Executive Committee
CIGRE Canada is governed by an Executive Committee whose members are elected by CIGRE Canada membership for a four-year term. The Executive Committee is composed of a chair, an immediate former chair, a vice-chair, a secretary-treasurer, and a minimum of five and a maximum of ten elected members. A maximum of three members may be individual members.
Prabha S. Kundur, Chair
Prabha Kundur currently heads Kundur Power System Solutions based in Toronto. Formerly President and CEO of Powertech Labs, a subsidiary of BC Hydro, he also held senior positions at Ontario Hydro for nearly 25 years. Prabha Kundur holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and is the author of Power System Stability and Control. He has also taught at the University of British Columbia, the University of Manitoba, and the University of Toronto. In 2003, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Active in CIGRE for many years, Prabha Kundur has served as Chair of the CIGRE Study Committee C4 from 2002 to 2006. He was recipient of the CIGRE Technical Committee Award, and named CIGRE Honorary Member.
Jean Guay, Secretary-Treasurer
Mr. Jean Guay is Vice-President, Sales and Marketing for ABB Inc. In his role, he is responsible for the Front-End Sales Organization for the Power Products & Systems Divisions in Canada. Since joining ABB in 1989 he has held successively senior positions, both in Canada and Switzerland. Prior to this appointment, he was Vice-President for Drives and Motors in Canada, and for Power Electronics in North America. Mr. Guay holds a bachelor's degree in Physics Engineering from the École Polytechnique de Montréal.
Mohamed M. Rashwan, Vice Chair
Mohamed Rashwan has spent most of his career with Manitoba Hydro, where he has worked on the planning, design, operation, and maintenance of HVDC. For the past eight years, as President of the consulting firm TransGrid Solutions, he provides counsel to utilities around the world. Mohamed Rashwan is a Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a Distinguished Member of CIGRE. He has been active in CIGRE technical committees since 1982, chaired several working groups, acted as Canadian representative on study committee B4, and been a member of the executive since 1992. Mohamed Rashwan obtained a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Manitoba. Currently, he is also an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Manitoba.
Yves Filion, Past Chair
Yves Filion has worked for thirty-five years with Hydro-Québec, where he has held increasingly senior positions, including deputy chief executive officer and chief financial officer. From 2001 to 2003, he was president of Hydro-Québec Distribution, and subsequently was named president of Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie, a position he served until 2006. Yves Filion sits on various boards including, since 2007, the Montréal Port Authority. He is a fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and a Herald of the Université de Sherbrooke. He is also President of the International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE).
Joe Bailey
Joe Bailey has his own consulting practice, JR Bailey Utility Consulting. Until recently, he was Senior Vice-President, Asset Management for Toronto Hydro-Electric System, appointed in 2001, four years after he participated in planning the amalgamation of Metro Toronto's six municipal electric utilities. He has more than 36 years experience in the electric utility industry, having worked at Westinghouse Canada, Ontario Hydro, and Scarborough Public Utilities Commission. Active in several industry associations, Joe Bailey is currently Chair of the Canadian Electricity Association Standards Management Committee, the Canadian Electricity Assiciation Electrical Safety Task Group, the Canadian Standards Association Strategic Steering Committee on Power Engineering and Electromagnetic Compatibility, and of the Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada Committee on Live Working.
Robert B. Brennan
Robert Brennan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Manitoba Hydro, where he has worked for his entire professional career. Before his current position, he was Senior Vice-President, Finance and Administration, and Chief Financial Officer for Manitoba Hydro. He serves as a director on the boards of the Canadian Electricity Association and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. He is also Director and Treasurer of Hospice and Palliative Care Manitoba. A chartered accountant, he was recently elected a "Fellow of the Chartered Accountants" (FCA) by the Manitoba Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Paul Dufresne
Paul Dufresne is Senior Vice-President of SNC-Lavalin and General Manager of its Energy Division. He has been with SNC-Lavalin since 1982, where he has worked as project director, manager of the civil department, and project engineer on projects in Africa, Asia, and North and South America. Paul Dufresne sits on the Board of SNC-Lavalin Nuclear, as well as several industry associations. A founding member of the Canadian Hydropower Association, he is also President of the Management Committee of the Québec Electricity Industry Table. He has a Bachelor in civil engineering from École Polytechnique of Montréal, and is an alumni of the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School.
Dennis Frehlich
Dennis Frehlich is Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer at AltaLink Management. As a registered professional engineer, he has 20 years of experience in the electric industry with a focus in the areas of transmission and distribution. His career experience includes power system engineering, asset management, project management and business development. He earned his electrical engineering degree, with distinction, from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987 and has since held expanding operational leadership positions in the electric industry.
Reza Iravani
Reza Iravani received his B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 1976 from Tehran Polytechnique University. He worked as consulting engineer from 1976 to 1979. Subsequently he received his Masters and Ph.D. degrees also in electrical engineering from the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 1981 and 1985 respectively. Dr. Iravani is a professor at the University of Toronto. His research interests include modeling and control of power systems, and applications of power electronics in power systems. Dr. Iravani is an IEEE Fellow and a professional engineer in Ontario.
Geoff Ogram
Geoff Ogram is Vice-President Asset Management at Hydro One, where he is responsible for planning and managing transmission and distribution investments, as well as for their conservation and demand management program and Hydro One Telecom. He began his career at Ontario Hydro as a research scientist in the field of nuclear safety and environmental studies. Since 1991, he has held various positions of increasing responsibility, both at the corporate and at the business level, including Generation, Retail, Transmission, and Strategy and Development. He has an undergraduate degree in physics and applied mathematics, a Ph.D. in physics, and has completed the Senior Executive Program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York.
Julius S. Pataky
Julius Pataky was appointed Vice-President, System Planning & Asset Management for British Columbia Transmission Corporation in July 2006, which he joined in 2004. He has held various managerial positions, and was most recently Director of System Planning & Asset Management. Prior to joining BCTC, he spent six years with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young as Senior Manager, Energy & Utilities, providing services to companies and governments around the world. He also spent 18 years with the ATCO Group of companies in Alberta. He has a degree in electrical engineering from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He is a registered professional engineer in British Columbia.
Elie Saheb
Élie Saheb is Executive Vice President, Technology with responsibility for Hydro-Québec's research institute (IREQ), commercialization of technology, telecommunications, and information technology and the subsidiaries Hydro-Québec CapiTech and Hydro-Québec IndusTech. Previously, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Société d'énergie de la Baie James (SEBJ). He began his career at Hydro-Québec as a nuclear engineer, and has worked as a researcher and also as Project Manager for new generating stations in Québec and in Morocco. The Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec granted Mr. Saheb its Grand Prix d'excellence and he was elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2004.
Ralph Zucker
A professional engineer with broad utility experience in engineering, economics, and strategic planning, Ralph Zucker is Director of Asset Investment and Reliability at BC Hydro. He has been with BC Hydro since 1980 in a variety of engineering and management roles, including the management of large capital programs, the development of risk management tools and strategies, system performance management, customer interfaces, and policy development. He has been active in several community leadership roles, including Leadership Vancouver, the Quality Council of BC, and the Sustainability Committee of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia. He is also currently a Director of the North West Energy Technology Collaborative.
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