Claire is passionate about helping cities and communities translate the overwhelming problem of climate change into tangible solutions on the ground. For the last 15 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 and climate change. She currently leads a team of diverse professionals as the Leader of the Community Energy team at the City of Calgary working to reduce city-wide GHG emissions in Calgary. She has been involved with the Energy Futures Lab since 2017 and she’s looking forward to contributing in her new role as Ambassador. Claire 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.
