Speakers - 2013

Associate General Counsel
Shell Canada

John grew up in Montreal and Toronto before attending Queen’s University from which he graduated with a Law degree, moved to Calgary where he was admitted to the Law Society of Alberta, and then joined Shell. He subsequently obtained a B.A. from Queen’s and an LL.M. from the University of Alberta.

John has over 30 years of experience in the energy business with Shell where he has worked as a leader in various legal and commercial roles. He has participated in the development and execution of major energy projects across Canada and in Australia. He has considerable experience in all forms of commercial agreements required for the exploration, development and production of oil and gas, and the manufacture and distribution of light oil products. He actively mentors a number of younger employees working in business or legal roles.

John and his wife live in Calgary where they have raised 5 children. The youngest graduated from Queen’s in 2010.

Quinten Griffiths graduated Queen’s University in 2009 with a degree in chemical engineering (Process Stream). He was born in Calgary and was raised between Beaconsfield, QC and Oakville, ON.

Quinten has been working for Shell as a process engineer for close to 4 years in various locations including Albian Sands, Calgary, and the Scotford Upgrader. His current role is as the process engineer for the Sulphur Recovery Complex at the Upgrader.

His interests outside of the workplace include volunteering as a minor league hockey coach in addition to being an avid snowboarder and golfer.

Alysha Kanji was born and raised in Calgary, and attended Queen’s University where she graduated in 2010 with a degree in Geological Sciences. Alysha was hired by Shell after graduation where she has been part of the New Graduate Program as a geologist for 2.5 years now. She worked for two years as an operations geologist on Groundbirch, Shell’s Montney tight gas play in Northeast BC and just recently made the transition to work on the Fox Creek asset which targets the liquids rich Duvernay formation in Northwestern AB. On this new team, her responsibilities include working towards creating a reservoir static reservoir model for long term planning of the field as well as being a part of a multi-disciplinary team helping to make key decisions resulting in eventual large scale well delivery.

Alysha is currently registered as a Geologist in Training with APEGGA and is currently working to obtain her professional designation. At Shell, Alysha is a member of the Queen’s CAP Program and the Operations Geology Network. Outside work, Alysha is an avid skier and traveler.

Peter is the Sr. Sustainability Issues Management Specialist at Suncor Energy.  He has worked in technical, marketing and business development roles over his career.  He has worked extensively in the fields of alternate fuels and the assessment of emerging energy technologies.  In his current position, Peter’s role is to “look over the horizon” to identify future issues for Suncor and the oil sands industry. 

He is one of the co-authors of Suncor’s oil sands blog which addresses issues relevant to oil sands in a larger energy context      osqar.suncor.com

Peter has a B.Sc. from U. of Victoria, an M.Sc. in Chemistry from Queen’s and an MBA from U. of Alberta.

Peter on the Advisory Panel of ISEEESA and has served on the Evergreen Alberta advisory board. 

In his spare time, Peter loves to bike, run and play golf.  He is also an avid supporter of his daughters’ activities (rock climbing, hockey, lacrosse and music) despite the fact that he is not proficient in any of these activities.

Chris Seasons was appointed to the position of President for Devon Canada in January 2004.  Chris previously held the position of Executive Vice President, Exploration and Production since 2003, with responsibility for all Canadian operating areas including exploration, exploitation, land, operations, production, acquisitions and divestitures and corporate planning.

Chris joined Northstar Energy in 1996 and served as Vice President, Exploitation since 1999. Prior to joining Northstar, he spent 12 years with Shell in Calgary and The Hague in a variety of technical and managerial positions primarily focused on the production and exploitation aspects of the business. This was followed in 1995 by a two-year tenure with Stampeder Exploration, a junior exploration and production company, where he was responsible for acquisitions.

Chris is Past Chair of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers sits on the Oilsands CEO Council.  He is Chair of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, is a director of the United Way of Calgary and Area and Co-chair of the Upstart Council of Champions.  He was also the Co-Chair for the 2008 United Way of Calgary Campaign. 

Chris is a professional engineer and a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta.

Mr. Seasons received his bachelor’s of science degree in chemical engineering from Queen’s University in 1982.

Katie Anne graduated from Queen's University in 2004 with a degree in Geological Engineering and obtained an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business (UWO) in 2011 . She currently works for one of North America's largest natural gas producers, EnCana Corporation, in Calgary, Alberta. At EnCana, Katie Anne has honed her petroleum engineering skills working in a variety of geology and engineering roles and is now working in Encana’s strategy group. She  has been involved in projects from offshore Newfoundland to Northeastern British Columbia.

Katie Anne enjoys all activities outside and is currently training for her first Ironman triathlon.

Stuart R.D. Lunn

Stuart Lunn is an Environmental Advisor within the Safety, Health, and Environment group of Imperial Oil Resources and has been in this role since 2003. He is an expert in water issues and works with people across Imperial, ExxonMobil, governments and outside stakeholders on strategies and initiatives to improve environmental performance.

Stuart joined Imperial in 1998 after graduating from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario with degrees in Geological Engineering (B.Sc.) and Civil Engineering (Ph.D.).  He has held a variety of positions with the company developing experience in water quality and quantity issues in both conventional oil and gas and oil sands operations in Western Canada.

In 1998, Stuart joined Oil Sands Development and Research as an environmental scientist conducting innovative research for site remediation for upstream oil and gas operations and providing groundwater expertise to support Imperial Oil's In situ Oil Sands Operation at Cold Lake, Alberta.

In 2003 Stuart joined the Safety, Health and Environment Group as an Environmental Advisor providing expertise on water issues across Imperial's western Canada upstream oil and gas business. Stuart has developed expertise in water licensing, water policy, and water use in conventional oil and gas production, in-situ oil sands production, and Mining Oil sands production.  He works with many multi-stakeholder groups including the Alberta Water Council and the Cumulative Environmental Management Association.

Stuart is married and has two sons. He enjoys spending time with his family, friends, and outdoor activities such as gardening, sea-kayaking, hiking and canoeing.  While Stuart has lived on three continents and enjoyed them all, he feels most at home canoeing Canada's Rivers and Lakes.

Stephen Jackson

Stephen Jackson, originally from Milton, Ontario, earned his Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering degree from Queen’s in 2011. Upon receiving his degree , Stephen relocated to Calgary, Alberta and joined Tenaris, a leading supplier of tubes and related services for the world's energy industry as part of their Global Trainee Program. Stephen brought his previous experience working in the field with Trans-Northern Pipelines Inc. and working with high performance pipe coatings for Madison Chemical Industries to this position.

As part of his first rotation in the Global Trainee Program, he is currently working with the Supply Chain team. A great opportunity for a new graduate, as he is responsible for leading and participating in various projects specifically aimed at improving the safety, infrastructure, material handling efficiencies and systems within Tenaris’s operations in Calgary. These multi-million dollar projects will have a direct, positive impact on the dispatch efficiencies, product flow, productivity, quality, inventory accuracy, and safety of all materials entering and exiting the Calgary facility.

His second rotation of the Global Trainee Program has placed him in the Field Services Department. He is now responsible for ensuring that all of the premium products provided by Tenaris are run in such a manner that they perform to their maximum performance levels. His experience on the rig floor has given him extensive product knowledge that allows him to increase running efficiency, product life and minimize product damage when clients use premium products.

Danelle has been managing the Marketing team for Tenaris’ Canadian Business Unit since 2011, a role focused on business planning in which it is critical to anticipate future activity in Canada’s dynamic energy industry.  Tenaris is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products and related services for the world’s energy industry and for other industrial applications. 

She began her career in the engineering acoustical consulting industry working for Valcoustics Canada in Richmond Hill, Ontario, in 1999 and joined the Tenaris team in 2001.  Her start with Tenaris was at its tubular manufacturing facility in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in the Industrial and Economic Planning areas where she gained a technical understanding of Tenaris’ seamless products and processes and started developing her managerial career.  In 2007, Danelle took on a new challenge as the Manager of Recruitment, Development and Tenaris University for Tenaris Canada, and re-located to the Calgary office in 2008.  She worked in this role for 4 years before venturing her career to the commercial side of the business in Marketing.

Working with Tenaris, she has had the opportunity to travel to several international locations for training, conventions and workshops, including Argentina, Italy, USA and Mexico.   She was also recently selected to lead the steering committee for the company’s strategic gender diversity initiatives across Canada.

Danelle has been a registered professional engineer in Alberta since 2010, and prior to that, in Ontario since 2006.

Mark Schaffer

Hailing from the small community of Dryden in northwestern Ontario, Mark graduated from Queen’s in 1997 with a degree in Engineering Chemistry.  He went on to complete a PhD in Chemical Engineering, also at Queen’s in an industrial collaboration with DuPont Canada on reaction engineering of nylon polymers.  In 2002, Mark finally left Kingston and moved to Calgary with his wife Tine (Sci’99) to launch dual careers in the oil and gas industry.  Mark’s early positions were in oil sands research & technology, first with Imperial Oil and then with Total since 2006.  Recently he has worked on development studies for an oil sands mining asset and now as a joint venture lead for Surmont Phase 1.  Surmont is a Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) project operated by ConocoPhillips in which Total holds a 50% share. 

Mark has two children, is registered as a professional engineer with APEGGA, and maintains contact with Queen’s mainly through his role as class president of Sci’97.

Chris Rousch

Chris Rousch is the Vice President, Midstream for Veresen, one of Canada's leading Energy Infrastructure companies. Chris is responsible for Veresen's independent Midstream Business Unit,  with key assets consisting of the Hythe and Steeprock Gas Processing Facilities and associated pipeline gathering systems, purchased from Encana in January 2012 for $920 Million.  These assets are located in the Cutbank Ridge region of Alberta and British Columbia processing gas and natural gas liquids produced from the prolific Montney, Cadomin and other geological formations.

Chris joined Veresen in April 2012, after spending nearly 10 years at Provident Energy, where he was most recently Director, Engineering and Projects.  Provident Energy was purchased by Pembina Pipeline Corporation in 2012 for $3.7Billion. At Provident,  Chris was responsible for an annual project budget of over $120 Million in 2011.

Chris received his Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from Queen's University, as well as dual MBA degrees from Queen's University and Cornell University.  Chris is registered as a Professional Engineer in Alberta and British Columbia. Chris is also a Certified Management Accountant.  Chris and his family live in Calgary, Alberta.

Sandeep Dalvi is the Director for oil refining and upgrading at Hatch. He is responsible for the business development and technical leadership for the hydrocarbon processing areas within the Oil & Gas Business Unit.

Sandeep received his Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Mumbai, India in 1994. He has been working in the oil & gas sectors locally and internationally and has a thorough understanding of refining operations and engineering design.

In 2007, Sandeep joined Hatch and has been mainly involved with process engineering, project management, consulting and technology due diligence for utilizing unconventional oil resources in the fields of Oil Shale, Coal, Natural Gas and Biomass to liquid fuels and environmental issues related to these projects. Sandeep has been closely working with many of the technology licensors to commercialize their technologies in a viable and sustainable manner. He enjoys the challenges and rewards of working with large engineering teams and it also gives him an opportunity to work globally.

Hatch’s Oil & Gas business covers Canada, Australia, Middle East, South Africa and Brazil.

Rob Sturgess is an Ontario raised, Science 88 Mech Eng, that found his way out to Calgary – and never left. For over 20 years Rob has been playing and working throughout Western Canada, primarily on the environmental side of the oil and gas industry.

Recruited straight from Queen’s into an upstream oil and gas exploration company, Rob understands industry’s side of the equation. The last 20 years working as an environmental consultant has rounded out Rob’s work experience and environmental perspective. Rob has had the chance to work on projects including oil sands development, polyethylene manufacturing, water treatment, sour gas processing, electrical cogeneration, coal fire electrical generation, coal gasification and CO₂ sequestration. Rob’s experience included working for a large international consulting firm, being a founding partner in his own consulting firm and is currently Vice President of Matrix Solutions, a 550 person privately held environmental company. In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Rob works closely with clients in the design and environmental assessment of projects and actively mentors staff through their professional development.

Rob’s true project management, logistical coordination, and financial management skills can be seen regularly at ski hills throughout the region as he is a dedicated Ski Dad to three kids with a passion for deep powder and double black diamonds!

Gord Foo

Gord Foo is a Geologist employed with Parex Resources Inc. in Calgary, Alberta. Gord graduated from Queen's in 2008 with a B.Sc. in Geological Engineering.

Since graduating, Gord’s experience as a petroleum geologist has been focused on Latin America, having the opportunity to work alongside exploration teams in Argentina and Colombia. In his role as a new graduate geologist in Argentina, Gord was mentored by a technical team that found and developed one of the country’s most notable oil discoveries of the past 20 years. Afterwards, his work with the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association was instrumental in cultivating domestic awareness of geothermal power generation technologies.  Following a move to Parex in 2010, he has worked extensively in Colombia’s Llanos basin, where the company focuses the majority of its exploration and development activity.

Gord is a registered member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA), the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG) and the American Society of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG).

Mark Badger was appointed President, CEO and Director of Switchable Solutions Inc. during 2011.  Under Mr. Badger’s leadership, Switchable Solutions has developed a proprietary clean technology enabling efficient, effective and environmentally friendly processing of oil sands and remediation of oil well drilling sites.  Switchable Solutions has attracted significant capital and advanced its technology successfully to pilot stages through partnerships with several end users.

Mr. Badger graduated from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in 1980.  Since then, he has held senior executive positions with leading firms in the North American building products and chemical industries, including Royal Group Technologies, BF Goodrich Corporation and Georgia Gulf Corporation. While at Royal Group, Mr. Badger served as Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications, helping the Company to grow from $350 million in sales to $1.95 billion, largely through introduction of new products. He was appointed by Royal’s Board of Directors to lead the process of soliciting bids for the NYSE and TSX listed company, which was sold to Georgia Gulf Corporation at a 43% premium to market.  Subsequent to the acquisition, Mr. Badger assumed responsibility for Georgia Gulf’s Investor Relations activities, as well as assisting the CEO with integration of Royal Group.

Mr. Badger led the successful turnaround of The Canadian Plastics Industry Association though monetization of non-core assets, optimizing its cost structure and introducing value creation programs for members.  Mr. Badger’s contributions to the Canadian plastics industry were recognized by his selection as the industry’s “Leader of the Year” for 2010.  Mr. Badger received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada in 2002, in recognition of his leadership roles with charitable organizations.  Mr. Badger graduated from the Institute of Corporate Directors’ Education Program in January 2012 and is an Institute of Corporate Directors Certified Director (ICD.D).  He is a Director of Switchable Solutions, having previously served as a director of Royal Group, CPSC and the John Howard Society.   

President & C.E.O.
Tourmaline Oil Corp.

Mike was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1957, and grew up in Streetsville, Ontario.  Mike graduated from Queen’s in 1979 with an honours B.Sc in Geology. 

Mike worked as a geologist with Shell Canada in roles of increasing responsibility in Exploration and Production from 1979 until 1993.  His last job at Shell Canada was Manager of Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Research. 

He founded Berkley Petroleum Corp in May 1993.  As President and C.E.O., he grew the company from a microcap to an Intermediate Exploration and Production company with production of 35,000 boepd and over a TCF of reserves.  Berkley was one of Canada’s most prolific explorers in the 1990’s.  The company was sold to Anadarko Petroleum for an enterprise value of $1.6 billion in March 2001 following a hostile bid by Hunt Oil at Christmas of 2000.

In July of 2001, Mike founded Duvernay Oil Corp.  As President and C.E.O., he and his team grew the company from a private microcap to a public Intermediate Exploration and Production company with production of 27,000 boepd by 2008.  Duvernay was one of Canada’s premier Exploration and Production companies during the 2000’s and was one of the pioneers in the emerging Alberta Deep Basin and British Columbia Montney plays.  The company was sold to Shell Canada in August of 2008 for an enterprise value of $5.9 billion.

Mike founded Tourmaline Oil Corp. in September of 2008, a private oil and gas company that has a current public market capitalization in excess of $5.6 billion and production of 70,000 boepd.  Mike is President and C.E.O. of Tourmaline.

Mike is married and has three sons.

Peter is the Oil & Gas Technology and Innovation Manager working for DuPont
as part of the Research and Business Development organization and the Oil &
Gas Market Facing Unit.

Peter has been working in the energy field for most of his career. He
started his career in the oil & gas industry; first as an engineering
student intern at the Imperial Oil Refinery and Esso Chemical manufacturing
facility in Sarnia and then as a member of a Husky Energy engineering design
team to design and build the Lloydminster upgrader. The Lloydminster
upgrader project cost $2.5 billion to build and still operates effectively
today.

Peter then moved to DuPont where he has worked in a number of capacities
during his career. He worked to develop, build and start-up 3 new
manufacturing operations inside DuPont. He led efforts at the Kingston Site
to improve operations through effective energy utilization and energy
efficiency. He also led the Canadian research and business development team
in pursuit of fuel cell technology. During the fuel cell project, Peter was
a leader in the group at Queen's University and the local community that
helped establish the Fuel Cell Research Centre and the Kingston SWITCH
Alternative Energy Network. For the past 7 years, Peter has established
several new technology development programs and pursued several new business
development opportunities for DuPont in the oil sands industry.
DuPont is working to develop new technology solutions that target improving
the productivity, environmental impact, and safety of oil sand operations.

Peter is a Professional Engineer licensed in Ontario. He has a Chemical and
Biochemical Engineering degree from another Canadian university other than
Queen's and an MBA from Queen's University. He is a trained six sigma black
belt and is a graduate of the Ivey Executive Marketing Program for
Technology Intensive Businesses. He works out of the DuPont Kingston R&D
Centre and lives in the community with his family.

Ian Nieboer

Ian is an Energy Analyst with ITG Investment Research where he covers international conventional and unconventional plays. Based in Calgary, ITG’s Energy Research team provides independent research and expertise to institutional investors and corporate clients from around the world.

Upon graduation, Ian joined Canadian Natural Resources Limited as a Field Engineer based in Drumheller and Brooks, Alberta. He subsequently went on to Exploitation Engineering roles focused on assets in Northeast British Columbia, Western Alberta, and Western Saskatchewan.

Ian received a double major in Engineering Physics and Applied Economics from Queen’s University in 2006 and obtained his MBA in 2012 from IESE Business School. He is a Professional Engineer registered with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA), and a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).