2025 Regulatory Forum: Managing and mitigating investment risk for our energy future.
Agenda
11:00 a.m.
Registration Opens
12:00 – 12:45 p.m.
Buffet Lunch
12:45 – 12:50 p.m.
Welcome / Housekeeping
12:50 – 1:10 p.m.
Keynote Address
Francis Bradley – President and CEO, Electricity Canada
1:10 – 2:00 p.m.
Panel Discussion: Addressing Electricity Demand and Load Growth
Heidi Leslie – CEO, Crux Energy Consulting
Scott Mudie – Chief Energy Transformation Officer, OEC
Michelle Francis – Vice President of Finance and CFO, Maritime Electric Company
Moderated by: Sandra Pedro – Utility Director, ABB
Break: 2:00 – 2:15 p.m.
2:15 – 3:10 p.m.
Panel Discussion: Advancing Grid Modernization
Mélanie Pigeon – Sr. Director Engineering and Standards, Hydro-Québec
Matthew Higgins – Director, Asset Strategy and Maintenance, Toronto Hydro
Osman Randhawa – Digital Sales Lead, Hitachi Energy Canada
Kevin Noble – Director, Engineering Distribution Planning, FortisAlberta
Moderated by: Alexander Bakulev – Vice President of Energy Practice, Charles River Associates
Break: 3:10 – 3:30 p.m.
3:30 – 4:20 p.m.
Panel Discussion: Making the Industry Resilient to Climate Risk
Aditya Ranade – Director of Communities, Energy, and Infrastructure, Guidehouse
Richard Finn – Vice President, Regulatory and Strategic Affairs, General Counsel, FortisAlberta
Ted Wigdor – Vice President, Policy, Government & Corporate Affairs, Electricity Distributors Association
Moderated by: Lia MacDonald – Vice President, Customer Experience and Innovation, Nova Scotia Power
4:20 – 4:30 p.m.
Sponsor Message: Cyber security
Ameen Hamdon – President and CEO, SUBNET Solutions
4:30 – 4:40 p.m.
Closing Remarks and Forum Next Steps
Kaleb Ruch – Director of Regulatory Policy & Strategy, Hydro One
5:15 – 7:00 p.m.
Electricity Canada Reception
Daryâ, 1709 Lower Water Street, Unit 110
Speakers
Francis Bradley
President and CEO, Electricity Canada
Francis Bradley is the President and CEO of Electricity Canada. Francis is the co-chair of the National Cross-Sector Forum and is on the Member Representatives Committee and Board of Trustees for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.
Ameen Hamdon
President and CEO, SUBNET Solutions
Ameen has been President and CEO of Subnet Solutions since 2000 with over 35 years of electric utility SCADA and grid automation experience. With clients in over 65 countries, his company, SUBNET, specializes in software solutions that electric utilities, pipelines and other industrial vertical asset owners use to integrate, manage and cyber secure intelligent OT devices that monitor and control critical infrastructure.
Scott Mudie
Executive Vice President, Chief Operations and Energy Officer at Oakville Entreprises Corporation (OEC)
Scott leads critical operational and strategic areas, including engineering functions at OEC Renewables. Previously, he served as Chief Energy Transformation Officer at Oakville Hydro, and has extensive experience in project development and mergers with global brands.
Heidi Leslie
CEO, Crux Energy Consulting
Heidi is a seasoned utility strategist and lawyer, who brings strategic planning expertise to her work with utilities and utility investors. Her company, Crux Energy works with utilities in North America as they evolve through a changing energy landscape.
Michelle Francis
Vice President, Finance and CFO Maritime Electric
Michelle has had responsibility for finance, regulation, human resources and internal audits at Maritime Electric. She has over 20 years of finance experience, including Director and Manager roles with Fortis Inc., FortisAlberta and Newfoundland Power.
Sandra Pedro
Utility Director, ABB
Sandra is responsible for the strategic management of members and corporate partnerships at ABB. She has spent over 20 years at Schneider Electric in various positions, including Director of Global Offer Management, Global Digital Energy Division.
Matthew Higgins
Director, Asset Strategy and Maintenance, Toronto Hydro
Matthew leads Toronto Hydro’s efforts to align capital investments with longterm system needs and the evolving technology landscape. He has over 15 years of experience in utility planning and regulatory strategy
Osman Randhawa
Digital Solutions Lead, Hitachi Energy Canada
Osman leads the Digital Solutions Business at Hitachi Energy Canada. He carries deep expertise on smart grid evolution within regulatory framework, industry best practices for asset management and impact of AI/ML on enterprise digital tools.
Speakers
Mélanie Pigeon
Senior Director of Expertise, Engineering and Standardization, Hydro-Québec
Melanie’s current role involves introducing a roadmap integrating OHS expertise and support, implementing initiatives to address employee performance and risk management. She has held various senior roles in operations, expertise, and technical support during her 20 years with Hydro-Québec.
Alexander Bakulev
Vice President of Energy Practice, Charles River Associates
Alexander specializes in providing strategic guidance on utility asset strategies, regulatory applications, economic impacts, integrated planning, grid modernization, and resiliency and reliability challenges. His consulting work focuses on asset value optimization and aligning utilities with the demands of a rapidly changing system load.
Ted Wigdor
Vice President, Policy, Government and Corporate Affairs, Electricity Distributors Association (EDA)
Ted oversees the EDA’s public policy and advocacy functions as Vice President of Policy at EDA. He has over 35 years of experience in public policy and government relations in roles ranging from tax policy, regulated professions, aggregate production and now energy.
Richard Finn
Vice President, Regulatory and Strategic Affairs and General Council, FortisAlberta
Rich brings more than 20 years of combined legal and regulatory experience to his current role at FortisAlberta Inc. A commercial litigator by training, he migrated to the regulated utility industry and is now an inveterate supporter of the regulatory compact, as well as an amateur Cost of Capital practitioner.
Dr. Aditya Ranade
Director, Communities, Energy, and Infrastructure, Guidehouse
Dr. Aditya Ranade leads the Infrastructure Resilience Solutions team for Guidehouse serving energy providers and specializes in natural hazard/ climate resilience, grid modernization, and regulatory policy. He has over 19 years of experience in public and private sectors serving corporations, utilities, investors, and government officials.
Lia MacDonald
Vice President, Customer Experience and Innovation, Nova Scotia Power
Lia joined Nova Scotia Power in 2000 and has extensive operational experience, having held senior roles in the areas of field operations and storm response, work management and resource allocation, asset management, and system and capital planning.
Kaleb Ruch
Director of Regulatory Policy & Strategy, Hydro One
Kaleb Ruch is the Director of Regulatory Policy and Strategy for Hydro One, where he advances regulatory initiatives to support a stable energy transition. In addition to serving as Chair of Electricity Canada’s Economic Regulatory and Standards Committee, Kaleb represents Hydro One on regulatory committees at the Ontario Energy Association and Electricity Distributor’s Association.
Kevin Noble
Director, Engineering Distribution Planning, FortisAlberta
Kevin is an electric distribution engineering professional with over 20 years of experience in the industry. In his current role he is responsible for planning the distribution system to ensure capacity and reliability standards are met, including forecasting and development of programs to meet the evolving energy transition needs.
Sponsors
