2021 Real Estate & Infrastructure Results Canada | Speakers

  • Michael is the Chief Executive Officer of REALPAC (1997~), the senior Canadian trade association for large public and institutional investment real estate companies, a former Director of and Treasurer of the Canada Green Building Council, a former Adjunct Professor and Executive in Residence at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, Toronto Canada, and a former commercial real estate lawyer. REALPAC represents the Canadian investment real estate industry in government relations, industry best practices and standard setting. Michael has represented the Canadian real estate industry in all major policy initiatives with governments at all levels. He is a former Board member of GRESB BV., one of three business advisors to the Canadian federal government’s Sustainable Development Advisory Council (2019 -), a special advisor to the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative (Property Working Group). REALPAC was the first to publish a green lease in North America, brought the first Corporate Social Responsibility standards to Canadian real estate companies, and has developed numerous industry guidance publications on sustainability and energy and carbon management. 

  • Ariel Feldman is the Director, Sustainability & Environmental Programs for Choice Properties, a diversified REIT that owns, manages and develops retail, industrial, office and residential properties. Ariel and his team established the ESG program at Choice Properties in 2019 and has rapidly grown the program into a Canadian leader by setting 5-year environmental and social targets, improving ESG disclosure, and launching a climate change resilience program (amongst other initiatives).

    Ariel joined Choice Properties in 2017. He is a professional mechanical engineer and previously worked with WSP Canada as a Project Director with the Building Sustainability, Energy and Climate Change group.

     

  • Ailey Roberts is Vice President, Sustainable Investing with BentallGreenOak, a leading, global real estate
    investment management advisor and a globally recognized provider of real estate services and has been
    with the company since 2016. BentallGreenOak is a leader in ESG, achieving top rankings in the Global
    Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) for 10 consecutive years for its various funds. Ailey
    oversees the global integration of BGO’s industry leading ESG platform to drive performance in support
    of client mandates. This includes energy, water, waste, health & wellbeing strategies and global ESG
    data management, including most recently supporting the development of BGO’s long-term GHG
    reduction strategy and targets at both the entity & fund-levels. Ailey holds a Master’s of Environment &
    Sustainability from Western University, Bachelor’s degree from the University of Waterloo in
    Environment & Business, LEED Green Associate designation, and was recognized as one of Canada’s
    Clean50 sustainability leaders in 2020.

     

     

  • Ringo is the Director, Climate and Energy in Operations Services at Cadillac Fairview and has been with CF since 2016. Ringo is responsible for supporting national energy programs to drive utility costs down and to reduce CF’s operational carbon footprint. Ringo has a Masters of Applied Science in Building Science. He worked as a project manager in the sustainability and energy management consulting industry for six years prior to joining CF.

  • Conan O’Connor is VP Technology for Energy Profiles Limited (EPL).  He has 15 years of experience in energy management and data systems development, and has led EPL’s sustainability performance reporting practice for GRESB Sector Leaders in Canada for the better part of a decade. EPL is a leader in sustainability data analytics and software, tracking over $1B in annual utility costs across Canada and the US, and increasingly, globally.  Conan holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University and is a Professional Engineer and Certified Energy Manager.       

  • Rob Simpson is the Director of Sustainability for Ivanhoé Cambridge and is responsible for global programs that are focused on carbon reduction, energy efficiency and renewables, ESG-related proptech, and climate change risk/impact.  He also supports internal teams with the development of sustainable finance approaches and programs.

    Rob has worked in the real estate industry for the past 20 years in several different capacities, including roles in design and construction as well as management and operations.  Rob currently serves as Chair for the GRESB North American Benchmarking Committee and has overseen IC’s GRESB participation since 2015. 

     

    Rob’s education includes MBSc (Building Science), B.Tech (Architecture), BA, and LEED AP.