Greg Finlayson is a respected leader in desalination, water treatment and One Water Planning with extensive experience across Australia, California, North America and Asia Pacific. He started his career working for a major membrane company before joining GHD more than 25 years ago. Greg has previously held positions as GHD’s global leader for sustainability and global technology leader in water treatment. He currently works as the senior technical director of water strategy at GHD.

Sandra Cooke is the director of communities and climate at CWN. In this role, she provides oversight for the organization’s water and communities program area as well as the organization’s water and climate program area. Prior to joining CWN, Sandra supported water management in the agriculture and municipal sectors. For 17 years, Sandra worked at the Grand River Conservation Authority where she led the organization’s water quality program and championed the development of the watershed-wide wastewater optimization program.

Ryan Brotchie is GHD’s service line leader for Integrated Water Management (IWM) for the Americas. He recently initiated and led GHD’s Future of Water Strategic Water Planning initiative. This involved leading a global team to develop cutting-edge strategic planning approaches to meet the client’s greatest challenges. Previously in Australia, Ryan led GHD’s IWM Practice and national participation in the Co-operative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) between 2016 and 2021.

Dr. Steve Hrudey is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. He was the 97th President of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) in 2016-17. Dr. Hrudey has been engaged in environmental and public health risk research for 50 years and has published extensively (>200 refereed journal articles, 28 expert panel reports, 10 books, 29 book chapters, 20 commentaries, and over 80 conference proceedings) in this field. His co-authored 2004 book, Safe Drinking Water – Lessons from Recent Outbreaks in Affluent Nations, has been an all-time best seller for International Water Association Publishing. Dr. Hrudey was recognized with Alberta’s highest civilian honour, the Alberta Order of Excellence, in October 2017 and was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2019. He was also recognized with a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal by the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta in 2022, with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal Royal Society of Canada for service to scholarship in science in 2013, the 2013 APEGA Research Excellence Summit Award, the top research award (2012 A.P. Black Award) of the American Water Works Association and an honorary DSc from the University of Alberta (2012). He has served on 28 expert panels that have dealt with high-profile environmental health issues, including: the Walkerton Inquiry (2000-2002), the Expert Panel on Safe Drinking Water for First Nations in Canada (2006), Chair of the Water Research Foundation Expert Panel on drinking water disinfection by-products and bladder cancer (Washington, D.C., 2014-2015). In 2022, Dr. Hrudey was appointed by the Royal Society of Canada as the chair of an expert panel to prepare a policy briefing on the applications, limitations and potential of wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in Canada. The report was published in August 2022.

Monali Varia currently serves as the Director, Public Health Intelligence at Peel Public Health. Her portfolio includes public health surveillance, population health assessment, evaluation and emergency response. As an epidemiologist with certification in infection control, Monali has had the opportunity to work in public health at various levels of government in communicable disease control and the development of surveillance systems. She has also completed the two-year Executive Training and Research Application (EXTRA) fellowship program, focusing on developing public health capacity to use health data for decision-making.

Dr. Michael Becker currently works as a research scientist at the Public Health Agency of Canada. His research program explores diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2 and sexually transmitted and blood borne infections (STBBIs), with a focus on deploying, evaluating, and developing rapid or point-of-care tests. This work strives to support Northern, Remote, and Isolated (NRI) communities by developing solutions to overcome barriers to diagnostic testing and effective healthcare, with the ultimate goal of reaching the undiagnosed and supporting underserved populations. Dr. Becker’s team also explores the use of innovative approaches that may improve the health of NRI communities and underserved populations. This includes the use of wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 and STBBIs in remote settings. This work is in collaboration with the National Wastewater Surveillance Laboratory and provides an early warning system for disease outbreaks and can monitor overall population health to inform public health action and outreach initiatives.

Jimmy Zammar is Director of Integrated Strategy and Utility Planning in Engineering Services at the City of Vancouver, where he leads the One Water group, which aims to integrate the city’s planning for water, sewer and drainage while incorporating climate adaptation, green infrastructure and data driven, multi-criteria decision-making. Jimmy also leads the city’s low-carbon district heating utility. Previously, his responsibilities at KPMG, AECOM and DAI included major project planning, capital program management and strategic asset management for public agencies in the water, wastewater, green building and clean energy sectors. Jimmy holds graduate degrees in architecture and building engineering, infrastructure project management and sustainable development.

Robert Newell, PhD, is Associate Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley and previously Adjunct Professor at the School of Environment and Sustainability at Royal Roads University. His research explores the use of systems thinking, models and visualizations as tools for supporting local planning and decision-making. Much of his work has looked at community climate action in an integrated planning context, and he has explored a number of different analyses and techniques for supporting local climate action efforts, such as decomposition analysis and mapping climate action co-benefits. Robert develops tools for facilitating more inclusive, collaborative approaches to planning, including game development software to build realistic visualizations for participatory planning and community engagement.

Victoria Kramkowski is the Government and Community Relations Specialist with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), where she advances the organizations’s strategic goals through engagement with governments, community groups, and other organizations and stakeholders. Victoria previously managed the City of Mississauga’s award-winning stormwater charge program, including associated outreach, credit and incentive programs, and has worked with municipalities across Canada in the development of their stormwater charges. She’s also worked in government, the private sector and academia on environmental policy, natural resources management, low impact development and scenario planning. Victoria has a PhD in Environmental Planning from York University.

Bernadette Conant, CEO, Canadian Water Network

Dr. Steve E. Hrudey, Chair, Research Advisory Group, COVID-19 Wastewater Coalition

Dr. Alex Chik, Inter-Laboratory Study Coordinator, COVID-19 Wastewater Coalition

Dr. Chand Mangat, Research Scientist, Antimicrobial Resistance and Nosocomial Infections, National Microbiology Laboratory / Public Health Agency of Canada

Dr. Mark Servos, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Protection, University of Waterloo

Dr. Robert Delatolla, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa

Dr. Melissa Glier, Research Associate, BC Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory, University of British Columbia

Dr. Eyerusalem Goitom, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal

Dr. Judy Yuanyuan Qiu, Research Associate, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry – Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Department, University of Alberta

Bernadette Conant, CEO, Canadian Water Network

Dr. Steve E. Hrudey, Chair, Research Advisory Group, COVID-19 Wastewater Coalition

Dr. Robert Delatolla, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa

Dr. Mark Servos, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Protection, University of Waterloo

Dr. Yuwei Xie, Postdoctoral Fellow, Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan

Dr. Mike McKay, Executive Director, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research; Professor, University of Windsor

Dr. Michael Parkins, Associate Professor, Medicine and Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Disease, University of Calgary

Sashen Guneratna
Managing Director, Investments
Canada Infrastructure Bank

Sashen is Managing Director within the investments group of the Canada Infrastructure Bank and assists the executive team with implementing the bank’s investment strategy. He has more than 20 years of banking and advisory experience encompassing several sectors and jurisdictions. Most recently, Sashen was a Partner within the Capital Projects and Infrastructure group at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP with a focus on water and wastewater, First Nations led projects and power utilities. In 2013, Sashen worked as a financial advisor and underwriter of project finance transactions for National Bank Financial. He holds an MBA and BBA from the Schulich School of Business.

Lindsay Caldwell
Director, Investments
Canada Infrastructure Bank

Lindsay Caldwell is a Director on the investment team at the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Her focus is on originating, analyzing, executing and managing investments in green infrastructure. Prior to joining the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Lindsay was a Vice-President on the investment team at Bastion Infrastructure Group. Before that, she worked at OMERS Infrastructure, the direct investing arm of Canadian pension plan OMERS in Toronto. Lindsay has 13 years of infrastructure experience with a focus on principal investing and asset management. She participated in numerous transactions spanning a range of regulated and unregulated industries globally. Lindsay earned an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University and is a CFA Charterholder.

Sarah Thompson
Director, Sustainable Finance
RBC Capital Markets

Sarah joined RBC in 2011 as the bank’s first Green IT Manager. In 2013, she moved to the corporate sustainability team to oversee RBC’s enterprise-wide operational footprint reduction, environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure and the development of environmentally sustainable and socially responsible financial products and services. Sarah is currently Vice President, Sustainable Finance at RBC Capital Markets and works closely with a growing number of corporate and institutional clients globally. Recently, she partnered with RBC’s Corporate Treasury Group to establish RBC’s Green Bond Program; an inaugural green bond was issued in April 2019. Sarah is a member of the Advisory Council of the Green and Social Bond Principles Executive Committee and is Vice Chair of the Canadian Standards Association Green & Transition Finance Technical Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics from McGill University and an MBA in Sustainability from York University’s Schulich School of Business.

Mansoor Khan
Director, Government Finance
RBC Capital Markets

Mansoor joined RBC in 2011 and currently covers the public sector in Canada as a Vice President. In his current role, he is focused on provincial, crown and municipal clients. Mansoor is leading green bond underwriting at RBC and has been closely involved in bringing several new issuers to the green bond market, including Ontario, EDC, CPPIB, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and TransLink. Before joining RBC, Mansoor worked at a U.S. bank in New York in structured product sales and private placements. He holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University and is a designated Chartered Financial Analyst.

Ron Hofmann, P Eng, PhD
Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Toronto
NSERC Associate Industrial Research Chair

Ron Hofmann is a professor in the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering at the University of Toronto, where he specializes in drinking water treatment. He routinely collaborates with utilities and consultants in the design and optimization of treatment plants, and regularly works with government in the creation and implementation of new guidelines and regulations.

Arash Zamyadi, PhD
Research project Manager, Water Research Australia
Adjunct Academic Fellow, University of New South Wales

Arash Zamyedi’s research focuses on how climate change and harmful algal blooms affect water treatment, the removal of combined microbial and chemical contaminants, and water reuse opportunities. He founded the BGA Innovation Hub, which brings individuals and teams together to explore the evolution of water and algal-related challenges and opportunities in the context of the water-food-energy nexus.

Arash has a strong publication record and has been invited as a keynote speaker and presenter at conferences across the world. He is a member of the American Water Works Association and Australian Water Association, is an International Water Association Fellow and is Co-Chief Editor of Water Quality Research Journal.

Scott Bindner, MSc
Vertical Market Manager
Trojan Technologies

Scott Bindner’s professional background includes a mix of scientific and environmental studies.  He holds a medical science degree from the University of Western Ontario and a Master’s degree in Biochemistry from McMaster University. His current work with Trojan includes identifying water treatment challenges that can be mitigated through advanced oxidation, then developing these markets and educating stakeholders. He has been an associate at Trojan Technologies for eight years.

Nandita Basu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo.  Her research focuses on nutrient pollution and algal blooms from agricultural intensification, urbanization and shoreline development. She uses tools from environmental science, engineering and the social sciences to better understand how the way we use our land affects the quality of our waters and developing strategies to improve the health of our ecosystems. Nandita currently leads a $1.7M project on Lake Futures where she brings together natural and social scientists with regulatory agencies and conservation authorities to address water quality questions in the Great lakes watersheds.

Wendy Krkosek P.Eng., is the Water Quality Manager at Halifax Water, where she works with treatment, water quality and distribution operations staff to conduct water quality research, solve water quality and treatment problems, improve treatment methodologies, and develop and implement water quality plans.  Wendy received her BASc in Civil (Environmental) Engineering from the University of Waterloo, followed by a PhD in Civil Engineering at Dalhousie University. She worked as a Research Engineer in the Centre for Water Resources Studies at Dalhousie University prior to joining Halifax Water.

Monica Emelko is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo, where she is also the Director of the Water Science, Technology & Policy Group. Monica is also the Scientific Director of forWater, a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council network for forested drinking water source protection technologies.

Nicole Sapeta
Project Engineer, Engineering and Planning Group, Region of Waterloo

Nicole Sapeta is a project engineer in the Region of Waterloo’s Engineering and Planning Group, with more than 10 years of experience in consulting and the municipal sector. Nicole has been involved in a range of studies to plan for future water and wastewater infrastructure, which has included reviewing historical water use, updating design criteria to reflect recent trends, and preparing water demand and wastewater flow forecasts. Capturing changing trends in water use has been a key component of the successful completion of these studies.

Kaoru Yajima
Civil Engineer, Water Services Division, Region of Waterloo

Kaoru Yajima is a civil engineer for the Region of Waterloo’s Water Services Division, where he is primarily responsible for the long-term planning of water and wastewater facilities. Prior to his employment at the Region of Waterloo, Kaoru worked as a water supply engineer on water-related infrastructure projects in Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and Middle East.

Heather Zarski
Specialist, Planning, Water Distribution and Transmission, EPCOR

Heather Zarski began her career with EPCOR in 2004 after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Alberta. In her current role as Planning Specialist, she focuses on integrated resource planning for the Edmonton utility, GIS analysis to understand Edmonton’s current water usage patterns, water consumption forecasting and conservation program development.

Jack C. Kiefer
Senior Associate, Hazen and Sawyer

Jack Kiefer, PhD, has more than 27 years of consulting experience in water demand analysis and forecasting, integrated water resources planning, risk and uncertainty analysis, applied economics and econometrics. Jack has directed several national-scale studies for the Water Research Foundation, concentrating on key factors that influence water demand, future uncertainties and information needs. He continues to support some of the largest water utilities in North America in demand forecasting, planning and program evaluation. Jack currently serves as a senior leader within Hazen’s Water Resources and Economic Services practice groups.

Linda Sawyer
Senior Process Engineer, Brown and Caldwell

Linda Sawyer, PhD, is a senior process engineer with over 20 years of experience in wastewater process engineering, including master planning, biological treatment process modeling, nutrient removal, aeration evaluations and recycled water. She has worked on multiple projects in California, where mandatory water conservation measures and a significant reduction in flows have resulted in unintended consequences for wastewater facilities. Linda presented at WEFTEC (2016) and WateReuse California (2017) on declining flows. She holds a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley and is a registered professional engineer in California.

Abhishek Bhargava is the senior manager of operations at Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant. He joined EPCOR in December 2004 as a process control engineer, and in 2009, was promoted to the role of senior manager of operations at Edmonton’s water treatment plant. He assumed his current position in 2014. Abhishek holds a BTech in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and an MSc in process control from the University of Alberta.

Simon Horsley is Stantec’s water quality lead and provides technical support related to treatment and distribution system chemistry in Canada and the U.S. His treatment process work includes modeling and optimization of conventional coagulation and pH/alkalinity and disinfection, with a focus on producing a biologically and chemically-stable finished water quality. Simon’s distribution system work includes building and analyzing predictive water quality model animations to evaluate dynamic parameters such as disinfectant decay, breakpoint reactions, disinfection by-product formation and solids accumulation. He also has significant experience investigating and mitigating corrosion and chloramine optimization.

Luke Kurach is the manager of system condition assessment with EPCOR Drainage and has 16 years of experience, including construction and project management, water and wastewater infrastructure design. Luke’s education and training includes a BSc in civil engineering, a Management Development Certificate for professional engineers and geoscientists and a certificate in asset management from The Institute of Asset Management. Currently Luke is working on condition assessment programs and capital planning. His key focus areas are inventory data analysis, inspection plans, condition rating and asset deterioration modelling.

Fernando Sacluti is a general supervisor at EPCOR, where he is responsible for directing, administering and coordinating the activities of the infrastructure planning group. This group develops capital strategies (including the odour mitigation strategy) and city-wide servicing plans, assesses system capacity and engages the City of Edmonton’s planning areas and the Urban Development Institute. After nine years in the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant as a senior engineer, Fernando moved to the drainage planning and engineering group at EPCOR. He has 19 years of experience in drainage services.

• Tyler Sutton, PSD Inc.
• Robert Haller, Canadian Water and Wastewater Association
• Bu Lam, Canadian Water Network
• Daryush Esmaili, City of Guelph

Michèle Prévost
NSERC Industrial Chair on Drinking Water
Professor (Civil Engineering), Polytechnique Montréal

Michèle Prévost, PhD, has more than 25 years of experience in research and technology in water treatment and distribution. She has completed several projects to investigate filtration and disinfection in treatment plants and distribution systems. She was the principal investigator on two Canadian Water Network projects: Developing a comprehensive strategy to reduce lead at the tap in Canada (2008-2012), and Evaluating the impacts of partial lead service line replacements on water quality (2012-2015).

Dr. Prévost has extensive experience in managing multidisciplinary research projects with numerous partners, including some from overseas. In 1998, she received the George Fuller Award from American Water Works Association (AWWA) for “steady production of research results that are useful to utilities.’’ In June 2016, she received the A.P. Black Research Award from AWWA in recognition of her outstanding research contributions to water science and water supply over her career.

Graham Gagnon
NSERC/Halifax Water Industrial Chair
Professor (Civil and Resource Engineering), Dalhousie University

Graham Gagnon, PhD, is the Director for the Centre for Water Resources Studies at Dalhousie University. His professional and research interests focus on the management of water quality and treatment for natural and engineered systems. During his career he has worked on applied water research projects for municipalities in Atlantic Canada, as well as private companies, provincial departments, federal agencies and First Nation communities.

Dr. Gagnon was a co-investigator with Dr. Prévost in two CWN projects: Developing a comprehensive strategy to reduce lead at the tap in Canada (2008-2012), and Evaluating the impacts of partial lead service line replacements on water quality (2012-2015). In 2014, Dr. Gagnon received the George Warren Fuller Award from AWWA in recognition of his exceptional contributions in water research.

Elise Deshommes
Research Associate
Civil Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal

Elise Deshommes, P.Eng, PhD, is a research associate at the NSERC Chair on Drinking Water at Polytechnique Montreal. She holds a bachelor in civil engineering from ESTP (Paris, France) and a PhD in civil engineering (water treatment) from Polytechnique Montreal. Between 2012 and 2015, she was project manager for Canadian Water Network’s project on partial lead service line replacements. Since 2010, she has authored and co-authored 11 peer-reviewed papers related to lead in drinking water and consumer exposure.

Trevor Brown manages the Region of Waterloo’s engineering and wastewater programs. His group is responsible for administering their wastewater treatment facilities’ operations and maintenance contract with Ontario Clean Water Agency, while also supporting capital projects relating to wastewater infrastructure renewal. Trevor also supports updates to the Region’s Wastewater and Biosolids Master Plan. Prior to joining the Region in 2008, Trevor held various engineering roles within the private sector. He holds a bachelor of applied science and master of applied science in environmental engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Conrad Allain is director of technical services for the Greater Moncton Wastewater Commission and is responsible for the planning and implementation of new projects, as well as upgrading existing assets to new standards. Mr. Allain was director of operations for the Commission for over 15 years and was on the design team during construction of Greater Moncton’s wastewater collection and treatment system. He played a key role in implementing a biosolids management program and managed the design and construction of a biosolids composting facility which features low manpower and energy use, efficient odor control and a unique compost heat recovery system.

Dr. Jan Oleszkiewicz is a Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Manitoba. He has published 500 papers and several books, and worked as an international consultant and advisor to several international corporations on design and implementation of nutrient removal and recovery and biosolids management for over 30 years. Jan is Vice-President – Western Region of the Canadian Association on Water Quality and active in International Water Association (IWA) where he chaired the Nutrient Removal and Recovery group. He is presently involved in master plan activities for wastewater and bio-solids infrastructure in Canada and the USA.

Damian Kruk has been involved in research on nutrient removal and recovery, developing a mainstream anammox process as well as process for simultaneous nitrification and electrokinetic phosphorus precipitation and recovery. He has expertise in plant process modeling and troubleshooting and rerating of biological nutrient removal facilities.

Tanner Devlin has been conducting research on aerobic granular sludge in batch and continuous process configurations. He has expertise in electrokinetic phosphorus removal from wastewater and was involved in developing technologies for nutrient removal from cold effluents. He has experience with treatment of industrial wastewater and removal of nanomaterials in biological processes.

Dr. Uldis Silins is a professor of forest hydrology at the University of Alberta, where his research over the past two decades has focused on impacts of natural (i.e., wildfire and Mountain Pine Beetle) and human disturbance (i.e., forestry operations) on hydrology, water quality and aquatic ecology of forested source waters.

Dr. Monica Emelko is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Waterloo. Her research interests are focused on drinking water supply and treatment, particularly as related to sustainable technology design and optimization, risk analysis, integrated resource management, climate change impacts on water, groundwater under the influence of surface water, and quantitative microbial risk assessment.

Dr. Mike Stone is a professor in geography and environmental management at the University of Waterloo. His research is focused on land use change and its impact on surface water quality in natural and built environments. The goal of his research is to quantify and model the source, transport and fate of sediment-associated contaminants in aquatic environments to provide evidence-based science for policy development and environmental management.

Dr. Jorge Loyo studied the fate, transport and effects of ESOCs as a postdoctoral scholar at Ryerson University and the University of California – Berkeley, and as an Assistant Professor at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico. Jorge holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Maryland – College Park, and a BSc in Food Chemistry from the National University of Mexico. He currently lives in Houston, Texas.