Enabling Resilient Business
The meeting on October 11, 2018 was held in cooperation with BOMA Toronto. The focus of this Sandford Fleming Forum was resilience of commercial real estate and how utilities can enable this resilience. Two excellent presentations highlighted the critical relationship between utilities and real estate. How can utilities adapt their own operation and how can they influence their customers' behaviour to ensure safe, economic solutions for everyone's needs?
This builds on leading research and emerging practice in the commercial real estate sector over the last few years, which is being taken up internationally. In particular, research into carrying capacity that was facilitated by BOMA Toronto members is now used for response and recovery planning in conflict and disaster areas, as well as risk reduction and through-life value protection of commercial real estate. Drawing on leading practice around the world and research at home in Toronto, we are able to substantially advance practice and better prepare for a changing future.
Speakers:
Paul Ferguson and Sarah Thorne - Safely and Reliably Meeting our Customer’s Changing Needs
Newmarket - Tay Power Distribution, working with Decision Partners is reinventing itself to be a partner with customers to facilitate sharing of electric resources. As an agnostic and independent partner, we envision exchange of power supply options within our customer base and will seek to find the most safe, economic and reliable solution for their needs.
Please click here for the slides to the presentation.
Paul Ferguson is President and CEO of Newmarket - Tay Power Distribution Ltd. and an accomplished senior manager within the electric utility industry in Ontario. His professional experience spans 31 years. Paul’s background includes 12 years extensive experience with Ontario Hydro in senior positions in Operations and Protection and Control. In addition, he holds memberships in the Ontario Electrical League as well as the Electricity Distributors Association. A registered professional engineer, he graduated from the University of Waterloo in 1977 with a Bachelors of Applied Sciences in electrical engineering. From 2003 to 2004, he served on the Board of Directors of Ontario’s Independent Electricity Market Operator. He is a past member of the Independent Electricity System Operator’s (IESO) Stakeholder Advisory Committee and the Ontario Energy Board’s (OEB) Chairs Advisory Roundtable.
As President of Newmarket - Tay Power Distribution Ltd., he is leading a mid-size distribution utility that is enjoying a position of financial and market competence since the inception of Ontario’s open electricity market.
Sarah Thorne is President and CEO of Decision • Partners Canada Inc. Decision Partners is the world leader in advanced behavioural decision research, strategy and communications, and the creator of Mental Modeling InsightTM, an integrated suite of science-informed methods and tools for policy, strategy and communication design and implementation. For more than two decades, Sarah has been working with public at private organizations across a broad range of application areas, including those related to emergency preparedness, energy and infrastructure, public health, organizational transformation, stakeholder engagement, climate change, sustainability and resilience.
Sarah is a regular contributor to the scientific and management literature on decision making and behaviour-focused strategy and communications, and is co-author of the book Mental Modeling Approach: Risk Management Application Case Studies (Springer, 2017).
Trisha Miazga - The Five Drivers of Resilient Development
Trisha coauthored BOMA Toronto’s latest Technical Guidance Note on resilient development and will discuss its recommendations. The intent is to inform operational risk management and decisions around the protection of property value by reframing how we think about our buildings. We will then discuss five simple principles that drive resilience, and how to pursue them across your portfolio.
The slides of the presentation are found here.
Trisha is a Senior Analyst at The HIDI Group, a multidisciplinary engineering design firm based in Toronto, where she leads the firm's Risk and Resilience projects across Europe and North America. A specialist in all-hazards and performance-based design, she draws from broad industry experience that includes extreme loads and environments, protective design, systems engineering, and litigation assistance. Prior to joining HIDI in 2015, Trisha held civil and structural engineering positions in Western New York and Washington, DC, as well as a research position in construction engineering. In addition to degrees in civil engineering and philosophy, she holds certifications in sustainable design, building commissioning, and critical infrastructure protection. Trisha has also held elected and appointed regional positions with the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The meeting was held at Arcadian Court 401 Bay St, Toronto, ON M5H 2Y4 as a breakfast event on Thursday, October 11, 2018.
In cooperation with:
Sponsored by:
