Speakers

Charles “Duff” Sullivan
Country Leader, Managing Director, President Boeing Canada Operations Ltd.

Charles S. “Duff” Sullivan is the Country Leader, Managing Director, and Boeing Canada Operations Ltd President. He joined Boeing Global in August 2020, bringing the best of Boeing to Canada with a 104-year partnership, 550+ Canadian suppliers, 2,000 employees across 13 sites, and significant contributions to the Canadian economy.

Sullivan, a former general officer, has a 44-year career spanning the Royal Canadian Air Force and the private sector, with expertise in defence, aviation, aerospace, and leadership. His notable roles include commanding NATO’s Air Component in Afghanistan and serving in high-profile positions within the Canadian government. Sullivan is a seasoned aviator, having logged over 3,500 flight hours, and holds degrees from institutions like the Royal Military College of Canada and the Royal Air Force Command and Staff College.

Cole Rosentreter
CEO of Pegasus

Cole served 15 years in the Canadian Army as a paratrooper, including multiple operational deployments around the world. In 2018, he retired from the Army to launch Pegasus, an aerospace company developing autonomous aircraft to rapidly transform wildfire and disaster response into intelligence-driven operations through real-time, scalable imagery. Cole finished 1st in his Cohort at Draper University in Silicon Valley, is a NASA Technology semi-finalist in 2020, and recipient of the 2023 Princes Trust Global Sustainability Award from HRH King Charles III.

Dr. Jessica M. Shadian
President and CEO of Arctic360

Dr. Jessica M. Shadian is the President and CEO of Arctic360, Canada’s Premier Arctic think tank. During her 20 career she has lived and worked throughout the Nordic and North American Arctic as an Arctic researcher, professor, and consultant. Her peer reviewed articles, books, and media commentary focus on Arctic geopolitics, Arctic politics, Canadian Arctic foreign policy and diplomacy, Arctic infrastructure, critical minerals, and innovation.

Her expertise is regularly solicited by international media outlets, governments, think tanks, and other institutions throughout the circumpolar region and globally. Shadian holds a Ph.D. in Global Governance from the University of Delaware (2006) during which she wrote her dissertation at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), University of Cambridge, UK on an NSF award. She spent 5 years in the Norwegian High North as a researcher with the Barents Institute and a Senior Researcher with the High North Center for Business and Governance, Nord University, Bodø. In Bodø she was the co-creator and organiser of an Arctic Dialogue series which brought together state and local political leaders, oil and gas and other industry leaders, local Indigenous communities, and academia (from Norway, Alaska, and Greenland) concerned with Arctic offshore oil and gas development to share knowledge and ideas.

Shadian was later awarded a Marie Curie COFUND Fellowship award, where she worked as an Associate Professor at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Denmark followed by a two-year Nansen Professorship (June 2015-2017), co-funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Akureyri, Iceland. Having settled in Canada, her experiences around the Arctic made it clear that Canada needed its own Arctic specific think tank. Working in collaboration with colleagues around the North American Arctic (and the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History where she is a Distinguished Senior Fellow), Shadian dedicated herself full-time to build Arctic360.

Bruce Ennis
MEE Cluster Process Improvement Guru

Bruce Ennis is a Quality Management Professional with thirty years experience in the field of Quality, Process Improvement, and Lean. He’s been recognized for his accomplishments in Lean by being invited to present at the American Society for Quality’s (ASQ) Global Lean Summit and has published a whitepaper through the ASQ as well. Bruce is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Senior Member of the American Society for Quality. He has created Lean programs that have dramatically improved the speed, quality and profitability of numerous businesses from a wide variety of sectors – aeronautics, manufacturing, petroleum, administration…and even professional sports management. Bruce has consulted for multi-billion dollar conglomerates down to small family owned businesses and is passionate about supporting local manufacturers in process improvement.

Honourable Dale Nally
Member of the Legislative Assembly for St. Albert-Morinville

The Honourable Dale Nally was sworn in as the Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction on October 11, 2022 where he has taken regulatory red tape reduction to 32.5%. From April 30, 2019 to October 11, 2022 he served as the Associate Minister of Natural Gas and Electricity where he pioneered the Hydrogen Roadmap for Alberta, made changes to stabilize prices and save thousands of jobs in the natural gas industry, and oversaw a major build out of market-based renewable electricity. Prior to his service as an elected official, Minister Nally spent decades in the private sector, where he led and managed business units that generate between $50 million and $80 million in revenue. Minister Nally was first elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Morinville – St. Albert on April 16, 2019 and was re-elected on May 29, 2023. He has a Masters Degree in Education, speaks English and currently learning Spanish.

Dr. David Perry
President and Senior Analyst of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute

Dr. David Perry is the President of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. He is the host of the weekly Defence Deconstructed Podcast and author of multiple publications related to defence budgeting, transformation and procurement. He is also a columnist for the Canadian Naval Review. He received his PhD in political science from Carleton University where his dissertation examined the link between defence budgeting and defence procurement. He is an adjunct professor at the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary and a research fellow of the Centre for the Study of Security and Development at Dalhousie University. He was previously the Senior Security and Defence Analyst of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and Deputy Director of Dalhousie University’s Centre for Foreign Policy Studies. Embassy Magazine and The Hill Times has named him one of the “Top 100 Influencing Canadian Foreign Policy.”

Richard Gotfried
Chair Strategic Aviation Advisory Council - Alberta

Richard Gotfried was an MLA for Calgary-Fish Creek from May 2015 to May 2023. As an MLA, he introduced the council’s enabling legislation as a private member’s bill (Bill 201). He worked as district sales manager for Cathay Pacific Airways for 15 years and was vice-president of corporate and community engagement with Calgary Economic Development between 2011 and 2013.

Yuliia Marcinkoski
Co-founder of Type5 Canada

Yuliia Marcinkoski is a co-founder of Type5 Canada, where she works closely with government and public agencies to position Type5 as the world-class space tech company that drives change and accelerates the industry. Yuliia advises ecosystem startups and scaleups on growing their business in Canada and abroad. She gladly shares her expertise in ideation and product management, international business expansion, IP and ESG strategy, board governance, supply chain optimization, and automation.

Yuliia has a decade of experience with international business and non-profit impact projects and in facilitating and promoting foreign direct investment. Yuliia has a high-level network with local and international economic development agencies, businesses, and corporations in Canada, the US and Europe. She co-founded three tech-driven innovation companies and is a board member of multiple non-profits.

Chris Robson
CEO and co-founder of Wyvern Inc.

Chris Robson is the CEO and co-founder of Wyvern Inc. and was previously CEO of Cultovo, an agricultural analytics company. Before he was a space entrepreneur, Chris was an engineering and project leader with AlbertaSat. There he helped build and launch Alberta’s first satellite – Ex-Alta 1 which was deployed from the International Space Station in May 2017. While working on Ex-Alta 1 in his free time, Chris earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Alberta.

Madison C. Feehan

Madison C. Feehan is an early career professional and student based in Edmonton, AB, Canada. With a background in advanced lunar instrument development for NASA’s Planetary Science, Heliophysics, and Astrophysics divisions, and a Harvard Business School Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, in conjunction with an education in commerce, Madison seamlessly merges scientific expertise with a keen business acumen and stands at the intersection of space science, entrepreneurship, and STEM education. As the Founder and CEO/COO of Space Copy, an international lunar manufacturing company and Co-founder and CFO of Moon Trades, a lunar mining and robotics start-up, Madison leads groundbreaking initiatives, driving innovation in space technology and fostering accessible STEM education. Her commitment to shaping foreign policies for small businesses in STEM through volunteer work with consortiums including the United Nations, and mentoring others in space sciences, reflects her dedication to propelling the space industry forward through collaboration and visionary leadership.

Honourable Devin Dreeshen
Minister Of Transportation and Economic Corridors MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake

Devin Dreeshen was sworn in as Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors on October 24, 2022. He previously served as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Mr. Dreeshen is a fifth-generation local farm owner and Albertan. Farming near Pine Lake, he has a long record of community service. He is a former director of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, a former board member on the Crossroads Agricultural Society, and a volunteer at the Pine Lake Country Fair. He also served in Ottawa as a policy advisor to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz from 2008 to 2015, where he advocated for Canadian agriculture trade, improved rural infrastructure support, and lead the effort to end the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly. Devin Dreeshen was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake on July 12, 2018 and was re-elected on April 16, 2019 and May 29, 2023.

Darin Schuster, P.Eng., MBA
Director, Airport Planning & Engineering

Darin Schuster is an Aeronautical Engineer with 34 years working in the aerospace and aviation industry. He joined Edmonton Airports in 2009 and is currently the Director of Airport Planning and Engineering. While at Edmonton Airports he has been continuously involved with engineering, project delivery and capital planning and is responsible for the planning and delivery of the infrastructure capital program. Most recently his team has completed an update to Edmonton Airports Master Plan 2048.

Darin also previously worked for Magellan Aerospace in Winnipeg and L3 Communications/SPAR Aerospace in Edmonton on various Canadian and Foreign military programs including the US Army Hokum-X target program and structural and avionics systems upgrades for C130 Hercules and F5 Freedom Fighter. Prior to joining Edmonton Airports in 2009, he was Chief Design Engineer on the Royal New Zealand Air Force C130H Life Extension Program at L3 Communications/SPAR Aerospace.