In his current role which he has held since 2017, he is responsible for the maintenance and local operations for BC Hydro’s substations, dams and generating stations province-wide, including a team of 600 unionized and professional staff. Before joining BC Hydro, Richard worked at TransAlta Corporation and TransCanada Ltd. Richard has worked in technical and management functions in design, construction, commissioning and maintenance and operations of power plants in Alberta, Ontario, Mexico and British Columbia.

Shawn McCarthy - who many of you will know as formerly being a former national business correspondent correspondent covering global energy with the Globe & Mail - is now a Senior Counsel at Sussex Strategy Group, bringing extensive political, energy and environment, and journalistic experience to their communications team, with a particular focus on those in the energy and environment sectors.

Jane Travers is the Vice President, Integrated Fleet Management with Ontario Power Generation. With over 30 years of experience in the utility sector, Jane was recently appointed to this position, in which Jane and her team are responsible for the optimization of OPG’s entire generation fleet, with a focus on asset management, performance improvement, maintenance strategy, data analytics, and innovation. Prior to this appointment, Jane was the Vice President of Asset Management & Optimization for OPG’s Renewable Generation division. In this role, Jane was responsible for fleet optimization, for a portfolio that includes 66 hydroelectric stations, two thermal sites and a new solar facility.

Charlotte Mitha is the Executive Vice President of BC Hydro’s Operations Business Group in which Charlotte and her team are responsible for the employees that operate and maintain the systems and assets needed to generate and deliver electricity safely and reliably to BC Hydro’s customers. In total, Charlotte, is accountable for approximately 2,600 employees and $300M in annual operating and maintenance expenditures. Charlotte is a mechanical engineer with 25 years of experience in the energy sector and 14 years of experience with BC Hydro.

Lorne Midford is the Vice President, Asset Planning and Delivery with Manitoba Hydro. Lorne is responsible for strategically managing Manitoba Hydro’s generation, transmission, distribution, and gas assets as well as developing a central project management centre of expertise to oversee engineering and construction of the organization’s assets. Lorne is also responsible for construction of the 695-megawatt (MW) Keeyask Generating Station being built in northern Manitoba, and for development of Manitoba Hydro’s Integrated Resource Plan.