Our Team

President and CEO

Sandra is a Canadian corporate sustainability pioneer with a passion for using the power of business to drive positive social and environmental change.

Sandra started her career in Montreal in the 1990s as an environmental scientist for Noranda Inc. and then worked in Toronto and Vancouver as an environmental engineering consultant, specializing in Environmental and Social Impact Assessments for large mining, energy, and pulp and paper developments in Canada and Southeast Asia. She joined the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in 1997 as a resource sector analyst in the enterprise-wide risk management unit, and between 2007 and 2016 headed RBC’s Corporate Sustainability, Social Finance and Social Innovation teams.

Sandra is Chair of the Board of The (Toronto) Atmospheric Fund (TAF) recently joined the Board of Advisors of the University of Toronto’s Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering (ILead). She has an M.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto and is a licensed professional engineer and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Director, Containment and Monitoring Institute

Don Lawton is a Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Calgary. In 2013, he was appointed Director of CMCRI’s Containment and Monitoring Institute to lead research into improved monitoring technologies for secure geological carbon storage. Decades ago, Don had a vision for a research facility where measurement and monitoring equipment could be developed and demonstrated. In the fall of 2017, he saw this dream realized with the official opening of CMCRI’s Field Research Station near Brooks.

Don’s research interests include acquisition, processing and interpretation of multicomponent seismic data, seismic anisotropy, integrated geophysical and geological studies in complex geological settings, and in advancing monitoring methods for the geological storage of CO 2 . He’s an Associate Director of the Consortium for Research in
Elastic Wave Exploration Seismology (CREWES). A highly regarded expert, he was awarded the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (CSEG) Medal in 2000 and received Honorary Membership in the Society in 2014.

Executive Director, Carbon Capture and Conversion Institute

Goran has over 25 years experience in research and technology development from the concept stage through to production in the renewable and clean energy, power generation and oil and gas sectors. While working in the oil industry, Goran established a carbon capture and energy efficiency technology portfolio at Devon Energy, and worked with COSIA partners on piloting promising technologies for GHG emission reduction. He was a member of the technical experts panel for two GE sponsored innovation challenges which were responsible for design and engineering of the Carbon-XPRIZE testing facility in Alberta. He was instrumental in completing a joint industry project focused on the potential application of molten carbonate fuel cell for carbon dioxide capture in oil sands, and spent over 10 years with Ballard Power Systems developing and scaling up proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell for automotive and stationary power applications.

He holds a M.E.Sc. (Honours) from University of Novi Sad, Serbia and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC and the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering.

Business Manager

Shamez has worked for over 20 years helping companies leverage technology solutions to increase their decision making capability and enhance operational effectiveness. Past positions held by Shamez include roles in strategic planning, program management, project management, and technical leadership. He has worked with both private and not-for-profit companies, covering a wide range of projects in industries such as telecommunications, defense, energy (oil/gas, pipelines, and utilities), agriculture, manufacturing, security, labor, and health.  He is involved in a wide range of volunteer work, including with Technology Alberta, an Industry Association that is building communities that facilitate the growth and networking of strong technology companies.

Shamez is a graduate of the University of Calgary, with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. He also holds a PMP certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Director, Programs and Partnerships

As an entrepreneur, not-for- profit executive, and community leader, Brian has actively helped organizations accurately assess their strengths and value propositions, while developing proactive strategies to achieve corporate goals. He devotes his professional time to program and partnership development for CMC Research Institutes. Prior to his current role at CMCRI, Brian held the Interim Managing Director position at CMC Research Institutes. He is also the President and Chief Executive Officer of CalAgua Innovation Corp., a start-up technology company developing commercial applications for university research.

Brian holds a Master’s degree from the University of Calgary and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Western Ontario.  He is the National Board Chairman of Trout Unlimited Canada and sits on the Business Development Task Force of the United Way of Calgary & Area.

Chief Financial Officer

Karim is an accomplished financial and operations executive with almost two decades of success in technology commercialization. He has an extensive background bringing new products to market, manufacturing and distribution of technologies, and mergers and acquisition work. In 2006, Karim was one of the winners of the coveted Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (and was a Finalist in 2005) for his instrumental work in rapidly commercializing and distributing globally a new healthcare product.

Karim is recognized for his financial expertise, strong negotiating skills, providing excellent customer service and meeting fiduciary obligations to Board of Directors and shareholders. He is able to capitalize on his strong business acumen and experience to resolve critical financial and business decisions. Karim has significant experience in environmental related issues and technologies through holding executive positions at Aqua-Pure (a publicly traded environmental technology company), Fountain Quail Water Management (an oilfield services company), WaterSMART Solutions Management Consultants (a consulting company dealing with water issues in industrial and municipal use) and Alberta WaterPortal Society (a charitable organization dealing with environmental education in Alberta, Canada).

Programs Development Manager

Kirk is an internationally recognized sedimentary basin geoscientist and a leader in the Calgary geoscience community (Past-President of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG) and Secretary of the CSPG Foundation). He has advised Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) on innovative technology opportunities and was a major contributor to the PTAC Unconventional Gas Technology Roadmap, for which he received a PTAC Volunteer Achievement Award (2009). Kirk has led and participated in numerous industrial JIP’s at the leading edge of petroleum geoscience and industrial research that were subscribed to by Canadian, American and European multinational and large petroleum companies (e.g. Institut francais du petrole’s “Subtrap” Industrial Consortium).

In his Geological Survey of Canada roles he provided both laboratory and interpretational support to dozens of Canadian petroleum companies, including Cenovus at Weyburn, as well as several hundred proprietary laboratory studies for Canadian, American and European oil companies. He and Dr. Frank Stoakes taught a three-week course in China and a three-month professional development program for visiting Chinese petroleum industry staff, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.

Kirk has worked as an exploration geologist at PetroCanada Exploration Inc. and Gulf Canada Resources Ltd.  He has made more than 130 contributions to the peer-reviewed journal, monographic and conference literature, which are easily found on the web or databases found using his distinctive surname.

Research Associate

Somayeh has 10+ years of combined academic and industry experience solving reservoir and geomechanics-relevant challenges for thermal recovery and CO2 storage applications to optimize operations and lower their environmental impacts.  She graduated with her PhD from the University of Calgary in 2013 and has been working with geomechanics and reservoir engineering companies in Calgary.

Research Associate

Marie completed her M.Sc. in Planetology in 2011 at the University of Nantes (France) and graduated with her PhD in Geophysics in 2014 from ISTerre laboratory, University Joseph Fourier (Grenoble, France). By then, she was working on the crustal tomography of mountain ranges. She changed the focus of her work again in 2016 when she started with CREWES (University of Calgary) and CMC Research Institutes and began focusing on the geophysical monitoring of the subsurface applied to CO2 sequestration.

Senior Manager, Communications and Engagement

Ruth is a versatile communications professional with experience as an editor, researcher, journalist, and project manager. She thrives on working with collaborative groups to develop and implement communications strategies and plans to further the business goals and objectives of CMCRI.

Prior to CMCRI, Ruth was Communications Director at the Arctic Institute of North America where she designed and implemented a media-relations program to promote and popularize Arctic science research to Canadians. An expert in media analysis, she managed the first Canadian study examining the public relations strategies of the Supreme Court of Canada and also explored former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein’s media strategies. She’s taught professional communications at the college and university level and has a background in print journalism. Ruth has an MA (Communications) from the University of Calgary.

Research and Policy Analyst

Rachel is a sustainability specialist with four years of qualitative and quantitative research experience in greenhouse gas emission accounting, environmental technology, fossil fuel divestment, process mapping, scenario analyses, and economics. She is passionate about bridging knowledge gaps between researchers, investors, government, and the public. Rachel has international presentation experience, and is a published author in the journal Sustainability. Rachel also has project management, stakeholder engagement, and consulting experience from her manager role with the Academy for Sustainable Innovation (ASI).

Rachel completed a Master of Applied Science in Environmental Applied Science and Management at Ryerson University, and Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Economics at Dalhousie University.