Speakers

Entrepreneur. Dreamer. Scientist. Kevin has spent 25 years on the front lines of the energy innovation in numerous executive leadership roles across the industry. Starting his career in as a roughneck on the oilrigs of Northern Alberta he grew through the ranks until he was Chief Executive of Canada’s oldest drilling company. In the midst of the pandemic and negative oil prices, he began Canada’s first energy technology venture studio and Alberta’s first energy venture capital fund backed by some of the largest energy companies in the work, as CEO of Avatar Innovations.

Accomplished in corporate strategy and governance, capital planning, marketing, technology and intellectual property management, Kevin’s leadership has led to the creation, financing and execution of some of the first fully computerized drilling rig in Canada, the first long-reach horizontal well in the Canadian arctic, numerous joint ventures with Canada’s Indigenous peoples fostering Economic Reconciliation in remote communities and the creation of the Calgary Energy Transition Center.

Having led a major corporation through the disruption of the Canadian energy industry, Kevin is uniquely positioned to lead Avatar Innovations’ ambitious plan unlocking energy transition solutions inside oil and gas for investment, commercialization and scale. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science from McGill University and a Masters of Business Administration from the Haskayne School of Business and currently serves on board of directors of Energy Safety Canada and the steering committees of both the Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN) and the Energy Futures Lab (EFL). Kevin was named by the Globe & Mail Newspaper as one of the “Top 50 Global Changemakers working in Canada” in 2023.