Neil Cumming

Nicholas's Bio

Nick Ayre is the Team Lead of Business Development Geosciences at Strathcona Resources Ltd., a rapidly growing Calgary-based company specializing in oil and gas resource development in Western Canada. In his capacity of Team Lead, Nick oversees all Geoscience contributions with acquisition appraisals, regional evaluations, sustainability initiatives such as carbon capture, and Petrophysics.

Before working at Strathcona, Nick has been employed in both large and small Calgary based energy companies establishing multi-year exploration and development drilling programs, mentoring staff, acquisition appraisals, and divestment program.

In addition to his role at Strathcona, Nick has been actively involved with the Canadian Energy Geoscience Association (CEGA) where he served as the Conference Director overseeing all society conferences between 2021-2023, and co-chaired/advised CEGA’s annual Core Conference between 2020-2024. Nick’s roles at CEGA underscore his belief that organizing geoscientific events are critical for the promotion of geosciences to the general public, professional networking, and career development within the energy and geoscience communities.

Strathcona Resources Ltd.

Natalie's Bio

Natalie Darrah is a project assistant in the Climate Change and Global Health research group in the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health. In this role, she facilitates events, community outreach, and advocacy for climate-health action.

She also works to expand the Climate Change and Health Hub, newly launched at the University of Alberta to advance research to address the health challenges of climate change. With a bachelors degree in environmental studies, she has an interdisciplinary background in ecology, economics, and public policy.

She is concurrently an academic visitor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning’s Climate Adaptation and Resilience Lab, where she supports research on localized climate change adaptation in British Columbia.

Climate Change & Global Health Research Group

Janetta's Bio

Janetta McKenzie, PhD, is director of the Pembina Institute’s oil and gas program. Her expertise includes decarbonization pathways for Canada’s oil and gas sector, federal and provincial industrial carbon pricing and cap-and-trade systems, as well as international climate and energy governance, and the future of Canada’s oil and gas industry in the global energy transition.

Pembina Institute

Ron's Bio

Ron is an electrical engineer at TransAlta with over 30 years of experience in the power industry. He has provided technical support to coal, gas, hydro, and wind generation sites. He was the co-founder of the Environmental Management, Accounting, and Reporting interest group, and is actively involved in providing solutions that improve grid reliability utilizing Alberta’s hydro resources.

TransAlta