Tyler Hamilton, Energy Reporter, The Toronto Star
Tyler Hamilton is an author, Canadian blogger, and energy reporter/business columnist with the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily-circulation newspaper. He writes a weekly column called Clean Break that focuses on trends and developments in the clean technology and renewable energy markets. Clean Break is also the name of his personal blog, which serves as an extension to the column.

Andrew Heintzman, Co-Founder, Investeco
Andrew Heintzman is a co-founder of Investeco. Andrew is the Chair of the Premier's Climate Change Advisory Panel for the Province of Ontario. He sits on a number of corporate boards, including Lotek Wireless, Triton Logging and Horizon Distributors.  In addition, he is on the board of directors of the Tides Canada Foundation, the Steering Committee of Sustainable Prosperity and the Investement Committee for the Toronto Atmospheric Fund. Andrew was co-editor of Fueling the Future: How the Battle Over Energy is Changing Everything, Feeding the Future: From Fat to Famine, and Food and Fuel: Solutions for the Future, all published by the House of Anansi Press. Before Investeco, Andrew was a co-founder and publisher of Shift Magazine.

Denis Leclerc, President & CEO, Québec Cleantech Cluster
Denis Leclerc has extensive experience in business management, especially in the area of natural resources. Until recently, he was Vice President, Sustainability and Environment for a major forest products company. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Université Laval (major in public communications), as well as a MBA from Université de Sherbrooke.

The newly created cluster has many objectives, namely having all stakeholders work together on common objectives and joint projects in order to foster coherence and cohesion in the clean technology industry. The Cluster also intends to streamline the development and marketing of technologies developed in Quebec, mobilize local markets to stimulate the growth of the industry, increase exports in promising niches.  The Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, the Ministère du Développement économique, de l’Innovation et de l’Exportation, the Ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l'Occupation du territoire as well as the Agence de l’efficacité énergétique are financing the setting up of this new cluster that will boost the competitiveness of businesses in this valuable sector.

Nicholas Parker, Executive Chairman, Cleantech Group LLC
Nicholas Parker co-founded the Cleantech Group, introducing the cleantech concept to the investment and business community in 2002. Previously Nicholas accumulated over 15 years experience starting and investing venture funds worldwide through limited partnerships, family offices, corporate funds and endowments. During this time, he pioneered the first "sustainability" driven private equity funds and participated in one of the first solar IPOs. In the 1990s, he also founded, built and sold an environmental finance firm. He has served as an advisor to multilateral agencies and major corporations.

Nicholas earned a BA Hons. in Technology Studies (Carleton University, Ottawa) and an MBA (City University, London), and has authored or edited more than ten publications related to cleantech, finance and international business, starting with Investing in Emerging Economies in 1993. He serves as Chairman of E+Co, a public purpose investment company for clean energy enterprises in developing countries, and is on several boards, including: Government of Singapore Cleantech Advisory Board, Canadian Centre of Excellence for Commercialization of Research and the X PRIZE Energy & Environment Council. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). Nicholas has lived and worked in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America and currently resides with his two children in Toronto.

Tom Rand, Director, VCi Green Funds and Practice Lead, Cleantech and Physical Sciences at the MaRS Discovery District
Tom Rand started his career as a software entrepreneur. Voice Courier Inc. (VCi) was founded in 1991 to service the emerging Interactive Voice Response market. Tom led its expansion to over 100 employees in three countries, with revenue in excess of $20 million US annually. The VCi Group of Companies was profitable for each of the 12 years it was under Tom’s control, an was sold in the spring, 2005.

Tom currently focuses his efforts on carbon mitigation and is active in both Cleantech venture capital and public advocacy. He founded VCi Green Funds in 2005, a private equity fund that provides angel and venture capital to companies developing emission-reduction technologies. He sits on the board of Clean Energy Developments Inc., a geo-thermal energy provider and remains Project Manager of the Green Bonds public policy team. Green Bonds is a federal policy policy proposal involving the issuance of a federally-backed, publicly-available bond designed to accelerate the develoment of large-scale renewable energy infrastructure. Tom is currently working on a book entitled Ten Technologies to Save the World.

Tom holds a BSc in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo, a MSc in philosophy of science from the University of London / London School of Economics and an MA and PhD in philosophy from the University of Toronto.

Vicky J. Sharpe, President & CEO, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)
Vicky Sharpe is President and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a Government of Canada initiative whose mission is to build a sustainable development technology infrastructure in Canada. With over 25 years’ experience in the energy industry - from exploration and production, through generation and distribution, to end-use - Dr. Sharpe has the knowledge, experience and passion needed to deliver on SDTC’s mandate. Throughout her career, Dr. Sharpe has successfully integrated sustainable development into business practices.  As President of GRI Canada and Astral Group, she demonstrated leadership and vision in the use of innovative technologies across Canada’s primary economic sectors. As Vice President of Ontario Hydro International Inc., Dr. Sharpe created new global revenue streams for environmental and energy utilization practices.  Prior to that, she held management positions in marketing, business development and technology innovation.

Dr. Sharpe has served on numerous technology and industry association committees, in particular as an international advisor on sustainability issues; has represented the Canadian energy sector at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Forum; and has chaired both the National Advisory Board on Energy, Science and Technology, and the Board of Directors of Clean Air Canada Inc. Her efforts were recognized with the National Energy Conservation Association’s inaugural Energy Efficiency Award for outstanding contributions to the energy industry.
Dr. Sharpe is a founding member of the board of directors of the Alberta Enterprise Corporation, whose mandate is to finance and build new knowledge-based industries.  As part of her leadership in building a cleantech infrastructure, Dr. Sharpe is a founding member of the Steering Committee of the UNEP SEF Alliance, an international coalition of public and publicly-backed clean energy funding organizations, operating under the remit of the UN’s Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative.  Dr. Sharpe is helping to shape the Canadian cleantech landscape through the provision of strategic advice including her role on the Ontario Premier’s Climate Change Advisory Panel.

As a widely recognized expert and advocate for sustainable development and technology innovation, she has addressed both national and international audiences to promote an understanding of the culture shift in values society must make to secure a sustainable future. Dr. Sharpe holds a B.Sc. Honours in Applied Biology from Bath University, UK, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Chemistry, as applied to water pollution control, from Trent University, UK.