Susan Ancel
Director of One Water Planning
EPCOR Water Services
Susan Ancel is the director of One Water Planning for EPCOR Water Services in Edmonton, Alberta. She is responsible for the development of strategic plans for the utility across the entire water cycle. In 2021 she was recognized with a Clean 50 award for her development of the Integrated Resource Plan for flood mitigation for Edmonton that considered capital and operational risk mitigation planning, as well as the interrelationships between utilities, insurance, disaster response agencies and the public. Susan is a mechanical engineer with over 35 years of experience in the municipal utility sector. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Canadian Water Network, the Climate Reality Project-Canada and numerous industry association committees with a primary focus on management and financial topics supporting effective utility governance.
Dr. Deb Chachra
Professor of Engineering
Olin College of Engineering
Deb Chachra, PhD, is the author of How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World (2023). The book was recognized by Publishers Weekly as a ‘Best Book of 2023.’ Deb is also a professor of engineering at Olin College of Engineering near Boston, Massachusetts, where she was one of the earliest faculty members. She works primarily at the intersection of technology and culture.
Deb speaks, writes, consults and facilitates globally on infrastructure, design, education (particularly engineering education), and equity and inclusion issues. Her writing has appeared in the Atlantic, Time, the Guardian and Nature. Deb’s TED talk on infrastructure can be found online. She also appears on Vox’s “FuturePerfect 2024” list of activists and thinkers working to build a more positive future.
Deb received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering from the University of Toronto.
Nancy Mackay
Director of Water Services
City of Calgary
With 23 years of water utility management experience, Nancy is passionate about connecting people and science to protect public health and the environment. She is focused on maintaining the highly regulated and valued essential drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services that one-third of Albertans count on at the City of Calgary
Nancy holds a Bachelor of Science in Ecology from the University of Calgary and a Master’s in Communications from the University of Alberta. She is also an executive board member of the Alberta Water Council.
Nancy’s passion for public service and her commitment to employees supports excellence in serving customers in Calgary and surrounding communities.
Emma Shen
Global Principal – Wastewater Energy Optimization and Sector Decarbonization
Jacobs
Dr. Ruqiao (Emma) Shen is an expert in wastewater treatment plant performance assessments and process upgrades evaluation, process modelling and energy optimization. She leads a Jacobs team at the forefront of the global conversation about the paradigm shift toward a low-carbon, low-energy and climate-resilient water sector.
Emma partners with clients to help identify projects that contribute to energy and carbon neutrality goals. She’s been working with Jacobs’ global water resilience team to develop and implement climate change resilience assessments for water resource recovery facilities.
Emma holds a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University. She’s the current vice chair for the Water Environment Foundation’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Focus Group under the Residual and Biosolids Community. Prior to her tenure at Jacobs, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Toronto’s drinking water research group.
Matti Siemiatycki
Professor of Geography and Planning
University of Toronto
Matti Siemiatycki is director of the Infrastructure Institute and professor of geography and planning at the University of Toronto. His work focuses on delivering large-scale infrastructure projects, evidence–based infrastructure investment decisions, and the effective integration of infrastructure into the fabric of cities. Matti’s recent studies explore transit policy decisions, the value for money of public-private partnerships, the development of innovative mixed-use buildings as a form of place based infrastructure policy, and the diversity gap in the infrastructure industry workforce. Matti consults widely on infrastructure policy and is a frequent media commentator on infrastructure and city planning.
Jessica Thornton
Co-President
Creative Futures Studio Inc.
Using applied strategic foresight, Jessica helps organizations make informed decisions about their future. Jessica is a futurist, researcher, strategist, social innovator and designer with experience in the public and non-profit sectors.
She has worked across a variety of diverse subject areas, including cities, housing, employment, digital literacy, sustainability, food systems, healthcare, governance, arts and culture. As Co-President of Creative Futures Studio Inc., Jessica facilitates Open Scan, a bi-monthly futures program for municipal innovators.
In 2021, Jessica was named a Next Generation Foresight Practitioner Fellow. Her collaborative research won an award from the Association of Professional Futurists in 2019. Jessica has a B.A. in Socio-cultural Anthropology from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University.
Carl Yates
President
Yates Water Management Inc.
Carl Yates, MASc, P.Eng., has over 35 years of experience in the water utility profession and served as project engineer, chief engineer and general manager of Halifax Water. In 1996, Carl oversaw the expansion of services to a regional utility, concurrent with metro Halifax municipal amalgamation. In 2008, he oversaw the formation of the first regulated water, wastewater and stormwater utility in Canada. In 2020, Carl was appointed interim CEO of the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority, the first water utility in Canada owned and operated by First Nations, to serve First Nations.
After retiring from Halifax Water in 2019, Carl formed a consulting company, Yates Water Management, to promote and support sustainable water management.
From June 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023, Carl held the position of interim CEO for the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority (AFNWA), which was formed to provide water and wastewater services to First Nations communities in the Wabanaki (Atlantic) region. The AFNWA represents an innovative approach for First Nations in their pursuit of self-determination and capacity development for sustainable water and wastewater service delivery.
Carl holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Master of Applied Science from the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousie University). He previously served as Director of The Water Research Foundation and Chair of Canada’s National Research Council InfraGuide Potable Water Committee. He currently serves as Chair of Canadian Water Network and as Director of Operators without Borders.