ACTia Staff

Jason Switzer
Executive Director
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Sydney Kjellander
Managing Director
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Sydney has an MBA in Entrepreneurship and a BA in Geography, both from the University of British Columbia.

Amanda Lo
Lead – External
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Andrea Bravo
Analyst – Clean Tech
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ACTia Board Executive

Russel Matichuk
Chair
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Rus is the CEO of Gerard Developments Ltd. which owns and manages ten hotels in Alberta and BC and has a number of other investments including Grove RV, Solaris Equestrian, plus other properties and business interests in the Edmonton area, Jasper, Canmore, and Valemount, BC.
Rus has played key roles in launching and growing a number of financially oriented or industry focused associations or initiatives in Alberta, including ACTia, Deal Generator, VenturePrize, Banff Venture Forum, and InfoTech Alberta. Rus continues to be active as a board member or volunteer with both private and public organizations and brings 30 years of management experience in different industries.
Rus holds a B.Ed. Business with Distinction from the University of Alberta.

Matt McCulloch
Vice Chair
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Jason Switzer
Executive Director
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Todd Scaletta
Treasurer
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Todd facilitates the Innovation and Technology Program.

John Goetz
Secretary
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John works closely with energy and cleantech clients on their corporate commercial matters. He has significant experience with large oil sands construction and infrastructure projects, mergers and acquisitions and operational matters. John also advises energy and cleantech clients on renewable energy and cleantech projects and the integration of emissions trading and climate change strategy. John enjoys working with early stage cleantech and energy companies.
As a leading cleantech and climate change practitioner, John has advised on some of Canada’s first carbon capture and sequestration projects and is currently advising on what could be Canada’s largest CO2 sequestration and enhanced oil recovery projects, located in Alberta. John co-authored a report for Alberta Economic Development Authority on Enhanced Oil Recovery in Carbon Capture and Storage. He also co-authored “The Development of Emissions Trading In Canada” which was published in the Alberta Law Review.
ACTia Board Directors

Jeff Reading
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Jeff has more than 35 years’ experience in the environmental field. He has worked in education with the North York Board of Education, Calgary Board of Education and provincially through the Alberta Teacher’s Association; risk management around the world; provided leadership to government with the City of Calgary and the Government of Alberta; supported the build out of a number of energy and tech start-ups; and been active in the not-for profit sector with Climate Change Central (C3) and Carbon Management Canada (CMC).
In addition, Jeff teaches at the University of Calgary and is also the Chair for the Green Learning Canada Foundation (GLCF), co-founder and Board member of the Alberta Council for Environmental Education (ACEE), an advisor with Carbon Talks Canada and sits of the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation Grant Review Committee.
When Jeff is not working, he enjoys international travel and wilderness adventures with his family.

Simon Knight
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His previous position was as the President and CEO of Climate Change Central (C3). He served in this position for 8 years prior to the wind down of the organization. Prior the CEO position he served as the Director of Energy Efficiency at C3. During his tenure he created or oversaw work in energy efficiency and conservation covering residential homes, commercial buildings, alternative energy, alternative transportation fuels, commercial taxis and trucking and many more programs. In addition he oversaw the operations of the Alberta portion of the offset registry.
Prior to C3 Simon spent 21 years working in various positions in the provincial government in Park and Recreation and Environment. His career shifted from Senior Policy Advisory when he was seconded to Climate Change Central in 2000.

Jana Hanova
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In addition to her tech start-up ecosystem experience, she led and managed multiple large Private & Public company engagements as a management and strategy consultant with PwC – in both the Middle East (UAE, Qatar, Oman, Saudi) and Alberta (Canada). She also worked with the International Energy Agency and the CTO Office of BC Hydro on accelerating the deployment of emerging technologies, with particular focus on electrification, decentralized energy and alternative energy systems.
Jana holds a M.Sc. in Resource Management and Environmental Science from the University of British Columbia and a B.Sc. (First Class Hons) in Geology/Geophysics from the University of Calgary.

Candice Paton
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Candice is passionate about energy technologies and the efforts required to move the needle on environmental performance. She holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering.
She is registered as a Professional Engineer with APEGA and is a Fellow with the Energy Futures Lab.
She has recently been recognized as an honorary leading female innovator as part of the Alberta Chapter of SHEinnovates.

Connie Raddatz
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Connie has assisted organisations of all sizes over her career and has deep knowledge in the development of strategy and finance. She was an investment banker at Deutsche Bank cumulatively working on over $100 billion of transactions. She also mentors smaller sized organisations on their corporate finance needs. Connie teaches Advanced Finance and Innovation at The University of British Columbia, Okanagan.

Stuart Lomas
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Stuart is a software developer by training, and has worked in oil and gas, new computer development, telecommunications, medical devices, banking, and industrial automation.
Stuart has a BSc in Computing Science and an MBA from the University of Alberta. He is currently President of Turreco Properties Inc. as well as the President of the Alberta Council of Technologies.

Nathan Ashcroft
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Nathan’s sweet spot is his ability to draw high performers together into world class teams. He is a registered professional engineer member, 2008, APEGGA (Alberta, Canada) and Chartered Engineer, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, UK (IMechE). He further holds a B.Eng. (Hons) Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering, University of Wales – 1998, and is a member of PMI.

Michael Cohen
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More recently, Michael worked for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Alberta Advanced Education and Technology in regulatory affairs, science policy, and industry development, and as a instructor at NAIT. He is currently active as a consultant and angel investor.
Michael has an MSc in Biological Sciences from Simon Fraser University and a PhD in Entomology from the University of Illinois.