ASC Connect 2020 Speakers

The Honourable Travis Toews
President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance

Minister Toews was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta on April 16, 2019, as the MLA for Grande Prairie-Wapiti.

A lifelong resident of Alberta, Toews and his wife live in the Grande Prairie region and have three children and eight grandchildren. He has considerable business experience, and holds a CPA, CMA accounting designation and, prior to pursuing business interests, spent twelve years in a public accounting practice. In the past 15 years, he and his wife Kim, have invested in, managed and grown a corporate family cattle ranching operation and an oilfield environmental company.

Toews has served as a Director on a number of local non-profit boards, as well as provincial and national industry boards and committees including the Alberta Beef Producers and the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance. He was elected President of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association in 2010 and served until the term end in 2012. Toews co-chaired the Agri-Innovators Committee for then federal Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz.

As a Canadian representative on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation committee on food security and a member of the Country of Origin Labelling Canadian World Trade Organization Legal working group, Toews has worked globally to support Canadian interests in international trade. In 2012, he received the QEll Diamond Jubilee Award presented by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General David Johnston for contributions to Canadian Agriculture and Trade.

Travis Toews was appointed as Alberta’s President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance on April 30, 2019.

Dan Balaban
Founder, President and CEO, Greengate Power

Dan is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Greengate Power, a leading Canadian renewable energy company. Based in Calgary, Dan is an award-winning entrepreneur with a proven track record of successful business ventures.

Dan leads the Greengate team, which has been successfully developing renewable energy projects of unprecedented scale in Canada for more than a decade. To date, Greengate has developed nearly $2 billion of operating or near-construction renewable energy projects, including Canada’s largest wind and solar energy projects, providing clean energy to more than 350,000 homes.

Prior to starting Greengate, Dan was the Founder, President and CEO of Roughneck.ca, a leading provider of software solutions to the Canadian oil and gas industry. Prior to that, Dan worked as a management consultant with EY and PwC.

Dan graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science. He was named one of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People in 2010 and 2013 by Alberta Venture magazine, a winner of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Prairies in 2012, and named one of Canada’s Clean50 for 2015.

Brian Felesky
Chairman, InterGen

Brian Felesky was a founding partner of Felesky Flynn LP where he specialized in corporate tax law. He was Deputy Chair, Investment Banking (Canada) at Credit Suisse Securities and is a past director of Suncor Energy Ltd, Precision Drilling Ltd, TransCanada Power and others. Brian is currently a director of Cequence Energy Ltd., is co-founder and member of “The Alberta Advantage Fund and Complementary Initiatives Submission” for the Alberta Government. He is co-founder and board chair of InterGen, a fund for post start-up technology corporations and to match mentors with young entrepreneurs; acts as a senior advisor for Funder formally known as Match Play, an international lottery technology for charity lotteries and Creative Destructive Labs, providing funding and guidance to technology start-ups at the University of Calgary. Brian is also a senior advisor to the Windmill formerly known as Immigration Access Fund and Paradise Spirits.

Laura J. Kilcrease
CEO, Alberta Innovates

Laura Kilcrease is the Chief Executive Officer for Alberta Innovates, including its subsidiaries InnoTech Alberta and C-FER Technologies.

Recruited from Austin, Texas, Laura is the founder and former-managing director of the venture capital fund Triton Ventures, LP. She is widely recognized as one of the key figures in changing Austin’s economic landscape from one struggling with the economic ups and downs that come with oil dependence to a high-tech environment that is today recognized as one of the #1 Entrepreneur City and best place to live and work in the U.S.

She is the founder of the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), one of the United States’ early technology business incubators, and co-founder of the Austin Technology Council, a premier networking organization that cultivated the growth of the Austin economy. Laura also launched Capital Network, one of the largest angel investor networks in the U.S. with over $150 million in completed transactions.

Laura has more than 25 years of hands-on experience in commercializing technology, and a deep understanding of how to identify and build new business opportunities. Prior to accepting the role as Alberta Innovates’ CEO, Laura was a seven-year member of the Alberta Research and Innovation Advisory Committee, which guided the former Alberta Innovates’ corporations.

In Austin, she gave her time and expertise to a number of non-profit boards, including the Women’s Leadership Advisory Board of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, the Beyster Institute, World Congress for Information Technology 2006, and the IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, among many others.

Laura has often been recognized for her outstanding achievements. She has received numerous honors and awards, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Austin Business Journal’s Profiles in Power Award, and the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Women in Business Leadership Conference Trailblazer Award.

Born in London, Laura received her certification as a Chartered Management Accountant in the U.K. and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Texas. In her downtime, Laura enjoys cooking and fishing with her husband.

Stan Magidson
Chair and CEO, Alberta Securities Commission

Stan possesses extensive experience in corporate governance and securities law and regulation. Before joining the ASC in July 2016, he was President, CEO and Director of the Institute of Corporate Directors and Chair of the Global Network of Director Institutes.

Prior, Stan was a partner for 21 years with a national law firm in the business law group where he advised corporate issuers, investors, financial intermediaries and boards of directors across the country on securities law, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance matters. Stan currently serves on the international board of the Weizmann Institute of Science and the board of Weizmann Canada.

Stan holds an LL.M in Corporate Law from New York University and an LL.B from the University of Ottawa.

John McKenzie
Chief Executive Officer, TMX Group

John McKenzie is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TMX Group and is a member of the TMX Group Board of Directors and also a member of the Board of Directors of several TMX Group subsidiaries.

Prior to his appointment as CEO on August 17, 2020, Mr. McKenzie served as TMX Group Chief Financial Officer and was responsible for corporate strategy, corporate development, investor relations and the financial management of the company as well as for the administrative oversight of TMX Group’s Capital Formation business.

Working with TMX for over 20 years, Mr. McKenzie’s career has included senior roles within Corporate Strategy and Development and Corporate Finance. He has led financial and strategic planning efforts and managed various TMX acquisitions, including the Maple transaction, the acquisitions of Montréal Exchange and Trayport, as well as the resulting integration initiatives.

From July 2015 to August 2016, he served as President of CDS, Canada’s equity and fixed income clearing house and a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMX Group. Prior to that he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and CFO of CDS.

Mr. McKenzie is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA) and has an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University and an Honours BA from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has served on a number of boards, and currently is a member of The Accounting Standards Oversight Council.

Dr. Jack Mintz
Economist and President’s Fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy

Dr. Jack M. Mintz is the President’s Fellow of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary after serving as the Palmer Chair and founding Director from January 1, 2008 to June 30, 2015.

He also serves on the board of Imperial Oil Limited and is the National Policy Advisor for Ernst & Young. He has also become a Distinguished Senior Fellow, MacDonald-Laurier Institute, Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute and a director of the Canada West Foundation. He is also a regulator contributor to the Financial Post and is a member of the editorial board of International Tax and Public Finance.

Dr. Mintz held the position of Professor of Business Economics at the Rotman School of Business from 1989-2007 and Department of Economics at Queen’s University, Kingston, 1978-89. He was a Visiting Professor, Columbia Law School, 2015; New York University Law School, 2007; President and CEO of the C. D. Howe Institute from 1999-2006; Clifford Clark Visiting Economist at the Department of Finance, Ottawa; and Associate Dean (Academic) of the Faculty of Management, University of Toronto, 1993 – 1995. He was founding Editor-in-Chief of International Tax and Public Finance, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers from 1994 – 2001.

He chaired the federal government’s Technical Committee on Business Taxation in 1996 and 1997 that led to corporate tax reform in Canada since 2000. He also served on numerous panels and boards at the federal and provincial levels including Vice-President and chair of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council 2012-2018, chair of the Alberta Financial Investment and Planning Advisory Commission 2007 and Chair of the Alberta Premier’s Economic Recovery Council 2020.

Dr. Mintz has consulted widely with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, federal and provincial governments in Canada, and various businesses and non-profit organizations in Canada and abroad.

Dr. Mintz became a member of the Order of Canada in 2015 as well as receiving the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 for service to the Canadian tax policy community. He has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal as one of the top global experts on corporate taxation since 2016.

Alice Reimer
Site Lead, Creative Destruction Lab - Rockies

Alice Reimer is a successful technology entrepreneur and dedicated community leader and mentor.

Currently as Site Lead of Creative Destruction Lab Rockies, Alice works with Canadian academic, government and investment organizations to help accelerate technology companies with the potential to transform the world’s social, industrial, and economic landscape.

As a technology entrepreneur, Alice led ground-breaking SaaS companies for global retail giants such as Walmart, Home Depot and LEGO earning her national recognition with PROFIT W100’s designation as one of Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs, and Alberta Venture as one of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People.

Alice is a co-founder and director of The51, a financial platform for democratized access to female capital for female led businesses, serves on the board of Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund, Syantra Diagnostics Inc. and is the former Board Chair of Startup Calgary and The A100.

Nancy Southern
Chair and CEO, ATCO Ltd., Executive Chair, Canadian Utilities Limited

Nancy Southern is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of ATCO Ltd., as well as Executive Chair of Canadian Utilities Limited, an ATCO company. She is also Executive Vice President of Spruce Meadows, a Founding Director of AKITA Drilling Ltd., an Honorary Director of the BMO Financial Group and serves on the Rideau Hall Foundation Board of Directors.

Ms. Southern supports some of the world’s most prestigious organizations. She is a member of The U.S. Business Council, the American Society of Corporate Executives, the South Australian Minerals and Petroleum Expert Group and a Canadian Member of the Trilateral Commission. In 2017, she was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.

In addition to her business leadership, she advocates on social issues of global importance, including the role of women in business and the rights of Indigenous Peoples. She is an Honorary Chief of the Kainai (Blood Tribe of Alberta) and was given the name Aksistoowa'paakii, or Brave Woman, in 2012.

Mac Van Wielingen
Founder and Partner, ARC Financial and Viewpoint

Mac Van Wielingen is an energy executive, private equity investor, corporate director and philanthropist. He is the founder and chair of Viewpoint Group, a founding partner of the Creative Destruction Lab and is the vice chair and founding member of the Business Council of Alberta. Most recently, he was appointed to serve on the Alberta Premier’s Economic Recovery Council. Mac’s knowledge, expertise, and primary experience is the product of over 35 years in the financial and energy sectors. He is a founder, director (1989-2018) and partner of ARC Financial Corporation, the largest private equity investment management company in Canada focused on the energy sector. Mac is also a Founder and former Chair (1996-2016) of ARC Resources Ltd. In addition to the above, he has served as a director for approximately 15 different companies in the energy sector and is active in various capacities in the community and not-for-profit sector. 

Denise Weeres
Director, New Economy, Alberta Securities Commission

Denise works closely with staff from across the ASC to coordinate efforts to facilitate capital raising by Alberta businesses as well as to anticipate and act on issues and opportunities relating to emerging financial technologies. As part of that role she coordinates the ASC’s efforts in relation to the CSA Regulatory Sandbox and is engaged with efforts to assess securities regulatory enhancements that can assist access to capital for business while still protecting investors.

Denise’s prior experience includes Manager, Legal, Corporate Finance at the ASC, General Counsel to an E&P oil sands company during and after its going-public process on the TSX, Manager, Corporate Finance Policy at the predecessor to the TSX Venture Exchange as well as practising corporate and securities law in Calgary and Vancouver, acting on behalf of both large and small issuers and investment dealers in relation to various public and private financings and M&A transactions.

Denise holds an LL.B from the University of Alberta.

Kristina Williams
President and CEO, Alberta Enterprise Corporation

As the President and Chief Executive Officer of Alberta Enterprise Corporation (AEC), Kristina has led several of the corporation’s investments, attracting venture capital from key technology hubs in the U.S. and Canada. She also oversees the management of the Alberta Enterprise Fund and its 17 venture capital fund investments with assets under management of $1.6B and more than 200 technology companies. In addition she oversees AEC's industry development activities, creating access to external markets and mentors for Canadian entrepreneurs. She is a member of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Board of Governors and the North American Construction Group (NYSE/TSX: NOA) Board of Directors. She also serves on the Alberta Securities Commission New Economy Advisory Committee, and she is the Honorary Consul for Sweden in Northern Alberta.