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2011 Toronto Event 

ABOUT  |  SUMMARY |  SPEAKERS  

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GHG Workshop Facilitator

Bill Palmer -  P.Eng, MBA, EP(GHG) - Vice President, Cheminfo Services Inc.
 

Bill Palmer has over twenty years of industry and consulting experience, and is a leader in greenhouse gas verification in Canada. He specializes in work involving greenhouse gas management studies within the energy field, including the oil and gas, petroleum refining, and electric power generation sectors. He develops accurate environmental release inventories for a variety of businesses, sectors, and regions and evaluates the technical studies of the effectiveness, costs, and related impacts of pollution and greenhouse gas mitigation technologies. Bill holds a Chemical Engineering degree and an MBA from the University of Toronto.

ECO Canada recently interviewed Bill to find out things he has learnt from his experience in the GHG verification realm and his thoughts on this profession now and in the future. Click here to read the interview.

Stakeholder Engagement Workshop Facilitators

Lou Locatelli - C.E.T., EP, P. Geo. – Director, Church & Trought Ltd

Lou Locatelli, Director at Church & Trought Ltd., has over 35 years of environmental consulting experience.  Mr. Locatelli specializes in peer review services, managing property assessments, site remediation and conducting regulatory compliance audits. Lou is very familiar with federal, provincial and municipal environmental and health and safety legislation, regulations and guidelines. He has appeared before the Ontario Municipal Board, (O.M.B.) as an expert witness.

Mr. Locatelli is vice chair of the Canadian Environmental Certification Approval Board (CECAB). He has prepared educational programs for private sector clients, universities and colleges dealing with regulatory compliance auditing and Phase I and II investigations. Lou has also developed and presented certification courses on Basic Fall Prevention, Hazardous Materials and Spill Response, Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), and environmental due diligence.

Lou continues to upgrade his skills through extension courses and seminars. This ongoing training has previously included certifcations related to the 40 hour OSHA Standard 29CFR 1910.120, Confined Space Entry, WHMIS, Transport of Dangerous Goods (TDG), Standard First Aid, and CPR.

Diane Szoller - EP - Independent Public Relations and Communications Consultant

Diane Szoller has a long history of stakeholder engagement experience through projects involving multi-sector initiatives and trainings. Her work experience in both the private and non-profit sectors includes finance, marketing, project development and 20 years of delivering replicable best practices towards environmental change.

Highlights:

• Diane is currently bringing a cross section of stakeholders together for a community forum in September to be facilitated by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA). The forum will communicate the value of renewable energy and build capacity toward the initiation of new community power projects, specifically a Solar PV Renewable Energy Co-operative partnership by March 2012. More about the project here.
   

• Diane helped establish a municipal task force on energy and air emissions as a representative of a municipal advisory committee. She asked the City to create a baseline of 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption similar to other cities. She then helped recruit task force members from the Chamber of Commerce, public health, the university and college, corporations, utilities and NGOs to ensure a breadth of committee expertise and uptake of task force outcomes.
   

• Last year, Diane spearheaded a Safe Routes to School provincial Travel Planning pilot through the local stakeholder committee that she helped start in 2001. Key community stakeholders (school boards, municipalities, police, public health, parents, educators and children) work together to identify and solve their school transportation and infrastructure problems that prevent children from walking to school. 3 schools participated.

   

Along with management and financial academic credentials, Diane is a certified EP specialized in Communications and has recently completed adult learning/training principals from Brock University. 
 

As the workshop facilitator, Diane will teach techniques to support problem-solving, performance, and effective group processes and decision-making . Diane looks forward to the sharings in the workshop, especially dialogue related to workplace and community needs. 

 

Luncheon Keynote Speaker
 

Michael DeWit - EP, MBA, BA - Technical Director, ICF International

Michael DeWit has more than 26 years of environmental and transportation experience. He has worked across Canada and North America, and advises colleagues globally.

Starting his environmental career as a technician conducting field studies, Michael has worked in over 30 sectors and has completed more than 1000 projects, which have ranged from one-day to longer than six-years.

Michael focuses on the development of systematic and programmatic approaches to the management of environmental issues and has worked extensively in all media. Michael now advises clients, as a working member of their environmental teams, on initiatives ranging from detailed technical studies to organizational strategy and governance issues. 

Michael has numerous environmental and sustainability certifications, though his EP is his longest standing.

Luncheon Moderator and Case Study Presenter

Tonya Lagrasta - BA, EP - Manager, Community Leadership, KPMG

Tonya Lagrasta is the National Manager of Community Leadership for KPMG Canada.  In this role she is primarily responsible for developing the firm’s national Sustainability Strategy, supporting its integration, strengthening employee and broader stakeholder engagement, and reporting environmental performance.  Her scope of work also includes providing direction to the firm’s national sustainability office champion network, as well as the development and deployment of programs, which support the firm’s Sustainability and Community Leader strategies at the national, local and personal level. 

A certified Environmental Professional (EP), with more than eight years experience in the sustainability and environmental compliance sectors.  Tonya’s educational background includes undergraduate work in Environmental Studies and Geography, as well as post-graduate studies in Corporate Communications. 

A very passionate advocate for social and environmental sustainability, Tonya involves herself in the communities in which she lives and works.  She is currently the Ontario Region Chapter Leader for ECO Canada, and sits on the Board of Directors for the not-for-profit organization Big Art For Little Minds.