Board of Directors
Please direct all media inquiries about SWITCH to the staff (info@switchontario.ca or phone 613-547-6700 ext. 129).
Chairperson: Don Young
Phone: (613) 544-5400 ext. 1530
Email: donyoung@sl.on.ca
Don Young is the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science at St. Lawrence College in Kingston. At the College Don has responsibility for the School of Applied Science and Computing, the School of Health Sciences and the School of Skilled Trades and Tourism. Within the Faculty there are 2,000 full time students in 38 different academic programs from apprenticeship training to one year certificates, two year Ontario College Diplomas, three year Ontario College Advanced Diplomas and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
Don is currently engaged in his second very interesting career. During his first career, Don served as an Air Force Helicopter pilot. He served in units in Germany, across Canada and on peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Haiti and Eritrea. He holds a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters degree in Management and Policy studies, both from the Royal Military College in Kingston.
In addition to his work at St. Lawrence College and SWITCH, Don is also the President of the Advanced Technology Education Consortium of Kingston.
Vice President: Harriet Waterman
Phone: (613) 542-3995
Email: Harriet.Waterman@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Harriet Waterman is an Industrial Technology Advisor with the National Research Council IRAP Program in Kingston. She has had a diverse career in industrial engineering, corporate and commercial banking, entrepreneurial ventures, consulting and currently, government. Organizations she has worked for include Imperial Oil, the Toronto-Dominion Bank, two small global technology companies as owner/operator.
Harriet holds a B.A. Sc. in Industrial Engineering and an M.B.A. She is a Professional Engineer, Board Member of the Kingston Technology Council and SWITCH, and Member of the University Club, Queen's University.
Please note that Harriet is unable to respond to any media inquiries
Secretary-Treasurer: Rob Miller
Phone: (613) 545-0215
Email: rmiller@axiopower.com
Mr. Miller has worked in the energy and environmental field with public organizations and private companies his entire career. He has worked for an electrical distribution equipment manufacturer, the Greater Vancouver Regional District Solid Waste Department, and the Resort Municipality of Whistler as a Municipal Engineer. He is well versed in public policy, process and regulation. He worked for Superior Propane, Canada's largest propane retailer for over 9 years and gained invaluable experience in the energy business. Based in Kingston for just over 3 years, Rob has worked for Vector Wind Energy and subsequently for Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. (Canhydro), as Project Engineer working on the Wolfe Island (Wolfe Island) and Royal Road (Royal Road) wind projects. He currently is VP, development for Axio Power Canada Inc.
Rob believes that it is important to "walk the talk" with respect to pursuing his passion for sustainability. Recently, his family home in Kingston has undergone a major "green" transformation and renovation. This includes being the first "grid tied" PV home in Kingston, as well as being the second or third "Standard Offer Contract" in Ontario to be generating electricity. Other features include Insulated Concrete Foam, solar thermal hot water heater, high efficiency wood burning stove, wastewater heat exchanger, and a grey water collection and recycling system for flushing toilets.
Mr. Miller is a strong advocate of renewable energy and is a member of the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA), the Ontario Water Power Association (OWA), and the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA). He holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree from the University of Western Ontario (1989) and a Master's of Science Degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of British Columbia (1994). He has also successfully completed graduate level courses towards the fulfillment of a PhD in renewable energy at Queen's University.
Board Member: Stephen W. Sottile
Phone: (613) 546-1181, ext. 2477
Email: ssottile@utilitieskingston.com
A graduate of the Queen's School of Business, Stephen has been involved in the planning, financing, and implementation of distributed, renewable energy projects since 2002. He has experience working with various energy generation technologies for clients as diverse as locally focused energy cooperatives and large private developers of renewable energy projects. He served as Executive Director of SWITCH from 2005 to 2007, helping establish it as an independently funded organization. In 2006 he joined Utilities Kingston, a municipally owned utility services company that operates Kingston's water, sewer, gas, electricity, and fibre optic networks. While his primary responsibility is analysis of Ontario energy sector regulation, he has collaborated with operations, billing, engineering, technical, and management staff to help facilitate and initiate local renewable electricity generation, solar water heating, energy conservation, and cogeneration projects.
Board Member: Theresa MacBeth
Phone: (613) 531-3686
Email: impact@boomstrategy.com
Theresa MacBeth is founder, president and chief strategy officer at BOOM Strategy, a boutique management consulting company that guides CEO's, business leaders and their teams to create ground breaking strategies that help them grow, develop and make a powerful difference in their world.
Her expertise in marketing innovation, strategic planning, and executive coaching are sought by leading organizations in both private and public sectors across Ontario. Clients include a broad range of professions and industries, from biotechnology to manufacturing, pharmacists to engineers, business-to-business, education, healthcare, professional services, energy and wholesaling, just to name a few.
Theresa is a graduate of Queen's University, and a member of CMC Canada, the Canadian Association of Management Consultants. She is currently pursuing the prestigious CMC designation, the only internationally recognized certification program for professional management consultants.
Board Member: Brad Leonard
Phone: (613) 544-5575 ext 201
Brad Leonard is one of the partners of Renewable Energy of Plum Hollow. His company grew out of the late 1970's movement towards energy independence. In 1993, his partners purchased the old cheese factory in Plum Hollow, Ontario, and within a few short years they became one of Canada's top retailers of pellet and wood appliances.
When Brad began in the industry, he focused only on the pellet appliances and solar/wind energy equipement; responsible for selling, servicing and installing. Over the years, he has helped train many service persons and installers and has spoken at many Local and National symposiums about pellet, wood and alternative energy appliances.
Since 2002, Brad has been a member of the national board for Wood Energy Technology Transfer Inc. (WETT). WETT is a non-profit training and education association that promotes the safe and effective use of wood burning systems in Canada. Brad is currently involved with a community group in Kingston looking at local production of switch grass pellets, to be used as a home heating fuel in biomass heaters.
In June 2008, Brad's business hit another milestone when they became the first business in the city of Kingston to sell power created from their two-kilowatt solar array and their 1.9 kilowatt wind generator back to the grid. Brad was honoured when renowned scientist Dr. David Suzuki joined him in pulling the switch.
Growing up in Eastern Ontario, he is the sixth generation to burn biomass fuel as a main heat source for his home. With the addition of a solar hot water heater in 2002 and a hybrid vehicle, Brad is moving closer to a zero imprint on the environment.
Board Member: John Paul Shearer
Phone: (613) 544-2725 ext 7267
Email: shearer@kingstoncanada.com
A graduate with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Glasgow, John-Paul (JP) is currently Director of Business Development with the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO). Previously to joining KEDCO, JP was Assistant Director (Support Services) at the University of Glasgow. Within his role at KEDCO, he is part of a dedicated team with responsibility for business attraction, retention, and expansion within the City of Kingston.
With expertise in strategic planning, managing operations, marketing, and managing change in public, private and not for profit sectors, JP collaborates with senior levels of municipal, provincial, and federal Government to make Kingston a better place to live, work, visit and do business. JP is part of the strategic steering group for branding the area as a Green Region, is a pillar champion on the Sustainable Kingston project, an academic advisor on the Queen’s-Cornell Executive MBA program, and a volunteer advisor to many community groups.
Board Member: John Williamson
Email: willj@kos.net
John and his wife farm in Inverary on his grandparents farm. After graduating from the University of Guelph with a B.SC (Fish and Wildlife Major), he worked for nearly 30 years in various positions across the province as a biologist and director with both the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Canadian Wildlife Service. John has a consulting business, Katarokwi Consulting, in operation for over 10 years, dealing with Natural Resource issues and Aboriginal groups. John is Chair of the Cataraqui Source Water Protection Committee (Minister of the Environment appointee), to develop a Source Protection Plan for municipal drinking water systems within the Kingston-Brockville-Sydenham area. He has served on several boards as a director: the Frontenac Cattlemen, the Canadian Gelbvieh Association, the South Frontenac Police Services Board, and the Frontenac Federation of Agriculture, acting as Chair of the latter two.
John has been endorsed by the 400 member Frontenac Federation of Agriculture to bring agriculture concerns to the SWITCH Board table as that link is essential to deliver alternate energy sources on agricultural land and buildings. John has recently received a contract for a solar microFIT project on his barn roof.
Student Board Member: Michael Pathak
Michael is a graduate student at Queen’s University under Dr. Harrison and Dr. Pearce. His research entails characterizing amorphous silicon solar cells and figuring out how they can be optimally designed to work at high temperatures so that they can be combined with a solar thermal hybrid or PVT. He did his undergraduate studies at Queen’s University in Engineering Physics. He loves to organize events and consider planning half the fun. He is unhappy with the current situation that Canada is in concerning environmental issues. This past summer he participated in the Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) for the Kingston Sustainability Summit. Earlier this term, he partook in the Solar and Wind supply chain breakfast with John Gerretsen and KEDCO.
Staff
Executive Director: Ted Hsu
Phone: (613) 547-6700, ext. 129
Email: thsu@switchkingston.ca
Ted Hsu grew up in Kingston. He left for studies and work, but returned to his home town a few years ago. He came to SWITCH with a dual background in science and business.
Ted studied physics at Queen's University, earned his PhD at Princeton University with a thesis on the topic of high temperature superconductivity, and went on to work as a research scientist at U.B.C., C.N.R.S. Grenoble, and AECL's Chalk River Laboratories. Ted then made a career move into finance, working in interest rate products with Banque Nationale de Paris in Philadelphia and Paris, after which he signed on with Morgan Stanley in Tokyo where he managed an equities trading desk. His positions working in the financial markets were strongly customer focused and he will draw on this experience to serve the membership of SWITCH.
After almost ten years, Ted decided to transition out of finance, returned to Kingston, and enjoyed being a stay-at-home dad. His interest in global heating and climate change has grown steadily over the past few years. He has spent time studying our energy economy, greenhouse gas offsets, and searching out ways to influence public policy in this area.
In Kingston, Ted serves as co-chair of the Kingston Environmental Advisory Forum. He also researched and wrote a report documenting changes in Kingston's greenhouse gas emissions from 2000 to 2006. Ted became Executive Director of SWITCH in November, 2007 and in this role he hopes to combine his love of science, expertise in finance, and passion for creating a better future.
Administrative Assistant: Catherine Humphreys
Phone: (613) 547-6700, Ext. 129
Email: info@switchontario.ca
Catherine is in the SWITCH office on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
Catherine assists Ted Hsu, the Executive Director, and handles administrative tasks for SWITCH.
Challenge Coordinator: Tyson Champagne
Phone: (613) 547-6700, Ext. 130
Tyson Champagne was born and raised in Kingston and is a graduate of Queen's University. Tyson has been interested in solar power for many years and has recently obtained a certificate in photovoltaic design and installation. He is also the founder of the web site Solar Power Beginner which helps 'solar power rookies' get a better understanding of solar energy. As the 1000 Solar Rooftops Challenge Coordinator, Tyson hopes to continue bringing information about solar power to people who may be new to the subject.
Youth Intern: Anna-Marie Manley
Phone: (613) 547-6700, Ext. 130
Anna-Marie Manley is a recent graduate from Queen's University in Engineering Chemistry. She has a background in sustainable energy through the Living Energy Lab, and was also involved in several other associations while at university, including acting as EngChem President and serving on the Engineering Society Council. As the Youth Intern, Anna-Marie is available to help SWITCH members with any questions, comments or ideas they may have!
