Conference Speakers
2026
September 16-18
Guest Speakers
2026
We’re thrilled to share our diverse line-up of speakers from some of the best known brands in our industry. Some you may know. Others you’ll be discovering for the first time here.
Colin Gruending
SPEAKER
Colin is the Executive Vice President, and President of Enbridge Liquids Pipelines since October 1, 2021. In this capacity, Colin oversees the operational and commercial aspects of the company’s significant pipeline network, safely transporting 30% of North America’s crude oil output.
Colin has been a part of Enbridge for over 25 years and before joining Liquids Pipelines, he was Enbridge’s Chief Financial Officer. Throughout his journey at the company, he has held several executive positions. He served as the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Investment Review, during which he spearheaded the acquisition of Spectra Energy in 2017, followed by a strategic asset divestiture program. Colin has also played significant roles as the Vice President of Corporate Development and Planning, Vice President of Treasury and Tax, and has contributed as CFO for both Enbridge Income Fund and Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc.
Colin’s industry involvement extends further as he recently served as the Chair of the American Petroleum Institute Midstream Committee and as a current Board Member of the Business Council of Alberta.
Outside of work, Colin is a strong supporter of Canadian sports and grassroots coaching. In 2023, he was elected Governor of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, reflecting his long‑standing commitment to the positive role sport plays in youth and community development.
Colin holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Saskatchewan and is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst.
Mark Maki
SPEAKER
Mark Maki was appointed as Trans Mountain’s Chief Executive Officer in September 2024. Before that, he served as the company’s Chief Financial Officer, a role he assumed upon joining the company in 2020.
Prior to joining Trans Mountain, Mark spent nearly 34 years at Enbridge, where he held several executive roles in both Canada and the US, including President of Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. in Houston, Chief Accounting Officer, Senior Vice President of Finance, and Senior Vice President of Corporate Planning and Sponsored Vehicles.
Mark holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin–Superior and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Richard Prior
SPEAKER
Richard Prior is the Senior Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of South Bow. He is responsible for the operational aspects of South Bow’s business, including commercial activities and growth. Leveraging 30 years of experience in the energy industry, Richard provides strategic leadership and operational expertise to ensure the company’s assets and projects are managed safely and efficiently.
Prior to his role at South Bow, Richard was a trusted senior leader with TC Energy. As President of the Liquids business, he was responsible for the delivery of its strategic priorities and customer commitments. Richard has previously held senior leadership roles in TC Energy’s Canadian, U.S. and Mexico Natural Gas business units. He has extensive project management, commercial and operational experience and has led the development and execution of multiple landmark infrastructure projects across North America.
Before joining TC Energy, Richard worked with a construction firm and held various roles in project management and controls.
Richard holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Calgary and a Master of Business Administration from the Ohio State University. Richard currently participates on the Board of Directors of the Liquids Energy Pipeline Association (LEPA).
Gitane De Silva, ICD.D
SPEAKER
Jackie Forrest
Moderator
Executive Director of ARC Energy Research Institute, Managing Director of ARC Financial Corp. ,
Jackie actively monitors emerging strategic trends related to energy. She is an author and sought-after public speaker with over 25 years of experience in the energy industry. She is the co-host of the ARC Energy Ideas podcast, a weekly show that explains the latest trends and news in Canadian energy and beyond.
As a Managing Director of ARC Financial Corp., Jackie is a member of the Board of Directors, Investment Committee, and Executive Committee. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) and on the Board of Directors for STEP Energy Services, a leading North American energy services company. She is a former board member of Longshore Resources Ltd. and the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (EPAC).
Prior to joining ARC, she was the leader of North American crude oil research for IHS CERA (now S&P Global). Jackie has published 20 public papers on energy issues. She has co-hosted over 250 podcasts and written numerous columns in national publications, spanning all energy systems from oil and gas to clean energy, including electric vehicles, renewable power, and biofuels.
Jackie was the recipient of the 2022 Schulich School of Engineering Canadian Engineering Leadership Award. The award recognizes pioneers of progress in engineering for their achievements, leadership, generosity in sharing their experiences & role model qualities. She is currently a member of the Schulich Industry Advisory Council (SIAC), the group provides input to the engineering school to help to ensure that programs and initiatives align with industry needs. She is also a Special Advisor to the Business Council of Alberta.
Jackie attended the University of Calgary where she received an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering. She is a Professional Engineer, and also has an MBA from Queen’s University.
Adam Waterous
SPEAKER
Prior to founding Waterous Energy Fund in January, 2017, Adam served as Global Head of Investment Banking and Head of Energy and Power, North America at Scotiabank, where he was responsible for all of Scotiabank’s global Equity and Advisory activities and Scotia Waterous.
Under Adam’s leadership from 2005 to 2016, Scotia Waterous was among the most active advisors in the oil and gas acquisition and divestiture market with transactions roughly evenly split between Canada, the United States and other countries.
Adam co-founded Waterous & Co., a predecessor firm to Scotia Waterous, in September 1991 where he was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and the head of the firm. Scotia Capital acquired Waterous & Co. in 2005.
Before co-founding Waterous & Co., Adam worked in the Mergers and Acquisitions department with First Boston Corporation in New York and in management consulting with McKinsey & Company in Toronto.
Adam holds an Honours Business Administration degree from the University of Western Ontario and a MBA from Harvard Business School. Being in the top five percent of his class at Harvard, he was designated a Baker Scholar.
Paul Chapman
Speaker
Paul Chapman is Managing Partner and Co-Head of HC Group, a global search firm dedicated to the energy & commodities sector. Paul is also the host of the chart-topping “The HC Commodities Podcast”. This weekly show brings experts from around the world to discuss the latest trends and topics from across the commodities world. Paul is also Executive Director at Enco Inisghts, a senior advisor network for the energy & natural resources sector. Paul joined HC in 2004 in the London Office. In 2007 he launched HC’s Americas offering, basing himself in Houston – where he lives with his family. He holds an MBA from Rice University’s Jones Business School.
Emily Kyne
Speaker
Emily Kyne joined ARM Energy in June 2015 and currently serves as Vice President of Commodity Strategy and Trade Analytics. In this role, she directs risk-taking strategy across ARM’s crude desks and evaluates corporate development opportunities within ARM’s Trading and Midstream verticals, aligning them with the firm’s evolving regional fundamentals and trading views. Her corporate development mandate focuses on leveraging and extending the commercial connectivity between ARM’s trading units and its asset footprint, enhancing ARM’s ability to capture regional volatility and tail-risk opportunities.
Over the course of her tenure at ARM, she has led the firm’s analytics group, guided the development of market outlooks for crude oil, natural gas, and power, and shaped the commercial and risk management strategy across multiple business units. Ms. Kyne regularly provides market insight and strategic direction to executive teams, corporate boards, producer marketing groups, and private equity sponsors in both the United States and Canada.
Earlier in her career, she held key roles within risk management and portfolio strategy, advising on commodity hedging, options, and futures. She remains actively involved in talent development through ARM’s sponsorship of the Texas A&M Trading, Risk, and Investments Program at Mays Business School, where she supports emerging leaders in market analytics and trading.
With two decades of experience in crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and power, Ms. Kyne has comprehensive expertise across physical and financial energy markets. Prior to joining ARM Energy, she held roles at Apache Canada, Nexen Marketing, and Connacher Oil and Gas. She holds an MBA with a Specialism in Finance from Edinburgh Business School and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Calgary.
Chris De Santis
Speaker
Chris De Santis is an independent organizational behavior practitioner, speaker,and now an author of “Why I Find You Irritating: Navigating Generational Friction at Work.” He has over thirty-five years of experience working with clients in professional services firms, technology companies, and financial services, and often, based on their sponsorship, working with their clients, both domestically and internationally. While he has been speaking on behalf of embracing generational diversity for past fifteen years, this is his first book on the topic. He has his undergraduate degree in business from the University of Notre Dame, his master’s degree in business from the University of Denver and a master’s in organization development from Loyola University. He lives in a quiet corner in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Eddie Fishman
Speaker
Edward Fishman is one of the world’s leading authorities on economic statecraft. He is Senior Fellow and Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He also advises companies on geopolitical strategy and invests in early-stage technology startups.
Fishman is the New York Times–bestselling author of Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare, which has been hailed as “masterful” by the Financial Times, “a timely, riveting world tour” by The Economist, and “a compelling and dramatic narrative about the new shape of geopolitics” by the Wall Street Journal. Chokepoints was named a best book of 2025 by The Economist, the Financial Times, Bloomberg, and NPR and was a finalist for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award.
Between 2011 and 2017, Fishman served in key foreign policy roles across the U.S. government. At the State Department, he served as a member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, where he advised Secretary John Kerry on Europe and Eurasia and led the staff’s work on economic sanctions, long-range strategic planning, and international order and norms. Fishman was also the Russia and Europe Lead in the State Department’s Office of Economic Sanctions Policy and Implementation, where he played a central role in designing and negotiating international sanctions in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Earlier, Fishman was a member of the Iran sanctions team, where he developed policies to strengthen sanctions against Iran and maintain pressure during the negotiations that led to the Iran nuclear deal. Outside of the State Department, Fishman has served at the Pentagon as special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Treasury Department as special assistant to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and at Foreign Affairs as a member of the editorial staff. Fishman is a recipient of the State Department’s Superior Honor Award (twice) and its Meritorious Honor Award, having been recognized for his contributions to U.S. policy toward Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Iran.
Fishman’s analysis is regularly featured by outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Washington Post, and NPR, and he frequently writes for publications such as Foreign Affairs and Politico. He holds a B.A. in History from Yale, an M.Phil. in International Relations from Cambridge, and an M.B.A. from Stanford. He lives with his wife and two children in New York City.
Rick Mercer
SPEAKER
Rick Mercer chronicles, satirizes, and ultimately celebrates all that is great and irreverent about this country. A national #1 bestselling author and the Governor General’s Award-winner for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Mercer is our most popular comic: a political satirist who knows exactly what matters to regular Canadians and what makes them laugh. The beloved comic won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for his memoir Talking to Canadians, in which he charts his meteoric rise to TV fame in a series of riveting, hilarious, and unforgettable anecdotes and behind-the-scenes revelations from his decades-long career. In his new memoir, The Road Years, he continues the story and reminds us, with trademark humor and charisma, how much there is to love about Canada.