Experience Industrial Innovation

This year’s speaker lineup brings together customers, industry experts, and technology leaders who are shaping the future of industrial operations. Through real-world case studies and practical presentations, our speakers will share what’s driving results today, and how to prepare for what’s next. Explore the sessions below. 

Stéfane Marion
Chief Economist and Strategist, National Bank of Canada

An up‑to‑date, macro‑level view of the economic forces shaping today’s investment climate, touching on domestic and global geopolitics, access to capital, ESG expectations, technology’s impact, and other shareholder pressures.

Honourable Nate Glubish 
Minister of Technology and Innovation, Government of Alberta

An outlook on Alberta’s industrial future, the role of government in enabling development, and what policy, approvals, and innovation priorities mean for projects moving forward.

Dewey Kuchle
Managing Director, Strategic Growth and Development, Spartan Controls

Shawn Niemetz
Practice Leader, Modern Plant Design, Spartan Controls

Early engagement with an automation partner can significantly reduce risk in capital projects. Modern Plant Design brings project stakeholders together early to align design strategy with execution, ensuring each milestone delivers measurable value.

This session explores how people, process, and technology can be leveraged to reduce cost, manage change, and deliver a connected, optimization‑ready facility, eliminating stranded data and enabling visibility from the field to the boardroom.

Blake Wickland
Executive Director, Methane Emissions Leadership Alliance

Brian Van Vliet
Practice Leader, Environmental Solutions, Spartan Controls

While attention on ESG and GHG may fluctuate, regulatory expectations remain. Planning for environmental outcomes is essential, not only for compliance, but to quantify performance, satisfy capital markets, and reduce long‑term risk.

This session explores a practical, business‑case‑driven approach to environmental performance, identifying emission sources, reducing energy intensity, and minimizing carbon exposure. By moving from reactive reporting to proactive planning, organizations can lower operating costs, reduce risk, and turn sustainability from a liability into measurable value.

Doug Ndegwa
President and Chief Executive Officer, Spartan Controls

A local perspective on the evolving needs of Western Canada’s industrial sector. As expectations increase, industry is asking more from its supply chain, greater performance, flexibility, and value. This session shares how Spartan is responding to support that evolution.

Justin Belcourt 
Director of Production Operations, International Petroleum Corp.

Rick Kephart
Vice President of Technology, Emerson, Power Water Solutions

Mark Brown

Chief Operating Officer, ATCO EnPower

Heather Christie-Burns
President & Chief Executive Officer, Pembina Gas Infrastructure (PGI)

Moderator: Terry Chmelyk
Vice President Systems, Software, and Solutions, Spartan Controls

 

Across industry, operators are being asked to deliver more with less, as expectations for uptime, cost efficiency, and reliability continue to rise amid labour shortages, growing system complexity, and increasing volumes of data. While technology and digital capability have advanced significantly, many organizations struggle to translate insight into consistent action. This discussion focuses on where performance is still being lost, why the gap between insight and execution persists, and what separates high‑performing operations from the rest, with a practical focus on turning visibility into real‑world results.​

Warren Mitchell
Practice Leader, Digital Enterprise Management, Spartan Controls

Data is often an organization’s most underutilized asset. In this session, we explore how leading operators are moving beyond siloed systems to implement a Modern Industrial Data Fabric.

The discussion focuses on practical approaches to connecting IT, OT, and engineering data, reducing information debt, enabling real‑time visibility, and creating a single, trusted view of performance across operations, maintenance, and leadership.