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Stakeholder

Karen Farbridge was re-elected as Mayor of the City of Guelph in 2006 and returned to office in the 2010 municipal election. She was first elected to Council in 1994 and previously served as Mayor in 2000-2003 and 2006-2010. In the past, Karen has served as an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph, teaching courses in political science and environmental policy, and for ten years was the Director of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group. In 2005, Karen was the recipient of the prestigious Women of Distinction Award from the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph in the business and professions category.
   
The Principal of Garforth International llc, Peter Garforth, has a long and diverse background in business development and general management around the world. His extensive knowledge of the global energy environment; past, present, and future, will ensure that any recommended investment approach has a sound business basis and reflects the larger movements in the energy market. His experience ranges from establishing residential district energy projects in Central and Eastern Europe, co-generation projects in commercial buildings in Asia, and wide exposure to the various efficiency opportunities in commercial buildings.
   
Rainer Gessler is part of the Markgröningen council, county council and chairman of the parliamentary group in the district of Ludwigsburg. His professional education includes the formation to a brick layer and becoming a graduate civil engineer. From 1992 to 2001 Rainer Gessler was employed at the government of Stuttgart, where he dealt with issues of waste and waste incineration. In 2001 he joined the Ministry of Environment and Transport, Baden-Wuerttemberg, where he was appointed in 2002 as a spokesman. Since 2011 he has been heading the office of the sustainability mobile region of Stuttgart. Rainer Gessler is in the Regional Council and is second deputy chairman of the Stuttgart Region.
   
Since 2009 Dr. rer. oec. Michael Heidinger has been directly elected Mayor of the City of Dinslaken. Subsequent to his study of economics he carried out leading managerial responsibilities at the Federal Employment Agency. From 1998 to 2005 he was Spokesperson for Labour, Health and Social Welfare of the parliamentary faction of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. From 2005 to 2009 he was head of the policy division for key issues of employability and vocational training in the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Welfare, North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1986 he joined the SPD, since 2004 he has been member of the City Council of the City Dinslaken. From 2005 to 2010 Dr. Michael Heidinger was Chairman of the SPD , sub-district Wesel. Since 2008 he is member of the SPD Regional Executive, North Rhine-Westphalia.
   
Rob Kerr is the Community Energy Plan Manager for the City of Guelph. Rob holds a bachelor's degree in physics and environmental studies and has over 25 years of experience working in field of energy management, with a unique mix of private sector experience and a strong background in public service. Rob's career has evolved in parallel to a rapidly changing energy landscape- from straightforward energy conservation activities to leading edge approaches to energy, climate change and community sustainability.
   
Thomas Kiwitt is head of the department of regional planning of the Verband Region Stuttgart, one of Germany’s most densely populated and prosperous regions. He leads the implementation of Stuttgart Region’s spatial strategy for mitigation and adaptation, which comprises the enforcement of mandatory guidelines for spatial development, consultancy and support services for local authorities and research activities. Recently he coordinates a pilot project to improve sustainable transportation in Stuttgart Region. Within the European Network of Metropolitan Areas and Regions (METREX) he is a member of the working groups for major infrastructure and urbanrural cooperation. He is a member of the German academy for spatial research and plannings’ study group for regional planning and the BadenWürttemberg committee. He is a lecturer and member of the advisory board at the masters program for city planning at the University of Applied Sciences in Stuttgart. Thomas Kiwitt holds “Dipl.Ing.” degree for spatial and environmental planning from the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. Prior to working for Stuttgart Region, he has been working for cities and regions in Germany as well as for the metropolitan administration of Jakarta, Indonesia.
   
Robert W. Lazaro, Jr. was elected Mayor of Purcellville in May 2006 and has been re-elected in 2008, 2010 and 2012. Robert Lazaro previously served two years as a member of the Town Council. Robert Lazaro serves as a member on the Council's Infrastructure Committee and as Chairman of the Council's Budget Committee. He is Vice-Chairman of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission and is a member of the Virginia Municipal League Committee on Environmental Quality and the League's Legislative Committee. Robert Lazaro is a founding member of the Town Association of Northern Virginia and Chairman of the Coalition of Loudoun Towns.

--> Mayor Lazaro and Purcelville in the press

   
Sandra Manners is an award-winning senior communications professional with extensive experience in the energy and utilities sector. Prior to joining Guelph Hydro Inc. in 2010, she served as Director, Corporate Communications for Horizon Utilities Corporation and Manager, Strategic Communications and Public Relations for Siemens Power Generation. She taught Issues and Crisis Communications Planning at McMaster University and is past-Chair of the Communicators' Council of the Electricity Distributors Association. Sandra Manners has a Bachelor of Arts from Waterloo University, a certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility from the University of Toronto, and was recently inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Public Relations Society.
   
Dale Medearisis the senior environmental planner for the Northern Virginia Regional Commission. He leads the NVRC’s regional climate and energy programs and manages NVRC’s international environmental partnerships through the European Network of Metropolitan Areas and Regions (METREX). In April 2008, he helped create the first formal climate and energy partnership between the 40 largest U.S. and European metropolitan regional councils. Medearis has taught courses on environmental planning as an adjunct faculty at the University of Redlands and Virginia Tech University. Dale Medearis has a Ph.D. in environmental design and planning from Virginia Tech University, an M.S. in Cartographic and Geographic Science from George Mason University, an MGA in Government from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in International Relations from the University of Redlands.
   

Annette Nüsslein has a degree in social economy and she is a journalist. She is the owner of windConsultant and managing director at GADORE Center, Philadelphia / Washington, USA. Annette Nüsslein has been working in the field of environmental technology (wind, solar, biogas, waste to energy, energy efficiency / smart grid and green building) for ten years and organized numerous international events in Germany. Her focus is on international markets and market development for green technologies. She is a member of numerous German and American organizations and collaborates with many U.S. states and state networks, and some ministries. In addition, she organizes joint stands at trade fairs in the United States

 
   
Professor Joseph M. Schilling leads the Metropolitan Institute’s Sustainable Communities Initiative of Virginia Tech that investigates innovative ways of creating eco-sustainable neighborhoods and regions through better design, planning, and collaboration. His research explores the design, implementation and transfer of innovative policies and programs through case studies, peer exchanges, and policy charrettes covering diverse topics as smart growth, active living, vacant property reclamation, sustainability, shrinking cities, and zoning code reform. Before coming to Virginia Tech Joseph Schilling directed the Community and Economic Development programs for ICMA and served for over ten years as a Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Diego in charge of its land-use enforcement unit.
   
Professor Dr. Miranda Schreurs is the director of the Environmental Policy Research Centre and Professor of Comparative Politics at the Freie Universität Berlin. Prior to this she was Associate Professor in the Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland. Schreurs’ work focuses on comparative environmental politics and policy in Europe, the US, and East Asia. She was born and raised in the United States and has also lived for extended periods in Japan and Germany and briefly in the Netherlands. Her PhD is from the University of Michigan and her MA and BA from the University of Washington. She has also spent time researching or teaching at Harvard University, Utrecht University, the Freie Universität Berlin, Keio University, Chuo University, and Rikkyo University and has held fellowships from the SSRC-MacArthur Foundation Program on International Peace and Security Affairs, the Fulbright Foundation, and the National Science Foundation/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. In July 2008 Miranda Schreurs was appointed to the German Advisory Council on the Environment. Her key research areas are: Environmental governance, climate change policy and politics, energy policy, German, EU, US and East Asian environmental policy.
   
Markus Siehr studied Biology at the University Stuttgart-Hohenheim. After research studies in ecology at Nuertingen University, he began his career in an engineering company for waste and sewage management in the early 90s. Changing to the Verband Region Stuttgart in 1995, he succeeded in two nation-wide competitions to build up networks both in biotechnology and health care management industry. This went along with some 20 millions Euro of public grants from federal institutions in order to develop sustainable network infrastructures for industry and research. Since 2009 he has been bringing into focus climate change, mitigation and adaptation measures, energy supply and renewable energies. This includes the moderation and supervision of (inter-)national research projects (e.g. the transatlantic urban climate dialogue), the management of events and organization of platforms with public participation as well as lectures (e.g. Sustainable Energy Week of the European Union, 2012). The advice of public bodies, especially counties and municipalities, and the collaboration in circles of experts completes his broad spectrum of diverse and varied tasks for the Stuttgart Region.
   
Bernd Tischler is mayor of the city of Bottrop, elected in the municipal elections in 2009. He finished his studies of spatial planning at the University of Dortmund with a diploma in 1984. After the clerkship at the District Government of Cologne and the Great State examination for higher technical management services in 1987 in Frankfurt am Main, Bernd Tischler worked from 1987 to 1989 as deputy chief officer in the Office of Urban Affairs and Business Development of Dormagen. In 1989 he came to the city of Bottrop, where he worked as a department manager for environmental planning until 1993. He was then Head of land-use planning and deputy chief officer. In 1995, Bernd Tischler was promoted to the director of the city planning office. In 1996 he was appointed Executive Director of Construction.
   
Annette Voigt is as Area Manager Foreign Economic Relations in the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and Industry of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia responsible for activities related to France and North America. She graduated in 1992 at University of Public Administration Ludwigsburg with a diploma in Public Administration. From 1992 to 1997 she worked for the Regional Government in Düsseldorf. She is working with the Ministry in several different departments since 1997.In particular her main target is to support the development and growth of the economic relations with the U.S., Canada and France. That includes to maintain and develop commercial contacts and to initiate and accompany new projects for example in areas as energy, renewable energies, environmental technologies, innovative materials, mechanical engineering, information and communication technologies. She is contact partner to embassies, organizes and executes delegations of the minister/state secretary and supports delegations at home and abroad. She also coordinates and plans events, on trade fairs as well.
   
Stephen Walz, Director of Regional Energy Planning for the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, works with Northern Virginia local governments to implement local and regional energy and sustainability plans to achieve transformational reductions in energy use and provide increased energy security. Previously, Stephen Walz worked for 30 years with the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, culminating as the agency Director and Senior Energy Policy Advisor to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. He managed 250 employees and a $32 million (US) annual budget, advised on energy policy, developed and implemented Virginia's first state energy plan, and oversaw the state's mine safety and mine environmental programs, state geologic services, and energy efficiency/renewable energy services. Prior to joining Virginia state government, Stephen Walz worked in energy and community development programs in Missouri and Nebraska. He has a BS in Civil Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts.
   
Dr.-Ing. Irene Wiese-v.Ofen graduated as architect and townplanner of the RWTH Aachen ,and is member in the German Association of Architects (BDA) as well as in the German Academie of Townplanning (DASL)and for Spatial Planning (ARL). She is former Deputy Mayor of the City of Essen and today free lancer as advisor for conflict management and integrated urban development procedures. As such her experience especially in the international field is the result of long years activities as President of the International Federation for Housing and Planning, The Hague, the UN Habitat Professionals Forum, Nairobi, and as member of working groups and joint missions of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris. She is also chairperson of the Agenda 21 Forum in Essen.