Conference Speakers
2025
September 17-19
We’re thrilled to share our diverse line-up of speakers from some of the best known brands in our industry. Some you may know. Others you’ll be discovering for the first time here.
The Right Honourable Stephen J. Harper, P.C., C.C., A.O.E
Fireside Chat
For nearly a decade The Right Honourable Stephen J. Harper led Canada through the world’s most complex geopolitical, economic and security challenges as the country’s 22nd Prime Minister. He created the modern Conservative Party of Canada, won three successive national elections, and was the longest serving Conservative Prime Minister since Canada’s founding Prime Minister in 1891.
Since leaving office in 2016, Mr. Harper founded and is Chairman and CEO of Harper & Associates, a global consulting and strategic advisory business, and is Chairman and a founding partner of Vision One, a fundamental value-oriented investment fund based in Miami, Florida.
He serves as Board Chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), Director of Colliers International Group Inc., Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., and Recover Inc., and is President of the Advisory Committee of Awz Ventures, a technology focused Canadian-Israeli venture capital firm. Mr. Harper is also the author of “Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption” and a frequent speaker on geopolitical trends, populism, and business.
Mr. Harper serves as Chairman of the International Democracy Union and is a member of the Global Advisory Board of India’s Observer Research Foundation. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Calgary, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Philosophy from Tel Aviv University and received an honorary degree from the Jerusalem College of Technology. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the King’s Privy Council for Canada, and is the recipient of the Alberta Order of Excellence plus numerous international recognitions including the Order of Liberty, Ukraine’s highest civilian honour.
Mr. Harper resides in Alberta, Canada with his wife Laureen; they have two adult children, Benjamin and Rachel.
Andrew Judson
Moderator
Andrew Judson has over 30 years of experience in the Canadian Oil and Gas sector, across investment banking, institutional sales, private equity and most recently, a Director on various oil and gas production companies, oil-related technology companies and non-profits. He has strong connections in the Calgary community, both professionally and personally.
In the private sector, Andrew is currently a Director of Condor Energies Inc. (a public Canadian company operating in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan), Pieridae Energy (operates natural gas production in the Alberta Foothills), Crown LNG (a public company advancing LNG Receipt Terminal projects in Kakanada, India and Grangemouth, Scotland), Drift Resource Technologies Inc. (a private Canadian oilsands development company), and Field Safe Solutions (a private company providing SaaS safety and compliance solutions). Andrew also serves as a Senior Advisor for Fort Capital Advisors, a boutique investment bank with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. Andrew was previously a Director of Bonavista Energy Corporation, and had Managing Director roles at Camcor Partners Inc. and FirstEnergy Capital.
In the not-for-profit sector, Andrew is currently Chairman of Winsport, Vice Chairman (Prairies) of The Fraser Institute and serves on the Board of the Calgary Police Youth Foundation.
Randy Ollenberger
Speaker
Randy Ollenberger has led BMO Capital Markets’ oil and gas research group since 2002, providing research coverage of the Canadian Integrateds and large cap Oil & Gas producers. Randy has been a top ranked analyst since 2001, including being the number one ranked analyst for Oil & Gas – Large Cap in Canada for 13 of the last 16 years. He has been an equity analyst since 1996.
Prior to joining the brokerage business in 1996, Randy worked in the oil and gas industry in Calgary for nine years with PanCanadian Petroleum, the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission (APMC), and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). He has testified as a policy and expert witness before the National Energy Board (NEB), Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB), and U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Randy is frequently quoted in the media and has numerous appearances on BNN, CNBC, CNN, CTV and CBC. Mr. Ollenberger holds a BA in Economics and an MA in Economics from the University of Saskatchewan.
Tom Reed
Speaker
Tom Reed is a long time China-watcher, and one of the world’s leading experts on the Chinese oil market. He began his career at the BBC and Economist Intelligence Unit before joining Argus in 2003. For the last decade, Tom has been running Argus’ China service — overseeing analysis of one of the world’s largest and most opaque markets and designing price assessments, including the first physical crude price assessments for China. Tom is a regular commentator on oil markets
Darcy Molstad - CHIEF OF FORCE DEVELOPMENT
Speaker
Major-General Darcy Molstad joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in 1996 and quickly became a highly qualified CF18 pilot and Fighter Weapons (Top Gun) Instructor. After 20 years of flying and leading at the tactical level with operational deployments to Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, he has spent the last ten years as an institutional leader, playing a pivotal role in shaping defence strategies and overseeing multi-billion-dollar capital projects. He is currently the Chief of Force Development, responsible for designing the capability roadmap for the future force and articulating concepts that inform policy and Canada’s national defence strategies. He holds a master’s degree in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada and a master’s degree in Strategic Studies (with distinction) from the Air University in the United States.
Before joining the CAF, he competed in pole vaulting at the national level and earned two junior national titles. He is married to an exceptional health professional and is the proud father to two extraordinary adult children. In his spare time, he is the Honourary Coach of the Montréal Alouette Football Club, the CAF Triathlon Patron, and welcomes opportunities to engage audiences on leadership, team building, winning culture, national security, strategy development, geopolitics, and risk management. His unique perspectives are based on nearly three decades of service at the most senior levels of the CAF. As a proud Albertan, he is thrilled to have the opportunity to speak at this prestigious conference at such a critical moment in Canada’s history.
Emily Kyne
Speaker
Emily Kyne joined ARM Energy in June 2015 and currently serves as the Vice President of Commodity Strategy and Trade Analytics for ARM Energy Trading. She leads fundamental and quantitative analysis across ARM’s business units in Canada, the US, and Mexico.
In her role, Ms. Kyne delivers actionable market intelligence to ARM’s asset optimization and merchant trading desks while providing strategic guidance to the company’s physical marketing clients. She has presented on regional supply and demand dynamics and fund flows to producer boards, executive teams, marketing groups, and private equity sponsors in the US and Canada.
Beyond her commercial responsibilities, Ms. Kyne contributes to the efforts of ARM’s Executive team, collaborates with Tokyo Gas, ARM Energy Trading’s minority equity partner, and mentors emerging talent through the company’s internship and new graduate programs. Previously, as Senior Portfolio Manager at ARM, she advised risk management teams about commodity hedging and options and futures markets.
With 20 years of experience in financial and physical energy marketing, Ms. Kyne has worked across crude, NGL, natural gas, and power markets. Before joining ARM, she held positions at Apache Canada, Nexen Marketing, and Connacher Oil and Gas. She holds an MBA with a Specialism in Finance from Edinburgh Business School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Calgary.
Past Guests
2024
We’re thrilled to share our diverse line-up of speakers from some of the best known brands in our industry. Some you may know. Others you’ll be discovering for the first time here.
Chris De Santis
Speaker
Chris De Santis is an independent organizational behavior practitioner, speaker, podcaster, and author with over thirty-five years of experience working primarily with clients in professional services firms both domestically and internationally. While he often speaks on behalf of embracing generational diversity as discussed in his new book, “Why I Find You Irritating: Navigating Generational Friction at Work,” He is also conversant in multiple topics relevant to developing and sustaining long term relationships both inside an organization and with the clients they serve. He has an undergraduate degree in business from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in business from the University of Denver, and a master’s degree in organization development from Loyola University. He lives in a quiet corner in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Rafi Tahmazian
Speaker
Rafi is an award-winning portfolio manager with over 30 years of investment management, corporate banking and oil and gas experience.
Rafi joined Canoe in 2010 and retired in 2024 as Senior Portfolio Manager & Co-Managing Director, Canoe Energy, Energy Team.
Previously, he spent 13 years at First Energy Capital, a leading investment dealer focused on the energy industry. He left the firm in 2008 as Vice Chairman and Managing Director. Rafi has held numerous public and private, charity and government board positions.
He is currently on the Boards of Directors for Artis Exploration Ltd. and Well Ventures Corp.
Rafi has a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from the University of Calgary.
Dr. Amrita Sen
Speaker
Amrita Sen is the Founder and Director of Research at Energy Aspects, a global research house that advises over 500 companies globally on energy markets and geopolitics. Amrita leads development of Energy Aspect’s views on crude, oil products, natural gas and carbon markets, as well as wider energy transition, policy, politics and macroeconomics landscape.
Amrita’s deep understanding of the complex relationships within the global energy sector, her wealth of industry contacts, and over 15 years of market experience enable her to have a unique perspective on international energy markets. She advises central bankers, OPEC+ energy ministers with close relations to the GCC, and CEOs of energy companies around the world.
She holds a PhD from the University of London, an MPhil in Economics from Cambridge University, and a BSc in Economics from the University of Warwick. She was formerly Chief Oil Analyst for Barclays Capital and is frequently featured in leading media outlets. She has served as a research fellow at both the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies and the Atlantic Council and is currently a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Amrita is regarded as a leading authority on energy markets and is a sought-after speaker for company board meetings and top industry conferences.
Mike Baker
Speaker
During a career spanning almost 20 years as a covert field operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Mike specialized in counterterrorism, counternarcotics and counterinsurgency operations. He engaged in, organized and supervised operations around the globe, working in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the former Soviet Union and elsewhere. He was recognized professionally for outstanding performance and for operational achievements in hostile environments.
After leaving government service, Mike co-founded Diligence with the goal of building the premier intelligence and risk management firm. As a principal partner over the years he worked to grow the company as it expanded around the globe. He also worked to establish the company’s security operations in Iraq in 2003, as Diligence built a team of over 300 expat and local personnel involved in security and information collection. In 2019, after a management buyout of the business, Mike rebranded the company as Portman Square Group (www.portmansquaregroup.com) adding crisis communications and policy work to the company’s service lines. PSG now maintains offices in London, New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, Phoenix, Monterrey Mexico and Mexico City, providing information, intelligence and investigative support to Fortune 50 companies, leading law firms and high net wealth individuals.
Mike is a regular contributor in the national and international media on intelligence, security and counterterrorism issues. He appears regularly on a variety of news networks including Fox News, CNN, Newsmax and the BBC, as well as other major media outlets. He is the host of the top daily news podcast, the President’s Daily Brief, and has hosted television series for Discovery, BBC and the Travel Channel, including the popular Black Files Declassified series on the Discovery network.
Dr. Anas F. Alhajji
Speaker
KEYNOTE SPEAKER, AUTHOR, ENERGY MARKETS EXPERT, INFLUENCER
Dr. Anas F. Alhajji is a world-renowned energy markets expert, researcher, author, influencer (ranked 3ed in the world on social media), investor, and a speaker with more than 1,000 papers, articles and columns to his credit. He advises governments, companies, financial institution and investors on various energy markets issues. He focuses on oil, gas, and energy markets outlook, energy geopolitics, energy security, and the impact of disruptive technologies on the supply and demand of energy.
Before his recent role as a Managing Partner at Energy Outlook Advisors LLC and Editorial Advisor of Attaqa, he was the Chief Economist of NGP Energy Capital Management. He led the Firm’s macro-analysis of the oil, natural gas and related markets as well as the overall economic environment. He was responsible for the short-term and long-term outlooks for oil, natural gas, NGLs, and LNG markets.
Along with his team, Dr. Alhajji publishes two influential newsletters: The EOA Weekly Energy Newsletter and the EOA Daily Energy Report.
Dr. Alhajji’s articles appeared in numerous countries in more than 10 languages, and his work is cited in over 60 books. He has addressed numerous companies, institutions, and national and international organizations. He also serves on the board of several energy-related publications. He is a contributing editor for the one of the industry’s premier publications: World Oil. He is also the moderator of the industry’s oldest virtual Forum: Oil, Gas, & Energy Law (OGEL)
Prior to joining NGP, Dr. Alhajji taught economics at the University of Oklahoma (1995 to 1997), the Colorado School of Mines (1997 to 2001), and Ohio Northern University (2001 to 2008), where he held the George Patton Chair of Business and Economics. Dr. Alhajji taught courses in economics, energy economics and policy, and energy geopolitics.
Dr. Alhajji was educated in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. He holds M.A. in Economics, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Oklahoma, with a specialization in energy economics and policy. He received many awards including the Teaching Excellence Award and the Outstanding Mentor Award in addition to many prizes in woodworking.
Andy Busch
Speaker
Andrew Busch is the former 1st Chief Market Intelligence Officer for the US government and economic futurist at AndrewBusch.com. For the CFTC, he was charged with improving and enhancing the government’s understanding of the markets and the economy. His job was to take all the news, information and data on the economy and markets; and filter it into condensed, easily understood research; then communicate it to the government and public.
Andy provided economic and market briefings to White House, US House, US Senate, the SEC, the Federal Reserve Board and the US Treasury staff on a wide range of issues including interest rates, inflation, China’s influence on trade, and the impact of technology on the economy.
Prior to joining the CFTC, Mr. Busch was CEO and founder of a boutique financial markets and policy research firm, Bering Productions, Inc (BPI). Before BPI, he was the Global Currency and Public Policy Strategist for Bank of Montreal (BMO) in Chicago. He is author of the book “World Event Trading” covering large crises, like infectious disease outbreaks and war, and their impact on the economy and markets.
Today, he’s a consultant and keynote speaker with a wide range of clients including chemicals, financial services, energy, real estate, manufacturing, construction and agriculture.