Madeleine Redfern is an Indigenous woman involved in high-tech and innovation. Actively involved in transformative technologies in telecommunications, transportation and energy.

Madeleine is the COO of CanArctic Inuit Networks Inc. working to build 5000 km of subsea fibre optic cable into and through Canada’s north to serve communities, private sector and defence and support the development of an Arctic digital sector. Portions of the network may be a SMART cable with sensors to assist in monitoring and protecting Canada’s Arctic marine environment and supporting the development of an Arctic Blue Economy.

Madeleine's advocacy, professional, and governance work shown her dedication and passion towards the development and delivery of programs assisting Indigenous, Inuit, northerners and Canadians that reflect their values, needs, and priorities. Madeleine received the Indspire Award for Public Service to acknowledge and celebrate all her hard work, commitment and contributions.

Peter Lang spent 40 years as a commercial and military pilot. He began flying professionally in 1975 piloting the DeHavilland Twin Otter in Canada’s high arctic where he flew “off strip” in support of resource exploration, scientific study and Dew Line re-supply. In 1978 he was hired by Air Canada however during an industry wide slowdown in 1981 Peter left Air Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force where he trained as a fighter pilot. As an air superiority and ground attack fighter pilot flying the CF-18, he intercepted Soviet bombers, developed tactics for attacking cruise missiles, flew sovereignty missions in the high arctic and was a squadron test pilot. In 1988 he returned to Air Canada where he flew a number of different airliner types, retiring in 2016 from the position of Captain on the Boeing 777.

But it was in his early years in the high arctic that Peter experienced first-hand the high cost, logistical difficulty and environmental hazard of providing diesel fuel for to arctic communities for power and heat; and he resolved to help find a solution. In 2008 he founded Dunedin Energy Systems, and, after investigating the available energy alternatives, Peter began leading the development of the Canadian Thermal BatteryTM , a micro nuclear power plant specifically designed and engineered to meet the unique energy needs of Canada’s northern and arctic communities. Peter is an active member of the Canadian Nuclear Society where he served 2 years on the CNS Council and co-chaired the Education and Communications committee.

Ryan MacDonald is the Senior Editor of Climate, Environment and Resources for the Report on Business section at The Globe and Mail.

Nicolle Butcher is OPG’s Chief Operations Officer. Nicolle is responsible for all of OPG's generating fleet with a capacity of over 15,600 MW consisting of 10 nuclear units, 66 hydro stations, 2 thermal stations and a solar facility. She is also responsible for the engineering function, integrated fleet management and the energy-related commercial business functions including energy trading, commercial contracting, and market affairs at OPG.

In addition, Nicolle is the Chair of the Board of both Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, OPG’s US hydro subsidiary and Atura Power, OPG’s fleet of combined cycle gas plants.

In her previous role as Senior Vice President, Renewable Generation and Power Marketing, Nicolle was accountable for the operation of hydroelectric and thermal generation in Ontario.

In her 22 years with OPG, Nicolle held a wide range of roles in OPG, including OPG’s Corporate Business Development and Strategy team, focusing on implementing OPG’s long-term strategic plan, including executing on $5B of acquisitions, building an electrification strategy and driving an innovation culture at OPG. She also worked with Canadian Nuclear Partners (now Laurentis), leading a corporate-wide business transformation and developing the Portlands Energy Centre in Toronto.

In 2021, Nicolle was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and named Women of the Year by WIRE (Women in Renewable Energy) and APPRO (Association of Power Producers of Ontario).

She sits on the Board of Directors of WaterPower Canada and the MaRS-Advanced Energy Centre Advisory Board of Directors. Nicolle holds an MBA from McGill University, is a Chartered Business Valuator and has earned an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

In her role at Ontario Power Generation as a Senior Manager, Indigenous Relations, Christine John is able to live out her passion to support the development of relationships with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities and brings an established network and experience in building effective partnerships through collaboration. Over the last two decades of working with community leaders and organizations across Ontario, Christine’s goal has been to increase the participation of Indigenous peoples in employment, procurement and engagement activities and to support industry awareness among Indigenous Nations and communities.

Christine has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master Degree in Business and throughout her career, she has worked in various fields in the nuclear industry including Human Resources, Finance, Equity & Diversity, Corporate Social Responsibility, Communications, Public Education and Community & Indigenous Relations, which all lend to her approach and strategic vision. Christine serves as a Director on the Board of the Canadian Nuclear Association and in her free time, she coaches youth ice and ball hockey teams in and around Saugeen First Nation, where she lives with her family. Through these roles, Ms. John aims to support youth development and community relationships with the goal of making a difference today so future generations will know a better world.

Gary Rose has been the EVP of Nuclear, Canada at AtkinsRéalis, and the President and CEO of Candu Energy Inc., since July 2023.
Mr. Rose is responsible for the Canadian Nuclear business at AtkinsRéalis including the steward of the Candu technology.
His role includes overall general management of the business including ensuring on-time and on-budget work in support of Ontario’s CANDU refurbishments at Bruce Power and OPG, and provision of such refurbishment and CANDU services for the global fleet of Candu reactors. Additionally, under his leadership, the team is developing the next generation of CANDU reactors, a 1,000 MW reactor that will support Canada’s nuclear needs and support jurisdictions internationally deploying Nuclear. He also has the overall responsibility for the Engineering work being done in support of Canada’s first SMR to be deployed at OPG’s Darlington site; this includes supporting GE-Hitachi on the standard plant design of the BWRX-300 SMR reactor, and supporting OPG on the site specific design required to deploy the reactor this decade.
Previously, for over 35 years, Mr. Rose worked at Ontario Power Generation (OPG), most recently as Vice-President of New Nuclear Growth. He has been responsible for the development of new nuclear opportunities in Ontario and continues to support other geographies on their journey to nuclear, both in Canada and abroad. Mr. Rose is a very experienced executive, whose career at OPG has included positions in energy management and corporate finance as well as senior roles on both the Pickering A Return to Service Project and the Darlington Refurbishment Program including retube and feeder replacement (RFR). He represented the Refurbishment Program at several Ontario Energy Board hearings.

Giselle De Grandis is Manager of Business Development & Market Strategy with Hydro One, Ontario’s largest electric utility. She is responsible for developing and leading innovative programming to support customers on their energy transition journeys and implement Hydro One’s strategic priority of building the grid of the future. Giselle also helped develop the company’s new innovation strategy and manage its venture capital investment.

Giselle is passionate about utility leadership and innovation in service of the energy transition. A policy master’s graduate with a decade of experience in clean energy and transportation policy with the Government of Ontario, she holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MSc from Erasmus University Rotterdam and a professional certificate from Yale University in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy.

Giselle currently mentors emerging climate leaders as part of the City of Toronto’s Women4ClimateTO program.

John R. MacQuarrie is president of BWX Technologies, Inc.’s (BWXT) Commercial Operations, which includes BWXT Canada Ltd. (BWXT Canada), its subsidiaries BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada Inc., BWXT Precision Manufacturing Inc., and Intech International Inc. as well as BWXT Canada’s affiliate, BWXT Medical Ltd. (BWXT Medical).
BWXT in Canada has over 60 years of expertise in the design, manufacturing, commissioning and service of critical nuclear components, over 50 years of experience in the supply of CANDU® fuel to the Canadian nuclear industry and decades of experience in the development, manufacturing, packaging and delivery of medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals to the nuclear medicine industry.
With 27 years of nuclear industry experience, Mr. MacQuarrie’s career includes 23 years with the Company.
Previously, Mr. MacQuarrie served as vice president, Business Development & Marketing for the Company’s commercial nuclear energy operating group. Prior to that, he was the vice president of Nuclear Services for the Company where he was responsible for global services delivery. He assumed this role after several years as the general manager of Nuclear Services and Equipment for the Company’s Canadian operations.
Mr. MacQuarrie holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degrees of applied science in mechanical engineering from the University of Toronto and is a licensed professional engineer in the province of Ontario. A former Chair of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA), Mr. MacQuarrie is a board member with the CNA and the Nuclear Innovation Institute, and sits on an Advisory Committee for Women in Nuclear.

James Scongack is the Executive Vice President, Operational Services & Chief Development Officer at Bruce Power. In this role James is responsible for operational and capital project services with a team of nearly 1,000 professionals at the nuclear facility. He also has responsibility for nuclear regulatory affairs, external affairs, environment, sustainability, asset dispatch, medical isotopes and business development.

During his 20-years of service at Bruce Power, he’s served in a number of diverse leadership roles at the company including the Vice-President of the Bruce B Generating Station where he was responsible for the safety, operations, project integration and standards of excellence at the facility consisting of four large-scale CANDU nuclear reactors. He’s also served as the company’s Vice-President of Environment & Corporate Affairs and in leadership roles reporting to the President & CEO dating back to 2005.

James serves as Chair of the Independent Electricity System Operator Strategic Advisory Committee, Chair of the Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council and Chair of the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO). He’s previously served as a Director on LifeLabs, Canada’s largest community laboratory services provider and the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada.

James has been recognized by the Globe and Mail Report on Business 2022 Best Executive Awards and awarded the Platinum Jubilee Award in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s 70th Anniversary on the Throne for his work on COVID-19 Provincial vaccination efforts. He’s also a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 by Caldwell/Bloomberg.

Sierra Bein is a multimedia journalist who joined The Globe after working for the National Post, Financial Post and VICE Canada. You can find more of her work in Toronto Life, VICE news, The Eyeopener and CANADALAND. Prior to her work in journalism, she was also a piano teacher and skateboarding coach.

Mark Winfield is a Professor of Environmental and Urban Change at York University. He is also Co-Chair of the Faculty's Sustainable Energy Initiative, and Coordinator of the Master of Environmental Studies (MES) program and Joint MES/Juris Doctor program offered in conjunction with Osgoode Hall Law School. He has published articles, book chapters and reports on a wide range of climate change, environment and energy law and policy topics. He is the Author of Blue-Green Province: The Environment and the Political Economy of Ontario (UBC Press). He is co-editing Sustainable Energy Transitions for Canada, multi-contributor volume, which will be published by UBC Press in November.

Laurie Swami is the President and CEO of the NWMO. She was appointed to the role in 2016 and is responsible for implementing Canada's plan for the long-term management of used nuclear fuel.

Prior to joining the NWMO, Ms. Swami spent 30 years at Ontario Power Generation (OPG), primarily in nuclear operations. She served as Senior Vice-President of Decommissioning and Nuclear Waste Management, overseeing the operation of nuclear waste management facilities and planning for the decommissioning of a nuclear generating facility.

Ms. Swami has extensive experience leading environmental assessment projects, including nuclear refurbishments. She has appeared before joint panel reviews (including for the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission) for the Darlington New Nuclear Project and OPG's Deep Geologic Repository Project.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Chemistry from Queen's University and a Master of Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business. She is an ardent supporter of and advocate for the advancement of women to leadership positions. In recognition of this contribution, she received the Women in Nuclear Canada Leadership Award in 2016.

Dr. Allison M. Macfarlane is Professor and Director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs within the Faculty of Arts at UBC. Dr. Macfarlane has held both academic and government positions in the field of energy and environmental policy, especially nuclear policy. Most recently, she directed the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at the George Washington University. She recently held a fellowship at the Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC and was Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Applied Public Policy at Flinders University and Carnegie Mellon Adelaide in Australia.

The first geologist (and the third woman) to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2012-2014, Dr. Macfarlane holds a doctorate in earth science from MIT and a bachelor’s of science from the University of Rochester. She has held fellowships at Radcliffe College, MIT, Stanford, and Harvard Universities, and she has been on the faculty at Georgia Tech in Earth Science and International Affairs, at George Mason University in Environmental Science and Policy, and in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Macfarlane served on the White House Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, created by the Obama Administration to recommend a new national policy on high-level nuclear waste. She has also served on National Academy of Sciences panels on nuclear energy and nuclear weapons issues, and she chaired the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the group that sets the Bulletin’s famous “doomsday clock.” In 2006, MIT Press published a book she co-edited, Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation’s High-Level Nuclear Waste. Dr. Macfarlane has published extensively in Science, Nature, Environmental Science and Technology, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and other journals.

Martin Hrobsky is Senior Vice President at Ipsos. With over 20+ years experience in public opinion research, Martin has executed hundreds of research studies on a wide range of topics impacting society today for public, private, and non-profit organizations. Martin is passionate about research associated with energy, the environment, and mobility, as these are subjects that impact people everyday and where society is experiencing change at a rapid pace.