Susana van der Veen
Victoria Da Silva
Udaya Annakkage
Udaya Annakkage received the B.Sc. (Eng.) degree from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 1982 and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), Manchester, U.K. in 1984 and 1987, respectively. He has more than 25 years of experience as an academic.
Udaya is presently a Professor at the University of Manitoba, Canada. His research expertise is in the area of Power System Dynamics and Control. His services include Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba (2008-2012), and Editor of IEEE Transactions on Power Systems (2009-2012).
Udaya is a Professional Engineer in the Province of Manitoba, Canada.
Philip Zinck
Phil has enjoyed a progressive career spanning thirty-five years with demonstrated experience and expertise in industrial and utility power system design, power system analysis, start-up, and commissioning with emphasis on Protection and Control systems and schemes.
Phil graduated with his degree in Electrical Engineering in 1987 from the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousie University) and in 2013 received his M.Sc. (with Distinction) in Electrical Power Systems from the Electrical Engineering Programme at the University of Bath, UK.
He has successfully filled various management roles with power utilities and engineering consultants including project management, discipline engineering, sales and business development and practice area operations. Most recently, Phil successfully managed the Converters and HVac Stations contract for the 500 MW, +/- 200 kVDC Maritime Link Project and is currently managing the implementation and operation of a DC renewable microgrid on the Tampa Electric distribution network.
Phil has been and remains active in many volunteer roles with the IEEE and CIGRE, as well as serving on Council and CEO Committees for Engineers Nova Scotia.
Mohamed M. Rashwan
Mohamed Rashwan has spent most of his career with Manitoba Hydro, where he has worked on the planning, design, operation, and maintenance of HVDC. For the past eight years, as President of the consulting firm TransGrid Solutions, he provides counsel to utilities around the world.
Mohamed is a Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a Distinguished Member of CIGRE. He has been active in CIGRE technical committees since 1982, chaired several working groups, acted as Canadian representative on study committee B4, and been a member of the executive since 1992.
Mohamed obtained a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Manitoba. Currently, he is also an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Manitoba.
Christopher Reali
Christopher Reali has been a member of CIGRE since 2015 and has served as Canadian representative in a variety of capacities; he’s currently serving his third consecutive term as the Canadian Representative for Study Committee C1 – System Development and Economics. He has been a member and convenor of several Working Groups, has produced a number of Technical Brochures, and was a co-author of the Power System Assets Green Book.
Christopher has over 15 years of experience in the power sector. He is currently in the role of Senior Manager, Power System Limits at Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). In this role he oversees the department responsible for establishing and implementing Ontario’s System Operating Limits and Instructions used by the IESO’s control room operators. Previously, Christopher held a variety of management and engineering roles within the IESO of increasing scope and responsibility, with expertise in system operations, system planning, and market settlements & metering. He has also served on various NERC, NPCC and IRC working groups, subcommittees and task forces.
Christopher is a licensed Professional Engineer with Professional Engineers Ontario. He holds a Master of Engineering degree in Electric Power Engineering from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Energy Systems from the university of Toronto.
Michael Kobzar
Michael Kobzar is Director of Sales for Siemens Energy Canada’s Power Transmission and Power Distribution.
He was the Chairman of the Board of the Durham Strategic Energy Alliance from 2011 to 2014 and currently is a Board Member for the Ontario Energy Network, the Vice President of the Parliamentary Society of Toronto and a Director at the Empire Club of Canada.
An Electrical Technologist by education, M. Kobzar started his working career in technical roles before transitioning to higher and more challenging commercial positions, including the start up of Siemens Canada’s Instrumentation and Control Division in 2010.
Working for Siemens, Rockwell Automation and Schneider Electric for numerous years has given him a good platform for his current commercial sales role at Siemens Energy Canada.
Michael Kobzar is a member of the National Club of Canada as well as Weston G&CC.
Ramy Azar
As Vice-President of Engineering & CTO for SNC-Lavalin’s Power, Grid, and Industrial Solutions Division, Dr. Ramy Azar exercises general governance over engineering activities for Power Grids and Renewable solutions and leads technological innovation initiatives for a group of close to 150 engineers spread over multiple offices in North America and internationally. With just over 20 years of experience in the field, the team under his leadership plans and engineers large scale projects in the high voltage sector, including transmission lines and substations at voltages up to 765kV AC and +/- 500kV DC, interconnection of renewable generation, and optimal integration of power grid technologies including energy storage, intelligent grid control solutions, and HVDC and FACTs devices. Ramy holds a Ph. D. and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Cambridge University (U.K.), as well as a Bachelors in Hs Electrical Engineering from McGill University (Canada). Ramy is active on multiple CIGRE Study Committees and is also an IEEE Senior Member. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
Mike Bartel
Mike Bartel is the Vice President of Asset Management at AltaLink, Canada’s first independent transmission company. With more than $4 billion in assets, including 12,000 km of transmission lines and approximately 280 substations, AltaLink is Alberta’s largest electric transmission owner and operator providing transmission service to more than 85 per cent of Albertans. A registered professional engineer in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Mike has more than 23 years of engagement in the electricity and power industry in Canada.
His career experience includes background in both high voltage power transmission and power generation. Mike has held numerous functional accountabilities in Asset Management and Operations fulfilling leadership roles within Engineering, Major Maintenance, Strategic Planning, Project Development and Operations. Mike prides himself in bringing people, technical and business ideas together in innovative and practical ways to improve decision making and bottom line results. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Calgary. He has also completed the Executive MBA Program at the Banff School of Advanced Management. Mike is a member of the Canadian Electricity Association Transmission Council and has been on the CIGRE Canada Executive Committee since 2011.
Benoît Delourme
Benoît Delourme has close to 25 years of experience in electrical engineering and strategic project management. He began his career at Hydro-Quebec’s research center and then spent 8 years at Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE) in France as an R&D engineer.
After moving to Canada, he held various managing positions in the system planning domain at Hydro-Québec. As Director – Energy system design and planning, he is now responsible for the design of the future energy system considering, asset management, emerging risks, new technologies and climate change. His team encompasses 200 network experts, and their mandate is to recommend network projects that are key to Quebec’s energetic transition. These projects include substations, lines, HVDC stations, DC lines, series, shunt compensation. It spans all the voltage levels from 25kV to 735kV.
Benoît holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from CentraleSupélec. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Québec.
Norm Dimmell
Norm Dimmell is President, of Emera Newfoundland & Labrador. Based in St. John’s and responsible for the Maritime Link, the 500MW HVDC inter-provincial electrical interconnection between the Island of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Prior to joining ENL in 2016, Norm held several leadership and management roles for Noble Denton, GL Noble Denton, and DNV GL’s Oil and Gas division spanning almost 20 years focused on risk management and assurance in Marine Operations.
Norm’s background that has included several Board and volunteer roles including current roles as a director with the Energy Research Organization Net Zero Atlantic, and as an acting warden for Camp 20 for Corporation of the Seven Wardens Inc. In 2024 Norm completed an 8-year term with the St. John’s Board of trade having served as Chair in 2022 and has served as president of the Canadian Ski Patrol Terra Nova Zone and as a board member of the International Association of Marine Warranty Surveyors.
Norm holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering from Memorial University and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Greg E. Farthing
Greg Farthing is a talented and seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in the energy industry, specifically with electrical manufacturers of low, medium, high voltage equipment, energy management software, and new emerging technologies like: Microgrids, BESS, ADMS, and DER.
Before forming OptiSphere Energy Inc., he held the position of Vice President Strategic Initiatives & Innovation at ABB Inc., and Vice President Sales and Marketing Power Products & Systems Divisions. He also held the positions of President and Vice President of Sales and Marketing at AREVA T&D Canada. He led national teams within Strategy, Operations, Governance, and Marketing. He has a proven track record generating profitable and sustainable year-over-year growth. He brings a wealth of expertise with particular strengths in areas such as strategic planning, technical development, business development, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
In addition to his executive career, Greg has served on industry-leading associations like: President, Board of Directors of the AIEQ (Association de l’industrie électrique du Québec), Co‑Vice President CIGRE Canada, Chairman of the NER (National Energy Roundtable). He is a member of IEEE.
Greg holds a Certificate of Mechanical Engineering Building Systems from École Polytechnique. He also completed his studies in Executive Management and Advancement from McGill University. He completed Senior Leadership Development programs from IDM International Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland, and at Duke University Corporate Development, Durham, North Carolina.
Donna Jablonsky
Mrs. Jablonsky’s career in the utility industry started in 1999 at Hydro One as an Equipment Engineer. She is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), where she majored in Power System, Electrical Engineering.
In the last 20 years, she has had the opportunity to work very closely with some major OEM’s across the globe on equipment development and testing, mainly for circuit breakers (air and gas insulated). This experience allowed her to develop her skills in Engineering and Asset Management.
She has been in a senior leadership role since 2007, and currently lead an Asset Management team responsible for planning and managing the OM&A budget for all transmission sustainment investments (stations, lines, right-of-way, protection, automation, and telecom), to ensure compliance with all legislative, regulatory, safety and environmental requirements, while optimizing lifecycle cost.
Her personal interests include healthy living, and current world issues like climate change and sustainable living.
Murray Kroeker
Murray Kroeker is the Director of Engineering Design at BC Hydro.
BC Hydro is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia serving approximately 94% of the population, or 1.8 million customers. Murray is responsible for the provision of engineering design services in all engineering disciplines for generation, transmission and distribution assets as well as oversight of the external engineering service providers who are together helping to deliver BC Hydro’s $2.4B per annum capital plan while maintaining and optimizing the life of its ageing assets.
Murray’s immediately previous roles include Division Manager of Generation Stations Civil Engineering at BC Hydro and VP Engineering and Safety at Alterra Power Corp.
Murray is a Professional Engineer with Bachelor of Science (Agricultural Engineering) from the University of Manitoba and a Masters of Applied Science (Civil) from University of British Columbia.
Philippe Landry
Philippe (Phil) Landry is the Executive Director PMO (Project Management Office) and Engineering for New Brunswick Power. In his role he is responsible for transmission and distribution engineering design, the management of assets in transmission, distribution and generation as well as the corporate project management office who help manage projects in all areas of the organization.
New Brunswick power is an electric utility serving the citizens of New Brunswick. It has approximately 4 000 MWs of installed capacity made up of hydro, light oil, heavy oil, coal, wind and nuclear generators, 28 000 km of transmission and distribution lines as well as 175+ substations and 40 terminals.. The utility serves approximately 400 000 customers in a province with a population of 800 000 people.
Phil has been with New Brunswick power for 30 years and during this time has held senior positions in generation, distribution and transmission allowing him to gain experience in many aspects of an electric utility.
Phil holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of New Brunswick and is a member of the association of professional engineers of the province of New Brunswick.
Kumail Moledina
Kumail Moledina is presently the Vice President of Engineering for ATCO Electric. ATCO Electric owns and operates approximately 88,000 km of transmission and distribution lines. In addition, ATCO Electric serves nearly 229,000 customers in 242 communities and the service area covers nearly two-thirds of Alberta.
A registered professional engineer in Alberta, Kumail has more than 20 years of experience in the Oil & Gas and Utility Industry. Prior to his present role, he was the Vice President of Projects and Construction with ATCO Electric. At this time, he was accountable for the delivery of the entire capital program. While at ATCO Electric, Kumail has had multiple accountabilities from Construction, Project Management, Project Controls, Supply Chain, Operations – Technical Services, Commissioning, Asset Management, System Operations, Transmission Engineering and Distribution Engineering.
Kumail holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta. He has completed the Western Energy Institutes Business Acumen Program in 2018 and has completed the Richard Ivey School of Business Executive Leadership Program in 2023. He has previously served on the Electricity Canada Transmission Council from 2019 to 2022, Electricity Canada National Emerging Issues Committee (NEIC) from 2022 to 2023 and presently resides on the UMS Wildfire Risk Mitigation Consortium.
Dominique Mercier
Maria Neufeld
Maria Neufeld is an innovative, energetic and solutions oriented professional engineer. Maria is a people centered leader. As Director of Engineering, she leads a highly skilled technical team comprised of seven departments responsible for providing engineering support for Manitoba Hydro’s Generation, Transmission and Distribution’s electric operation. Maria’s team provides engineering direction and services to Manitoba Hydro that ensure safe, cost effective, and reliable risk based technical decisions that are made across the existing and future asset base.
Maria graduated with a Bachelors of Electrical Engineering from the Price Faculty of Engineering and a Masters degree in Business Administration from the Asper School of Business at University of Manitoba. Maria started her career at Manitoba Hydro in 2000 and has held various Engineering and Leadership roles at Manitoba Hydro. Maria has a proven ability to lead, coach and mentor.
Tanzeel Ur Rehman
Mr. Rehman has 24 years of Professional Experience on High voltage AC Substations design engineering and Engineering management and system integration. He is Sr. Technical Tendering Manager since March 2023 leading the Application Engineering team both US and Canadian market. Detailed review and generation of the technical content and related costing/estimation for High Voltage Gas Insulated and Air Insulated Switchgear of tenders/proposals in response to customer requests for quotes and initiatives within business. His role combined application, estimating and propose design and engineering for all the North America proposals driving common process, procedures, methods, tools and lessons learned across the organization. He is taking active participation on Offshore wind farms projects and HVDCs, preparing technical solution and commercial proposal. This also includes the proposal of active power compensation at Onshore station with FACTS products. Earlier, he worked with Siemens, Areva T&D and Alstom Grid.