Speaker Bios

Producer and Writer
CBC

Jason Markusoff has been writing in and about Alberta for more than 20 years, and through eight provincial premiers. He’s currently a writer, editor and producer with CBC Calgary, and was previously a staff correspondent for Maclean’s, Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal. He’s also a regular panelist on several CBC programs, including Power and Politics, At Issue and West of Centre. He’s won a Canadian Association of Journalists award, two golds and a silver at the National Magazine Awards, and was an Avenue Calgary Top 40 Under 40, back when he was under 40. 

Vice President, Government Relations and Commercial
AltaLink

Cayla brings over 18 years of experience in the utilities industry. She began her career at AltaLink in 2005, and has held a number of increasingly senior customer service-based positions, including leadership roles spanning project execution, operational delivery, and regulatory engagement. As Vice President, Government Relations and Commercial, she is responsible for policy advocacy and engagement with all levels of government, and leading AltaLink’s commercial business including service contracts and execution of the Market Participant Choice process. Cayla holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Culture from the University of Calgary.

Executive Director
Process Technology, Fluor Canada Ltd

Morgan Rodwell is Executive Director of Process Technology with Fluor Canada Ltd.  He has over 29 years of industry experience, primarily in the engineering and construction business.  He has worked on projects from small revamps to megaprojects, from the very conceptual phase through supporting operations and even to investigating serious safety incidents and rebuild projects.   His experience spans oil and gas production, midstream process , upgrading and refining, petrochemical production from basic building blocks such as ammonia through to nylon yarn spinning.  In energy transition, he has spent a number of years evaluating and design carbon capture, carbon utilization, hydrogen via various routes, energy storage and other energy efficiency scopes.  He brings a realistic assessment of the challenges such projects face with understanding the economic and societal impacts.  He is a professional engineer registered in Alberta and British Columbia.

President  
Grid Strategies LLC 

Rob Gramlich is President of Grid Strategies LLC, a Washington DC-based company focused on transmission and power markets for a reliable, affordable, and sustainable power system.  He co-founded  Americans for a Clean Energy Grid, Working for Advanced Transmission Technologies (WATT Coalition), Advancing Modern Powerlines, the Macro Grid Initiative, and the Future Power Markets Forum. Rob has been invited to testify by both parties before Congress, FERC, and state agencies. He has earned awards from FERC as Exemplar of Public Service, the Energy Systems Integration Group for contributions to market design and transmission planning, The Hill Magazine for lobbying, and the American Wind Energy Association for Technical Achievement.

Rob previously oversaw transmission and power market policy for the American Wind Energy Association as SVP and Interim CEO, served as Economic Advisor to FERC Chairman Pat Wood III, and was Senior Economist at PJM Interconnection.

Rob has a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree from UC Berkeley and a BA with Honors in Economics from Colby College.

Director, Customer Grid Access
Alberta Electric System Operator

Amir has over 18 years of experience in the power system engineering and leadership. He is currently the Director of Customer Grid Access at the AESO, where he leads customer interconnections to the Alberta electric system. Prior to this role, Amir was the General Manager of Smart Wires, where he led teams and was responsible to develop and progress innovative modular transmission projects across a wide range of North American utilities. Amir originally joined the AESO in 2011 and held a wide range of progressive technical and leadership positions in both operations and planning. Amir began his career in Iran and then received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Calgary in 2011. He was also an adjunct professor with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of Calgary for nearly 10 years since 2012. Amir holds a Professional Engineer designation with APEGA and is a Senior Member of IEEE.

Vice President, Power & Renewables Intelligence  
Enverus 

Scott is a key member of the Enverus Intelligence team’s Power & Renewables group and leads the power assets research team. Scott is a finance professional with over a decade of experience working with renewable power, thermal generation and regulated transmission & distribution assets across the globe. Prior to joining Enverus in 2022, Scott held various Corporate Development and Business Development roles with Canadian Utilities Limited and the ATCO group of companies.

Vice President, Market Design and Analysis
California ISO

Anna McKenna is the Vice President of Market Design & Analysis for the California Independent System Operator (ISO).  She is responsible for the market design, which includes the development of policy for markets and resource adequacy, market performance analysis and validation, and short-term forecasting and California regulatory affairs. 

Ms. McKenna joined the ISO in 2005.  Prior to her current role she served as regulatory assistant general counsel and successfully led and advised the ISO through numerous market and infrastructure policy changes, compliance matters, market performance and monitoring matters. 

Prior to joining the ISO, Ms. McKenna was an attorney for a Washington, D.C. law firm, with a practice focused on energy market development and transmission congestion management policies. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics and industrial relations, and a Master’s degree in economics, both from McGill University in Montreal, Canada; and a Juris Doctor degree from the Washington College of Law, American University in Washington, D.C.

Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Chief Government Affairs Officer
ATCO Group

Dale Friesen is Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Chief Government Affairs Officer for ATCO.  Appointed to the role in 2020, he oversees ATCO’s Government Relations and Indigenous Relations teams and provides strategic counsel to the company’s Executive Committee on relevant policy and legislative priorities.

Mr. Friesen has more than 30 years of experience with ATCO. He has served in technical and senior leadership roles in both Canada and Australia and has built and operated several power plants and cogeneration facilities, including the Bulwer Island Cogeneration Plant in Australia as part of the Queensland Clean Fuels Project.  He also served as Vice President of ATCO Water, where he was responsible for business development in Canada, Australia, and the UAE.

From 2007 to 2020, Mr. Friesen led ATCO’s Sustainability group, which published the company’s first-ever Sustainability Report in 2008, incorporating best practices from the Global Reporting Initiative, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.  Mr. Friesen has attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties meetings from 2015 to 2023. His areas of focus include carbon markets, global climate and energy policy, and Indigenous economic reconciliation through the energy transition.

Mr. Friesen sits on and oversees various boards and committees;   he is the chair of  Electricity Canada’s Generation Council and leads their Net Zero initiative, as well as serving as Executive Officer of the Alberta Chamber of Resources Board and an Executive Board Member of the Canadian Council of the Americas. Further, he is a member of the ATCO Hydrogen Steering Committee and has served as a member of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) Technical Working Group for Clean Fuel Standards as well as the Technical Working Group for Natural Gas Greenhouse Gas Regulations. 

A graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Mr. Friesen is a member of both the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta and of Engineers Australia. 

Executive General Manager, Economics and System Security
Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC)

Victoria Mollard is the Executive General Manager for Economics and System Security at the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC). She leads the team responsible for reviews and rule changes relating to system security which have been a principal focus for the energy market bodies in the past three years, as well as the in-house economics function. She also leads the Reliability Panel secretariat. Victoria has been at the AEMC since 2012 and has worked on predominantly transmission frameworks and wholesale market reforms. Before joining the AEMC in 2012, she worked for NERA Economic Consulting advising clients on a range of matters of competition, regulatory principle and policy across the water, transport and energy sectors. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Arts, and Masters of Commerce in Economics from the University of Auckland.

President and CEO
AltaLink

For more than 30 years, Gary has held a variety of senior positions in the energy industry across Canada, including as Managing Director for Berkshire Hathaway Energy Canada, Chief Operating Officer and now President and Chief Executive Officer of AltaLink.

Gary started his career with TransAlta and moved through a number of roles of increasing responsibility. As Director of Business Development for Western Canada, Gary developed two Alberta cogeneration projects before moving to Ontario, when he was VP of Operations, Eastern Canada for TransAlta Limited Partnership. 

Following his tenure at TransAlta, Gary joined Westcoast Power as VP Operations with accountabilities for their generating portfolio.  Gary then went on to join Suncor Energy in utility operations and supply chain, most recently as their Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Field Logistics.

Gary has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and is a Registered Professional Engineer with APEGA.