Conference Speaker Biographies

John Kousinioris has served as the President and CEO of TransAlta Corporation since 2021 and has been with the company since 2012. Prior to stepping into this role, he has held several leadership positions at TransAlta including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Growth Officer and Chief Legal Compliance Officer.

TransAlta is one of Canada’s largest publicly traded electricity generation companies, with over 112 years of experience operating hydro, wind, solar, gas and storage facilities across five provinces in Canada, the United States and Western Australia.

John holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Ivey Business School, an MBA from York University, a Law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University. Beyond his role at TransAlta, he is the Chair of the Board of Governors at Bow Valley College, a Director on the Calgary Stampede Foundation Board, a director on the Axis Connects Board, and is a member of the Business Councils of Canada and Alberta.  

Jason Chee-Aloy is the Managing Director of Power Advisory, with over 25 years of experience in competitive and regulated electricity markets. Power Advisory is a leading electricity management consulting firm with offices in Toronto, Calgary, and Boston.

Jason acts for multiple clients across Canada and the United States of America. His main areas of advisory are wholesale electricity market design, power generation and energy storage, transmission and distribution, mergers and acquisitions, market assessment and business strategy, policy development, and regulatory and litigation support. His vision for the electricity sector is to empower organizations and individuals to commercially capitalize on a clean energy future.

Prior to joining Power Advisory, Jason was the Director of Generation Procurement at the Ontario Power Authority, (OPA) Prior to OPA, he led resource adequacy, market development, and market surveillance initiatives for the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator (I ESO).

Jason is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, the Ontario Energy Association, and the National Electricity Roundtable, a member of the Advisory Board of the Business Renewables Centre Canada, and is the renew able generator representative on the IESO’s Technical Panel.

In 2022, Jason was awarded with the Clean50 award for 2023, as one of Canada’s exceptional contributors to the clean economy In 2079. Jason was selected as the Hedley Palmer award recipient from the Association of Power Producers of Ontario, as a leading contributor to the independent power industry. In 2009, Jason was awarded with the Canadian Solar Industries Association Leader of the Year award. He frequently speaks at multiple industry conferences and events, with approximately 200 speaking engagements throughout his career.

Jason holds an MA in Economics and graduated from York University and the University of Toronto.

Taylor Hammond is Vice President, Head of Corporate Development and Capital Markets at eStruxture Data Centers. He is responsible for raising capital, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), real estate and power procurement. 

Taylor is an experienced capital markets leader, previously serving as Director, Investment Banking at Scotiabank where he led the development of its Digital Infrastructure team. During his tenure, Taylor advised on multiple landmark M&A, equity and debt issuances with a focus on data centers and related infrastructure. 

He holds a BESc, Mechanical Engineering with Distinction from Western University and an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business and currently resides in Toronto. 

For nearly a decade The Right Honourable Stephen J. Harper led Canada through the world’s most complex geopolitical, economic and security challenges as the country’s 22nd Prime Minister. He created the modern Conservative Party of Canada, won three successive national elections, and was the longest serving Conservative Prime Minister since Canada’s founding Prime Minister in 1891.

Since leaving office in 2016, Mr. Harper founded and is Chairman and CEO of Harper & Associates, a global consulting and investment advisory business, and is Chairman of Vision One. He serves as a Director of Colliers International Group Inc. and Recover Inc. He is also the recent author of “Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption”, and a frequent speaker on geopolitical trends, populism, and business.

Mr. Harper serves as Chairman of the International Democrat Union, the Friends of Israel Initiative, and India’s Observer Research Foundation. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Calgary, an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University and an honorary degree from the Jerusalem College of Technology. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada and the recipient of numerous international recognitions, including the Order of Liberty, Ukraine’s highest civilian honour.

Mr. Harper resides in Alberta, Canada with his wife Laureen; they have two adult children, Benjamin and Rachel.

Scott W. Thon, 61, is president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, where he leads a group of diverse energy businesses located in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain.

 Mr. Thon served as president of operations for Berkshire Hathaway Energy from 2022-2023, president and CEO of BHE Canada from 2014-2022, and the CEO of its largest Canadian subsidiary, AltaLink, from 2002-2022. For over 30 years, Mr. Thon has held a variety of senior positions in the energy industry, from operations and engineering to market design and financial management. He has led the investment and construction of significant energy infrastructure developments in Alberta, Canada and globally.

 Mr. Thon serves as a director of AEGIS Insurance Services, Inc., Aecon Group Inc. and the Edison Electric Institute. Mr. Thon was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Alberta) in 2022 by the government of Alberta. In 2017, Mr. Thon was recognized by Business in Calgary magazine with their Leaders award. In 2013, Bow Valley College awarded Mr. Thon their Distinguished Citizen Award honoring his commitment to the college. In 2011, Mr. Thon was recognized by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce for his business and community leadership with the Sherrold Moore Award.  

 Mr. Thon is a registered professional engineer with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan. He is also a graduate of the Executive Program from the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business. In 2015, Mr. Thon completed the Institute of Corporate Director’s Directors Education Program receiving his ICD.D designation.

Ms. Edmonds was selected in 2022 to be President and CEO of WPP.  WPP is a nonprofit corporation that helps coordinate electric grid operations and grid planning for the western United States and Canada. The WPP supports the activities of the Northwest Power Pool, which includes major utilities, generators, and energy managers who together work for increased grid efficiency and reliability, including WPP’s administration of the regional resource adequacy program (WRAP), which seeks to enhance and increase reliability for entities across the footprint, and facilitation of the Western Transmission Expansion Coalition (WestTEC), a west-wide transmission planning initiative.

Prior to joining WPP, Ms. Edmonds spent nearly 11 years with PacifiCorp, starting as legal counsel, moving to director of transmission, before being named VP and general counsel. She moved to PGE in 2018 where she served as director of transmission and reliability. In these roles, she was responsible for development of strategy and policy recommendations relating to market expansion, regional resource adequacy development, emerging regional and national wholesale policy initiatives, and transmission planning, expansion and cost recovery. 

As the Vice President of New Nuclear Development for Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Sandra oversees the company’s long-term new nuclear growth strategy, building external relationships and creating a pipeline of opportunities.

OPG is paving the way for the deployment of new nuclear development in Canada and abroad, building the first-ever, commercial scale Small Modular Reactor (SMR) at its Darlington New Nuclear Site. The New Nuclear team is helping capitalize on OPG’s first-mover advantage contribute value back to Ontario.  

Prior to moving to the New Nuclear team, Sandra was OPG’s Director of Provincial Relations, where she provided counsel and support to OPG’s Management Team on all provincial government relations matters, including new business growth opportunities.

Prior to joining OPG, Sandra spent a decade in the federal government on both the political and civil service sides. She graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Carleton and is a proud alumnus of the Laurentian Leadership Program in Ottawa and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) in Grenoble France.

Pauline leads the legal, regulatory, corporate compliance and external relations functions of Capital Power. She also provides support, risk management, and strategic insights to senior management and the Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Capital Power, Pauline spent 14 years working for the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) in senior legal and commercial roles. She led teams through the successful execution of greenfield initiatives, including programs to incent renewable electricity and new business models to procure and finance transmission infrastructure. Before joining the energy industry, Pauline practiced corporate and commercial law after graduating from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Laws.

Highlights

• Previous, Vice President, Law, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO)
• Previous, Corporate & Commercial Associate, Macleod Dixon LLP
• Current, Member, Board of Directors, Nature Conservancy Canada
• Current, Member, Board of Directors, Alberta Science Network
• Institute of Corporate Directors Designation (ICD.D)
• Governance Professionals of Canada Designation (GPC.D) 
• Bachelor of Laws, University of Calgary
• Bachelor of Science, Cellular, Molecular & Microbial Biology

Nathan Neudorf was sworn in as Minister of Affordability and Utilities and Vice Chair of Treasury Board on June 9, 2023. He previously served as Deputy Premier and Minister of Infrastructure.

Prior to his service as an elected official, Mr. Neudorf worked in commercial construction. He has his civil and structural engineering diploma and is a red seal journeyman carpenter as well as a gold seal project manager.

An active community volunteer and leader, Mr. Neudorf served as the past president of the Lethbridge Construction Association and on the board of directors for the Alberta Construction Association, Alberta Construction Safety Association, and Worker’s Compensation Board.

Mr. Neudorf, his wife, Deanne, and their 5 children live in Lethbridge. In his spare time, he enjoys running, landscaping, and spending time outdoors.

Nathan Neudorf was first elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lethbridge-East on April 16, 2019 and was re-elected on May 29, 2023.

Mark joined ENMAX in September 2022 as President and CEO. He previously served as President and CEO at Hydro One, where he led the launch of their strategy with a focus on safety, efficiency, customer service and community partnership.

Before joining Hydro One in 2019, Mark was the Executive Vice President, Operations at BC Hydro. He oversaw all aspects of operations in the organization’s electric system, serving approximately four million residential, commercial and industrial customers. During his tenure, Mark successfully led the merger of the former transmission and distribution organization with the generation organization to form one operations group with revenues of approximately $5 billion. Mark joined BC Hydro in 1993 and worked in several parts of the organization, including engineering, construction and procurement.

Mark graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in mechanical engineering. He serves as Board Chair of Versant Power, Board of Directors for the 2025 Invictus Games and participates on the CD Howe Energy Policy Council. He previously served on the Board of the Western Energy Institute, as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Energy Association and a Board Advisor to Yukon Energy.