Namir is the chief strategist and driving force in bringing ICTC’s (ictc-ctic.ca) world-class centre of expertise and services to industry, education and government, which is key to enabling Canada’s advancement as a leader in innovation, productivity in the global economy.

Before joining ICTC, Namir led policy development and research at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). He has also held several executive leadership roles in both the private and public sectors including the Department of Canadian Heritage, CGI consulting, Nortel, and Novartis (Switzerland). Mr. Anani’s experience extends to strategic policy development and implementation; learning and capacity building; business transformation; national/international strategic alliances; economic and market research; and technology innovation.

Namir holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Salford (UK) and holds Professional Engineer designation in Ontario (P. Eng.). He is also a board member of the Women in Communications and Technology.

Pedro was appointed as the executive director of the Future Skills Centre in September 2019. Known for his strategic grant making leadership, an active role in social policy, and a commitment to community building and cross-sector collaboration, Pedro’s career and extensive volunteer work in the non-profit sector span two decades.

Richard has over 30 years experience in the world of career transitions as an executive coach, senior career management and career transition professional, speaker, and the “Get a Job Guy” columnist on CBC Calgary’s Eyeopener. Author of Your Path to Purpose, Richard is skilled at guiding clients to their goals and his expertise in leadership coaching, career transition and career management is extensive.

As a speaker and presenter, Richard brings intense focus — always incorporating a real-world perspective and a relatable delivery style — to topics including relationship building, change management, career and performance conversations, networking, personal and professional brand, career trajectory, and leadership. A storyteller at heart, he weaves in his and others’ stories to bring the message alive.

Based in Calgary, Lance has provided management consulting services over 20 years to more than 60 organizations in 11 countries overseeing hundreds of projects. He has had the opportunity to work with the C-suite at leading national and international mining, oil and gas, power and utility, manufacturing, airline, and government and public sector organizations on some of their most complex strategic problems. As a strategist, Lance is an expert in business, industry trends, and market dynamics in Canada, with several publications to his name regularly featuring on BNN and other news outlets.

Lance has an MBA with distinction from Cardiff Business School, has completed various executive courses at MIT, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, and INSEAD. He is a visiting professor at the University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business and a board member for the Canadian Energy & Climate Nexus.

Entrepreneur. Dreamer. Scientist. Kevin has spent 20 years on the frontlines of energy innovation in numerous executive leadership roles. Starting his career in the energy industry as a roughneck on the oilrigs of Northern Alberta, he rose through the ranks to become chief executive of Canada’s oldest drilling company. His accomplishments speak for themselves, from championing some of the first fully computerized drilling rigs in the world to leading the first long-reach horizontal well in the Canadian arctic.

Leading a major corporation through the disruption of the Canadian energy industry, Kevin has been an advocate of energy transition solutions within the oil and gas industry. A major contributor to the public energy dialogue and policy framework in Canada, he is uniquely positioned to champion the solutions generated in Avatar.

Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science from McGill University and a Master of Business Administration from the Haskayne School of Business and serves on the steering committees of the Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN) and the Energy Futures Lab (EFL).

As Senior Vice President, Energy Intelligence for JWN Energy, Bemal leads the group’s efforts in the areas of business intelligence and strategic insight. Bemal has over 25 years of experience across multiple industries, including oil and gas, mining and technology. He brings a breadth of experience in the areas of market intelligence, business strategy, digital transformation, and sustainability.

Bemal is a professional engineer with a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in chemical engineering from the University of Alberta and an MBA from Queen’s University. He is also a director with Obesity Canada.

Mary joined Calgary Economic Development as Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Research in 2010. She brought extensive leadership experience in the development of strategy, marketing, stakeholder relations and fund development with leading companies, including TELUS, Delta Hotels, Canadian Airlines and Wardair. Since becoming President & CEO in 2015, Mary’s leadership has placed greater focus on Calgary’s competitiveness in the new economy in the areas of talent development, innovation, placemaking and the business environment.

At Calgary Economic Development, Mary led the teams who created the “Calgary: Be Part of the Energy” promotional brand adopted by all civic agencies, and the award-winning 2013 flood recovery campaign, “YYC is OPEN”; and she oversaw development of two iterations of the city’s economic strategy: “Building on our Energy” and “Calgary in the New Economy”.

Mary is the CEO of the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund, a board director of the Calgary Film Centre, and was CEO of Calgary 2026 bid corporation developing and promoting a bid to host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Mary earned an MBA from Royal Roads University. She is active in the Calgary community and serves as a director for the Calgary Petroleum Club, O’Brien Institute for Public Health, and is the Chair of Sport Calgary. She is a past Chair of Ronald McDonald House Southern Alberta.

Jackie is a visionary career transformation strategist and entrepreneur with a passion for helping people discover and live their purpose. As Founder, President & CEO of Higher Landing, Jackie helps professionals, executives and globally known athletes to transition and transform their careers. The proprietary Career Transformation methodology pioneered at Higher Landing has been broadly adopted across professions, particularly in the oil and gas industry as it goes through significant, disruptive change.

Jackie holds dual degrees from the University of Calgary with an MBA and Bachelor of Education (French), and is a champion of helping people find fulfilling, purpose-driven careers.

Jessica is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Highwood Emissions Management. Highwood works with industry, government, and innovators around the world to leverage data, analytics, knowledge and experience to optimize emissions management. Prior to starting Highwood, she spent a decade and a half working for energy companies, governments, technology developers and various start-ups. An engineer by trade with a Master of Management, Jessica has been involved in work spanning from Canada and the United States to the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Jessica is a proven leader who has worked with organizations—big and small—to optimize technology deployments, projects and programs. Her expertise lies in holistic greenhouse gas emissions management, including implementing cost effective solutions that reduce emissions. Her skills in risk management and business strategy have led to implementation of best-in-class management practices; successful market positioning for energy transition; global and local policy revamps; and the equivalent reduction of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide.

An advocate for sustainable development, healthy living and vibrant communities, Jessica volunteers for Green Calgary, Bike Calgary, and Momentum. Her passions include family and friends, travel, learning about different cultures, and anything that gets her outside, including exploring the mountains at the doorstep of Calgary.

Ross Alger, P. Eng. worked as a Vibration and Stress Specialist in the oil and gas industry for seven years before pursuing a career in a different industry. Opening in late 2018, Ross founded the Calgary based company Confluence Distilling Ltd., which operates as a tasting room and distillery, specializing in premium gins.

Pat has over 20 years’ experience providing clients with insights into the dynamics of Canada’s labour market, emerging trends and occupations to help inform talent strategy. She has worked in the field of labour market adjustment since 1992 and was instrumental in developing the cross-sector/occupational methodology used by PetroLMI and others for assessing transferability and suitability of talent across industries.

Since 2017, Pat has partnered with Cheryl Knight on projects with a variety of organizations—including PetroLMI—to better understand the talent needs for the evolving energy ecosystem and the opportunity to leverage the expertise and technology developed within the traditional oil and gas industry for our future energy economy.

n addition to a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Certificate in Adult Education and Facilitation, Pat holds a Masters Certificate in Project Management.

Nick leads the energy efficiency projects for GreenPlanet Energy Analytics, helping track energy data and training staff on understanding energy efficiency technology and energy audit data. He also develops Generic Ethernet Access (GEA) communications, as well as renewable energy and energy efficiency educational material for Three Nations Energy in Fort Chipewyan.

Nick has over seven years of experience in oil and gas waste management, health and safety, operations, change management, process optimization, control systems and sustainability. He holds a B.A. in Criminology and Sociology from Saint Mary’s University and a MSc. in Sustainable Energy Development from the University of Calgary.

Greg began his oil and gas career at Encana in exploration and scientific best practices. Initially a geophysicist, he advanced to exploration lead and geophysical lead at a variety of Canadian hydrocarbon producers. With the addition of an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business in 2016, Greg’s focus shifted to leading technological innovation teams within the O&G sector. He has led innovation groups responsible for advancements in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), machine learning, completions, drilling, geomodelling, and advanced geophysical interpretation techniques. With a newfound passion for innovation, geology and carbon management, he shifted his focus to monitoring and storage of CO2 and methane.

Greg is the project manager at an applied research company, Carbon Management Canada (CMC). CMC is a leading national science-informed organization that provides emission reduction solutions to support Canada’s industries in achieving their net-zero goals while increasing their competitiveness in a carbon-constrained global economy. CMC focuses on the injection and monitoring best practices for geological CO2 storage and enhanced oil recovery.

As Director of Software Operations and Development at Blackline Safety, John advocates for Calgary’s tech industry and new development methods and tools while moving the company to adopt leading technology. He describes himself as a manager, teacher, speaker and, above all, an innovator.

John is passionate about technology, cloud, Agile (project management methodology) and data driven decisions. Most of his experience is in product development, but not just software — he setup an Agile PMO to build a manufacturing plant using Lean, Scrum and other Agile methods. Since 2015, John has been helping IoT (Internet of Things) companies deliver more value to their customers.

John teaches project management and Agile at the University of Calgary and has supported the industry as part of the Project Management Institute’s board of directors for Southern Alberta for four years.

Sheila is the founder & CEO of Calgary based staffing & recruitment firm, TAG Recruitment Group Inc. TAG has appeared six times on AlbertaVenture’s list of Alberta’s fastest growing companies; and Sheila was named on of Chatelaine’s “Canada’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs” four times; was recognized by Red Deer College as their Distinguished Alumnus of the Year; and received the “Global Influencer” award from the Universal Women’s Network for the reach of her books.

Her first book, Hired! How to Get the Zippy Gig: Insider Secrets from A Top Recruiter, hit the Amazon best-seller lists in both Canada and the United States within the first 24 hours of being released. Nearly five years later, Hired! is still a top-ranked resume book. Her second book, Unexpected Mentors: Weird & Creative Ideas to Boost Your Career, was published in April 2019.

Sheila is regularly interviewed as a resume and job-search expert on CTV Calgary, with appearances on CTV Ottawa & Vancouver, Global Morning Calgary, Breakfast Television (Calgary & Vancouver), 660 and 770 radio & CBC’s Alberta at Noon. Canadian Living magazine profiled an article with her job search strategies.

She has delivered the “Hired!” keynote to over 5,000 job seekers throughout Canada and the States. She launched a webinar series for job seekers in April 2020 to help those affected by the downturn, as well as those with job losses resulting from the pandemic. She ran 20+ webinars last year with over 1,000+ job seekers attending from Canada, USA, France, Germany, UK, Japan and Bermuda.

Bill is CEO of the Glacier Resource Innovation Group, which includes JWN Energy, a Calgary-based energy information services and research company. He is also managing director of Evaluate Energy, a London-based energy intelligence firm.

Bill is active on many industry boards, including the Canadian Society for Unconventional Resources and the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame. He is also an advisor to the Energy Futures Lab and Agriculture for Life Foundation.

Eva is the co-founder and CEO of The Chocolate Lab, a chocolate confections company located in Calgary, Alberta. A former engineer in the oil and gas sector, she and her husband partnered to create a company that produces artful chocolate and confections sourced from high quality ingredients. Merging art, science and engineering, The Chocolate Lab is the winner of 18 International Chocolate Awards and has won awards for their branding and packaging.

Céline is currently Vice President Global Account Director bp for Schlumberger and brings over 20 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry with both entrepreneurial companies and Fortune 500 organizations. Prior to taking on this role, Céline was President of Schlumberger Canada Ltd. She is recognized for her focus on crafting and implementing disruptive strategies and for her unique blend of international business, global P&L management, legal and deep knowledge of trade and logistics experience. Céline is also passionate about mentoring startup companies with cutting edge technologies for the energy industry.

Céline holds a bachelor’s degree from the European University in Brussels; a Juris Doctor from the University of Houston and is a Harvard Business School alumnus. She is also a certified mediator and speaks four languages. She has served on numerous boards of non-profit organizations and currently sits on the board of Energy Safety Canada. She is also a member of the Schulich Industry Advisory Council at the University of Calgary and the Director of Marketing for the 70th Canadian Energy Executive Association.

Mike has worked for Suncor for 18 years and is currently Vice President, Digital Technology & Analytics Transformation. In this role, he is part of the Transformation Management Office, which is accountable to drive, integrate and accelerate transformation across Suncor’s organization. Mike is responsible for driving change in Suncor’s digital technology including how Suncor makes decisions using advanced analytics across the enterprise.

His previous roles include VP Enterprise Technical, Upstream Technical & Reliability; In Situ operations; and project director in major projects. Prior to joining Suncor, Mike worked in the engineering industry for 15 years in various roles including project management, business development and process engineering.

Mike grew up in Windsor, Ontario and attended the University of Waterloo where he obtained a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering.

Lisa is the Regional Director for NPower Canada, a digital skills training and employment program designed to assist underserved young adults to achieve meaningful and sustainable careers.

She leads the delivery of the NPower Canada programs in Calgary and works with an exceptional team across Canada. They focus on helping young adults to launch careers in the IT industry through foundational training and certification, personal and professional development, and job placement services along with ongoing support to succeed in the workplace.

Lisa has worked in career development and employment services for the past 20 years and is passionate about helping people find the right job and manage their careers.

Alison Anderson started the role of Bow Valley College’s new Dean, Business and Technology in August 2020, bringing with her more than 30 years of instructional, curriculum development, mentoring and leadership experience. She was previously Dean of the School of University Studies and Career Access at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, B.C. She was also part of the commerce faculty at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George.

In addition to Dean, her career with College of New Caledonia has included being Acting Dean, Community and Continuing Education; Associate Dean, School of University Studies and Career Access; Interim Associate Dean, School of Academic Foundations and Human Services; and faculty member.

Alison has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Northern British Columbia, a Provincial Instructor Diploma, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia. She also recently completed the Oxford Saïd Business School’s Executive Leadership Program.

Alison possesses a strong knowledge of college culture, mandates, the complexities of diverse learner populations, and the educational philosophies that guides teaching and learning.

Alison has an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset and has worked with numerous community partners. As member of the Business Planning Review Committee with Community Futures in Prince George, she volunteered to review business plans for entrepreneurs and aspiring self-employed professionals. She mentored, coached, and instructed the University of Northern British Columbia JDC West team for many years. Alison has served on and chaired many different boards and committees, including Canadian Women in Timber and MLA Pat Bell’s Forest Advisory Board.

A serial intrapreneur, Lora believes that new ways of approaching education can empower and shape workforces. In her role as manager, digital adoption training, she works with organizations across Alberta to understand the talent trends, opportunities and challenges that SAIT and industry can tackle together. Lora is most passionate about building training programs that help people understand and excel in a new digital world. Currently she is leading the team responsible for digital adoption programming of the DX Talent Hub in SAIT’s new School for Advanced Digital Technology.

Dr. Mohamed Elhabiby is goal-driven business professional with strong R&D industrial experience. He is recognized for his impressive contributions to strategy definition and execution; process improvements; special assignments in terms of jump-starting new businesses and building best-in-class organizations; and shaping a culture that emphasizes health, safety, and family first so employees feel appreciated and supported.

Mohamed is the Co-founder and Executive Vice President of Micro Engineering Tech Inc. and President of RoboGarden Inc., located at Calgary, Alberta. He received his PhD in Geomatics Engineering in 2006 and Executive MBA with finance major in 2017 from the University of Calgary. He won the Alberta Science and Technology Foundation (ASTech) Award in Applied technology 2015, and was named one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 under 40, 2013 class. He was the Chair of WG 4.1.4: Imaging Techniques, Sub-Commission 4.1 at the International Association of Geodesy. He chaired the Geocomputations and Cyber-infrastructure session at the Canadian Geophysical Union annual meeting for five consecutive years (2008 – 2012). Mohamed was also Treasurer of the Geodesy Section at the Canadian Geophysical Union for six years (2008 to 2014) and a leader of an Archaeological mission at the Area of Great Pyramids, Cairo, Egypt.

He has published more than 150 academic journals, conference presentations, book chapters, workshop proceedings and technical reports. He supervised several PhD, MSc. students and post doctorate fellows in both academia and industry.

Carol is responsible for stakeholder relations, brand and communications management. She is also responsible for providing leadership and strategic oversight in all aspects of management and operation for the PetroLMI division.

Prior to joining Energy Safety Canada, Carol worked as a business journalist; vice president of a communications consulting firm; manager of media relations for one of Canada’s largest energy companies; and vice president of strategic communications for a large, fully integrated national public affairs firm.

More than 30 years of experience in all aspects of business gives Carol a unique perspective on the workforce issues of the oil and gas industry. Carol currently serves on the board of directors of Hospice Calgary. She is also a member of the National Stakeholder Advisory Panel for the Labour Market Information Council, a federal initiative to identify pan-Canadian priorities for the collection, analysis and distribution of labour market information.

Dr. Sheila LeBlanc is the Director of Continuing Education at the University of Calgary. Sheila brings a wealth of academic, industry and community outreach experience to the Continuing Education team and has a self-proclaimed passion both for teaching and lifelong learning.

She is committed to leading the conversation about the role of regarding continuing education in building a robust pipeline of talent by leveraging data to inform future programming decisions; mobilizing knowledge to help build an adaptable and skilled workforce; and supporting a coordinated effort between government, post-secondary institutions and industry to drive the diversification of our economy.

As a leader in the continuing education sector, Brad has built a career establishing strategic and synergic partnerships with other post-secondary institutions, community organizations, industry, and on campus with other faculties and departments. He is an ambassador for lifelong learning, as reflected in his advocacy for impactful programming that enables professionals who are seeking career enhancement or career change.

Jeremy has held the positions of CEO and CMO of Lighthouse Labs for the past six years. He currently leads a team of seven senior executives in building a mission to efficiently prepare the workforce with the necessary skills to leverage a tech and data enabled future. He has successfully led the company through scaling across nine Canadian markets, training over 35,000 Canadians, employing over 100 full-time and part-time employees, and being recognized for achieving exceptional professional outcomes through short duration skills training.

With a background in sales and marketing, Jeremy carved out his career working in Montreal and Toronto building large scale, high budget marketing experiences for automotive clients, including Chrysler, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Acura, while holding a director of marketing position at the boutique marketing agency, Sugar Media Inc. He helped drive the agency from four people to its largest size of 110 (contract and full-time workers), and from a revenue of 1M to 8M annually over a five-year period.

Originally from Montreal, he holds an honours degree in Arts (political science and history) from Concordia University. Jeremy is the son of two entrepreneurs, both of whom instilled a purpose driven approach in him that ultimately led him to taking on some of the large scale problems in the education industry that Lighthouse Labs currently focuses on. Currently, he sits on multiple think tank and government sub committees exploring the potential problems and solutions around how technology impacts employment.

Jeanette is the Director of EDGE UP, Workforce—an upskilling program to help displaced mid-career oil and gas professionals pivot to in demand careers in tech—at Calgary Economic Development (CED). She is responsible for the strategic planning of workforce development initiatives designed to maximize economic growth and workforce investment in Calgary.

She has also directed the Calgary Connector Program, which connects youth, Aboriginals and Immigrant Professionals to industry; and the Careers in Calgary program, designed to build workforce capacity. Jeanetter has led seven national and international labour attraction missions and participates in regional workforce strategy sessions with government, education and industry.

She has extensive experience working with industry and post-secondary institutions on workforce and economic development. Her background includes strategic market planning, project management, talent attraction and retention, program development, and marketing. Prior to joining CED, Jeanette worked as Regional Workforce Development Manager for a global talent firm where she was responsible for the strategic development, management and implementation of programs designed to overcome skill and employment shortages.

Jeanette supplemented her major studies in Education at the University of Calgary with training in business, leadership, workforce development, human resources and marketing.