The Possibility Panel

Chad serves in a national role as vice president, sustainability & citizenship at The Co-operators from his home in Edmonton. He was the Founding Director of the Energy Futures Lab and loves how people can make things happen in Alberta. Originally from Spruce Grove with roots in Rocky Mountain House, Chad believes that polarization is hindering progress in our province and that we need to think big about our place in the world. 

Aatif is the executive director of Startup Edmonton and the co-founder of Salaam B’y, a Facebook post about the story of a Muslim Newfoundlander that turned into a documentary film, national speaking tour and educational resource. Originally from Clarenville in Newfoundland & Labrador, he has made Alberta home and loves its people the most. He sees trust and access between people and societies, locally and globally, as Alberta’s opportunity in the next 30 years.

Anna is the president of De Paoli & Associates, board chair of the Millarville Racing & Agricultural Society, and a lecturer at the Wharton Business School. Originally from Prestbury in the UK, Anna sees Alberta as a land of possibility with stunning landscapes and natural resources. She loves this province’s entrepreneurial spirit, can-do attitude, risk appetite and willingness to work hard to achieve great things. She sees opportunity in the agriculture sector and food processing as well as the power sector.

Avnish is principal at Stand and Command and board chair for Calgary Public Library. He is also the co-founder at FARE Developments, strategic director at Accent Free Tech, fundraising committee member at Calgary Folk Music Society, and a governance committee member at Bow Valley College. Avnish sees that an opportunity for Alberta lies in a provincial sales tax and a six-year budget.

Carman is counsel at Dentons Canada. He is past chair of Alberta Chamber of Commerce, Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, Edmonton Community Foundation, and 2017 United Way Campaign co-chair. He is also a former hockey and soccer coach. Originally from Stony Plain and Edmonton, he loves that Alberta is a province of builders. Carman believes that the one thing that cannot be taken away is Alberta’s location, so let’s take advantage of it, produce what the province is best at, and become the best transportation and logistics inland port in North America.  

Chris is an Edmontonian and the founder & CEO of Altitude Investments Ltd. What he loves the most about Alberta is its people and their potential; risk-takers, independent, and entrepreneurial. Plus, Alberta is a beautiful, hearty place. He sees free post-secondary as an opportunity for Alberta in the next 30 years.

Cory is the co-founder and co-CEO at AltaML, a developer of machine learning applications. He is a member of the Business Council of Alberta, an associate of the Creative Destruction Lab, and is active in the Alberta entrepreneurial community having served as past-president of the Edmonton chapter for Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO), member of the A100, and the Venture Mentoring Service (VMS) program at the University of Alberta.

A lawyer by training, Emma is the founder of SophieGrace.ca, founder of Charles Real Estate, and the former executive director of the Office of the Premier for Southern Alberta. Emma is a Calgarian who loves Alberta’s ability to excel at community. She sees an opportunity for Alberta in the next 30 years to become the place for new energy research and capital deployment. 

Hayley is a four-time Olympic gold medalist, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, assistant director, player development for Toronto Maple Leafs, and a final year medical student based in Calgary. She loves Alberta’s geography, its easy going nature, and the legacy of Calgary’s iconic 1988 winter Olympics. She sees opportunity in technology investment, diversification, and major event hosting such as the Olympics.

Irfan is the founder & CEO of MobSquad as well as the venture partner at Relay Ventures, principal at Totem Capital Corporation, and board chair at the Glenbow Museum and The Organic Box. Originally from Coquitlam, he has made Calgary home, loving Alberta’s desire to be entrepreneurial, and the “can do” orientation. He sees an opportunity for Alberta over the next 30 years to be the best place for foreign talent who want to immigrate to Canada.

Laurie is a councillor for Samson Cree Nation near Mascwacis, while also serving as financial controller, senior policy analyst on intergovernmental issues for the Confederacy of Treaty 6, a small business owner/entrepreneur, and an Indigenous business development professional. As a Treaty person, Laurie loves that Alberta has a rich history of powerful Indigenous leaders and their specific contributions to the betterment and growth of Alberta. She sees an opportunity for Alberta in a proper, respectful, meaningful inclusion of Indigenous peoples that would place Alberta as not only an economic leader but also one when it comes to reconciliation through the recognition and respectful implementation of the numbered Treaty agreements. 

Leor is the Calgary-based executive director of the Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) and co-host of Pipelines & Turbines podcast. Originally from Toronto, Leor loves Alberta’s pristine natural landscapes, its community spirit, festivals and sporting events, and the celebration of entrepreneurship. He sees an opportunity over the next 30 years in creating financial incentives for growers to track, reduce, and sequester carbon and to position Alberta food exports as the most sustainable bulk food source in the world.

Lindsay is an associate professor in fiscal and economic policy at the University of Calgary. Originally from Victoria, Lindsay likes Calgary’s affordability, walkability in the inner city, and the large number of parks and green space. She sees inclusive economic growth as a major opportunity for Alberta in the next 30 years.

Pronounced Najwan, Nagwan is a former public member of the City of Calgary BiodiverCity Advisory Committee and past president and current board member of Ask Her YYC, an organization focused on advancing gender representation on Calgary City Council. Born and raised in Taiz in Yemen, Nagwan won Nexen’s full scholarship and moved to Alberta alone at the age of 17 to start university as a teenager. Nagwan loves the Rockies and the exciting opportunities in this province, which she also calls home. She sees growing the tech sector and energy transition as opportunities for Alberta in the next 30 years. 

Rich Theroux is an artist, writer, and teacher. He and his wife run the Rumble House Arts Society, a not for profit studio/ art gallery for the past 8 years. 

Teaching, art making, speaking, cleaning, dressing and feeding people in his community on the west end of Down Town Calgary, his work has reached all corners of the globe.

Rich uses a background in animation and commercial design to make movies, publish books, and host weekly events every single Wednesday for over 400 Wednesday’s; bringing together celebrities with people living on the streets.

Building community is what happens with weekly street cleaning, community art lessons, and the Wednesday night art rumbles.

“Beware of artists, they mix with all classes of society and are therefore most dangerous.” – Queen Victoria

Ryan has leveraged the opportunities given to a born and raised Calgarian to work on energy development projects across Canada and Europe. As the manager of global markets and strategy at Radicle, he is focussed on helping the energy industry reduce their emissions profitably by monetizing carbon credits. As the board chair at The FUSE Collective, Ryan connects local university students passionate about sustainability with opportunities to connect and solve real world business challenges in Alberta. Ryan’s experience solving challenges in energy and education gives him tremendous optimism that Albertans are well equipped to solve any challenge we face. 

Originally from Fort McMurray, Sean believes there is a certain “chip on your shoulder” competitiveness in Alberta that he doesn’t see anywhere else in Canada. Sean is a serial entrepreneur that has raised over $45 million across ventures to date. He is a proud co-founder of Student Energy, Terrapin Geothermics and The Next 30. Sean is a former sessional instructor at U of A and SFU’s business schools, received Top 40 Under 40 in Edmonton, has spoken at the United Nations in New York on two occasions and was a member of Canada’s contingent at COP 21 in Paris.

He sees an opportunity in replacing oil sands steam generation with nuclear-driven steam, which would decarbonize this productive asset significantly and establish Alberta as an expert in nuclear deployment for heavy industry. 

Ted is founder and president of Incite, past board Chair of Edmonton Community Foundation, and an active member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Edmonton Executives’ Association, and Synergy Network. Born in Edmonton, Ted loves how Alberta values entrepreneurship, hard work, and community. He sees small business, technology, and healthcare as opportunities for Alberta in the next 30 years.  He believes we can strengthen our publicly-funded, universally accessible healthcare system by focusing more on prevention and partnerships with Alberta’s growing tech sector to drive innovation, efficiency, and improved healthcare outcomes for all Albertans.

Tim is vice president, Indigenous relations and equity strategy at the Calgary Foundation, chair of The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada and a proud father to a nine-year old daughter. Tim is a member of the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) from the Blood (Kainai) reserve. Tim loves his ancestral lands of the Siksikaitsitapi and bio region of the plains people, all of which has always been situated on land now known as Alberta. It is this truth narrative that Tim endeavours to embed within the fabric of this province, and our collective responsibility to that truth, for generations to come.