Green Energy Doors Open™ (GEDO)

Hon. Minister Todd Smith: Ontario Minister of Energy

For over 25 years, Todd Smith has been a trusted voice in the Quinte region. A graduate of Loyalist College, he embarked on a 16-year career in radio broadcasting, serving as the voice of Belleville Bulls hockey and rising to News Director at Quinte Broadcasting. 

Todd was first elected in 2011 in the riding of Prince Edward—Hastings. While in opposition, he served as the PC critic for several portfolios including the energy file. 

In 2018, he was elected in the new Bay of Quinte riding as part of the Doug Ford government. He has served as Government House Leader, Minister of Government and Consumer Services, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services and now serves as Minister of Energy.

Born and raised in Riverview, N.B., he has lived in the Belleville area since the early 1990s. He lives there with his wife Tawnya and daughters Payton and Reagan.

Leanne Armstrong, The Accelerator Centre

Leanne Armstrong is the Director of Programs and Client Experience at the Accelerator Centre. Leveraging her degree in Environmental Governance and graduate certificate in Sustainable Business Management, Leanne develops programming the supports startups working on initiatives that contributes to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals through the TD Sustainable Future Program.

Jordan Wosnick, Centennial College, OSEA GEDO 2021 Co-Host

Jordan Wosnick is Manager of Research and Innovation Engagement at Centennial College in Toronto, where his responsibilities include developing research partnerships with private- and public-sector partners in renewable energy and related areas, coordinating faculty-driven research programs, and facilitating research opportunities for students. Prior to joining Centennial, Jordan developed novel technologies for printing, additive manufacturing, and polymer chemistry at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and was a group manager for medical device coatings at Interface Biologics (Toronto). He holds BSc and PhD degrees in chemistry, and is a named inventor on over 60 US Patents.

Tim Doyle, Journalism Professor, Centennial College

Tim Doyle is the co-ordinator of journalism programs at Centennial College, including the school’s innovative postgraduate program in Contemporary Journalism that was introduced in 2018. Previously, Tim worked for more than 20 years in print journalism before moving to digital in 1999 as founding executive producer of hockey website Faceoff.com. Later, with Canwest and Postmedia, he held a number of senior roles including founding editor-in-chief of the canada.com network and vice president and editor-in-chief new media. Tim joined the faculty at Centennial in 2014 and teaches in the undergraduate and postgraduate programs and in the school’s joint program with the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Scott Dodd, Director, Business Development, Enbridge Gas Inc.

Scott Dodd was appointed Director of Business Development in October 2016.  He and his team are responsible for identifying new business opportunities in Enbridge Gas Distribution’s service territory.

From 2011 to 2016 Scott was the Senior Project Director, Major Projects, responsible for planning and executing major construction projects for Enbridge and its affiliates. Scott has provided Project leadership for over $4 billion of projects including over 1,500 MW of wind and solar projects and over 400 km of gas and electrical transmission projects.

Scott has been a Chartered Financial Analyst since 2000. He has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and a BA in Economics and Honours Business also from the University of Western Ontario.

Murat Basarir, Senior Manager, Sustainable Finance, TD Bank

Murat Basarir has been part of various international sustainable finance focused initiatives, such as launching UK’s first wireless charged electric bus and working at Canada’s first retail green bond issuer. Prior to his work in sustainable finance, he has led a nationwide energy efficiency campaign that was voted by the UK public as the Best Campaign at the Climate Week Awards. At TD, he works with teams across the enterprise to ideate, structure and move forward ESG initiatives that support TD’s Climate Action Plan.

Murat holds a BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University and an MPhil in Engineering from Cambridge University and has completed the Ignite programme at Stanford’s Graduate Business School.

Dann Carr, Head, Smart Cities, Alectra GRE&T Centre

Daniel Carr is an experienced developer and leader of new initiatives, with expertise in innovative, customer-facing energy program management, strategy development and policy advocacy. In his current role of Head, Smart Cities at Alectra Utilities, he develops strategy and leads projects that bring new distributed energy technologies and concepts into practice, with a focus on electric mobility, demand response and electricity pricing. These initiatives have touched thousands of customers and have won awards from SEPA, PLMA and CEA for Alectra, Canada’s largest municipally owned utility. He aspires to enable customers to benefit from the transformative changes taking place in the electricity system and to support cities in fulfilling their unique and critical role in helping communities adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Daniel has a Masters’ degree in Public Policy and Administration from Carleton University, with an undergraduate degree in Government from Cornell University.  He holds the Certified Energy Manager and Certified Measurement and Verification Professional designations from the Association of Energy Engineers. He serves on industry committees organized by groups such as Electric Mobility Canada, Natural Resources Canada and the Electricity Distributors Association and is Chair of the Board of the Clean Air Partnership, a Toronto-based environmental non-profit organization.

Travis Lusney, Manager of Procurement & Power Systems, Power Advisory

Travis Lusney is a Professional Engineer with over 15 years of experience in the regulated and commercial electricity sectors. Travis has been advising energy storage clients on providing services to wholesale markets, grid services and retail customers. He offers relevant experience in transmission and distribution power system planning, generation procurement strategy, policy development and power purchase agreement negotiations. Travis provides clients with a unique expertise in the integration between resource development and transmission/distribution planning by providing advice on project risk assessment and strategic investment.