SPEAKERS

Jane Taber

Senior Vice President | NATIONAL Public Relations, Atlantic

Jane Taber is a former Globe and Mail political journalist who spent more than 25 years covering Parliament Hill and Queen’s Park.

During her tenure on Parliament Hill with the Globe, Jane was also co-host of CTV’s Question Period – and she has spent more hours than she can count on campaign buses and planes following the leaders during federal election campaigns. She’s interviewed the country’s main political players, covered leadership contests, trade deals, international summits and the important issues of the day.

She also worked as communications director to the former Premier of Nova Scotia.

Jane specializes in media training, having coached CEOs of major Canadian companies, the heads of national law firms and senior cabinet ministers and MPs.

In addition to media training and coaching, Jane is also focused on moderating panels and conferences, media relations and speech writing, crisis communications and post-secondary labour issues. Jane is a graduate of Carleton University’s journalism program and was appointed to the Carleton University Board of Governors in June 2019 and re-appointed to another three-year term in 2022. Jane also served as a mentor to the Public Policy Forum’s Action Canada leadership fellows.

François Berset

Sales Manager | MC-monitoring SA

François Berset, Dipl. Eng. HES and Executive MBA, is Sales Manager at MC-monitoring SA, a Swiss company developing and manufacturing condition monitoring systems for power-generating machinery. With a career spanning more than 30 years in engineering and technology, he brings a rare combination of deep technical expertise and commercial acumen to the global hydropower market.

Over the last 7 years, François oversees sales across a diverse portfolio of international territories — including India, France, Northen and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and recently Canada. Across these markets, he promotes with the help of local partners & distributors integrated condition monitoring solutions encompassing sensors, data acquisition systems, and software for power plant units, with a primary focus on the hydropower segment. He works closely with plant operators and OEMs to bring solutions to protect and optimize turbine-generator units through continuous vibration monitoring and machinery diagnostics.

Carolyn Brown

Environmental Scientist and Toxicologist | Ecoreg Solutions

Carolyn has over 15 years of experience assessing environmental impacts, focusing on aquatic environments. After working for 10 years in environmental consulting, she returned to school to pursue a PhD. Her research focused on the improvements that can be made to the baseline and prediction phases of Environmental Impact Assessments to improve post-development monitoring, using the Mactaquac Hydroelectric Generating Station as a case study. Carolyn joined Ecoreg Solutions over two years ago and serves as a project manager and provides technical expertise to assist mining, nuclear, hydropower, and municipal clients with their projects. Carolyn is on the board for the Laurentian Chapter of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, actively participates in the Environment and Science Committee of the Ontario Mining Association, and recently joined the WaterPower Canada Fisheries and Environmental Affairs Working Group.

Daniel Giesbrecht

Senior Mechanical Engineer | KGS Group

Mr. Giesbrecht is a Mechanical Engineer at KGS Group. He has over 15 years of experience providing mechanical design for gates, hoists, balance of plant and turbine systems for hydroelectric and industrial projects. His experience includes the installation and commissioning of turbine, generator and gate systems, as well as overhauls, dam safety reviews and turbine performance testing.

Albert Mikhail

Turbine Performance Testing Specialist | KGS Group

Albert Mikhail has over 48 years of experience in the hydropower sector and has performed over 600 turbine operational and performance acceptance tests. He specializes in pre- and post-unit rehabilitation performance comparisons, applying a range of analytical methods – many of which he developed himself – to assess hydroelectric unit performance.  Albert was also involved in developing the testing methods for the International Water Sharing Agreement between Canada and the United States at Niagara Falls.

Emmanuel Ngue

CEO and Principal Engineer | EN Solutions Hydro

Emmanuel Ngue is a licensed engineer in Quebec with a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering applied to Hydropower from École Polytechnique Montréal and a Maintenance Management Professional certificate from PEMAC. With over a decade in the energy industry, including roles at Andritz Hydro and GE Vernova, he has led major refurbishment and installation projects in Canada and the U.S. He is the founder of EN Solutions Hydro, a Canadian firm pioneering AI-powered maintenance solutions for the hydroelectric sector.

Dr. Laura Read

Director of Technical and Federal Partnerships for HydroForecast | Upstream Tech

Laura Read develops the technical product strategy and processes to continue growing our HydroForecast system and team. At Upstream Tech, she leads partnerships with federal agencies and water resource organizations, working closely with hydropower operators across North America to advance the adoption of AI-driven streamflow forecasting. She brings expertise in hydrologic sciences and statistics, project management, technical writing, and client communication. Laura holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and graduate and undergraduate degrees in chemistry and environmental engineering.

Peggy Trousseau

Hydraulic Engineer | Hydro-Quebec

Peggy Trousseau is a hydraulic engineer who has been working at Hydro-Quebec for over 25 years. After spending several years working on dam safety studies, she transitioned to river management where she discovered the fascinating world of production planning.

Since the early 2000s, the energy sector has undergone significant transformation, and Hydro-Québec has evolved along with it. Actively involved in the energy transition, Peggy set up a working group to better understand the implications of integrating large volumes of wind energy into the power system. With this multidisciplinary team, experts examined issues related to the electrical grid, capacity expansion, and wind generation, while Peggy and her colleagues focused on the operational challenges facing Hydro-Quebec’s hydroelectric generation fleet.

Christian Winkler

Senior Sales and Business Development Manager | Bridge Executive Renewable Solutions Ltd

Christian Winkler is a senior industrial engineer, having graduated from the University of Applied Sciences Munich, Germany in 2008. He started working at Fella Maschinenbau GmbH in 2007, focusing on the DIVE-Turbine for his final thesis. He has been involved in the sales, project management and realization of more than 70 projects with DIVE-Turbines globally ever since. He played a major role in the establishment of DIVE Turbinen GmbH & Co. KG in 2012, since then he has held the position of Senior Sales and Business Development Manager.