Speaker Profiles

Benj Cohen is the founder and CEO of Proton.ai, an AI-powered sales platform purpose-built for distributors. While studying applied math and data science at Harvard, Cohen realized he could use what he was learning in school to help increase sales for his family dental business. Upon seeing its success, he founded Proton.ai in order to bring this technology to the rest of the distribution space. Proton.ai recently raised $20M in Series A funding.

John Vander Doelen is director policy, research and standards with Skilled Trades Ontario. He previously served in a similar capacity with the Ontario College of Trades where he was responsible for establishing the training and curriculum standards, developing policy and research to support trades-related decision making and most recently participated in the transition of programs to Skilled Trades Ontario. Prior to joining the Ontario College of Trades, he had a 30-plus year career with the Ontario Ministry of Labour in policy and operational roles related to occupational health and safety.

Robert Edwards is a business advisor, private sector at IESO. Edwards has been at the IESO for over 12 years and in his current role he maintains relationships with many of the largest commercial businesses in Ontario. Working at the corporate level with a provincial focus, he provides information, strategies and support to help these organizations participate in Save-on-Energy incentive programs as well as related energy management programs offered by the IESO.

George Hantzis is the supervisor, energy conservation commercial market at Enbridge Gas. Hantzis currently leads Enbridge’s large commercial team of energy solutions advisors in helping customers find opportunities to reduce their natural gas consumption through the adoption of efficiency measures that maximize ROI, reduce energy costs and boost their bottom line. Before taking on this role, he worked as an industrial energy solutions consultant where he applied his technical knowledge and practical skills towards developing custom energy efficiency solutions.

Andrei Hari has worked a combined 20 years with Armstrong Fluid Technology. Hari currently holds the title of Canadian business development manager, concentrating on educating the industry on a systems approach to chilled water, geothermal, heat pump and boiler plant optimization with a focus on an understanding of demand-based controls, digital twins and the application of AI, along with the importance of flow control. Andrei is a graduate of Ryerson University with a mechanical engineering degree.

Philip Johnston is the low GWP program leader at Daikin Applied. Johnston joined McQuay International (now Daikin Applied Americas) in June 2001. He held a series of development, new product introduction, and product management roles in the air side business before becoming the senior director of product planning in 2010. In 2012, Johnston became the product general manager for the applied terminal business (water/ground source heat pumps, fan coils and unit ventilators).

Mike Miller is vice president of sales with Taco Comfort Solutions in Canada. Born and raised in Germany where he became a certified heating cooling and air conditioning mechanic, Miller immigrated to Canada in 1996 and worked as a heating contractor in B.C. before joining a privately-owned plumbing and heating wholesaler in Red Deer, Alberta. He then joined a leading controls manufacturer in 2000 and has remained on the manufacturer side of the industry ever since, joining Taco Comfort Solutions in 2013. Miller plays an active role in several industry associations, and he is a past chair of the Canadian Hydronics Council (CHC).

Andre Patineau is the director of solutions strategy – cold chain at Emerson. Patineau is responsible for supporting sustainable system-related innovation and leveraging Emerson’s global cold chain to drive adoption of integrated solutions in North America. He most recently led marketing efforts pertaining to Emerson’s food retail and chiller markets. Andre has more than 35 years of industry experience in sales, marketing, training, and business development.

Scott Reed is vice president of sales and marketing for Anesi Gas Heat Pumps (Stone Mountain Technologies). The company has been developing gas heat pumps for the past decade and will enter production in 2023. The technology is supported by multiple Canadian gas utilities.

Bonnie Rose, P.Eng., was appointed president/CEO of the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) in 2018. Overseeing all aspects of TSSA’s business operations, Rose provides leadership on the overall direction and strategic priorities of the organization. She is focused on strengthening TSSA’s role as a well-respected leader in the safety industry and upholding safety excellence. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University.

Steve Royce is the commercial projects coordinator at Viessmann. For more than a decade, Royce has been focused on reducing energy consumption and looking for unique opportunities where solar thermal and biomass technologies can be deployed on residential, commercial, and institutional projects across Canada.

Jeremy Sager is a senior HVAC and renewables research engineer with CanmetENERGY, a research and development arm of Natural Resources Canada. Sager has 20 years of experience in assessing the performance of innovative heating, ventilation, and air conditioning and renewable energy systems. He has undertaken several technology assessment projects of innovative HVAC and renewable energy systems at the Canadian Centre for Housing Technology and in the lab including assessments of zoned systems, combination space and water heating systems, cold climate air source heat pumps, and solar assisted air source heat pumps, among others.

Jeffrey Siegel is the Bahen/ Tanenbaum Chair in Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto Siegel holds joint appointments at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences. He has an M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley as well as a B.Sc. from Swarthmore College. His research interests include healthy and sustainable buildings, filtration, and air cleaning, ventilation and indoor air quality in residential and commercial buildings, control of indoor particulate matter, and the impact of building systems on indoor microbiology and chemistry.

Faith Winter is the market development specialist at Endura. Winter is a well-travelled, trusted advisor who consults with clients in the design community looking for quality information on commercial grease management. However, her educational endeavor does not end with engineers, specifiers, and architects, but extends out to owners, developers, city officials and contractors across North America.

Avi Yurman is the head of product at Reed Water. Originally from Toronto, Yurman holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, and before co-founding Reed Water, he owned and operated an audio-visual automation company