Hyerin Hong

Jessica's Bio

Jess is passionate about creating connections between people and forests. A graduate from University of Toronto’s Master of Forest Conservation program, Jessica (Jess) Kaknevicius has spent over 15 years in the non-profit sector including nearly nine years with Forests Ontario in a range of management and director roles between 2009 and 2018, focusing on growing education and awareness programming, fundraising, and supporting strategic development for the organization.

She also acted as the Vice-President of Education for the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), where she played a critical senior leadership role overseeing philanthropic efforts and government agreements, governance, and supporting strategic planning and communications. She is a well-known advocate for the forest sector and co-founded Women in Wood, a networking group for women in the forest and wood-related sectors to share advice, information, and encouragement.

Forests Ontario

Women in Wood

Louis's Bio

As a Forest Health and Air Attack Officer in the Calgary Forest Area for Alberta Forestry and Parks, Louis Price originally hails from Newfoundland. Louis earned a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry from the University of New Brunswick and went on to spent six years in various forestry roles with Alberta Parks in Cypress Hills.

After obtaining a Master of Environmental Management degree from UNB in 2010, Louis contributed to creating forest management plans with a consulting firm in Edmonton. In 2012, he returned to the Government of Alberta, starting as a Wildfire Ranger and eventually becoming a certified Wildfire Air Attack Officer out of Slave Lake.

Alberta Forestry and Parks

Colin's Bio

Colin Angus is a leading adventurer, filmmaker and bestselling author of Amazon Extreme, Lost in Mongolia, Beyond the Horizon and Rowed Trip.

He was awarded National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year award for being the first to circle the world exclusively by human power, was listed by Outside Magazine as one of the world’s top 25 bold visionaries and is a Canadian Geographic Fellow.

Colin’s human-powered circumnavigation of the world included travelling 43,000 km in 720 days, rowing across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, trekking and cycling through 16 countries, enduring winter in Siberia and searing heat in the tropics. He is also the first to raft the world’s fifth longest river, the Yenisey, and is one of a handful of teams to successfully raft the Amazon river from source to sea.  Colin’s spent years offshore sailing and has rowed thousands of kilometers in waterways around the world.

Colin is also an award-winning filmmaker whose films have aired around the world on National Geographic television and in film festivals. Some of his awards include Best Adventure Film at Taos Mountain Film Festival for Beyond the Horizon and Best Adventure Film at the Telluride Mountain Film festival for The Yenisey River Expedition.

Angus Adventures

Sithara's Bio

Sithara Fernando is a pioneering force in STEM, challenging conventional norms and advocating for diversity within environmental careers. As a woman of colour and a member of the LGBTQ2S+ community, she brings a unique perspective to our panel.

Sithara has worked in a variety of Environmental roles in both the Public and Private sectors. She is currently the Academic Program Manager of STEM Programs at NorQuest College assisting students to find careers in Environmental Technology, Energy Management and Machine Learning. Sithara is also a supporter of the 1000 Women for STEM scholarship, which assists females to enter non-traditional STEM fields.

NorQuest College