Biographies


Cristiano Balestrino
Siemens
Cristiano is Product Family Owner at Siemens for the SGT-A35 and SGT-A45 gas turbine products. He’s responsible in this role for R&D strategy, support to sales and new product commercialization.
Cristiano joined Siemens in 2014 as part of the Rolls-Royce Energy acquisition in Montréal, Canada. Prior to the current role, he held several Project Manager positions for Gas Turbine development. Previously, Cristiano has spent five years with the Rolls-Royce Fuel Cells program in the UK.
Cristiano holds a Master in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Genova (Italy), and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).
 
Jim Benson
Camfil Power Systems
Jim Benson is a Principal Engineer with Camfil Power Systems, North America. He has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, and Master in Management of Technology both from the University of Minnesota; and is a Professional Engineer. He has over 30 years of filtration experience, in the areas of product development, filter media and applications. This experience has covered multiple of markets including military vehicles, industrial dust collection, compressed air, and gas turbine systems. Over the past 20 years Jim has presented gas turbine related filtration topics at numerous technical forums including ASME, Power Gen, TurboMachinery Symposium and several gas turbine user’s groups.
 
Brett Butler
TC Energy
Brett Butler started in the industry with the Rolls-Royce Aero division back in 1996, after graduating with an Aeronautical Engineering (Hons) degree in the UK. He has over 20 years of experience in the gas turbine industry, covering a range of technical and managerial responsibilities.
His technical work has involved him in roles covering gas turbine performance analysis, diagnostic and health monitoring systems, engine rating and certification, rotating equipment testing/commissioning, and control system design and programming. He managed TCT's gas turbine overhaul test facility in Calgary until 2010, and prior to moving to Canada in 2001 he managed a small team responsible for the health monitoring for the AE3007 fleet at DS&S.
Brett is currently with TC Energy’s Automation Engineering team, where he performs control system design, testing and commissioning for control system upgrades at their gas compression facilities. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Alberta.
 
Patrick Campbell
BHGE
Pat Campbell graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kingston-on-Thames, UK, in 1976. He began his career at Sperry Gyroscope in UK, moving on to Costain Process Engineering in 1977, where he worked extensively in the Middle East on Oil & Gas, LNG and Process plant construction and plant turnarounds. Pat left Costain and joined Foothills Pipeline in 1982, subsequently Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. where he supervised the Operations Engineering group. In 1991 Pat managed the projects side of Novacorp International Inc.
Pat joined Alliance Pipeline Ltd as the Manager of Compression Facilities in April 1997 and was responsible for the design, construction and start up of all the mainline compression facilities, which amounted to 14 compressor stations with a total power of 535,000 HP. Pat is presently the General Manager, Pipeline Initiatives with BHGE (formerly GE Oil & Gas), having joined them in late 2007, with a worldwide mandate for pipeline equipment.
Pat holds membership in the Professional Engineering Associations of Alberta.
 
Sergio Cipriani
BHGE
Sergio Cipriani has been appointed Service Technical Sales for Baker Hughes a GE Company, on 2016.
He is responsible for rotating machinery equipment opportunity generation in pipelines application. While providing Customers with a consultancy service for a smart rotating equipment asset management he facilitate business cases execution for upgrades and fleet rejuvenation.
Mr. Cipriani joined BGHE on 2006 as Turbomachinery System Integration engineer, role covered up to 2016, with increasing responsibilities up to Aeroderivative Turbines Auxiliary System Technical Leader.
Mr. Cipriani graduated with honors in Mechanical Engineering at University of Florence on 2006.
 
Éric Cloutier
Siemens Canada
Éric Cloutier is a graduate of Sherbrooke University in Physics, who is leading the Gas Turbines Product Safety & Certification Group at Siemens Canada as well as being the safety contact for the Gas and Power GT Business of Siemens.
Éric has been involved with the AGT products for the last 19 years, where he’s worked on the various aero-derived machines designed and built in Montréal, first with Rolls-Royce Energy and now with Siemens. He participated in several internal and external HAZOPs and Hazards studies, as well as safety audits of units in services.
Mr. Cloutier is the Chair of the Standards Council of Canada mirror committee of ISO/TC 192 on Gas turbines. He is also the convener of ISO/TC 192 WG 4 that will be tasked with the revision of ISO 3977 (all parts) Gas turbines ¾ Procurement and part of the ISO/TC 192 WG 10 – Safety and directly involved in the revision of ISO21789 – Gas Turbine Safety.
 
Neven Dimic
Regulatory Advisor
LNG Canada

Neven Dimic is a Regulatory Advisor with LNG Canada, where he is leading the project’s multidisciplinary Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Working Group and has been involved in advocacy related to emerging air quality regulations. 

Neven, who is a Schulich Scholar, completed a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree with a specialization in Energy & Environment (2012) and recently obtained a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering (2019) – both from the University of Calgary. Neven joined Shell Canada in 2012 and is currently seconded to the LNG Canada Joint Venture. Through his various roles with Shell/LNG Canada, Neven has acquired experience in air quality/GHG management, environmental monitoring and reporting, regulatory permitting and advocacy, policy analysis, water management, risk analysis, and continuous improvement. 

In 2015, Neven participated in an Earthwatch expedition focusing on climate change in fragmented forests in Wytham Woods and acted as a Sustainability Ambassador within Shell upon completing this program.

 
Dalia El Tway
Siemens
Dalia El Tawy is the Director of Global Unconventional Oil and Gas (UOG) Solution Development in Siemens based out of Houston, Texas. She is responsible for leading the development of UOG solutions utilizing Siemens leading technology portfolio of gas turbines, reciprocating engines, motors and drives, advanced control systems, and energy storage. Solutions include electrifying the hydraulic fracturing and drilling processes as well as developing mechanical solutions to increase the efficiency in UOG applications.
Dalia has more than 16 years of experience in the oil and gas and power generation markets. Prior to joining Siemens Power & Gas Division in 2016, she was a Program Manager at Solar Turbines in San Diego, California with the global responsibility for leading the market development and strategic growth efforts. Dalia received her MBA from San Diego State University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of San Diego. She is an active leader and advisory board member of several Distributed Generation and Combined Heat and Power Industry associations, and also serving on several international and national technical committees.
 
Rena Feng
Shell

Rena Feng is a Process Engineer-in-Training from Shell working on the LNG Canada Project. In her role, she ensures that the processing technologies within Utility systems are designed to meet production targets while delivering best in class safety and environmental performance. 

Rena graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. She worked with multiple departments within Shell and supported a variety of businesses including oil sands, upgrading facilities, unconventional gas and LNG Canada. During her time at the Scotford Upgrader, she worked with the Energy and GHG Group. Her role included assessing the impact of operating conditions and process changes on energy efficiency and GHG performance in order to identify and implement opportunities to improve GHG performance.

 
Rick Gateman
President
Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Ltd.
Rick Gateman has over three decades of business development and legal experience in oil and gas, midstream and natural gas pipeline projects. Currently, he is Vice-President, Business Development, Canada Gas with TC Energy. Mr. Gateman also serves as the President of Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Ltd., a wholly-owned TC Energy subsidiary. In this capacity he is seeking to develop a major natural gas transportation pipeline to the Prince Rupert, BC area.
Mr. Gateman previously served as the President of Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd., another wholly-owned subsidiary of TC Energy, which is currently constructing a multi-billion-dollar pipeline project which will transport natural gas to the LNG Canada liquefied natural gas export facility near Kitimat, BC. Prior to this role, Mr. Gateman was Vice-President, Northern Development for TransCanada where he was responsible for TransCanada’s involvement in the Mackenzie Gas Project and for the origination and advancement of new Canadian business development projects apart from TransCanada’s existing pipeline platforms.
Mr. Gateman holds a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) degree from the University of Calgary and a Law degree from the University of Western Ontario.
 
Mario Girard
StandardAero Ltd.
 
Foad Goharanpour
Turbomachinery Applications Specialist Canada
Freudenberg Filtration Technologies Inc.
Foad joined Freudenberg Group in Middle East in 2003 and joined the Canadian team in 2015. He has 15 years of experience in the Turbomachinery Industry. He has a bachelor degree in Materials Engineering from Iran University of Science & Technology and a Master in Industrial Marketing from Lulea University of Technology Sweden. He has managed different roles throughout his career as sales engineer; responsible for API Pump and Compressor sealing technologies. Since 2006, he has worked primarily in the field of Turbomachinery Intake Filtration systems. He has realized several modification projects on GE, Siemens / Rolls Royce, Solar Gas Turbines air intake filtration systems both overseas and in Canada.
 
Scott Hastie
Liburdi Turbine Services
Scott Hastie is Continuous Improvement Engineering Manager at Liburdi Turbine Services. Scott has over 18 years of experience in developing new processes for the manufacture and repair of gas turbine components. He and his team are responsible for new repair process development and continuous improvement for Industrial, Aero Derivative and Flight gas turbine components.
 
Matthew Hobbs
EPT Clean Oil
Matthew G. Hobbs is the Senior Chemist at EPT, where he manages the company’s research, development and laboratory services relating to lubricant testing and purification. Before joining EPT, Matthew obtained his PhD in synthetic chemistry from the University of Calgary and was the General Manager of a National oil analysis laboratory. Matt has more than 12 published papers, is a member of ASTM D02 committee on Turbine oiIs, and is paper selection chair of the power gen committee at STLE. Outside of work, when Matt’s young family lets him get away, he is an avid mountaineer and mountain photographer with several of his photos featured in common guide books.
 
Manfred Klein
MA Klein & Associates
Manfred is an independent consultant on a range of environment and energy issues, and technical training. He has been semi-retired from 2013 after 33 years in the federal government, most recently with the Gas Turbine Laboratory of the National Research Council. He spent 16 years with Environment Canada involved with policy and research with the electricity, natural gas and industrial sectors, and authored CCME industrial emission guidelines for Gas Turbines and Cement Kilns using output-based environmental standards for air pollution and greenhouse gases. He helped develop new taxation incentives to encourage cogeneration and district energy, provided inputs to environmental assessments in pipelines and power, and organized various industrial training functions on gas turbine and cogen systems. Prior to that Manfred was with the National Energy Board for 11 years, dealing with natural gas pipeline and compressor station certification. Bach. of Mechanical Engineering (1980), Carleton University.
 
Rainer Kurz
Solar Turbines
Rainer Kurz is the Manager, Systems Analysis at Solar Turbines Incorporated, in San Diego, California. His organization is responsible for predicting compressor and gas turbine performance, for conducting application studies, and for field performance testing. Dr. Kurz attended the Universitaet der Bundeswehr in Hamburg Germany, where he received the degree of a Dr.-Ing. in 1991. He joined Solar Turbines in 1993, and holds his current position since 1995.
Dr. Kurz was elected ASME Fellow in 2003. He has authored numerous publications on turbomachinery related topics, with an emphasis on compressor applications, dynamic behavior, and gas turbine operation and degradation. Many of his publications were considered of archive quality and were accepted for publications in Engineering Journals. He has received several ‘Best Paper’ and ‘Best Tutorial’ Awards at the ASME TurboExpo Conferences and is the recipient of the 2013 Industrial Gas Turbine Technology award.
 
Amanda McAlorum
Enbridge Gas Inc.
 
Paul Medd
Enbridge Gas Inc.
Paul Medd joined Union Gas as a Computer Graphics Operator in 1980. After two years in that position, Mr. Medd accepted a position at the Dawn Compressor Plant as a Plant Operator.
In this position, he was responsible for the safe operation and maintenance of the Dawn and remote site compression. After 10 years as a Plant Operator, Mr Medd accepted a position as a Dawn Operations Shift Manager and was then responsible for both the Plant Operation and the System Operation. Mr Medd held this position until 1992 when he accepted the role of Systems Operations Specialist.
Mr Medd holds that position today which is now known as an Advisor Systems Operation for Enbridge Gas. He was recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Safety Award for Excellence at the 2019 CGA Conference.
 
Jim Noordermeer
Noord Power Consulting
Mr. Noordermeer has over 40 years of international experience in the design, repair, upgrade and modification, layout, installation and construction, commissioning, startup, testing and servicing of gas turbine power and steam turbine generator power plants, including cogeneration and combined-cycle plants and associated equipment, at Westinghouse Canada – Turbine & Generator Division, SNC – W.P. London, Gryphon International Engineering Services Inc. and as an independent consultant.
 
Ahmed Nossair
Enbridge Gas Inc.
Ahmed Nossair is the Manager of Stations and Utilization Engineering in ENBRIDGE GAS INC. with more than 20 years of experience in the hydrocarbon offshore and onshore production and Gas Storage, Transmission and Distribution.
Ahmed is accountable for all design related to stations assets and growth projects (RNG, Geothermal, CNG, Power to Gas, etc.) and ownership of all policies, procedures and design specifications related to stations, electrical, control and utilization.
Before joining ENBRIDGE GAS INC. Ahmed progressed through different roles in Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company and Total Exploration and Production.
Ahmed has Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario, Canada, Chartered Engineer Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers United Kingdom, and Project Management Professional, and MBA candidate in Laurentian University.
 
Gianni Panfili
Siemens Canada
Gianni graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering (specialization in thermo-fluids and propulsion) in 2009 from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He began his career with Rolls-Royce Energy in the R&D organization of the aero-derivative industrial gas turbines. Within the combustion department, he was involved in several engine and rig testing programs.
When Siemens acquired Rolls-Royce Energy in 2014, he was a combustion design team leader and became involved with applying Siemens’ additive manufacturing (AM) technologies to the aero-derivative gas turbine products. In 2017 he was appointed AM Manager at Siemens Canada (Gas & Power). Gianni and his team are part of a highly focused global AM organization, delivering new additive manufactured solutions to the aero-derivative portfolio.
 
Anthony Pocengal
Solar Turbines
Anthony Pocengal is a Principal Environmental Engineer with Solar Turbines. As an expert in air pollution and air quality issues, Anthony provides project regulatory assessments and is responsible for the interpretation of air emissions regulations around the world and their effect on Solar’s markets and products.
Anthony holds a professional engineering license and has experience in air quality consulting and source monitoring. He has 20 years of experience in the field and has been with Solar Turbines for 13 years.
Anthony earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Ithaca College (NY) and a master’s in Environmental Engineering Sciences from the University of Florida.
 
Hany Rizkalla
PSM, LLC
Hany Rizkalla graduated from Concordia University in Montréal, Canada in 1996, with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a Masters in Aerospace specializing in Turbomachinery and Propulsion. Mr. Rizkalla joined Pratt & Whitney Canada, Montreal in 1996 as a structures engineer in the Mechanical components department. In 1999, Mr. Rizkalla joined GE as a design engineer in the steam cooled hot gas path engineering group in Schenectady, NY supporting hot gas path design efforts on the H-class engine and then transferred to the air-cooled airfoils group in Greenville, SC to work on F- and E-class buckets and nozzles designs.
Mr. Rizkalla joined PSM in the combustion R&D engineering group in 2002, as a structures engineer performing structural, thermal, and vibration analysis, and lifing LCF/HCF prediction on E- and F-class gas turbine combustion components. Since 2008, Hany has managed various combustion programs including development of PSM’s newest combustion system, FlameSheet™, AutoTune, and other combustion design programs for various frame engines. Currently, Mr. Rizkalla is leading the Combustion Engineering group and supporting development of combustion products to meet today’s energy market demands.
 
Pascal Robichaud
Director, Cogeneration
CEM Engineering
Pascal is a professional mechanical engineer with 20 years of experience in Power Generation. Fluent in both English and French, Pascal has extensive experience in the engineering consulting field, specializing in gas turbine power generation and thermodynamic energy distribution systems. Pascal has experience in research, analysis, drafting, design, installation, and maintenance of plant operations with extensive hands-on experience in the field. Pascal also has experience in the installation and maintenance of equipment and processes in both manufacturing and power generation industry. Pascal is CEM’s Director of Cogeneration and is supporting his team in the development of technical solutions to address CEM’s Client’s energy targets applying latest best practices. In addition to Ontario, Pascal also holds license to practice engineering in both British Columbia and Alberta.
 
Mike Russnak
Solar Turbines Canada Ltd.
 
Pontus Slottner
Siemens
MSc in Engineering Physics from University of Uppsala, Sweden, 1996.
Working for ABB STAL / Alstom / Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB since 1996 with technical programming, mechanical integrity and life prediction questions. Life time manager for SGT-500 (GT35) 2000 – 2004. Turbine life time manager for SGT-800 (GTX100) 2004. Working with life time assessment and life time extension within Service organization since 2004. Appointed specialist in Gas Turbine component life time assessment 2008. Appointed Siemens technical Key Expert in R&D in 2016. Author or co-author of several gas turbine related academic papers. ASME IGTI Manufacturing Materials & Metallurgy Committee co-chair and chair 2010 - 2014.
Attended IAGT conference first time in 2005, now attending for the sixth time.
 
Kyle Speed
Enbridge Gas Inc.
Kyle Speed earned a Bachelor’s degree in Geological Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan in 2010 before completing a Masters of Engineering degree specializing in Pipeline Engineering from the University of Calgary in 2015.
Mr. Speed began his career in the pipeline industry in 2010 at a Calgary-based engineering firm where he worked on multiple SAGD pipeline projects located in Northern Alberta as a Pipeline Engineer. In 2013, he moved to Spectra Energy (now Enbridge) and has been involved in various natural gas expansion and maintenance projects as a Project Engineer and Project Manager throughout Enbridge’s BC Pipeline. Mr. Speed is currently a Senior Project Manager at Enbridge for the T-South Reliability and Expansion Program.
 
Robert Steele
Electric Power Research Institute
Dr. Steele is the Program Manager at the Electric Power Research Institute in Charlotte, NC, USA of the Combined-Cycle Turbomachinery program (P79). He directs all aspects regarding industrial gas turbine research and development including hot section/combustor life cycle, compressor/turbine rotor life extension and durability, and combustor monitoring, tuning, and turndown. His gas turbine expertise is in the area of combustion driven pressure dynamics, combustor rig testing and instrumentation, and ultra- low NOx designs.
Prior to joining P79, he was a Senior Project Manager in the EPRI Advanced Generation group with specific focus on coal applications and large project demonstrations. Dr. Steele has focused on IGCC gas turbine syngas applications, new oxygen separation technologies including the Air Products Ion Transport Membrane, and advanced laser techniques for measuring gasifier flame temperatures. He has particular expertise in the area of CO2 handling with emphasis on advanced compression, power plant integration, thermos-physical properties of CO2 mixtures, and pipeline transportation.
He has twenty-five years’ experience in gas turbine combustion research, development and test; and electric power generation industry including carbon capture, compression and sequestration. Prior to joining EPRI, Steele was a Vice President and Combustion Team Leader at Ramgen Power Systems in Bellevue, Washington. He was directly involved in the development of lean premixed trapped vortex combustion designs for gas turbines and supersonic compressor designs for industrial gas compression applications with specific focus on CO2. In addition, he also worked at Solar Turbines in San Diego as the Mars SoloNOx Engine Combustion Team Leader.
 
Landon Tessmer
ProEnergy
Landon Tessmer is a licensed Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario. He earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and spent nearly 10 years working in design and proposals for an international Heat Recovery Steam Generator supplier Today, Landon is the Director of Commercial Operations for ProEnergy Services – a global provider of EPC solutions and Services for mid-scale thermal power plants. Landon is primarily focused on zero-timed, refurbished aeroderivative gas turbine solutions in plants ranging from 25MW to 300MW. Landon has also served as a GTEN committee member for the last 4 years.
 
Bob Wellington
Enbridge Gas Inc./GTEN Chair