Carolyn Dahl Rees, Chair

Carolyn Dahl Rees was appointed​ chair of the AUC on June 24, 2020, after rejoining the Commission as a member in late March of the same year.

Ms. Dahl Rees was the AUC's first acting chair immediately after it was established in 2008, and served as a member and as vice-chair from 2008 to 2012. She has chaired or served on Commission panels adjudicating some of the AUC's most complex applications, in all areas of the AUC's regulatory mandate.

Ms. Dahl Rees received a bachelor of laws degree from the University of Toronto after completing a bachelor's degree in English at Houston, Texas's Rice University and a master's degree in medieval studies at the University of Toronto.

Ms. Dahl Rees rejoined the AUC from TransAlta Corporation, where she had served in several senior legal roles at various times, including special legal counsel, managing director for legal and compliance, vice-president of regulatory and compliance, and general counsel. She was also a member of the Calgary Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, serving twice as its first vice-chair.

Before being first appointed to the AUC, Ms. Dahl Rees was an acting member and member of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, an acting member of the Natural Resources Conservation Board, and the former chair of an independent review panel for the Alberta Beverage Container Management Board.

Ms. Dahl Rees has experience drafting legislation and regulations, and helped to prepare the Alberta Electric Utilities Act, the first rules for the Power Pool of Alberta, contracts setting up the restructured Alberta electric system, and the structure of Alberta's first transmission administrator. In the late '90s, Ms. Dahl Rees played a role in the development of the legislative amendments and power purchase arrangements used to deregulate Alberta's utility generating units. She is active in the Calgary community through Calgary Opera.​

Anne Michaud, Vice-chair

Anne Michaud has a master's degree in international trade law from Universite d'Aix-en-Provence, France, along with degrees in law and arts from the University of Ottawa. Her legal and business education is supplemented with training in securities, mediation and negotiations.

Ms. Michaud has an extensive professional background in tax and civil litigation, and transfer pricing. She has appeared before the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Ontario courts, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and the bi-national panel of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Before joining the AUC Ms. Michaud was a tax partner with Deloitte & Touche LLP's Calgary office, specializing in transfer pricing. Ms. Michaud worked with Canadian and multinational energy exploration and development companies, oil and gas service firms as well as energy marketers and traders in establishing and defending their transfer pricing models.

During most of the 1990s Ms. Michaud was a Crown counsel with the Department of Justice, working in Ottawa and Vancouver, managing litigation related to the Income Tax Act, customs and trade, dumping, federal sales tax, bankruptcy, employment and regulation. She also delivered policy and legal advice as counsel to federal negotiators in discussion of treaties with First Nations and the Province of British Columbia.

Ms. Michaud joined the AUC in 2008 and has worked on many different types of applications, including facilities applications.

Commission members, listed alphabetically by last name:

Carolyn Hutniak, Commission member

Carolyn Hutniak is a graduate of the University of Alberta with both bachelor of arts and bachelor of laws degrees. A lawyer and member of the Law Society of Alberta since 1989, her early legal career was as a litigator, practising primarily in the areas of labour, employment and administrative law. Representing clients, she appeared before numerous Alberta boards and tribunals as well as all levels of the Alberta Courts.

Ms. Hutniak has extensive evidence-based adjudicative tribunal experience built on a professional development, adjudicative quality control and administrative law background. She has served as a public member of hearing tribunals under Alberta's Health Professions Act, which examined and determined complaints against health professionals regulated under that legislation.

Immediately prior to joining the AUC, Ms. Hutniak served as an appeals commissioner and hearing chair with the Appeals Commission for Alberta Workers' Compensation for more than 12 years. This role included proceeding preparation, management and oversight, legislative and regulation interpretation, and decision writing across hundreds of written decisions. Ms. Hutniak's Appeals Commission experience also includes developing and delivering skill development and professional programs for both tribunal members and for tribunal staff as well as a two-year stint as the commission's performance management project co-ordinator. In that role, she developed and implemented a comprehensive quality control program for adjudicators, developed training and orientation programs, as well as a commissioner's handbook for tribunal members, all with a goal of ensuring timely, principled and fair decisions.

Prior to her tenure with the Appeals Commission for Alberta Workers' Compensation, Ms. Hutniak practised exclusively as a non-partisan administrative law and tribunal management consultant to a diverse range of disciplinary, regulatory and rights based tribunals throughout Alberta. In that role, her activities included providing advice on matters of legislative interpretation, drafting reasons and decisions at the direction of tribunal panels as well as developing and delivering educational seminars for judicial, legal, industry and lay audiences on a variety of administrative law topics. 
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Neil Jamieson, Commission member

Neil Jamieson is a graduate of the civil engineering program, and the senior executive fellows program, of the University of Alberta. Mr. Jamieson is also a certified local government manager.

Mr. Jamieson has worked as a senior-level professional engineer and manager, with a focus on infrastructure, public works, the environment and public utilities, for nearly 30 years.

Mr. Jamieson joined the AUC from the City of St. Albert, Alberta, where he was the general manager of planning and engineering. Since 1986, his oversight and expertise has been applied in three provinces and territories working largely at the municipal level - both urban and rural - and included planning and development (including land-use planning) and responsibility for drainage, water, sanitary and solid waste utilities, consultation and interaction with community and other stakeholder groups, and liaison with governments at the provincial and federal levels. Mr. Jamieson has also worked in three separate Canadian jurisdictions as a consultant project engineer centred on design, contract administration, construction inspection and surveying for civil and municipal engineering projects.

In Alberta, Mr. Jamieson has significant experience dealing with regional utility commissions and a working familiarity with provincial quasi-judicial tribunals in the fields of development and municipal government. He has had first-hand working exposure to the province’s major publicly-owned and privately-owned transmission and distribution utility providers, generation companies and the electric system operator.

Mr. Jamieson is a member, or former member, of the associations of professional engineers in Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and Ontario. He joined the AUC in February, 2011.

​Cairns Price, Commission member

​K​risti Sebalj, Commission m​ember 

Kristi Sebalj received a bachelor of laws degree and a certificate in marine environmental law from Dalhousie University in Halifax. She also received bachelor of science and master of science degrees from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Ms. Sebalj is member of the Law Society of Ontario ​and the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society, and holds a certificate in adjudication for administrative agencies, boards and tribunals.

Ms. Sebalj has held legal and regulatory roles in the energy and utilities sectors in Canada for almost two decades. This work started in the Maritimes during the development of the Sable Offshore Energy Project and then continued in Ontario during the period leading up to and following the restructuring of that province's electricity sector.

Before joining the AUC in July 2018, Ms. Sebalj was the registrar at the Ontario Energy Board, where she was a regulatory decision maker, team leader and executive advisor. In this post, she oversaw the Ontario Energy Board's adjudicative processes and designed and directed the implementation of a far-reaching consumer engagement program. Prior to this role, she was senior Ontario Energy Board legal counsel, providing litigation counsel for rates and facilities hearings and legal, strategic and regulatory advice for policy matters. Those matters included smart meter, conservation and demand management, and First Nations initiatives.

Prior to joining the Ontario Energy Board in 2005, Ms. Sebalj was the co-chair of (then) McMillan Binch LLP's energy group. She appeared before energy tribunals, and represented clients in corporate and regulatory matters involving electricity generation, transmission and distribution, natural gas supply, pipeline and tolling issues, and the purchase, sale and construction of energy-related assets. ​

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​Vera Slawinski, Commission member

Acting Commission members, listed alphabetically by last name:

​j'Amey Bevan, acting Commission member

j'Amey Bevan is the chair of the Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training Board, a former director of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 146 Training Trust Fund, and a former director on the board of the Tradewinds to Success Training Society.

She is a red seal-certified boilermaker through Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, earned a Blue Seal Program of Achievement in Business Competencies, and in 2014 completed a master's degree of arts in leadership at Royal Roads University in Victoria, B.C.

Ms. Bevan is a director on the Alberta Workforce Essential Skills Board, the Better SuperVision Board, and the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum Board. She has worked in the construction and maintenance industry for nearly 20 years. She lives in Tofield, Alberta.

Ms. Bevan was appointed to the AUC as an acting member in 2018, for a five-year term.

Patrick Brennan, acting Commission member

Patrick Brennan is a doctor of veterinarian medicine, an equine veterinarian and business owner who has served as a member or chair of Alberta association boards, quasi-judicial tribunals and councils at the provincial and municipal level. He has been active in Alberta's veterinary, municipal government and horse racing communities for his entire career.

Mr. Brennan is a graduate of veterinary programs at the University of Saskatchewan, and an internship at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. He founded the Hermitage Veterinary Hospital in Edmonton. Mr. Brennan was an acting member of the Alberta Utilities Commission from 2011 to 2016, during which time he was involved in decisions involving electricity and natural gas transmission and distribution; hydroelectric, gas and wind power generation, costs, and requests for review and variance. Reappointed in 2018, Mr. Brennan's term expires in 2023.

Born and raised in Edmonton and living in nearby Parkland County, Mr. Brennan served as a county councillor, on the county's subdivision authority, the subdivision and development appeal board, the agricultural and rural life advisory committee, and the economic development and tourism advisory committee. Mr. Brennan is also a former member of the Capital Region Wastewater Commission, serving as vice-chairman for six years and chairman for three years. In the 1980s, he served as a member and chairman of the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association Discipline Committee, and as a board member for the Western College of Veterinary Medicine equine research committee.

Mr. Brennan is a former board member and chairman of Horse Racing Alberta. He was selected by the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties as its representative on the provincial government's foreign animal disease eradication committee, and aggregate review committee. Mr. Brennan has also served as a board member and chairman of the TransAlta Tri Leisure Centre in Spruce Grove.  

Merete Heggelund, acting Commission member

Merete Heggelund is the chief administrative officer for the City of Medicine Hat, with an extensive background and experience in the energy sector, including in organizational and policy development and project and portfolio valuation. In her Medicine Hat role, she has an oversight role in the municipality's business units such as electrical generation, electric and gas distribution and upstream oil and gas exploration, development and production.

Ms. Heggelund is a graduate of the master of economics program of the University of Calgary, earned a bachelor's degree in economics and statistics from the University of Oslo in Norway, and is enrolled in the Directors Education Program of the Institute of Corporate Directors. She was appointed to the AUC in 2018 with a five-year term.

In Medicine Hat, Ms. Heggelund served as the commissioner of corporate services following senior advisory, business services, and administration roles with several oil and gas firms. She is the former director of economics for the Saskatchewan Energy Conservation and Development Authority, manager of forecasting and economics for TransAlta Utilities Corp., and senior economist for the Canadian Energy Research Institute.

Ms. H​eggelund is a council mem​ber of the Standards Council of Canada and chair of the council's governance committee. 

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Vin​cent Kostesky, acting Commission member

Vincent Kostesky has a strong private-sector background in regulatory affairs and strategy, electricity and natural gas marketing, market structures, electric system operations and oversight, and in electricity market design. This is derived from senior positions with a major Canadian and international pipeline and energy generation company, a leadership position with the former electric system operator and in director roles in electricity, natural gas and natural gas liquids marketing and trading.

Mr. Kostesky has also served on the board of directors of a major industrial electricity consumers association. Additionally, he was actively involved in the 2001 restructuring of Alberta’s electric system.

Mr. Kostesky, a chartered professional accountant, was appointed an acting member of the Alberta Utilities Commission in January 2021 for a five-year term. His professional background includes ownership of a retailing concern and senior positions in natural gas and natural gas liquids marketing and trading. Along with completing his accounting designation at the University of Calgary, he is a graduate of Brandon, Manitoba’s Assiniboine Community​ College.

Doug Larder, QC, acting Commission member

Mr. Larder serves as the AUC's general counsel and was appointed as an acting Commission member in July 2020. As general counsel his primary responsibilities are to ensure that the Commission receives sound legal advice and representation in all areas of the Commission's operations.

Mr. Larder is a member of the AUC’s Regulatory Burden Reduction Task Force, a committee focused on improving processes and procedures to enhance the efficiency of AUC work on a broad, cross-divisional level.

Mr. Larder joined the Commission's predecessor, the Alberta Energy and Utility Board (AEUB) in 1997 and acted on its behalf in major public hearings related to oil and gas and electric energy facilities, resource disputes, utility rate-making matters and court challenges.

Mr. Larder was appointed general counsel of the AEUB in 2004 and continued in that capacity with the Alberta Utilities Commission when it was created in 2008. He has sat as an acting Commission member for the Commission and as an acting board member at the AEUB. Prior to 1997, Mr. Larder was in private legal practice in Calgary, mostly focused on litigation.

He has a bachelor of arts degree, and a bachelor of law degree from Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.​

Koren Lightning-Earle, acting Commission member

Koren Lightning-Earle is a Maskwacis-based lawyer and a member of the Samson Cree Nation in Alberta. She is the Indigenous initiatives liaison for the Law Society of Alberta, and operates her own law firm, Thunderbird Law, at the Samson Cree Nation at Maskwacis (formerly Hobbema), Alberta, in Treaty Six territory. The practice focuses on family law, wills and estates, Aboriginal and Indigenous law, alternative dispute resolution, governance and policy work, and strategic planning.

Ms. Lightning-Earle is a graduate of the University of Alberta with a bachelor's degree in recreation and leisure studies; a special bachelor's degree in arts from Augustana University College in Camrose, Alberta; and completed the program of legal studies for native people at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. She also received a bachelor of laws from the University of Alberta; and will be completing her master of laws degree with specialization in alternative dispute resolution from York University in Toronto, Ontario, in fall 2018. She is a member of the Law Society of Alberta and was appointed to the AUC for a five-year term in 2018.

Ms. Lightning-Earle has a strong background and current involvement in Indigenous law and legal affairs. She is a former president of Canada's Indigenous Bar Association, a former elected council member of the Samson Cree Nation and co-chair of the First Nations Women's Economic Security Council. Ms. Lightning-Earle is also a member of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, board member for First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and vice-president of Kasohkowew Child Wellness Society. She is a sessional instructor in business law, introduction to western law and Indigenous people, native insight and issues, and organizational behaviour at Maskwacis Cultural College.​​

Rick Robinson, acting Commission member

Rick Robinson was the chief administrative officer of Lethbridge County until January 2018, and served in county roles for 24 years, including in as cost accountant, controller and director of corporate services. Mr. Robinson is also a retired member of the Alberta Rural Administrators Association. Mr. Robinson is a chartered accountant.

Mr. Robinson is a graduate with great distinction of bachelor of management program of the University of Lethbridge and a member of Chartered Professional Accountants Alberta. He also holds a certificate in municipal management and leadership from the University of Alberta.

During his time at Lethbridge County, Mr. Robinson, a Metis, took a two-year leave of absence to work as the chief financial officer of the Hopital Albert Schweitzer, in Haiti. Mr. Robinson was appointed as an acting AUC member in 2018 with a term that expires in 2023.

As an active supporter of the Lethbridge community, Mr. Robinson has also served in board positions at the Lethbridge Curling Club including president and vice-president, and as secretary-treasurer for the Southern Alberta Individualized Planning Association and the Lethbridge Chargers Soccer Club.

Bohdan (Don) Romaniuk, acting Commission member

Bohdan (Don) Romaniuk has a bachelor’s degree with honours in economics from the University of Alberta, a degree in law from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in economics from Queen’s University. He has built expertise and experience in the fields of law, economics, regulation, corporate finance and commercial enterprise during three decades of work as a lawyer, corporate executive and builder of start-up companies.

Mr. Romaniuk is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Canadian Bar Association. He joined the AUC as an acting Commission member in October 2012.

Mr. Romaniuk has had significant exposure to and involvement with quasi-judicial regulatory bodies at the provincial and federal level focused on telecommunications and which operated in deregulating or deregulated policy environments. This included senior regulatory affairs oversight roles with Canada’s top-tier telecommunications firms, and with both public and private firms. His initial legal practice was centred on telecommunications, competition and administrative law. Since then, Mr. Romaniuk has served in senior executive, officer or board roles in telecommunications, advertising, marketing and promotion, wireless location, high-performance computing, and oil and gas. He has also published scholarly articles on competition law and telecommunications regulation, and has a strong interest in the interplay of and among central banking, international finance and global debt and equity markets.

Mr. Romaniuk is active as a volunteer in the community, in professional associations and in the not-for-profit sector. He has served on the investment advisory committee of a federally-chartered charitable foundation, the board of directors of the Calgary Opera Association and on the board of directors of the International Telecommunications Society, the latter of which he continues to serve as secretariat. Mr. Romaniuk is the president of the Calgary Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association and in his leisure time enjoys fly-fishing and amateur astronomy.

John Whaley, a​cting Commission member

John Whaley has a strong agricultural background, is the former long-time mayor of Leduc County as well as a former board member of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (formerly the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Councils, or AAMDC).

Mr. Whaley served as a director of the Alberta Safety Codes Council, a board member of the Agricultural Service Board, the audit and finance committee of Alberta's Local Authorities Pension Plan (including a term as chair), and as a counsellor, sat on Leduc County's financial audit committee. He was appointed to the AUC in 2018 with a term ending in 2023.

Until 2013 Mr. Whaley was an active agricultural producer, and prior to coming to Canada in 1990 he ran a mixed farming operation in England for more than 20 years. He received a diploma in agriculture in England, at Kirkley Hall Agricultural College.