Commission member biographies

Michael Arthur was appointed a Commission member in April 2023.

Mr. Arthur brings a strong background in both regulated and non-regulated utilities to the role, as well as senior roles with major international power engineering and consulting firms. This includes substantial exposure to utility system planning and operations, Alberta utility regulatory processes, and generation and transmission technologies. Mr. Arthur also has experience in nuclear power engineering and design.

He has held senior positions with power industry consultant Bench Holdings Ltd., international engineering firm Worley Ltd., infrastructure engineering and procurement firm Black & Veatch, and engineering and design company Colt Engineering.

Mr. Arthur holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and is a registered professional engineer in the province of Alberta.

Renée Marx was appointed a member of the Alberta Utilities Commission in July 2022, continuing a career focused on energy-related regulatory law with a strong emphasis on utilities, including transmission and generation, primarily within the Alberta context. She has held senior legal positions centred on regulatory affairs as a consultant, with the Alberta Energy Regulator, with the province’s largest transmission operator, a major Alberta generation firm, and with the AUC’s predecessor, the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board. She has been involved in utilities and energy regulation, in increasingly demanding roles, for more than two decades.

Ms. Marx’s familiarity with Alberta’s utility regulation-related legislative and regulatory scheme is complemented by deep experience in utility rates, utility facilities planning and approval, compliance and enforcement, Indigenous relations, health and safety, policy development, strategic management, stakeholder engagement, and regulatory modernization, streamlining and efficiency.

Ms. Marx has completed bachelor of arts in political science and bachelor of laws degrees, both at the University of Calgary. She has also completed a certificate in regulatory leadership offered jointly by the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. She is a member of the Law Society of Alberta and the Canadian Bar Association.

Matthew Oliver was appointed a member of the Alberta Utilities Commission in April 2022 after serving for five years as the chief regulatory officer and deputy registrar of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA). Before his work with APEGA, Mr. Oliver spent nine years as an appeals commissioner and hearing chair with the Appeals Commission for Alberta Workers’ Compensation, authoring more than 300 decisions. His early career included roles as a forensic electrical engineer, church minister, and aerospace engineer.

He also spent time in prior years as a senior officer with the Canadian Forces, serving as a chief aircraft engineer and as a flight commander with the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment.

Mr. Oliver holds bachelor and master’s degrees in engineering, and a master’s degree in divinity, along with diplomas in aerospace engineering, explosives engineering, and avionics engineering; and a certificate in restorative justice.

Mr. Oliver is Métis, a member on the board of governors of The King’s University in Edmonton and published author in theology, workplace culture and engineering.

Cairns Price was appointed a member of the Alberta Utilities Commission in January 2021 following a career in senior legal roles focused on regulatory, environmental and Indigenous law. He has significant experience in the oil and gas, pipeline and utility industries.

Before joining the AUC, Mr. Price was corporate regulatory counsel and was in private legal practice. He has appeared before various provincial and federal regulatory tribunals and has extensive experience with provincial and federal regulation in the energy sector.

Mr. Price is a member of the Law Society of Alberta, a graduate with distinction of the bachelor of law and bachelor of civil law programs of McGill University Faculty of Law, and a graduate with distinction of the bachelor of commerce program of the University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business.

Mr. Price has volunteered as a board member with Calgary’s Scarboro Community Association, and with L’Arche Calgary, which supports individuals with developmental disabilities.​​​

Vera Slawinski was appointed as a member of the Alberta Utilities Commission ​in January 2021.

Ms. Slawinski re-joined the AUC, having previously served as legal counsel to the Commission between April 2008 and March 2013, with a focus on natural gas and electric utility rate-setting proceedings including the generic cost of capital, along with financial settlement, service quality and smart grid matters. Before April 2008, she worked in private legal practice, primarily in the areas of corporate and securities law.

Prior to rejoining the AUC in 2021 Ms. Slawinski had most recently been legal counsel for a major Alberta electric utility, working on both rate and facilities matters, as well as compliance with various AUC-administered regulations and rules. Those duties built on six years’ earlier experience providing advice on the interpretation and drafting of electricity and natural gas utilities legislation to the Alberta Department of Energy. This latter role also cultivated a familiarity with the other Alberta electricity agencies: the Alberta Electric System Operator, the Balancing Pool and the Market Surveillance Administrator.

Ms. Slawinski is a member of the Law Society of Alberta, with a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Calgary, and a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Chicago. These academic achievements built on an earlier bachelor of fine arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a bachelor of science degree in pure mathematics from the University of Calgary.

Dennis Frehlich was appointed an acting Commission member in April 2023, bringing an extensive history in senior roles in the Alberta electric industry, including the independent transmission system operator, to the Alberta Utilities Commission.

Mr. Frehlich is a registered engineer, specializing in electrical engineering. He has served as the vice-president of grid reliability, as the chief engineer for technology and innovation, and as the senior strategic advisor for the Alberta Electric System Operator, which operates Alberta’s Interconnected Electric System. He has also worked in multiple senior roles with a major Alberta transmission operator, and a large, vertically integrated Alberta electric power utility.

Mr. Frehlich holds a bachelor of science in electrical engineering degree from the University of Saskatchewan and he is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta

Doug Hawkins is a professional engineer with a strong background in municipal engineering and infrastructure development and management, including oversight of a city-owned electric utility. He was appointed an acting member of the Alberta Utilities Commission in April 2023.

Mr. Hawkins has 25 years of experience working with the City of Lethbridge, including as city engineer and as director of infrastructure services. These roles included oversight of the city utility’s provision of wire services, both electrical distribution and transmission, as well as the provision of the regulated rate option to local customers. Mr. Hawkins has familiarity with the Alberta Electric System Operator, as well as the tariff and compliance requirements of the Alberta Utilities Commission.

Mr. Hawkins is a certified municipal manager and holds a degree in engineering and management from the Royal Military College of Canada.

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.

John McCarthy has a strong background in energy engineering, environmental protection and economics, with public and private sector experience as an energy consultant, as a member of regulatory tribunals and in senior staff and executive positions with the National Energy Board.

He has solid private sector experience in health, safety, environment, risk management and stakeholder engagement related to natural gas facilities and pipeline operations; along with extensive experience in pipeline regulation, strategic planning, communications and energy economic studies, among other areas.

A professional engineer, Mr. McCarthy was appointed as an acting member of the Alberta Utilities Commission in April 2022 for a five-year term. Immediately prior to his appointment he was a member of the Alberta Surface Rights Board and the Alberta Land Compensation Board, which were amalgamated to become the Alberta Land and Property Rights Tribunal.

Mr. McCarthy has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa, a master of business administration degree from the University of Calgary, and completed the leadership development program at the Banff School of Leadership. He has consulted for the University of Calgary School of Public Policy and written for the Canadian Institute of Resource Law. He has extensive volunteer experience within the community, currently serving on the board of directors of the Calgary Homeless Foundation.