We are Carbon Ethic

Michael ‘Brent’ Tolmie is a proven leader with 25+ years of experience working in construction, forestry, and energy, having owned and operated dozens of pieces of forestry and construction equipment, performing on resource and construction projects across Western Canada. Prior to starting his own companies, he worked in full cycle forest management, including planning, layout, road development, full phase harvesting, sorting, brokerage, and silvaculture.

His teams performed $100M+ of contracts on many billion dollar projects, also maintaining a log sorting operation from 2004 – 2017, sorting millions of cubic metres of logs and selling to international and domestic customers across the world. A renewable energy advocate, Brent’s companies worked on more than a dozen run of the river projects for independent power producers, most of which were acquired by Innergex (INE:TSE)

Brent is also a blockchain enthusiast, having mined and traded Ethereum, Bitcoin, Litecoin and others believing in the decentralization of information as a solution to many of the world’s transparency issues. Brent has advised on corporate finance transactions, company and shareholder succession, and transition issues for enterprise clients up to 10 figures. He is currently developing a sustainable residential recreational community and working on scalable solutions to establishing new forests with indigenous partners.

Martin focuses on driving sales growth across North America and Europe. He has over 25 years market trading, blockchain and investment experience. He is a serial entrepreneur and public speaker, educating business leaders and investors about capital markets and blockchain technology.

He previously built two education – focused companies including a French – speaking market trading school and a blockchain technology consulting firm. He has specialised in blockchain since 2016.

Jacques is an internationally recognized ESG specialist. He holds a master’s degree in biology and a management certificate. Working as a consultant for international organizations (IUCN, UNDP, FAO, CEC, EU, etc.), he has produced ESG strategies for many countries.

As a director in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, he reviewed the environmental performance of federal entities and trained auditors in the consideration of environmental issues in performance audits.

Geoff Fawkes is a technology executive with a background in software development and business operational management spanning the past 20+ years.

He was most recently VP of Technology at BuildDirect, the first eCommerce technology for the home improvement industry, and served on the executive team to lead a successful 2021 go-public exit on the TSX-V (BILD). Previously he was VP Software Development at DDS Wireless, a global provider of mobile solutions for a variety of fleet management applications.

He has 15+ years expertise in offshore software development in India, China and Brazil, having structured and mentored teams to grow their expertise globally. His experience spans industries and technologies including eCommerce, Demand Chain Management (DCM), security and online banking, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and telecommunications. He holds an MBA degree from Simon Fraser University (Vancouver) and a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia.

Kyle has over ten years of Information Technology experience, including roles in call centres, in house corporate, and a mid sized MSA.

Starting as a technician, Kyle ascended to leadership roles, managing and delivering quality solutions to multiple industries such as legal firms, accounting firms, construction & manufacturing, several with a global reach. As a solutions engineer, Kyle has designed and implemented many ground up server solutions with redundancy and security solutions in critical industries.

Kyle has a passion for IT Security and Blockchain technology, believing that Blockchain will be the next field of innovation to ensure end-users data is protected.

Brendan began his forestry career on Canada’s east coast before moving out west to complete Vancouver Island University’s Forest Resources Technology Diploma and UBC Sauder’s Project Management Certificate. Before joining the Carbon Connect team, Brendan managed project-based labour market training working with the Ministry of Social Development & Poverty Reduction to bolster the skilled worker inflow into the forest industry. In addition to this work, Brendan boasts a vast range of industry experience and network that he cultivates with enthusiasm for the work and endless support for others. Brendan is a true champion of the forest industry with high aptitude and a network of allies working together for a bright future.

A biologist and full professor in the Department of Fundamental Sciences at UQAC (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi), Claude Villeneuve has divided his career between higher education, research and fieldwork in environmental sciences for more than 40 years. A specialist in sustainable development and climate change, Claude Villeneuve is Director of the Chair of Eco-Council since its inception in 2003 and the «Carbone Boréal» research infrastructure. He authored several books and scientific papers on climate change and sustainability.

In 2001, he created the ECO-consulting DESS program at UQAC, which he led until 2016, and led the creation of 5 short programs for cumulative eco-consulting mastering. Among these, the short program on sustainable carbon management is used to train specialists throughout the process of combating climate change (climate change science, emissions quantification, reduction projects, offsetting, voluntary carbon markets and regulations).

After participating as an expert at the Conferences of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2001 (Marrakech) and 2005 (Montreal) as an expert and collaborating on the development of ISO 14064, he created the first university course on greenhouse gas management in 2008 (1. ECC 811) based on ISO 14064, which has been recognized by the Canadian Standards Agency (CSA), which automatically grants ISO 14064-1 and ISO 14064-2 certification to students who have passed it. This course is given in graduate programs and has trained more than 300 students in various graduate programs at UQAC.

It was also in 2008 that he and the Chair in Eco-Council team launched the Boreal Carbon Project, which aims to research the role of the boreal forest in the fight and adaptation to climate change using carbon offset socio-financing. In 2018, Boreal Carbon has become a permanent research infrastructure of UQAC that has planted nearly 1.5 million trees and offset nearly 100,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Riccardo Valentini graduated at University of Rome “La Sapienza” in Physics. In 1987 he became researcher at the University of Tuscia, Faculty of Agriculture continuing to work on plant – climate interactions. He was one of the pioneer of terrestrial carbon research working in several ecosystems placed in North and South America, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Africa in different biomes including forests, crops, grasslands, savannahs, wetlands etc. He was member of the scientific committee of the Global Carbon Project, chairman of the UN program GTOS (Global Terrestrial Observation System). He awarded the ERC (European Research Council) Senior Advanced Grant concerning the role of African tropical forests in the global greenhouse gas balance. He was coordinating lead author in the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 3rd and 5th report on Climate Impacts and Adaptation. He is currently leading the Smart Urban Nature Lab at the RUDN University in Moscow under the Russian Scientific Foundation Project grant # 19-77-300-12”. He has created and patent a new sensor for Tree health monitoring (TreeTalkerTM) which is used now in more than 2000 trees in several world locations (Italy, Spain, Russia, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, UK, South Korea, China).

Recent awards include : Norbert Gerbier-Mumm International award 2004 for the paper “Environmental controls over carbon dioxide and water vapour exchange of terrestrial vegetation”, Zayed International Prize for the Environment as member of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board, Laurea Honoris Causa Facultè Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux, Belgium, 2007 Nobel Price for Peace as member of the IPCC board, Award of Thomson Reuters recognizing the 1% of the most cited scientist in the world, Ernst Heckel Prize of the Federation of European Ecological Societies, Laurea Honoris Causa Russian State Agricultural University – Timiryazev Academy, Moscow, Russia. National Geographic Explorer Award. He has been recognized in 2016, 2017 and 2018 by Thomson Reuters highly cited researcher. Prof. Valentini published more than 200 papers in international peer-review journals, with 19914 citations and an H factor of 70.

Prof. Ken Coates is one of Canada’s foremost thought leaders on Indigenous Policy, including treaty and land claims. Ken is the Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan campus. Ken was raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, and has long-standing professional and personal interests in Aboriginal rights, northern development, northern Canadian history, science, technology and society, and Japan Studies.

Ken has worked with Aboriginal peoples and organizations and with government agencies responsible for Indigenous affairs across Canada and in New Zealand and Australia. He has assisted with land claims research and participated in a variety of national and international collaborations, including serving on the Research Advisory Committee of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. He is the Director of the International Centre for Northern Governance and Development, which provides regionally-relevant research focused on northern Saskatchewan and is the Director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s research project on Aboriginal Peoples and the Natural Resource economy.

Professor Fradette started at Polytechnique in 2004 after spending almost 10 years in industry first as process engineer for Petro-Canada and, after completing a PhD, in multiple positions in R&D management. He has held the NSERC Total research chair in multiphase hydrodynamics at extreme conditions from 2011 to 2016.

At the same time, Louis Fradette joined CO2 Solutions Inc. in 2013, as Chief Technology Officer and senior vice-president of process and engineering. After successful demonstration of CO2 Solutions capture technology at large scale (2015) and the start of a first large scale commercialization project (2016) at Resolute Forest Products in St-Félicien Qc, he has led the Valorisation Carbone Québec project, a unique 30M$ project aiming at the industrial demonstration of CO2 capture and utilization for the production of value-added products. Dr. Fradette has work both in academia and industry over his 25 year carreer.

For over 40 years, Gaston has worked extensively in sustainable development and corporate social responsibility in Canada, the United States and Europe.

In 2017, Déry was admitted as a member of the Order of Canada for his contribution to Canadian sustainable development and protecting natural habitats. He was also named a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2020 for his dedication to protecting and showcasing Quebec’s natural heritage.

A trusted voice on issues of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility worldwide, Gaston has held CEO roles with the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Insects and Disease (SOPFIM) and with the Quebec Lumber Manufacturers Association (QLMA),where he played a key role in defending the interests of Quebec’s forest products industry during the Canada‑US softwood lumber dispute. Déry also served as VP Sustainable Development for ROCHE (now Nora Stello), a world-class consulting firm.

Throughout his executive leadership roles, Déry continues his pioneering work, developing strategies for effective forest protection, engineering for sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.