellent example of reducing, reusing and recycling all in one primitive process. As the CEO and Head Worm Wrangler, Roxanne counts it a privilege to find new ways to be a good steward of this beautiful earth we are a part of.
Roxanne Duigou
Roxanne is an engineer with a background in disaster response, alternative building technology, and small business.
A mandate to encourage the best and tackle the worst has woven a common thread through her work. There is an adage translated throughout the world that ‘a burden shared is a burden halved’ and the following relentless questions follow Roxanne everywhere: how can we do better; how can we work together? This collaborative spirit has served her well while working in Pakistan, Thailand, Haiti, and at home in Canada.
In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, she worked extensively with a local and international team to establish a waste-to-resource program which recycles waste polystyrene into a seismically resilient building system. Focused on local stewardship, appropriate technology, open source principles, and a multi-disciplinary approach, Roxanne contributed to the growth of grassroots initiatives to mitigate the effects of mismanaged waste, to produce income generating opportunities locally, and to build safe and culturally appropriate homes.
Ruben Anderson
Ruben Anderson consults on behaviour change, sustainability and regenerative systems. Trained as a product designer, he brings the perspective of someone who has worked in the belly of the global mass-manufacturing system.
While working in the City of Vancouver’s Sustainability Group and with the Planning Department, Ruben advised on future-proofed, locally resilient systems and supervised a Zero Waste proposal for the 2010 Winter Olympics. He has also consulted for BC Housing, Industry Canada, private sector and NGO clients. He taught Sustainable Design at the Emily Carr University, and won an award for Cradle-to-Cradle product design from the Cascadia Green Building Council.
While researching pro-environmental behaviour change for Metro Vancouver, one of his pilot projects saw a 250% increase in garbage diverted to recycling and composting. Other pilots tested the effects of communication and signage, changes to infrastructure, and the impact of new collection systems.
He now works for Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group, a social enterprise in Victoria, BC.
He has blogged for TreeHugger.com and theTyee.ca, and presents about behaviour change and how Compassionate Systems can increase the effectiveness of our work. His recent writing and presentations can be found at www.SmallAndDeliciousLife.com
In earlier parts of his life, he owned and operated a restaurant, forged a knife with a Japanese swordmaker and practiced the swinging trapeze. He currently is applying Jane Jacobs’ idea of import substitution to the home economy. Why buy what you can make?
Sarah Edwards
Eunomia Research & Consulting Inc.
Sarah Edwards is Eunomia Research & Consulting’s North America Director. She has over 20 years’ experience in the waste and resource management sector working across the public, private and consultancy sectors in North America, the UK and Africa. Sarah’s waste expertise includes design and delivery of waste and recycling collection services as well as the design, procurement and project management of key waste infrastructure including Material Recovery Facilities and Anaerobic Digestion. Projects that Sarah is or has overseen since opening Eunomia’s office in New York office include:
- Review and identification of strategic performance measures and indicators for Alberta’s Beverage Container Recycling Program
- Investigated the causes and costs of illegal dumping, before recommending programs to prevent incidents and minimize costs of clearance in Sacramento County and City, California
- Calculation of the economic benefits of recycling to the Alberta economy which included calculation of the number of direct, indirect and induced jobs resulting from recycling activity and the Gross Value Add to the Alberta economy
- Calculation of the economic benefits derived from the container deposit programs operating in Quebec, New York and Michigan
- Cost benefit analysis of implement a container deposit program for non-alcoholic beverages alongside an improved blue box program in Ontario
- Vision and cost benefit analysis of Alberta implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging and paper products.
Eunomia Research & Consulting is a global waste and resource efficiency consultancy that has led much of the research and analysis in the circular economy and plastics fields across Europe. Eunomia is currently developing guidance on how producer fees, under EPR programs for packaging, should be modulated to drive the circular economy and to ensure products are recyclable, durable and contain recycled content.
Sharon Riley
The Narwhal
Sharon Riley is an investigative journalist, currently covering energy and the environment in Alberta for The Narwhal. Her essays, interviews, and long-form nonfiction have been published by The Walrus, Harper’s, The Tyee, J-Source, Alberta Views, and Maisonneuve, among others. Her work has been named a finalist for numerous national awards, including the National Magazine Awards, the Digital Publishing Awards, and the Canadian Association of Journalists awards.
Tammy Shields
Cleanfarms Inc.
Tammy has been with Cleanfarms for 2 years as the Western Regional Coordinator. She is a Professional Agrologist for the last 12 years delivering Stewardship programs with agriculture producers. Tammy has been involved with recycling agricultural plastics in Saskatchewan since 2010. Over the years, Tammy has worked on the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Board and with the Regional Waste Management Associations to bridge communication about waste reduction in rural Saskatchewan. Cleanfarms represents a passion for Tammy: the opportunity to work with a company that is providing solutions for solid and hazardous waste management to farmers. In this newly developed role as Western Regional Coordinator, she is excited to use her existing and develop new networks across the prairies to seek opportunities for Cleanfarms to provide solutions that directly benefit producers and the environment. She resides in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan with her children and enjoys an active outdoors lifestyle.
Tina Kruse-Taylor
École Pine Grove Middle School
Tina Kruse-Taylor is entering her 30th year of teaching. She teaches Language Arts and Science and is a strong advocate of “going green” and sustainability.
Tonny Colyn
The Salvation Army Thrift Store-NRO
Since 2013 Tonny has represented The Salvation Army Thrift Store National Recycling Operation, one of Canada’s largest non-profit thrift retailer, diverting textiles and household goods from landfill. As the National Director of Business Development and Sustainability, and part of the National Leadership Team, Tonny has been instrumental in establishing The Salvation Army Canada as a global leader in reuse and recycling of textiles and household goods.
Tonny is well known for her collaboration and leadership with several associations including President and co-founder of the National Association for Charitable Textile Recycling (NACTR), Vice-President with Nova Scotia’s Association for Textile Recycling (AFTeR), board member of the National Zero Waste Council (NZWC), and steering committee member with Ontario Textile Diversion Collaborative (OTDC).
She is respected for her expertise and industry knowledge in the world of thrift as it relates to our future circular economy. Known for her practical, innovative style, she is always looking to encourage all stakeholders to help move the needle on Textile Diversion in Canada.
Trevor Gibson
Opportunity Peterborough (UK)
Trevor started his local government career as an Environmental Health Officer in the West Midlands in 1984. He moved to Peterborough in 1998 to take up the position of Head of Environmental and Public Protection with Peterborough City Council having formerly held a senior position with Suffolk Coastal District Council. He became Director of Environmental Services and Community Services in 2002 with responsibility for, amongst many other things, development control, transport, environmental and consumer regulation.
He joined Opportunity Peterborough in 2009 to develop their environmental focus. One common theme throughout Trevor’s career continues to be his passion for environmental protection and sustainability. He has been responsible for leading the development of city scale strategies relating to both agendas since the 1980s. Trevor currently works for Opportunity Peterborough as the Smart City Leadership and Development Manager. This work maintains the sustainability theme through its focus on circular economy implementation at the city scale, “Circular Peterborough. He currently chairs the British Standards Institute Smart and Sustainable Cities Committee.
Usman Valiante
Cardwell Grove Inc.
Usman is a senior policy analyst and commercial strategist with 27 years of experience in the fields of environmental science and economics, corporate and commercial strategy, public policy development, regulatory and institutional design, advocacy, negotiation, consultation and communications.
Usman has provided public policy advice with specific focus on environmental regulatory design to the federal government, provincial governemnts, the Canadian Council of Minister of Environment and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
Usman also provides commercial strategy and regulatory compliance advice to a number of North America’s leading manufacturing, consumer products and environmental services companies.
Usman is currently a Director of the Alberta Beverage Container Management Board (BCMB), is an advisor to the Circular Economy Leadership Coalition and was a convener of Ontario’s Circular Economy Innovation Lab (CEIL).
