Critical solutions for achieving sustainable, net zero energy in Canada

Prof. Benoit Boulet, Associate Vice-President of Innovation and Partnerships at McGill University

Benoit Boulet, P.Eng., Ph.D., SMIEEE, is Associate Vice-President of Innovation and Partnerships and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University. Professor Boulet obtained a Bachelor's degree from Université Laval in 1990, a Master of Engineering degree from McGill University in 1992, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto in 1996, all in electrical engineering. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Québec. Professor Boulet's research areas include the design and control of electric vehicles and green energy systems, robust control of biomedical systems, and robust industrial control. Prof. Boulet's research areas include the design and control of electric vehicles and green energy systems, robust control of biomedical systems, and robust industrial control.

Eric Peissel (Global Director Transport and Infrastructure @ WSP)

Eric Peissel, Global Director Transport and Infrastructure at WSP, has over 25 years of experience in transportation and has worked on projects across Canada, the USA and internationally. In his current role, he is responsible for setting strategic direction, key client management, coordination, and delivery for the 25,000 Transport and Infrastructure WSP Changemakers globally. Previously, Eric has had responsibility for overseeing the operations of teams of over 2,000 staff across multiple sectors including: highways, bridges, aviation, major projects, ports & marine, rail & transit and planning & advisory. With a strong background in transportation planning, Eric has headed the planning and preliminary design components of numerous billion-dollar projects. This includes significant transit projects in the BRT, LRT, Metro and Commuter rail sectors. He has also led the pursuit and delivery of large complex design-build and PPP projects in transit and highways. In his current role he connects the WSP teams globally and oversees the global networks which connect our experts in a diversity of sectors including aviation, ports & maritime, transit and water, among others. He assists WSP’s clients in finding the best practices used across our diverse client base covering 45,000 projects annually in over 40 countries globally. Eric is a graduate of McGill’s School of Urban Planning with a Masters in Urban Planning in 1999. Respected and recognised for this leading work, Eric was a guest lecturer in Transportation Planning at McGill’s School of Urban Planning. He has also prepared and taught the master’s level course in Computer Applications in Planning and has guest lectured at the University of Waterloo, University of Montreal and University of Quebec at Montreal.

Anne De Bortoli (Associate Professor @ Polytechnique Montréal (CIRAIG)

Anne de Bortoli is a researcher and adjunct professor in life cycle assessment and quantitative sustainability at CIRAIG (Polytechnique Montréal and UQAM), and an member of Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body. Her work focuses on fair and sustainable net-zero transitions to support robust decision-making.

Ben Kujala (Senior Research Lead @ Dunsky)

Ben Kujala leads Dunsky’s Power Planning practice and brings more than 18 years of experience supporting utilities, governments, and regulators on long‑term power system planning and decarbonization. As part of his practice, Ben helps clients navigate the reliability, affordability, and system planning challenges created by rapid electrification, high renewable penetration, and evolving regulatory expectations. His work spans integrated resource planning (IRP), resource adequacy and reliability assessment, load forecasting under electrification, and the valuation of storage and distributed energy resources. In parallel, Ben plays a central role in advancing Dunsky’s modeling capabilities, guiding the development and application of analytic tools used across the firm’s power system, DER, and decarbonization work. Before joining Dunsky, Ben served as Director of Power Planning at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, where he led development of the Congressionally mandated 2021 Northwest Power Plan for Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Earlier in his career, he worked at the Bonneville Power Administration on renewable integration, resource adequacy, and electricity market analysis. He holds a master’s degree in statistics from Portland State University, which underpins his approach to risk‑informed planning and system modeling.

Mark Lauby (Senior Vice President and Chief Engineer @ NERC)

Mark G. Lauby is NERC Fellow and Chief Engineer at NERC. Mr. Lauby joined NERC in January 2007 and has held several positions, including senior vice president of Engineering and Standards, vice president and director of Standards and vice president and director of Reliability Assessments and Performance Analysis. Prior to joining NERC, Mr. Lauby worked for the Electric Power Research Institute for 20 years and began his industry career in 1979 at the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2012, Mr. Lauby was elected to the North American Energy Standards Board and was appointed to the Department of Energy’s Electric Advisory Committee by the Secretary of Energy in 2014. Mr. Lauby has served as chair and is a life member of the International Electricity Research Exchange and served as chair of a number of IEEE working groups. From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Lauby was an appointed member of the Board of Excellent Energy International Co., LTD, an energy service company based in Thailand. He has been recognized for his technical achievements in many technical associations, including the 1992 IEEE Walter Fee Young Engineer of the Year Award. He was named a Fellow by IEEE in November 2011 for “leadership in the development and application of techniques for bulk power system reliability.” In 2014, Mr. Lauby was awarded the IEEE Power and Energy Society’s Roy Billinton Power System Reliability Award. In 2020, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) elected Mr. Lauby as a member, citing his development and application of techniques for electric grid reliability analysis. He is also a member of the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Executive Advisory Committee, focused on providing strategic support to the PES Board of Directors. Mr. Lauby is the author of more than 150 technical papers on power system reliability, expert systems, transmission system planning, and power system numerical analysis techniques. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. In addition, Mr. Lauby attended the London Business School Accelerated Development Program as well as the Executive Leadership Program at Harvard Business School.

Moderator: Prof. Sarah Jordaan -Associate Professor at TISED & Civil Engineering at McGill University

Dr. Sarah Marie Jordaan is an esteemed scholar renowned for her profound knowledge in the realms of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Industrial Ecology. She currently holds the role of Program Director for the Master of Engineering: Sustainability in Engineering and Design program at the prestigious Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design (TISED), situated within McGill University.