Stakeholder Advisory Committee Member Biographies

Jack Burkom (representing Marketers/Brokers) is the Vice President of Trading at Brookfield Energy Marketing LP, responsible for the front office team tasked with optimizing the revenues from Brookfield’s fleet of electric generating stations across North America. Jack joined Brookfield in 2004 having traded in the deregulated power markets in the United States for approximately five years for the unregulated subsidiary of Pacific Gas and Electric. Prior to working at PG&E, Jack worked on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Jack brings over fourteen years of diversified experience in the North American electricity market including asset valuation, acquisitions, power purchasing agreement negotiation, corporate strategy, power trading, power marketing and structured transactions.

David Butters (representing Generators) has been APPrO’s president and chief executive officer since April 2004. APPrO is a non-profit advocacy organization representing more than 100 companies involved in the development and operation of commercial electricity generation in Ontario. APPrO members include both investor and publicly owned generation companies producing power from nuclear, hydro-electric, coal, gas, co-generation, wind energy, waste wood and other sources, generating over 95% of the electricity made in Ontario. Mr. Butters has an extensive background in government relations, corporate and marketing communications and advertising management. He was also Chief of Staff to the Hon. Tom Hockin PC in the Mulroney government.Prior to joining APPrO he was Vice President, Public Affairs for Hill & Knowlton Canada, with a wide range of energy clients including Bruce Power, TransAlta, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., PetroCanada, Toronto Hydro and Enbridge Gas Distribution, among others.He is currently Chair of the Sector Advisory Board for the Ontario Centre for Energy & Environment (part of the Ontario Centres of Excellence), and holds a BA from York University in Toronto.

Bruce Campbell (representing IESO) holds the position of Vice-President, Resource Integration. In that capacity, he is responsible for the evolution of the IESO-administered markets. Mr. Campbell has extensive background within the electricity industry, having acted as legal counsel in planning, facility approval and rate proceedings throughout his 26-year career in private practice. He joined the IESO in June 2000, and through May 2005, held the position of Vice-President, Corporate & Legal Affairs. Mr. Campbell has contributed as a member of several Boards, and was Vice-Chair of the Interim Waste Authority Ltd. He is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and Osgoode Hall Law School.

Paul Ferguson (representing Distributors) is an accomplished senior manager within the electric utility industry in Ontario. His professional experience spans 27 years. Currently a Director and President of Newmarket – Tay Power Distribution Ltd., Paul’s background also includes 12 years extensive experience with Ontario Hydro in senior positions in Operations and Protection and Control. In addition, he holds memberships in the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Ontario Electrical League as well as the Electricity Distributors Association. As President of Newmarket – Tay Power Distribution Ltd., he is leading a mid-size distribution utility that is enjoying a position of financial and market competence since the inception of Ontario’s open electricity market.

Adèle Malo (representing Marketers/Brokers) is Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Adèle is responsible for all aspects of Direct Energy's legal and regulatory functions in North America, as well as for the property and real estate functions. She is also a member of Direct Energy's Pension Committee and Executive Committee. Prior to joining Direct Energy, Adèle held the role of VP, Law and General Counsel and VP, Sustainable Development at Ontario Power Generation (OPG), one of the largest electricity generators in North America. Adèle was responsible for the identification, management, and oversight of all legal, governance, corporate environmental and real estate matters affecting OPG. She was with the organization for seven years. Prior to that, Adèle was VP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Union Gas and Director of Strategic Development for a subsidiary of The Oshawa Group. Her career in law and corporate counsel also includes over three years in private practice. Adèle holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Guelph, a law degree from the University of Windsor and a Master of Law degree from the University of Cambridge in England. Adèle is a director of two not for profit organizations and is a member of the Independent Review Committee for Aegon Fund Management.

Craig Martin (representing Generators) is the Director of Eastern Canada Power at TransCanada Energy Ltd., overseeing the commercial management and financial performance of their generation assets. He is involved in managing power purchase agreements, power and gas trading, regulatory and market evolution activities. During his 15 years in the electricity industry, Craig’s experience includes roles as a plant engineer at a large fossil plant as well as a project developer for large scale thermal power plants. He holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta.

Mark Schembri (representing Commercial Consumers) is Vice President, Supermarket Systems and Store Maintenance for Loblaw Properties Limited.  Mark has worked with Loblaw for 23 years and is currently responsible for facility maintenance for the 37M square ft real estate portfolio that supports the retail business throughout Canada.   He also supports all aspects of energy management and energy procurement including new store design standards for refrigeration, lighting and HVAC.  Loblaw has been active in demand side management energy retrofits, renewable energy projects, and has successfully implemented a 10MW automated multiple facility electricity demand response project in Ontario.  Mark is an active member of the Canadian Standard Association.

Ersilia Serafini (representing Environmental) is the CEO of Summerhill.  Since 1993, Summerhill has been instrumental in creating a diverse offering of strategic initiatives that have addressed a variety of policy and environmental priorities in Canada and the United States.  Summerhill develops and execute profitable strategies that move the market toward better choices for consumers and the environment.  Summerhill is based in Toronto (with offices in New York, Montreal and Regina), and has 50 full time staff and over 2200 part-time program representatives employed for program delivery across Canada.  Ersilia Serafini is a recognized leader in public engagement and outreach - responsible for creating and managing some of the most innovative and effective social marketing programs on air quality and climate change in Canada.

Wayne Smith (representing Transmitters) is the Senior Vice President of Grid Operations at Hydro One. In this capacity he is responsible for the Control Centre for Transmission and Distribution operations, Maintenance of Hydro Ones 280 transmission stations and over 1000 distribution stations, technical support services and fleet services. Hydro One delivers electricity safely, reliably and responsibly to 1.3 million homes, businesses, industries and LDCs across the province of Ontario and owns and operates a 29,000 km high-voltage transmission network and a 123,000 km low-voltage distribution system. Hydro One is wholly owned by the Province of Ontario. Mr. Smith has 29 years experience in the utility industry at Ontario Hydro and Hydro One. He has been a member on various industry councils and committees including with the Canadian Electrical Association, NERC and NPCC.

Tony Thoma (representing Residential Consumers) is the Dean of Engineering Technology at Mohawk College in Hamilton Ontario. Mr. Thoma holds a BSc in Metallurgy and Material Science (McMaster ’83), BBA Business Administration (Brock U ’96) an EMBA (Richard Ivey School of Business, UWO ’98) and is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. Over a period of 25 years, Mr. Thoma has worked for a number of Energy intensive industries with the responsibility of the Energy management portfolio. His experiences in energy usage behavior under various energy rate formulas (DDS, TOU, RTPII, Surplus Power and then as a Wholesale Market Participant) has led to implementation of monitoring systems through smart meters and sub-metering. Data collection and interpretation then lead to power quality and demand control systems spread across multiple facilities totaling almost 50 Megawatts on the off-peak with significant shifting of load from the on peak period. Mr. Thoma has participated in a number of stakeholder committees at the IESO over the years including the IT committee, Metering subcommittee and the Market Price Working Group. Today, Mr. Thoma manages a large faculty group in the field Engineering Technology in a large community college which includes curriculum in Clean and Renewable technologies, Transmission/Distribution, smart metering and sustainability preparing students for the energy market of the future. On the consumer side, Mr. Thoma works closely with the public and various school boards to educate grade school and high school students about the electricity sector. In the community he is an active member of the Energy and Environmental committee of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and a Board member for a large hospital in Hamilton.

Adam White (representing Wholesale Consumer Market Participants) joined the Association of Major Power Consumers in Ontario as their President in August 2005. The Association of Major Power Consumers in Ontario is a not-for-profit consumer interest advocacy organization that promotes the competitiveness of Ontario industry through reliable supplies of electricity at affordable rates. AMPCO represents business consumers in the forestry, chemical, mining and minerals, steel, petroleum products, cement, automotive and manufacturing industries. Prior to joining AMPCO, Mr. White was Vice President of Public Affairs and External Relations with the Ontario Energy Association, Account Manager with Mirant Canada Energy Marketing, Manager of Regulatory Affairs with TransAlta Energy Corporation, Senior Policy Advisor at the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology, and Senior Economist at the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy. Mr. White has more than 15 years’ experience in policy economics and analysis, public relations, communications and advocacy, achieving superior energy, environmental and public health policy outcomes for clients and employers in the not-for-profit, public and private sectors. Mr. White has a degree in economics from the University of British Columbia and a diploma in facilitative leadership from the York University Faculty of Environmental Studies. Mr. White is a Canadian Fellow of the international programme for Leadership for Environment and Development.

Todd Wilcox (representing Distributors) has worked in Ontario’s energy industry for 30 years. His tenure with Ontario Hydro, Toronto Hydro and for the past three years as Chief Operating Officer at North Bay Hydro has provided him with extensive experience on a diverse range of utility related industry issues. Todd also operated his own consulting business for a number of years working with a number of high profile clients allowing them to achieve their energy management objectives. Todd is member of the Electricity Distributors Association Board of Directors. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of Toronto.  

John Witjes (representing the Public Service Consumers) holds the position of Director of Operations and Engineering in the Physical Plant Services department of Queen’s University at Kingston. Mr. Witjes is a Mechanical Engineer (Queen’s Sc. ’86) and a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. In 2003, Mr. Witjes completed the University Management Course (UMC) from the Centre for Higher Education Research and Development, University of Manitoba. He is also a member of the Ontario Association of Physical Plant Administrators (OAPPA), and currently holds the Chair position of the OAPPA Energy Committee representing 19 universities in the province of Ontario. During his time as Energy Committee Chair, Mr. Witjes has been involved in facilitating the move of the university sector from the Regulated Price Plan to Market pricing. In addition, the energy committee has secured funding from the Ontario Power Authority’s Conservation Fund to implement a province wide energy benchmarking initiative for all universities and has engaged the Ministry of Energy in an effort to facilitate the implementation of regulations to support the Conservation Leadership Act. At Queen’s, Mr. Witjes is responsible for the campus building operations and infrastructure, grounds and professional engineering staff and the university’s Central Power Plant which, in 2006, installed 15 Megawatts of ‘black start capable’ co-generation equipment and currently provides steam heating for the campus and three local hospitals.