Ahsan Syed is a climate and decarbonization specialist with more than a decade of experience helping public- and private-sector organizations cut emissions. After five years developing hydrogen and clean-fuels projects, he now focuses on low-carbon materials and cement at Carbon Upcycling, advancing first-of-a-kind technology and project development. He brings a systems view that bridges policy, science and business.

Amy Thompson (she/her) is an informal educator and interdisciplinary curriculum specialist. She develops programs that help Albertans understand climate realities and take practical action in their schools and communities, connecting partners and resources to make learning stick. Her work focuses on clear, relatable storytelling and hands-on activities that meet people where they are.

Andrew Mills organizes the Eco-Solar Home Tours, showcasing net-zero and high-performance homes in Edmonton and Calgary. The 2025 tour drew 1,400 visits to 31 homes. A longtime advocate for energy efficiency, Andrew also led innovative work on utility-scale floating solar. He lives in a 1949 home retrofitted to net-zero performance.

Angie Dean is a Senior Planner, Climate Implementation, with the City of Calgary’s Community Planning team. With 21 years at The City, she works across planning, policy and implementation to reduce the effects of climate change through the built environment, from neighbourhood design to zero-emission vehicles.

Carolyn Kury de Castillo is a presentation specialist with Green Calgary. She leads waste audits, research and public education on topics from food waste to rain barrels and water-wise landscaping. A former TV journalist focused on environmental policy, she also brings hands-on experience in regenerative farming and worm composting.

Dr. Christine Gibson is a family physician, trauma therapist and author of The Modern Trauma Toolkit. She trains professionals to build psychological safety in the workplace and communicates widely about mental health and health equity, including through two TEDx talks and a large TikTok following.

Cortney Hlady is a Public Health Inspector with Alberta Health Services’ Healthy Physical Environments team. She reviews land-use and development proposals for environmental public-health impacts and supports work on issues such as wildfire smoke, water reuse and healthy communities by design.

Crystal Hanson is a purpose-driven fundraiser and community builder with work rooted in resilience, healing and connection. A young-adult breast cancer survivor, she pivoted her career to raise funds for Wellspring Alberta, which offers free programs for people living with cancer and their families.

Dr. David Sauchyn is Director of the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative and Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Regina. He studies the climate and hydrology of the past millennium and how this knowledge informs future water and climate risk in western Canada. He led the Prairies chapter of Canada’s 2020 national assessment.

Frank Crawford is a professional civil engineer and Certified Passive House Designer and Tradesperson. He designed and built one of Alberta’s first homes to the International Passive House Standard and now helps others reach high-performance targets while reducing embodied and operational carbon and costs.

Garrett Clark guides building owners to improve energy performance, reduce emissions and align retrofits with asset-renewal plans. His work includes long-range emissions modelling, techno-economic assessments of low-carbon technologies, energy and emissions planning, and project management across diverse portfolios.

Grace Brown is a Corporate Environmental Specialist at the City of Calgary and leads ChargeYYC, a pilot helping residents of multi-unit buildings access home EV charging. She previously worked with Pembina Institute on utility innovation and spent five years in the U.S. solar sector on distributed-energy policy.

Heather MacKenzie is Executive Director of Solar Alberta, working to accelerate a just, sustainable energy future. A seasoned leader and community organizer, she previously ran a government-relations firm and her own business. She brings experience spanning policy, advocacy and green industry.

Jared Blustein is a Calgary-based community organizer whose work responds to the intertwined impacts of land dispossession, inequality and climate change. After completing graduate studies, he co-founded The Allium Worker Cooperative and now supports climate action and engagement with the Calgary Climate Hub.

Jay Islam is Manager, Government & Member Relations at BOMA Calgary. A public-policy professional, he has worked across analysis, advocacy and stakeholder engagement, helping member-driven organizations tackle practical challenges — currently focusing on Calgary’s commercial real-estate sector.

Joanna Tschudy is the Community Hubs Coordinator at The Alex Community Food Centre. She builds nature into community food systems — growing biodiversity, turning waste into soil and expanding urban food skills — so neighbours can adapt to new climate realities together.

Jordan Carrier develops public programming for the City of Calgary’s Climate & Environment team, with a focus on electric mobility and community-based energy solutions. She combines science training with community-energy finance to make sustainable choices practical and accessible.

Jordan Zukowski is a Leader of Strategy at Calgary Transit. A planner by training, she completed a master’s thesis on municipal climate-plan effectiveness and now works to improve transit service and demonstrate how better transit builds a resilient, prosperous city.

Juan Monterrosa is Senior Program Manager for ENBIX at Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, advancing emission-neutral building practices across Alberta. A P.Eng, LEED AP and Certified Passive House Consultant, he previously led permitting and inspections at the City of Edmonton and served on the Safety Codes Council board.

Dr. Keith Porter is Chief Engineer at the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. For three decades he has estimated the costs and benefits of climate and seismic adaptation, informing decisions by governments, utilities, Fortune-500 firms and others across North America.

Bio coming soon

Laura Shutiak is Executive Director of Youth en Route, a Calgary charity that helps students gain the bikes, skills and confidence to travel independently. With a background in journalism, education and community advocacy, she champions active transportation and circular-economy approaches that make cycling accessible.

Marisa Orfei is Executive Director of the Alberta Emerald Foundation, celebrating Alberta’s environmental excellence. With experience in government, philanthropy and non-profits — including communications roles and producing the award-winning How Brains Are Built — she brings a storyteller’s lens to collaboration and impact.

Mona Ha is a community planner with degrees in environmental planning and design from the University of Waterloo and the University of Calgary. At The City, she advances inclusive, sustainable urban design that strengthens social, environmental and economic equity.

Morgan Rice leads work to help Calgarians protect their homes as extreme weather intensifies. She manages the Alberta Climate Ready Homes project and The City’s Hail Resilience Program, coordinating partners and tools through the Hail Resilience Improvement Network.

Paulah Madzinga is the Wellness and Program Coordinator at Norfolk Housing Association. She leads programs that connect environmental responsibility, community wellness and resident engagement, helping households build preparedness, sustainability and care at home and across their neighbourhoods.

Reed Froklage is a Public Program Coordinator with the City of Calgary. For more than a decade, he has designed and led environmental monitoring, outreach and watershed education that connects residents with our urban waterways and riparian areas. An avid paddler and angler, he turns curiosity into stewardship.

Philip Barber is a professor of Clinical Neurosciences, Community Health Sciences, Medicine and Radiology at the University of Calgary and Director of the Stroke Prevention Clinic. He co-leads the Brain Climate Equity Collaborative and authored the Canadian Stroke Consortium’s Climate Action and Health Sustainability policy statement.

Ron Groves leads Plug’n Drive’s community education and outreach on electric vehicles and has been with the organization since its launch. He presents across Canada on EV ownership, charging and the future of electrification, and is known for making technology clear and approachable.

Ruth DeSantis is a Corporate Environmental Specialist with the City of Calgary. With 15+ years in climate adaptation, engagement and ecological planning, she leads initiatives such as the Climate Resilient Communities working group, ClimateReadyYYC implementation, and heat and wildfire-smoke research.

Samantha Murphy is Manager, Sustainability & Indigenous Relations at ENMAX. An environmental professional with 15+ years across energy sectors, she leads climate initiatives and ENMAX’s ESG report, including physical-risk planning and benchmarking, and supports implementation of the company’s Indigenous Relations framework.

Shane Gagnon is a Senior Planner in Climate Planning & Policy at the City of Calgary. He provides planning leadership on climate mitigation and adaptation files that improve resilience, health and affordability for Calgarians.

Stephen Wilton is a cardiologist and Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. His research focuses on preventing and treating high-impact cardiovascular diseases. He is Co-Director for Planetary Health at the Cumming School of Medicine and an advocate for climate-and-health action.

Tracey Smith is Executive Director of Organic Alberta, where she promotes organic farming practices and represents organic producers across the province. She holds a degree in conservation biology and completed a master’s focused on resilience and adaptation at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Before joining Organic Alberta, Tracey spent 12 years building a beekeeping operation and now also raises a flock of sheep on her family property east of Edmonton.

Yanyu Li is a Public Program Coordinator with the City of Calgary. She advances circular-economy initiatives that reduce waste, keep materials in use and build a more climate-resilient city through practical, community-level action.

Zak Cunningham works on sustainable energy development and community energy transition, with experience ranging from drilling and production to advanced studies in energy systems. He has a strong connection to Métis culture and an interest in clean-energy solutions for remote northern communities.