Agostino Renna,
Vice President, Growth & Market Strategy
GE-Canada

Agostino is Vice President, Growth & Market Strategy for GE where he has responsibility for the long term growth and market positioning of all GE's businesses in Canada.

Previous to joining GE, he spent 14 years at Johnson Controls Inc., where he worked in Canada, the US and Europe. He held leadership roles in sales, marketing, strategy and general management. Prior to being named to his current position at GE, Agostino lead Johnson Controls’ Energy Solutions division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa based in Brussels, Belgium. Agostino was born in Montreal, Quebec and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University. He speaks 4 languages fluently. He is a regular speaker at conferences and roundtables that focus on addressing global energy challenges and is known for bringing a passionate and pragmatic business perspective to the issues that impede investment and action. While in Belgium, Agostino was an Executive in Residence at the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, where, in his lectures, he brought a strong practioner's perspective to the topics of sales, marketing, strategy and leadership.

Dr. Vicky J. Sharpe,
President and CEO Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)

Vicky Sharpe is President and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a Government of Canada initiative whose mission is to help develop and commercialize clean technologies that will strengthen economic and environmental performance in Canada.

As founding CEO, Dr. Sharpe has increased the funding pool from $100M to over $1B and mobilized private sector capital resulting in more than $2.9B of investments for projects and commercialization activities. With over 25 years of experience in the energy industry, Dr. Sharpe has successfully integrated sustainable development into business practices.

As part of her leadership in building a cleantech infrastructure, Dr. Sharpe is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Alberta Enterprise Corporation and the Steering Committee of the UNEP SEF Alliance. Dr. Sharpe is helping to shape the Canadian cleantech landscape through the provision of strategic advice including her role on the Ontario Premier’s Climate Change Advisory Panel. She is also a Director for the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Carbon Management Canada Inc. (CMC), and the Biowaste to Energy for Canada integrated initiative Corp. (BECii).

Dr. Sharpe has served on numerous committees, in particular as an international advisor on sustainability issues; has represented the Canadian energy sector at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Forum; and has chaired both the National Advisory Board on Energy, Science and Technology, and the Board of Directors of Clean Air Canada Inc.

For of her work in advancing sustainability and clean capitalism, Dr. Sharpe was recognised as one of the Clean 16, a top spot on Canada’s 2012 Clean 50 (www.clean50.com).

Dr. Sharpe holds a B.Sc. Honours in Applied Biology from Bath University, UK, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Chemistry, as applied to water pollution control, from Trent University, UK.

Chuck Szmurlo,
Vice President, Alternative & Emerging Technology, Enbridge Inc.

Chuck Szmurlo is currently responsible for evaluating and developing investment opportunities in new growth platforms. These include fuel cells, heavy oil upgrading and recovery, carbon dioxide sequestration, geothermal and small hydro power generation and other emerging energy technologies.

Prior to his current assignment, Chuck was VP Planning & Business Development where he directed the Enbridge Strategic Planning process, the Corporate Economic Evaluation group and the Pathfinders effort.

Before joining Enbridge in 1998, Chuck was with Amoco Corporation and Ford Motor Company in Planning, Treasury and Operating capacities. His experiences included key roles in integrating the Dome acquisition and leading a joint operations business unit.

Chuck holds a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University, an MBA from the University of Chicago and recently received the CMA professional accounting designation.

Chuck is on the Advisory Boards of the University of Alberta’s Centre for Applied Business Research in Energy and the Environment and the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering. He is also on the Boards of the Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Genalta Power, Sea NG and Morgan Solar.

He is a dual U.S. - Canadian citizen and resides in Calgary. He is married with three children.

Joe Vaillancourt,
Managing Director of Organic Growth Group, Waste Management Inc.

Joe is one of the founding members of the Organic Growth Group which is responsible for developing the new ventures unit for the company focused on investing and developing new and innovative growth platforms in the environmental, sustainability, solid waste, recycling, energy and cleantech sectors. Prior to this role, spent 7 years as a Director with Wheelabrator, Waste Management's waste to energy division involved in finance, asset optimization and strategic development.

Prior to joining Waste Management, Joe spent 10 years in entrepreneurial endeavors as part of various founding groups of start up and early stage companies in the high tech, entertainment and financial and business advisory services sectors. Throughout these engagements, he has led $1 billion of debt and equity financings and an additional $600 million of M&A activities.

Waste Management recycles enough paper every year to save 41 million trees. Please recycle any printed emails.

Scott McDonald,
Co-founder and Managing Director of McRock Capital.

MacDonald has played an integral part in building many of today’s leading intelligent infrastructure companies within the water, electric power, and energy efficiency sectors. He currently serves on the board of Pure Technologies (TSX:PUR). He previously served as Chairman of SynapSense from 2008-20012 and was a Director of the Pressure Pipe Inspection Company (acquired by Pure Technologies). From 2003 to 2007, MacDonald served as Chairman of RuggedCom (TSX:RCM) and helped the company grow from start-up to over $60 million in revenue prior to positioning the company for an IPO in 2007. Prior to co-founding McRock Capital, MacDonald was a Partner with Emerald Technology Ventures and Managing Director in the venture capital subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, a large North American electric utility. MacDonald represented Canada at the 1989 and 1991 World Gymnastics Championships and was a voting member of the Canadian Olympic Committee for the quadrennial leading up to the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Greg Payne – PhD, CFA,
Chief Investment Officer, Greenchip Financial Corp.

Gregory Payne is a portfolio manager and economist with extensive expertise in the environmental economy. For the past 5 years, Greg has been managing a portfolio of environmental securities as Chief Investment Officer at Greenchip Financial Corp. Greg has also managed investments at KBSH and has written extensively on a variety of economic issues.

Mr. Payne is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science (Honors Statistics) and has obtained a Master of Economics and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Toronto.

Tyler Hamilton,
Editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights and author of Mad Like Tesla

Tyler Hamilton is a Canadian author, award-winning journalist, blogger and outspoken advocate for developing a green economy in Canada.

Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine, a quarterly publication distributed in Canada through the Globe and Mail and in the United States through the Washington Post. It is North America’s only magazine dedicated to corporate sustainability issues and promoting the concepts of clean capitalism and Green GDP.

Hamilton is also energy and green technology columnist for the Toronto Star, a role he has held for six years at Canada’s largest daily newspaper. His coverage explores emerging green technologies and companies, the people behind them, and related research that is helping Canada and the world move toward a low-carbon economy. His weekly column and associated blog — “Clean Break” — explores trends, issues and technologies in the clean energy space.

In fall 2011, Hamilton published the book Mad Like Tesla: Underdog Inventors and Their Relentless Pursuit of Clean Energy (ECW Press), which details the journey of energy invention and struggles that many unconventional innovators and entrepreneurs face in their efforts to be taken seriously. On top of his role at Corporate Knights, he is a contributing editor to Canadian Chemical News and a regular contributor to MIT Technology Review and a number of Canadian and foreign magazines.

Hamilton was recently appointed an adjunct professor at York University’s faculty of environmental studies, where he is assisting in the creation of a new sustainable energy lab.

Alex Munro,
Environmental Investment Fund Manager, Cenovus

Alexander Munro has 13 years of sector-specific experience in energy, environment and finance, currently managing Cenovus Energy's Environmental Opportunity Fund, a specialty corporate venture fund dedicated to fostering early-stage technologies to mitigate the overall impact of oil & gas development. His past positions, in reverse chronological order, include: VP Corporate Finance for a London-based cleantech investment bank, International Associate (Energy/Renewables) with Fortis Bank out of the Netherlands, and Renewable Energy Consultant to The BOC Group (now part of industrial gases company, The Linde Group) in its Global Hydrogen division. He holds an MBA from the UC-Berkeley and the Rotterdam School of Management, and a BSc Environmental Science from the University of Western Ontario; he now instructs a second-year MBA course at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary entitled "The Business of Clean Technology."

Howard Green

Howard Green is a journalist, broadcaster and documentary maker. Howard Green is the anchor of Headline with Howard Green, the flagship interview program on Business News Network in Canada. He is one of the original on-air hosts at BNN, a network he helped launch in 1999. Monday through Friday on Headline, Green interviews top North American CEOs, decision makers and market players.

In 2006, Green took a one-year sabbatical from BNN at Columbia University in New York City. He was one of ten business journalists selected from around the world by Columbia for the prestigious Knight-Bagehot Fellowship that provides an opportunity for those chosen to deepen their understanding of business.

On the documentary side, Green directed, wrote and co-produced "The Investigation of Swissair 111", a highly-acclaimed 90 minute film that took viewers inside the four and half year inquiry into a plane crash that cost the lives of 229 people. It was one of the most complex aviation probes in history. The documentary was a co-production of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Swiss National Television. For his work on the film, Green won the top television prize in Canada, The Gemini Award. He was also nominated for two Emmys for a U.S. version that aired on the PBS series, NOVA. Green's film was also a finalist for The Japan Prize and a duPont-Columbia Award. It has been broadcast worldwide.

Howard Green began covering business in 1988. For ten years, he was a contributing producer and reporter at Venture, a weekly business magazine program on CBC-TV. He also reported from Canada for PBS' Nightly Business Report from 1989-94. From 1995-99, he produced and reported for CBC's info technology and media series, "Undercurrents", and from 1990 until 2004, Green made nearly a dozen documentaries for which he received a number of awards. His work has been seen in some 50 countries.

Between 1983 and 1988, Howard Green was co-host and field producer at What's New?, CBC's nationally broadcast newsmagazine aimed a youth audience. From 1981 to 1983, he worked as a local TV news reporter throughout Canada's Atlantic provinces for CBC and CTV stations. His first job in TV was in the summer of 1979, hanging lights and doing gopher work at ATV in his hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Green has a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa and a Masters from Columbia University in New York.