Lisa Maria Fox, Water Resource Management & Public Policy

Lisa has a passion for helping communities develop sustainable community programs and initiatives! She has 12 years experience working with communities developing and delivering environmental projects and facilitating multi-stakeholder engagement for resource management. Lisa has worked with all levels of government, resource management planning and advisory groups, and with the private sector to develop conservation programs, management plans, and environmental policies. Lisa is respected for her several years of contribution to stewardship and civic capacity building projects, resource management partnerships and environmental advocacy groups. Lisa currently serves as Chair of the Bow River Basin Council's Legislation and Policy Review Committee and is Co-Chair of the Water for Life Implementation Review Committee for the Alberta Water Council. Lisa is Past Director of the Alberta Environmental Network, Past Vice President of the Canadian Environmental Network, she served as an Alternate Director with the Alberta Water Council, and was appointed by the Minister to represent Watershed Councils in Southern Alberta on the Regional Advisory Council for the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (under the Land Use Framework).

Beth Anthony, Community Leadership Developer

Beth's love for her community lead her to be apart of the inaugural class of Leadership Wood Buffalo. It was there that she discovered her passion in life... Community Leadership and Facilitating. As a Co-founder and Executive Director of The Dugout Coffeehouse & Youth Centre, Beth became a strong communicator and community leader. Whether she was facilitating life skills programs or hosting her own radio talk show, Beth grew into the strong public speaker and presenter that she is today. One thing Beth is NOT is a "corporate suit and tie" type. In her down to earth approach she shares personal experiences in her sessions and keynotes and make things relatable and relevant.... and of course fun. Who can forget the fun? She is ecstatic to be able to share her passion for facilitation and development with Central and Northern Alberta. Beth considers herself a  people connector. While some people may see her background as scattered it is  anything  but.  Her experience in various fields has allowed her to connect people and resources in a variety of ways.  Beth considers herself a social media junky and enjoys blogging, politics, and coffee.  Beth is also a Certified Personality Dimensions ® Facilitator.

Mark Anielski, Economist and Author - Genuine Wealth Accounting

Mark is the author of the best-selling, award-winning book The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth, which was published in June 2007 by New Society Publishers. Mark is a well-being economist, entrepreneur, professor and president of his family-owned corporation, Anielski Management Inc. which specializes in measuring the sustainable well-being of communities and nations. He has pioneered natural capital accounting in Canada and alternative measures of economic progress, including the US Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) and the Alberta GPI. For 14 years he served as senior economic policy advisor to the Alberta Government. He has served as an senior economic advisor to China  in their efforts to “green” their economic or GDP accounts. Mark is also a professor of corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship at the School of Business, University of Alberta and is a founding faculty member of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (the first MBA program in sustainable business) located near Seattle. Mark is the past-President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics, an associate with the International Institute for Sustainable Development and a Senior Fellow with the Oakland-based economic think-tank Redefining Progress. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with his family.

Jon Fennell, MSc, PhD, PGeol Hydrogeologist

Dr. Fennell has over 20 years of experience as an environmental hydrogeologist, and 25 years as a practicing consultant in the natural resource sector. Jon has been directly involved in the analysis of environmental impacts and cumulative effects associated with respect to large scale resource developments in Alberta and abroad. The approach developed to deal with challenges relating to groundwater resources in these areas has been effective in framing risks and focusing performance monitoring and management approaches to address potential future adverse effects.  In addition to his efforts to support industry and municipalities, Jon’s involvement with the Government of Alberta over the last 6 years has provided him with a keen insight to the developing regulatory environment surrounding water in Alberta.  Over the last 9 years Jon has been assessing the effects of climate change and land cover alterations on basin-scale water supplies, and the identification of supply and demand strategies to ensure watershed sustainability.  Much of this work has focused on the cumulative effects from various development scenarios, and the use of risk-management tools and approaches to inform effective decisions regarding resource development, environmental protection and trade-off analysis.  Jon currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Bow River Basin Council (a WPAC under the Water for Life Strategy) and is chair of the Monitoring and Modeling Sub-committee.

Carla Davidson, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow - University of Calgary

Carla Davidson is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary and an instructor at Ambrose College, studying microbial ecology and health. She has a wide background in science including forest and wildlife ecology, microbiology, mathematical ecology and molecular genetics, and has a B.Sc. in Ecology and Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria, and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Calgary. In her eleven years as a biologist, Carla has worked in a number of politically contentious scientific fields including vaccine design, forestry, evolutionary biology, and wildlife management, which has given her a unique perspective on how science is perceived in the public and political realms. This experience has led her to become involved in environmental stewardship, including assisting with the creation of a youth committee for the Bow River Basin Committee, and science communication, including volunteering with Let’s Talk Science, science blogging, and contributions to LiveStrong.com. She has recently completed the Faculty Teaching Certificate at the University of Calgary and is delighted to be bringing science from the university basement to the wider world.

Beverly Anderson, BES, MBA-PM - AB Watershed Toolkit Project Manager

Beverly has over 30 years experience in managing natural resources with a focus on watershed management. Her career started out in Ontario working with Conservation Authorities and the Ministry of natural Resources. After moving to Alberta, she worked for what was then the Alberta Forestry Lands and Wildlife as a Planner for Kananaskis Country and later with Alberta Environment as a Senior Manager responsible for regional coordination of the Eastern Slopes Region and Parkland Region. Using her Bachelor of Environmental Studies and Masters in Project Management, she instructed recreation planning, communications, and project management at Red Deer College. As the former Executive Director for the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance, she led their State of the Watershed project to a successful completion as Project Manager. In her current role as Deputy Mayor of a Summer Village, Beverly is conversant with municipal issues and Chairs the Sylvan Lake Management Committee which is undertaking a Cumulative Effects Management Review of Sylvan Lake.

Shawn Ripley, Land Development & Sustainability

Shawn has extensive experience working with municipal land use policies and land development.  Through an appointment to the Calgary Planning Commission (CPC) as representative of the Federation of Calgary Communities (FCC), he served as member of this approval authority and technical advisory panel to Calgary City Council on land use issues. Shawn contributed actively to the development of the new Calgary Land Use Bylaw (enacted June 2008). Shawn’s involvement in addressing land policy issues fostered a strong understanding of sustainable community development and planning for sustainability. In addition to being a complex and creative community planning consultant in Alberta, Shawn also provides strategic advice and secures funding for various other real estate projects throughout North America.

Joel S. Den Haan, B.A., M.Div., Th.M. Community Visioning & Leadership

In twenty-plus years of working with faith and volunteer groups as they engage significant change, Joel Den Haan has developed approaches that help participants achieve vision, focus, and direction.  More than that, however, Joel can help surface the hidden factors- deep-seated core values, emotional forces, symbols- that can make the difference between simply having a plan, and actually implementing it successfully.  For the past decade Joel has been serving as an in-house consultant for over 70 faith communities and 4 governing bodies (3 local, 1 provincial) affiliated with The United Church of Canada. In that time he has helped groups dealing with over $40 million in capital assets to succeed in implementing sustainable, visionary plans. Joel approaches complex questions with energy, clarity, and good humor.  His academic background includes degrees in Humanities from The University of Calgary, as well as graduate and post-graduate degrees with a focus on  spirituality, leadership, and organizational analysis from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

Rene Michalak, Transition Towns Trainer & Permaculture Designer

As the Coordinator for ReThink Red Deer, Rene has helped bring resilient community planning to the forefront of public dialogue in Central Alberta. He is presently studying resilience theory and exploring the dynamics of complex social-ecological systems in order to discover foundations for sustainability. He is a Marketing graduate of the Haskayne School of Business (UofC) and Red Deer's Leadership Centre, a certified Transition Towns trainer and aspiring permaculture designer. Rene is the past Lead Coordinator for the Pathways 2 Sustainability conference which was an opportunity to build capacity among a community of researchers, practitioners, stakeholders, and policy makers, through a variety of knowledge-sharing and network-development initiatives.

Isabelle Gringas MA Sustainability & Project Management

Isabelle recently graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Master’s degree in Environment and Sustainability, a unique program that focuses on cultivating environmental professionals and leaders in their field. The Kenyan village of Lake Naivasha was the focus of her thesis, focusing on providing recommendations to combat the village’s current high risk of socio-economic and ecological catastrophe, problems compounded by poverty, global warming and unsustainable business practices. Isabelle has a keen passion for sustainability and is excited about the advancements made in sustainable community models. She coordinated Purple Bike, a grassroots, student-run bike share program based at the University of Western Ontario and she also managed Sierra Club's Action H2O campaign. She also worked CARE Canada's Walk in her Shoes campaign as part of the fundraising team. Isabelle is excited to join Sustainability Resources and looks forward to helping Alberta create sustainable communities.

Greg Philliban, CMP, PMP, CIF Professional Project Management Instructor Facilitator and Consultant

Greg has been offering project management certificate courses across Canada for resource managers, government department heads, and environmental groups. Greg's credentials include a instructor / facilitator certificate from Langevin Learning Services, a Certificate in Project Management (CPM) from Algonquin College of Applied Arts & Technology and Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from PMI.  Mr. Philliban currently teaches the "Human Factors in Project Management" course at Algonquin College, Ottawa and is a member of the Canadian Management Centre’s highly respected Ontario Public Sector Centre of Excellence cadre of faculty practitioners.