Claire is passionate about helping cities and communities translate the overwhelming problem of climate change into tangible solutions on the ground. For the last 14 years, she has been working with leading local governments in Alberta, BC, Ontario, and the Yukon to develop and implement creative solutions to the challenges of energy, climate change and sustainability. Her experience includes facilitation and multi-stakeholder engagement, strategy development, advocacy, research, project implementation and policy design.
Claire has been involved with the Energy Futures Lab since 2017 and she currently works at the City of Calgary as the Acting Leader of Carbon and Energy Strategy. She holds a Masters of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo.

Wendy Ell holds nearly 30 years of experience as a business strategist and has built business plans and coordinated special alliances for more than 100 businesses and sectoral coalitions in the sectors of oil/gas, agriculture, food/beverage, consumer products, professional services and advanced technology. Wendy has spent the last decade working exclusively in energy, ag and real estate. These sectors are foundational to the growth of our nation and as such, her passion lies in developing industry programs that draw together those across the ecosystems responsible for addressing the realities of tech and sustainability transition. Her consulting and communications work aligns the directives of government, academia and the corporate sector with those in production, processing, engineering, construction and the various modes of transportation that underpin the flow of our energy sector, built environments and entire farm to fork food system. Her work also takes on the management of the strategic communications required to best connect the business environment with the consumers it serves. She stands out in her abilities to develop functional alliances and create truly constructive and insightful transition work. Her programs support and navigate companies through change management activities and the staged movement within such issues as decarbonization, export enablement and supply chain transformation. To Wendy, the added beauty of working with energy and ag producers is the ability to also work with the multitude of companies and stakeholders that feed into their ever-evolving supply chains; helping them all better connect upstream with consumers – all for notable and measurable societal gains.

Sean is a serial entrepreneur deeply passionate about the clean energy transition. He has raised over $50 million across ventures to date. Sean is currently the CEO of Varme Energy, North America’s first specialized waste to energy with carbon capture and storage developer. Sean also owns Remora Ventures, a seed stage venture fund focused on originating and launching new climate focused project development companies. Sean is a proud co-founder of Student Energy, Terrapin Geothermics and The Next 30. Past accomplishments include created and teaching business strategy courses at U of A and SFU’s business schools, receiving Top 40 Under 40 in Edmonton, producing an award winning radio show, speaking at the United Nations in New York on two occasions and being a part of Canada’s contingent at COP 21 in Paris. Sean is very proud to have been one of the original fellows of the Energy Futures Lab and to have formulated the concept and name for EFL’s Impact Studio.

Nancy leads a large team of administration, geospatial products, OHS, and risk management professionals in building a Government of Alberta Center of Operational Excellence and providing superior client services. Nancy has been a senior manager with the Alberta government since 2005. She has almost 25 years of government and industry experience, and held positions with various Alberta government departments, such as International and Intergovernmental Relations, Finance and Enterprise, Innovation and Advanced Education, Jobs, Economy and Innovation, and Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, focusing on various roles such as operational excellence, investment attraction, trade promotion, industry development, labour development, and intergovernmental relations. Nancy has worked with a number of industry sectors, including energy (all across the energy value and supply chain), agriculture and food, environment, and telecommunication. Nancy served as an Energy Future Lab Fellow in 2015 -16. Nancy has in-depth understanding of Alberta. She has vast industry network and deep expertise in business development. With a proven track record in working with both internal and external stakeholders and clients in dynamic environments, she is known for her ability to promote a partnering culture. Nancy got her MBA degree from the University of Alberta, Faculty of Business. She lives in St. Albert and is married with one child.

Meera is an environmental business leader with over 24 years of experience in oil, gas, renewables and fuels, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geological Environmental Engineering from Queen’s University. She is committed to helping transform the integrated North American energy system, through low carbon technologies and projects. Much of her career has focused on climate change and low carbon energy. She previously advised Shell’s top leadership on climate change risks associated with the company’s global business strategies. Upon returning to Canada, she developed climate change and energy policy positions for Shell Canada businesses, and was later responsible for the renewable energy portfolio and strategy, and clean tech portfolio. She also created Canada’s first hydrogen fuel retail network, and was a board member of the Alberta Clean Tech Innovation Alliance. Meera is a board member of COSIA (Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance) and is the Manager of Canadian Natural’s Technology and Innovation departments. 

Mark Brostrom received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta in 1984 and worked in the private sector prior to joining the City of Edmonton in 1990. Since joining the City of Edmonton in 1990 Mark has worked in the area of environmental and energy policy and programs. Mark is currently leading the development of Edmonton’s Community Energy Transition Strategy that provides a framework for Edmonton to become a low carbon and energy resilient city.

In 2010, Mark received the FCM Sustainable Community Award of Excellence and in 2013 received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his long-standing commitment to advancing municipal sustainability.

Jeanine Vany Jeanine Vany is an APEGA registered professional geologist with a career spanning 20 years in the oil and gas and geothermal industries. Her experience ranges from reservoir characterization, drilling and operations to full field delineation strategies and acquisition. Ms. Vany has spent her career at foremost E&P companies such as EnCana, Devon, Total Energies and GLJ. Ms Vany is a co-founder of Eavor Technologies Inc (ETI) and the executive VP Geosciences. She serves on several boards; GeoConvention, holds the Energy Advocate Board seat for Geothermal Rising and is Board Chair for the Eavor Yukon subsidiary. She is an active participant in in the Geothermal community through volunteer roles such as the founder and Chair of the CSPG Geothermal division and serves as the Canadian Ambassador for Women in Geothermal (WING). Jeanine holds an Honours B.Sc degree in Geology and Environmental Studies from Saint Mary’s University and a Business Essentials Certificate from the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. I spent one year as a fellow where I explored avenues for a geothermal initiative at the Lab. When I applied last year we had a deep drilling project taking place in AB. We have now moved that to the US and are porting SDTC funding from Canada to that project in the US. A time will come sooner than later for a project in AB that I would like to share with the lab and look for ways to leverage some of the community building aspects of the project for a EFL success story. I have also learned so much at the lab and think that by being an ambassador I can continue to learn and also share my knowledge on key energy issues.

Bryan Helfenbaum is the Executive Director of Advanced Hydrocarbons at Alberta Innovates, responsible for programs such as Recovery Technologies, Methane Emissions Reduction, Digital Innovation in Clean Energy, and Bitumen Beyond Combustion. Bryan also leads the new Hydrogen Centre of Excellence. In addition to his role at AI, Bryan is an Ambassador in the Energy Futures Lab wherein he works to accelerate an inclusive and equitable transition to a prosperous net-zero future. Prior to joining AI, he spent 20 years in a wide variety of technical, business, and innovation roles in the private sector. Bryan’s passion for innovation extends outside the office, where he has taught courses at the University of Calgary and has worked on innovative community residential development projects. Bryan has a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Waterloo and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, with a specialization in Global Energy Management & Sustainability, from the University of Calgary.

Jamie has over fifteen years of experience in researching and engaging with companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. At NEI he oversees the implementation of the ESG program across the NEI portfolio, including NEI’s commitment to leverage its portfolio to achieve a net-zero future. This includes a focus on conducting direct, collaborative dialogues with companies and policy makers, and participation in multi-stakeholder collaborations that are driving towards systemic solutions. The EFL has been a natural fit for Jamie and he continues to be amazed at the incredible talent and knowledge represented in the lab.