Board of Directors

Randy Brunet is a Partner with MLT Aikins LLP and a key member of the firm’s Innovation, Data and Technology practice group.  Randy’s practice is focused on innovation and technology projects as well as privacy and cybersecurity.  Randy has extensive experience with CO₂ capture, transportation, utilization and storage projects (CCUS).  He was a key participant in the PTRC’s Weyburn/Midale EOR and Aquistore research projects.  He has also advised on many CCUS projects and has presented at CCUS conferences and webinars.

Dr. Graham Winkelman is the Vice President, Climate at BHP Group Ltd. based in Melbourne, where his global role covers BHP’s response to climate change and energy policy, leadership of carbon capture and storage initiatives and accountability for the strategic design of the Company’s public climate change targets. Graham represents BHP through a number of high-profile fora, including the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA), the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC). Graham is a key representative for BHP on the Energy Transitions Commission, which ‘aims to identify pathways for change in our energy systems to ensure both better growth and a better climate’ and is a Board Member of the International CCS Knowledge Centre and the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN).

Ryan Neufeld is the Vice-President, Engineering and Construction at SaskPower. He has 25 years of experience in numerous areas within SaskPower, including Transmission, Distribution, and Key Accounts.

Over his career he has held many roles at SaskPower, starting as an electrical engineering technologist in 1998 performing commissioning and testing within Transmission, Distribution, and Generation. He also served as Director, Distribution Construction & Work Management and Director, Distribution Operations North.

Before SaskPower, Mr. Neufeld worked at Atco Electric as a Station Technologist in northern Alberta.

He holds a Diploma in Electrical Engineering Technology from Palliser Institute, a Journeyman Power System Electrician certificate from Alberta, and a certificate in Business Administration from the University of Saskatchewan.

Other Board and Volunteer Positions

• Board of Directors, Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance

Tina Searcy is the Manager Environment & Permitting for BHP Canada Inc. She joined BHP in early 2024, bringing with her 25 years of experience in the Uranium mining industry. Her portfolio at BHP includes oversight and implementation of environmental management plans, sustainability standards, environmental approvals and achieving objectives related to climate adaptation and biodiversity. 

Utilizing her Diploma in Environmental Engineering Technology from Palliser Institute she gained valuable experience in mine operations, environmental protection, and monitoring while working in northern Uranium mines. Completing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Management, she transitioned to regulatory affairs and strategy, while ensuring operations and projects adequately considered environmental performance during the full life cycle of the operations (inception through closure); ensuring land use for future generations.  

Darren Foster is the Executive Director of Corporate Strategy & Planning at SaskPower. His work is focused on the energy transition and advancing the strategic direction that will solidify SaskPower’s long-term success. This includes guiding Executive leadership and the Board of Directors in developing solutions and collaborative partnerships that will deliver on key strategic initiatives.

Darren brings extensive experience in strategy development, sustainability, regulatory affairs, corporate performance, communications, and shareholder relations. In addition to various roles at SaskPower, his career has included a decade leading his own consultancy, as well as time as a Creative Director at a national advertising agency, administrator at a university college, and journalist at a third world news agency based in London, UK.

Darren holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Communications from the University of Regina and has studied extensively at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Tim Dixon is Director and General Manager for the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG). He has been at IEAGHG since 2008, and is responsible for managing the R&D programme, ensuring that IEAGHG activities provide the technical evidence-base to support CCS development and deployment, including the IEAGHG technical studies, Research Networks, GHGT Conferences, and Summer Schools, and for inputting to regulatory and policy developments. Tim is chair of several international committees on CCS, including the GHGT Conference Committees.​

Tim is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas in Austin, and an Honorary Lecturer at the School of Geosciences at University of Edinburgh. He is a Director on the Board for The International CCS Knowledge Centre in Regina, Canada, and was an original Board Member of the UKCCSRC. He sits on advisory committees for several CCS R&D projects. Previously Tim worked in CCS, emissions trading, clean coal technologies, renewable energy and related areas for the UK Government‘s Department of Trade and Industry, for AEA Technology, and for the Global CCS Institute. He was a lead negotiator for CCS in the CDM at UNFCCC COP-17, for CCS in the London Convention and OSPAR, and for CCS in the EU ETS.​

Tim has a BSc in Applied Physics and an MBA, and is a member of the UK Institute of Physics, UK Energy Institute, and UK Environmental Law Association.​

Caralyn Bennett is President of the Canadian Heavy Oil Association, an organization dedicated to building community and creating opportunities that will spark the shifts and drive the advances necessary to differentiate the Canadian barrel as the global barrel of choice.  Caralyn also sits on the Board of Directors of two publicly traded companies, Acceleware Ltd. and Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd., and one private oil and gas producer.

Prior to her retirement in 2023, Ms. Bennett was Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of GLJ Ltd., a Canadian energy consulting firm. She has over 30 years of energy industry experience in resource governance, business strategy, subsurface risk and uncertainty, emerging technology, and energy decarbonization and transition.  Most recently, Caralyn oversaw GLJ’s diversification of services to include include sustainability and decarbonization strategies, carbon capture utilization and sequestration project validation, ESG reporting, new energy venture evaluation, integrated studies, and technology readiness assessments.

Caralyn advises the Dean of the MacPhail School of Energy at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and serves as a committee member of the Industrial Curricular Advisory Board, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for the University of Waterloo and the Awards and Recognition Formation Evaluation Committee of the Society of Petroleum Engineering.

A professional engineer, Ms. Bennett holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree (Honours) in Geological Engineering from the University of Waterloo and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Donovan is the President of Scovan, which he incorporated in 2010, and has grown the company organically and through acquisitions to provide strategic vertically integrated services. A passionate entrepreneur and professional engineer with vast experience in the energy industry, his focus is on delivering integrated projects from oil and gas, power generation, to renewable energy, which have led to the creation of transformative and disruptive solutions such as the PadX Partnership and HipVap. Solutions which will make a significant impact on reducing the environment footprint of the energy industry. Donovan is a philanthropist, board member, and active supporter in the community in which he is an advocate for gender diversity in the workplace and supports the development of young engineers through an educational grant at the University of Alberta.

As President and Chief Executive Officer, James is responsible for the overall leadership and strategic guidance of the Knowledge Centre, with a focus on enhancing business growth, developing partnerships and seeking new business opportunities to support the development of CCS projects globally.

Prior to joining the Knowledge Centre, James spent nearly two decades working in Canada’s energy sector. His career to date has spanned technical and leadership roles in upstream, midstream, downstream and technology development, as well as strategic and corporate functions that include acquisition and divestitures, investor relations, corporate planning and human resources.  He has extensive experience working on strategic initiatives at the executive and board level.

James holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and a Global Energy Executive MBA from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary.