Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences
University of Alberta
Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences, former Canada Research Chair (Tier 1), and Special Advisor, Faculty Relations, Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic), at the University of Alberta. His research has focused on the economic valuation of environmental amenities and ecosystem services and the incorporation of environmental values into economic analysis, with applications to outdoor recreation, health, water quality, air quality, endangered species, forests, and agriculture. His research also involves the analysis of economic choice behaviour with applications to food demand, recreation, and environmental quality.
Mr. Adamowicz is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Academy II - Social Sciences, awarded in 2007. He became a Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in 2025, a Fellow of the Canadian Environmental and Resource Economics Association in 2024, a Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists in 2019, and a Fellow of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society in 2011.
Mr. Adamowicz has extensive leadership experience as an academic administrator, including as a vice-dean for 10 years at the University of Alberta and a member of several senior leadership committees. He also has experience in research leadership, including having been the scientific director of a national interdisciplinary forestry research network.
Hari Balasubramanian
Founding Managing Partner, EcoAdvisors
Board Member, Nature United
Recognized as Canada's top Consultant/Enabler by Clean Leaders in 2021, Hari Balasubramanian is a proven sustainability expert who is driven by the belief that all types of capital can be deployed to achieve impact. He has worked alongside over 300 projects in five languages and over 60 countries and influenced over US$6 billion in sustainability-oriented financing, helping protect threatened species, forests, oceans, and the people who depend upon them. Mr. Balasubramanian is the founder of EcoAdvisors, a Certified B Corporation and Top Impact Company recognized by Real Leaders; and EcoInvestors Capital, which together advise and invest for sustainability at scale. He is also a co-founder of THE NAT and is launching a global platform company to invest in and operationalize nature-positive landscapes.
Previously, Mr. Balasubramanian led impact due diligence, measurement, and reporting at Conservation International. He currently serves as a director for several environmental charities and funds; a mentor to start-ups; and an advisor to investors, corporates, and governments on the value of nature and the future of sustainability. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from McGill University and a Master of Science in Geography (Distinction) from Oxford University.
Valérie Courtois
Executive Director, Indigenous Leadership Initiative
Valérie Courtois is a national leader in the movement of Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship. She is the Executive Director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, an organization that supports Indigenous Nations in honouring the responsibility to care for lands and waters. The Indigenous Leadership Initiative has worked directly with First Nations to advance their leadership on the land and has helped secure federal funding for Indigenous Guardians programs and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. Ms. Courtois is also a registered professional forester specializing in Indigenous issues, forest ecology, and ecosystem-based management and planning. She is a member of the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, located on the shore of Pekuakami, or Lac-Saint-Jean, and lives in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Dr. Andrew (Andy) Day
Chief Executive Officer, BC Parks Foundation
The Chief Executive Officer and Company Director with experience in natural resources and environmental businesses and non-profits. With a track record in new business, organizational development, and raising funds, Mr. Day brings an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset to achieve rapid growth and success. He is able to solve complex challenges through pragmatism and fluency in economics, ecology, and politics. Mr. Day is a natural leader and communicator with brand acumen and extensive relationships across governmental, Indigenous, business, philanthropic, and community sectors.
Dr. Stewart Elgie
Jarislowsky Chair, Clean Economy and Innovation
Professor of Law and Economics, University of Ottawa
Stewart Elgie is a professor of law and economics at the University of Ottawa and Jarislowsky Chair in Clean Economy and Innovation. He received his Master of Laws from Harvard University, and his doctorate (J.S.D.) from Yale University. He is also the founder and chair of the Smart Prosperity Institute, Canada's major green economy think-tank and policy-research institute. In addition, he co-founded Canada's Ecofiscal Commission. His research addresses market-based approaches to solve environmental problems and drive green innovation, with a particular focus on building a nature-smart economy.
Mr. Elgie started his career as an environmental lawyer in Alaska, litigating over the Valdez oil spill. He returned to Canada and founded Ecojustice, now Canada's largest non-profit environmental law organization. He was counsel on many precedent-setting cases and spearheaded the creation of the Species at Risk Act. He was later hired by The Pew Charitable Trusts as founding executive director of the multi-stakeholder Canadian Boreal Initiative. Prior to his faculty position at the University of Ottawa in 2004, Mr. Elgie held appointments at several Canadian universities (the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, and York University). He has served on or chaired many advisory bodies in the environment/sustainability area, including Canada's Economic Strategy Tables. In 2001, Mr. Elgie was awarded the Law Society of Upper Canada Medal for exceptional lifetime contributions to law. He is one of the youngest people ever to receive the profession's highest honour.
Joanna Eyquem, P.Geo., ENV SP, CWEM, CEnv
Vice-President, Climate Risk Institute
Joanna Eyquem is an internationally recognized and accomplished leader with over 25 years of national and international experience in climate adaptation and nature-based solutions. Ms. Eyquem's areas of expertise include reducing flooding, river and coastal erosion, and extreme heat risk, in particular working with nature and the financial sector. She is experienced in the development of national guidance on climate resilience and nature-based solutions, including disclosures of natural assets and the ecosystem services they provide in financial statements and sustainability reporting.
Ms. Eyquem serves on over 30 boards and committees advancing national adaptation efforts across the country. She is professionally qualified in both Canada and the United Kingdom as a Professional Geoscientist (P.Geo.), Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP), Chartered Water and Environmental Manager (CWEM), and Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv).
Craig Losos
Vice-President, Central Canada, Nature Conservancy of Canada
Craig Losos joined the Nature Conservancy of Canada in the fall of 2021 to lead the new Nature and Climate Projects Accelerator group. He is now Vice-President, Central Canada, where he oversees all aspects of delivery across Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Mr. Losos continues to oversee the Accelerator team Canada-wide. The Nature Conservancy of Canada leverages nature markets and innovative financing mechanisms to advance their core conservation mission.
Prior to his time at the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Mr. Losos led environment teams at TC Energy on major capital project development in British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. Before TC Energy, Mr. Losos led habitat restoration projects at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. He began his career in consulting with Stantec, where he worked on projects in coastal British Columbia, Ontario, and the Canadian Arctic. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Queen's University, a Master of Science from Simon Fraser University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Calgary.
Bertrand Millot
Head of Sustainability, La Caisse
Bertrand Millot steers the development of La Caisse's sustainable investing strategies, including its climate policy. As such, he is responsible for defining the major strategic orientations in this area and asserting the organization's leadership in sustainable investing with internal and external stakeholders. He participates in major global forums and maintains open dialogue with civil society. Mr. Millot also represents the organization before the board of directors, depositors, and other partners on climate issues. Lastly, he contributes to La Caisse's international outreach on sustainability.
Mr. Millot is one of the architects of La Caisse's climate strategy and a seasoned investor in infrastructure and corporate debt in growth markets, where sustainability considerations have always been at the forefront. He joined La Caisse in 2015 and has held several positions in sustainable investing and risk management, including supporting the Fixed Income, Capital Solutions, Infrastructure, and Cross-Sectoral Risk teams.
Prior to joining La Caisse, Mr. Millot was Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Cordiant Capital, a fund manager specializing in corporate debt in emerging markets. In his early career, he worked in infrastructure project financing at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London and BNP Paribas in Paris.
Mr. Millot holds a Master of Business Administration from McGill University and a master's degree in engineering from École nationale supérieure d'Arts et Métiers, Paris, and is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors. Since 2022, he has worked with Competent Boards as an expert, providing courses and training for corporate directors and executives. He sits on the Quebec government's Advisory Committee on Climate Change, as well as on the Boards of Ceres, a United States' non-governmental organization leader on sustainability issues; the Datamars Sustainability Foundation; and the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation.
Geneviève Morin
Retired President and Chief Executive Officer, Fondaction
Geneviève Morin helped establish Fondaction in 1996 and held various senior positions there, including Chief Investment Officer, before being appointed President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2020. Originally from the Québec City area, Ms. Morin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Concordia University and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from HEC Montréal, in addition to having completed the Securities Broker course. Before joining Fondaction, she worked for a dozen years for the Mouvement Desjardins in communications, cooperative development, and credit.
Dr. Lara O'Donnell
Executive Director, Weston Family Foundation
Lara O'Donnell is the Executive Director of the Weston Family Foundation, where she leads the Foundation's strategy, partnerships, and program delivery in support of long-term healthy aging for Canadians and the protection and restoration of healthy ecosystems. Working closely with the board of directors and a multidisciplinary professional team, she helps advance ambitious, evidence-informed initiatives that strengthen Canada's resilience, competitiveness, and capacity for innovation. She also serves on the boards of Philanthropic Foundations Canada and Grey Matter Neurosciences.
Before joining the Foundation, Ms. O'Donnell served as Director of Research Partnerships at Element AI, a Canadian technology scale-up, where she designed and implemented the company's research partnership strategy. She has held senior leadership roles across Canada's research and innovation sector, including Senior Director of Research at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and Director of the Accelerate and Elevate programs at Mitacs, with a focus on building productive bridges between academia, industry, philanthropy, and public-interest innovation.
Ms. O'Donnell brings a strong scientific foundation to her leadership. Her postdoctoral research at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital focused on the mechanisms involved in DNA sensing and repair, and her doctoral research at McGill University examined the processes of cell division. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from McMaster University and the University of Leeds, England. Her work has been recognized through several awards, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Science to Business Award, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Postdoctoral Award, and the Excellence in Radiation Research for the 21st Century (EIRR21st) Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Dr. Paige Olmsted
Director, Research and Strategy, Nature Investment Hub
Paige Olmsted is an environmental scientist whose research focuses on financial mechanisms and enabling conditions to catalyze interest in nature. Her expertise centres on ecosystem services, nature-based solutions for climate change, ecological economics, and environmental and relational values. With a common thread of connecting people and nature, her work has spanned from rural agricultural settings in Latin America and Southeast Asia to advocating for change in international policy settings and providing sustainability guidance to private sector actors. In this work and in past positions at the Smart Prosperity Institute, the Copenhagen Business School, the Earth Institute in New York City, and the United Nations Environment Programme in Geneva, she enjoys working with a range of stakeholders, including communities, non-governmental organizations, various scales of government, academia, and the private sector. Ms. Olmsted maintains affiliations with the Smart Prosperity Institute and the University of British Columbia. She holds a doctorate from the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia and a master's in environmental science and policy from Columbia University.
Jonathan Parenteau, MBA, BMgt, LLB (Candidate)
Director of Corporate Finance, Scout Engineering and Consulting
Professor, University of Ottawa
Jonathan Parenteau, an Indigenous business leader, is a nation builder and relational systems architect working at the intersection of governance, finance, and institutional design. He joined Scout Engineering and Consulting in 2025 and brings over 15 years of experience advising Indigenous governments, institutions, and partners on governance reform, financial systems design, and long-term capacity building.
At Scout Engineering and Consulting, he leads corporate finance and helps co-develop practical, values-aligned solutions that translate community priorities into durable operating models, supporting infrastructure delivery, major-project participation, accountability, and long-term asset stewardship. He currently serves on the Indigenous Advisory Group of the Public Sector Accounting Board, contributing to the evolution of public-sector reporting standards with Indigenous government realities in mind. He is a member of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.
Mr. Parenteau is also a professor at the University of Ottawa, teaching and mentoring on governance, institutional accountability, and rights-based policy frameworks (including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Section 35). He is Co-Director of the Natural Capital Valuation Hub, a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant initiative advancing applied approaches to natural capital accounting and nature-aligned finance.
Renée Pichard, FCPA, FCA
Member, International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board
Chair, Natural Resources Project
Renée Pichard is a senior finance leader with more than 30 years of experience helping organizations strengthen financial management, governance, and accountability across the public and private sectors.
A former Deloitte partner and Assistant Auditor General of Canada, Ms. Pichard has extensive experience advising governments and public sector organizations on accounting, financial management, governance, and more recently, sustainability and natural capital reporting. While serving as Assistant Auditor General, she led the national financial audit practice, including the audit of the Public Accounts of Canada. Prior to her public sector career, her experience included corporate finance leadership in the technology sector.
Ms. Pichard has been contributing to standard setting in Canada and internationally for more than 15 years. She currently serves as a member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, where she chairs the Sustainability Implementation Forum and, as the Chair of the Natural Resources Project, leads the development of natural capital accounting implementation guidance.
Robyn Seetal, CPA, CA
Founder and Principal, IkTaar Sustainability Advisory
Robyn Seetal is a sustainability leader, recognized for her expertise in natural capital, nature finance, and the integration of nature into financial decision-making. As an Ambassador for the Capitals Coalition and founder and principal of IkTaar Sustainability, she helps organizations embed natural capital into strategy, risk management, and investment decisions, drawing on her unique combination of enterprise risk management, accounting, and sustainability expertise to accelerate the transition to a regenerative economy.
A recognized thought leader in natural capital accounting and nature-related financial policy, Robyn most recently served as senior policy advisor to Canada's Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature, where she led the government's work on nature finance and natural capital. Previously, she served as advisor and deputy chief of staff to the co-chair and vice-chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, where she led a pioneering initiative to mobilize private sector capital for nature-positive outcomes and strengthen the role of nature within the global sustainable finance agenda.
Dr. Rashid Sumaila
Canada Research Chair, (Tier I), in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics, University of British Columbia
Rashid Sumaila is Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics, Tier 1, and University Killam Professor, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Mr. Sumaila specializes in bioeconomics; marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues, such as fisheries subsidies; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; and the economics of high-sea and deep-sea fisheries.
Mr. Sumaila has experience working in fisheries and natural resource projects in Norway, Canada and the North Atlantic region, Namibia and the southern African region, Ghana and the West African region, and Hong Kong and the South China Sea. In 2021, he published the book Infinity Fish: Economics and the Future of Fish and Fisheries. He has published articles in several journals, including the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management; the Journal of Bioeconomics; Land Economics; Nature; Science, the ICES Journal of Marine Science; Environmental and Resource Economics; and Ecological Economics. Mr. Sumaila's work has generated great interest, and has been cited by, among others, The Economist; The Boston Globe; the International Herald Tribune; and The Vancouver Sun.
