SPACE CANADA CORPORATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Independent Journalist and Author
Alanna Mitchell was a reporter at The Globe and Mail for 14 years, covering social science and science, and a reporter at The Financial Post for three years before that, covering financial markets, real estate and banking. Alanna is the author of two books on environmental science. The most recent, just out this year and an international best-seller, is "Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis". Currently, Alanna is an independent journalist and author.
Job Titles:
- Executive VP
- Member of the Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Master of Ceremonies
Bob McDonald has been communicating science internationally through television, radio, print and live presentations for more than 30 years. Currently he is the host of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks, the award-winning CBC Radio science program. He is also the National Science Correspondent for CBC Newsworld, a documentary reporter for The National Magazine and weekly commentator for CBC's Newsmorning. He is the Gemini winning host of the children's science television series, "Heads Up". As a print journalist, Bob has authored three science books and contributed to numerous science textbooks, newspapers, and magazines including The Globe and Mail, Owl Magazine and many others. He has produced and hosted more than 100 educational videos currently in use across North America. Bob has been awarded the Michael Smith Award for Science Communication fro NSERC, the Sir Sanford Flemming Medal from the Royal Canadian Institute and the McNeil Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. He holds four honorary doctorates from Guelph University, Carleton University, Laurentian and McMaster. Bob lives and sails in Toronto.
Job Titles:
- President / IBM
- President of IBM Canada Ltd
As President of IBM Canada Ltd., Dan Fortin is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the IBM organization in Canada. Named to his current position in January 2005, Dan leads a team of over 20,000 professionals in the development and delivery of innovative solutions to help IBM clients address today's most pressing business challenges. Since joining IBM in 1978, Dan has held a number of prominent marketing and management positions, overseeing divisions in Canada, the United States and Latin America. Most recently, Dan was Vice President of Small and Medium Business for IBM Americas located in New York City, where he was responsible for supporting clients across North and South America. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Business Partners for IBM Americas, managing IBM's relationship with a network of resellers, distributors and solution providers. Dan also played an integral role in the creation of ibm.com Americas, where he served as Vice President and led thousands of employees across North and South America to successfully transform IBM's web and call centre infrastructure to better service clients through new channels. Dan is also the Acting Vice Chair for World Vision Canada's board of directors, a member of the board of directors for both the Conference Board of Canada and the Toronto Region Research Alliance, and a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. Dan is a native of Quebec and is fluent in both English and French. He graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from Carleton University in Ottawa.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Honourary Chair
While officially retired, Dr. Erb has continued to pursue his interests in the prospects of alternate energy sources. He was an Engineering Aerodynamicist with A.V. Roe (Avro) Aircraft at Malton doing thermal analysis on the Avro Arrow until 1959 when NASA recruited him for his expertise. He laid the concepts, as one of the original 8-person team, for what became Apollo, the only manned spacecraft to reach the moon. He was responsible for the technical leadership for several key elements of the Apollo spacecraft, including the Command Module heat shield. He managed the Lunar Receiving Laboratory during the early critical missions. Dr. Erb planned and managed important remote sensing experiments, including the first world-scale inventory of wheat using satellite data. He was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service medal for this accomplishment. He became Chief of the Earth Observations Division of NASA's Life Sciences Directorate in 1979 and later was the Manager of the Earth Resources Program Management Office. Having maintained both his Canadian citizenship and broad network within NASA, Dr. Erb was pleased to be selected as the Assistant Director of the Canadian Space Agency's Canadian Space Station Program in 1986. In this role, he represented Canadian interests at the Johnson Space Center and to other partners on the International Space Station Program. By 1991, Dr. Erb had become captivated with the potential of solar power from space and served as the President of the SUNSAT Energy Council for five years. He chaired the International Astronautical Federation's Space Power Committee from 1998 through 2001. From 2000 through 2002, he instigated and managed the Canadian Space Agency's Canadian Space Power Initiative. Dr. Erb took his B.S. in Civil Engineering at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, an M.S. in Aerodynamics from Cranfield Institute of Technology, England as an Athlone Fellow, an M.S. in Fluid Mechanics at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, an M.S. in Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA as a Sloan Fellow, and was awarded an Honorary D.Sc. from the University of Alberta. Dr. Erb is a prolific author and speaker with over 100 technical publications and major presentations including invited papers for meetings in Canada, Brazil, France, Italy, Mali, Ghana, Australia, and the United States. He was also a Lecturer at the International Space University Summer Sessions in Toronto, Huntsville, Houston, and Barcelona.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Aerospace Engineer
- VP Technology
Dr. Kieran A. Carroll is a Canadian aerospace engineer, with a Ph.D.from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, earned studying dynamics and control as applied to very large satellites, applicable to the control of GW-scale solar power satellites. He has built up a successful satellite equipment business, including being the mission and system architect for the successful MOST space astronomy mission, which when launched in 2003 became the first new Canadian science satellite in 35 years. He was a founding Director and is a Past-President of the Canadian Space Society, in which capacity he co-authored the successful program proposal which led to the creation of the Canadian Space Agency's current Space Exploration Program. He currently is Chief Technology Officer for a geophysics exploration company, Gedex, wherein he leads development of gravity gradiometer sensor systems for airborne and space applications. He serves SPACE Canada as VP Technology.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- MEDIA
Ram Jakhu has over 25 years of experience in space-related fields. He holds a tenured position of Associate Professor at the Institute of Air and Space Law, Faculty of Law, McGill University in Montreal. Prof. Jakhu's research interests include law and policy of space applications, government (national) regulation of space activities, telecommunications, and space business. He has published a book and more than 60 articles in several reputed journals. Prof. Jakhu is actively involved in various research projects and outreach academic activities. Since 2004, he has been regularly coaching the McGill Team for the Manfred-Lachs Space Law Moot Competition; as the Research Director for Space Security Index Reports since 2005, he convened the International and Interdisciplinary Space Security Index Workshop, on 5-6 May 2009; as the Chair he organised the International and Interdisciplinary Congress on Space Debris and Governance on 7-9 May 2009; and currently he is directing an interdisciplinary study on "Space Tourism in India", the first study ever undertaken. He holds a Doctor of Civil Law (Dean's Honours List) degree in Space Law from McGill University; a Master of Law (LL.M.) degree in the field of Air and Space Law from McGill University. In addition, he has earned LL.M. (in Public and Private International Law), LL.B. (in Laws of India) and Bachelor of Arts (in Economics and Political Science) degrees from Punjab University, Chandigarh, India.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Founder and CEO of Odyssey Moon
Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards, Founder and CEO of Odyssey Moon. A founder of the International Space University with over 20 years of commercial space experience, presiding over multiple spaceflight programs from conception to launch as director of Optech Space Technology.
In 1997, Dr. Zee established the Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), a unique lab in Canada that he continues to lead. SFL's mandate is to provide superior value in space missions at home and internationally. SFL's initial space project was a major contribution to Canada's highly successful first microsatellite dubbed "MOST" (Microvariability and Oscillations of STars). Several significant astronomical discoveries have been announced over the last six years, with more on their way. SFL continues to act as the main mission control center for ongoing MOST operations. In 2001, Dr. Zee established the Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment Canex program to develop sub-10-kilogram satellites, or "nanosatellites," for aggressive space research and training. CanX-1 was launched together with MOST in 2003. The CanX program has created a "Generic Nanosatellite Bus" (GNB) that is currently being used to support international missions requiring high-performance attitude control, including the BRITE Constellation space astronomy mission, the Automatic Identification System Satellite 1 (AISSat-1) to monitor maritime traffic, and the CanX-4&5 dualsatellite formation-flying mission. SFL continues to develop GNB satellite missions and XPOD separation systems, and to arrange launches through its Nanosatellite Launch Service for organizations across the world. SFL's programs are recognized
Job Titles:
- Vice - President
- VP Research & International Relations / the University of Western Ontario
Dr. Ted Hewitt has served as Vice-President (Research & International Relations) at The University of Western Ontario since February 2005. First appointed Western's Associate Vice-President (Research) in May 2001, Dr. Hewitt spearheaded efforts to develop the University's strategic research plan and its strategic plan for internationalization, both of which were approved by the Senate and Board of Governors in 2003. He currently sits on the boards of the Canadian Language and Literacy Network and of the London TechAlliance, and recently completed a two-year term on the board of the London Economic Development Corporation. He is Chair of the Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network and the Ontario High Performance Computing Council, as well as Chair of the Ontario Council on University Research. A sociology professor, Dr. Hewitt recently completed terms both as the editor and managing editor of the Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. He is recognized as a leading Canadian authority on Brazil. Prior to receiving his Ph.D degree from McMaster University, he attended university in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1984 as a special student. In 2003, he led negotiations with the University of Calgary, York University, the Université du Québec à Montréal, and the Embassy of Brazil in Ottawa to establish the Canada Visiting Research Chair in Brazilian Studies. The first of its kind in the country, this program has undertaken to promote Brazilian studies in Canada by hosting a number of distinguished Brazilian scholars at the partner universities and by organizing widely-attended events on topics of national interest in both Canada and Brazil. Dr. Hewitt has published extensively on issues related to social movements, local government and international cooperation for urban development in Latin America. His work has appeared in a range of academic journals including Cities, Journal of Latin American Studies, Journal of Developing Areas, Third World Quarterly, and Habitat International. In 2002, he was named Commander of the Order of Rio Branco by Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Relations.
W. Richard Peltier DSc, FRSC, received his undergraduate degree in physics from the University of British Columbia and his doctoral degree in physics from the University of Toronto. His research is focused on problems connected with the understanding of processes that control the evolution of the atmosphere, the oceans and the solid Earth, and of long timescale and more recent climate variability. Peltier is a past recipient of the Sloan, Steacie, Killam and Guggenheim Fellowships, is Past President of the Canadian Geophysical Union, Past President of the IUGG Committee on Mathematical Geophysics, and is an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. He is also a past recipient of the Kirk Bryan Award of the Geological Society of America, the Patterson Medal of the Meteorological Service of Canada, the J. Tuzo Wilson Medal of the Canadian Geophysical Union, and the Bancroft Award and the Miroslav Romanowski Medal of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2009 he was awarded the Canadian Association of Physicists Gold Medal for Achievement in Physics. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Vetlesen Prize of the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation of New York, often considered to be the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the Earth Sciences. He was a Lead Author on the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report entitled Climate Change 2007. His current position is as University Professor and Professor of Physics at the University of Toronto where he is the Founding Director of the newly established Centre for Global Change Science and the Scientific Director of the SciNet Facility for High Performance Computation, the most powerful computing facility in Canada.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Founding President
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President
George Dietrich, the founding President of SPACE Canada, is a lawyer by profession and a space development supporter by preference. George graduated from the University of Windsor Law School in 1989. He also holds degrees in Science (Physics and Mathematics) and the Arts (Political Science). He received his Masters in Law from McGill University's Institute of Air and Space Law in 2002. He has written articles on space law and co-authored an article on the international legal pre-requisites of solar power satellites with Jeff Kehoe and William Goldstein. George Dietrich was called to the bar of the Province of Ontario, Canada in 1991. His law firm is located in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
Job Titles:
- Minister of Training / Colleges and Universities / Minister of Research and Innovation
The Hon. John Milloy was first elected Member of Provincial Parliament for Kitchener Centre in 2003. He was re-elected in 2007 and appointed Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities on October 30, 2007. In June 2009, Milloy was also appointed Minister of Research and Innovation. Milloy's political interest began at age 13 when he worked as a Queen's Park page and continued as he worked in political offices at both the provincial and federal level. From 1997 to 2002, Milloy served as Legislative Assistant to Prime Minister Jean Chretien. In his first term as MPP, Milloy held the position of Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. He also served as Chair of the Federal Interprovincial Municipal Relations Cabinet Committee. In November 2007 he was appointed to the provincial government's anti-poverty committee. Milloy holds a BA (Honours) in History from Carleton University, a Master's degree from the London School of Economics and a doctorate in Modern History from the University of Oxford where he was a Commonwealth Scholar. Milloy is past Director of Public Affairs for the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Kitchener-Waterloo. He has written on both international history and governance in the information age, recently publishing The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1948-1957: Community or Alliance. Milloy and his wife, physician Dr. Sara Pendergast, live in Kitchener with their son, John Patrick.
Iain Carson is business writer at large for The Economist. Previously he was the Europe Business Editor 2006-2008. Before that he was Industry Editor from 1994, after rejoining the paper from BBC TV, where had been Business Correspondent. Earlier he was presenter and chief reporter for two Channel Four TV business programmes. He is a former business editor of The Observer. In his early career he worked in Paris for a Euro-magazine and, with McGraw-Hill and The Economist, in London.
Job Titles:
- CFO
- Member of the Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Co - Chair / IAA Study Group
- President of ARTEMIS Innovation Management Solutions
- President, Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC
John C. Mankins is President of the Space Power Association, President of ARTEMIS Innovation Management Solutions and Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Managed Energy Technologies. He is an internationally recognized leader in space systems and technology innovation. Mankins spent 25 years as an executive at NASA and CalTech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory where his experience ranged from flight projects and space mission operations to systems level innovation and advanced technology research and development management.
Mankins is also known as an innovator in R&D management and was one of the creators of the widely used "technology readiness level" scale for technology assessment. For 10 years John Mankins managed Advanced Concept Studies at NASA in which he led critical studies of space solar power, highly reusable space transportation and affordable human exploration approaches. In recognition of his accomplishments he has received numerous awards and honors including the prestigious NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal. He holds graduate degrees in Physics and an MBA in Public Policy Analysis. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Sigma Xi Research Society.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Executive Director of Project Ploughshares
John Siebert has been the Executive Director of Project Ploughshares since 2005. Project Ploughshares, founded in 1976, is located in Waterloo, Ontario. Its work includes research and policy development on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, outer space security, the control and reduction of conventional weapons, and critical evaluation of Canada's foreign and defense policy from a human security framework. Prior to joining Project Ploughshares, John worked for several NGOs on public policy issues. From 1982- 1986 he was a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of External Affairs and International Trade, which included a posting to Canada's Embassy in Washington, DC. Since 2004 Project Ploughshares has acted as the managing partner for the international research consortium that produces the annual Space Security Index (spacesecurity. org). The goal of the SSI is to improve transparency with respect to space activities and provide a common, comprehensive knowledge base to support the development of national and international policies that contribute to space security, defined as "the secure and sustainable access to, and use of, space and freedom from spacebased threats.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Vice President
- President of the Canadian Space Society )
Kevin has worked in the space industry since 1996 and has contributed to some of Canada's largest space missions. Kevin studied at York University where he worked as a Research Assistant in the Instrument Services Lab at the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Technology (CRESTech), now known as Spectral Applied Research. During this time he was involved in a wide variety of spacecraft instrumentation research projects. As part of his role he helped perfect and enforce best-practice lab standards.
In 1999, he took a position as a Mission Planner for the RADARSAT-1 program at the Canadian Space Agency where he was part of the team responsible for image acquisition operations and calibration activities for the spacecraft. Following his term at the CSA, he worked as a Research Assistant at the Meteorological Services of Canada where he performed a variety of design tasks for a dual-spectrometer instrument that is currently operating on board the SCISAT-1 spacecraft to detect ozone concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere.
From 2004 to 2006, Kevin worked with the design team responsible for the lidar instrument on board NASA's Mars Phoenix Scout mission which operated on the Martian surface for 5 months in 2008.
Currently, Kevin is pursuing a master's degree in electrical engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada. He is also involved in research on a new generation of laser communications system for use in ground-to-satellite communications. Recently, Kevin established Shortt on Space Technology, a space consulting company focusing on advancing space technology and bringing them to the broader high tech market place.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
Marc Garneau has served his country his entire professional career, beginning with the Canadian Navy and then as an astronaut and President of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and now in political life as an elected Member of Parliament. Marc was made a Companion in the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour. He is honoured to have two high schools named after him, Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute in Toronto and École Secondaire Marc Garneau in Trenton, Ontario. Garneau began his service to Canada as a Navy combat systems engineer on HMCS Algonquin, was promoted to Commander in 1982 while at Staff College and was transferred to Ottawa in 1983. In 1986 he was promoted to Naval Captain and retired from the Navy in 1989. Marc began astronaut training in 1984 after being selected from four thousand candidates and made history as the first Canadian Astronaut to fly in space as a payload specialist on Shuttle Mission 41-G in October 1984. Garneau has logged over 677 hours in space.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- VP Public Affairs
Job Titles:
- CO - Chair, IAA Study Group
- Professor
Professor Nobuyuki Kaya, B.E.,M.E. and Ph.D., earned his degrees at Kyoto University. He is currently the Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Engineering at Kobe University in Japan. He held the position of Visiting Associate Professor of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. His areas of research include Space Solar Power (SPS), microwave power transmission and space observation of energetic particles. He has performed numerous space and ground demonstrations; in 2006 he and an international team from Japan and the European Space Agency successfully tested microwave beam control for an SPS using an ISAS sounding rocket and three daughter satellites deploying a large web: the "Furoshiki" experiment. He played a central role in the demonstration of key solarpowered wireless transmission as part of the Orbital Power Plant episode of the Project Earth television series on the Discovery Channel. Kaya is Vice President of a UN NGO, the SUNSAT Energy Council and is also Chair for Space Infrastructure in the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Steering Committee and was Chair of the IAF Power Committee for six years.
Job Titles:
- Science Writer and Columnist
Stephen Strauss is one of Canada's premier science writers and columnists with over 28 years dedicated to his field. He has served as Editor of the Montreal Star, feature writer, science writer, columnist and editorial writer for The Globe and Mail, science columnist for CBC.ca and has freelanced several pieces such as for Air Canada's EnRoute Magazine, The Globe and Mail, The Times Higher Education Supplement, The New Scientist, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, The Canadian Institute of Advanced Research, the Toronto Star, Reader's Digest and Nature Biotechnology. Strauss was Honorary Fellow at Bethune College, York University and was a contributing writer to MIT's Technology Review Magazine. Other notable contributions include: Board of Directors Canadian Science Writers Association, Advisor to OEC panel on chemicals in the environment, Health Canada Advisory Panel for the Chief Scientist, Board of Director for CANSTATS, Board of Directors, Scientists in Schools, Expert Panel, Choosing New Entrants into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame, Writer in Residence, Arts and Science Program, McMaster University.
Job Titles:
- Founder & Chairman / FATE Consortium / IBM
- Founder and Chairman of the FATE Consortium
Mr. Almazeedi, Founder and Chairman of the FATE Consortium, has more than 25 years of experience developing and financing energy projects. He is also Managing Partner of BTU Power, a private equity fund engaged in the development, management and ownership of 11,000 MW (gross) of installed power generation capacity located in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Tunisia and the UAE. Mr. Almazeedi's earlier experience includes energy privatization assignments and power project financings in developing countries with the World Bank in Washington DC. He started his career as a refinery engineer and subsequently as an investment analyst with the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Mr. Almazeedi holds a Master of Public Administration from John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (USA), a post-graduate diploma from the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UK) and a Bachelor's degree in Applied Chemistry with Control Engineering from the University of Kent at Canterbury (UK).
In 2006, Mr. Almazeedi was awarded the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Award in the energy category for the USA's New England region (Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut).