Past Speakers
CEEC’s speakers are leaders at the forefront of the green movement. The passion and expertise that speakers bring to the conference from their respective fields have engaged and inspires future leaders in the sustainability industry. If you are interested in speaking at CEEC 2025, we would love to hear your story. Please get in touch with one of our Speakers Coordinators for more information. Here are last years speakers:
CEEC 2025 SPEAKERS
CEEC 2025 SPEAKERS
Claude Letourneau
Position: President & CEO
Organization: Svante
Claude Letourneau will be delivering a keynote speech on the engineering solution for carbon capture and removal of CO2 working in tandem with nature. Humankind emitted about 2.4 trillion tons of CO2 since the industrial revolution, and we are currently emitting 40 billion tons per year. Our current emissions are estimated to cause a temperature rise of ~ 4.5 to 6.3ºF higher with historical records showing sea levels rising by 20 to 30 feet higher at those temperatures. We will need both CO2 capture from industrial point sources and removal from the air.
D.M. Stoneman
Position: Senior Director
Organization: ICF Canada
Switching energy systems to net zero is critical to hitting sustainability and carbon emission targets. This transition provides both unparalleled challenges and opportunities. D.M. will discuss the work that’s being done today by utilities such as energy efficiency programs and demand response to lighten the load, and how utilities of the future will integrate renewable energy and other solutions on to the grid.
Daniel Mackinnon
Position: Co-Owner
Organization: Mackinnon Brothers Brewing Company
The main focus of MacKinnon Brothers Brewing Company is to use ingredients from its farm and other local farms to make unique and delicious beers. While this is a great basis for environmentally friendly production, the business continues to develop and innovate in order to achieve its environmental goals. Daniel MacKinnon will speak about past and future environmental products at the brewery.
Geoff Hendry
Position: Cheif Operating Officer
Organization: Sustainable Kingston
Geoff Hendry, Chief Operating Officer at Sustainable Kingston and host of the sustainably.eco Podcast, has 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector, including roles with Distress Centres of Toronto and Friends of the Moncton Hospital Foundation. His writing has appeared in iPolitics, National Geographic, and The Guardian. Geoff has lived and worked in Kingston since 2016.
Phillip Craig
Position: President
Organization: Nuclear Innovation Institute (NII) Explore
Phillip Craig works with the Nuclear Innovation Institute, an independent, not-for-profit organization with a vision of a Canadian landscape that celebrates an innovative nuclear industry as an integral part of the clean energy future.
PREVIOUS SPEAKERS
PREVIOUS SPEAKERS
Chris Heysel
Environmental Impact Lead, Arc’teryx
Chris is an unrelenting optimist, passionate about solving the complex problems of our ever-changing world. After completing his Master’s to avoid getting a “real job” Chris went on to work in corporate sustainability consulting, helping some of Canada’s largest financial and real estate businesses understand their climate risk and plan for the future. From there Chris became the Canadian National Practice Manager for both Sustainable Infrastructure and Life Cycle Analysis for the global engineering firm WSP. And now as the Environmental Impact Lead for Arc’teryx Chris manages the company’s environmental strategies and advocacy work. Chris will take any opportunity to chat about rock climbing, snowboarding, fishing, or anything outside for that matter. Chris dreams of a world where businesses operating 100% sustainably are simply status quo so he can retire to a cabin in the woods knowing all is well in the world.
Dr. James Orbinski
Dahdaleh Institute Director, York University
As a medical doctor, a humanitarian practitioner and advocate, best-selling author, and a leading scholar in global health, Dr. James Orbinski believes in actively engaging and shaping our world so that it is more just, fair, and humane. Dr. Orbinski is full professor and inaugural Director of York University’s Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. The Dahdaleh Institute takes a critical problem-solving approach to achieve greater equity, effectiveness, and excellence in global health. Dr. Orbinski leads a rapidly growing institute that fosters scientific, technological, and social science research and innovation to improve Planetary Health, the clinical public health effectiveness of humanitarian responses, and capacity in Global Health For-sighting.
He is the author of an award-winning and best-selling book, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarianism in the 21st Century, and the subject of the International Award-Winning documentary film, “Triage”. In 2016-2017, as a Fulbright visiting professor to the University of California-Irvine, he worked in California and Malawi on modeling the health impacts of climate change.
Dr. Orbinski holds a BSc from Trent University, an MD degree from McMaster University, and an MA in international relations from the University of Toronto. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has received the Meritorious Service Cross for his leadership in providing direct medical relief in Kigali during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Dr. Orbinski is an avid canoeist and lives in Guelph Ontario with his wife and their three children aged 17, 15, and 12.
Jill Tymchak
Energy Systems Engineer, J.L. Richards and Associates Limited
Jill Tymchak is an Energy Systems Engineer with 15 years of experience in engineering systems including sustainable technology, electrical renewable energy systems, and energy efficiency. She has specialized expertise in the evaluation of electricity costs for facility operation considering Ontario electricity rate structures, including the potential role of renewable energy systems and battery energy storage systems (BESS). She also has expertise in the design, execution, and monitoring of photovoltaic (PV) systems ranging from 10 kW projects to multi-megawatt projects.
Mark Mattson
President, Swim Drink Fish Canada
Mark Mattson is one of Canada’s most seasoned environmental lawyers and the founder of several water charities, including Swim Drink Fish. In addition to being Swim Drink Fish’s President, he is the Waterkeeper for Lake Ontario, a water quality advisor to the International Joint Commission, a board member for the US-based Waterkeeper Alliance, and a member of Ontario’s Great Lakes Guardians Council.
Matthew Hoffman
Political Science Professor, University of Toronto
Matthew Hoffmann is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto Scarborough and co-director of the Environmental Governance Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He is also co-editor of the journal Global Environmental Politics. His research on decarbonization, climate change, and environmental politics has been published in 4 books and over 50 journal articles and book chapters. Professor Hoffmann is also the chair of the board of directors for the environmental NGO, Green Economy Canada.
Steve Oldham
Chief Executive Officer, Carbon Engineering Ltd.
Steve Oldham is Chief Executive Officer of BC-based Carbon Engineering Ltd. (CE), a leading developer of Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology. Recently selected as the North American CleanTech Company of the Year, CE captures carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere at a large scale so it can be permanently put back underground or turned into clean transportation fuels. DAC technology enables the elimination of any carbon dioxide emission of any type, from anywhere and any moment in time.
Steve will talk about the de-carbonization challenge, the economics of de-carbonization, CE’s technology, and its business plan. He will also talk about his career journey and the lessons he learned along the way.
Steve has been the CEO of CE for 3 years. He brings more than 20 years of executive experience to CE’s team, stemming from previous positions in technology, robotics, and aerospace sectors. He has played a lead role in a number of ‘Canada firsts’ in technology commercialization, including the first robot performing brain surgery, the first commercial radar satellite, robots that clean the inside of nuclear reactors, and satellites that service and repair other satellites. Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Birmingham in England.
Karen-Haugen-Kozyra
Position: President
Organization: Viresco Solutions
Karen has over 25 years of experience in agricultural greenhouse gas measurement, modeling, and climate change/environmental policy development – spanning her tenure at the provincial Department of Agriculture in Alberta, then at the not-for-profit Climate Change Central, and now in the private sector. During her tenure with the province, Karen was part of the cross-governmental team that developed Alberta’s Bioenergy Policy Framework, which was approved by cabinet in 2008. This framework set the stage for Alberta’s Bioenergy Program administered by the Department of Energy. Karen also led ecosystem goods and service policy and program development, in concert with other federal, provincial, and territorial governments under Canada’s Agriculture Policy Frameworks.
Jerry Demchuck
Position: Director, ESG Advisory Services Canada
Company: SLR
Jerry has been leading sustainability and ESG strategy development for more than 30 years, working with clients to drive sustainable development within their capital projects and corporate business models, which includes identifying material impacts and developing ESG strategies. Jerry’s expertise is based on a proven track record of leading sustainability, regulatory approvals, environmental, and social aspects of ESG, including government relations and stakeholder engagement for companies.
Lucie Viciano
Program Director, Canadian Space Agency
Lucie’s professional experience combines satellite remote sensing, consulting and sustainability. Having recently joined the Canadian Space Agency, she is a program officer within the SmartEarth team, aiming to support the democratization and capacity building of Earth observation. Previously, Lucie worked at Viresco Solutions Inc., a company that specializes in decarbonization consulting services through nature-based solutions, as a senior consultant and director supporting strategic development operations. In other sustainability-focused roles, she also held the climate protection officer position at McGill University, and was business development manager at NatureLab.World, a Quebec-based reforestation carbon offset developer start-up. She is also active as a board member, having served for local environmental non-profits GRAME for 4 years and the Quebec chapter of CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society) currently. Before that, the first decade of her career consisted in undertaking consulting mandates in both the space and infrastructure sectors, predominantly for clients in Europe and North America where she has lived. She holds a BSc Geography and a MSc Remote Sensing from University of London colleges.