GBTA Unveils Speaker Line-Up for Energy, Resources & Marine Symposium in Calgary

Conference Sessions to Take Deep Dive into Navigating Canada’s Oil, Gas & Energy Sector

GBTA, the leading voice of the business travel industry in Canada, is excited to host its second annual Energy, Resources & Marine (ERM) Symposium in Calgary on October 8, 2015 at the WestJet Campus.

ERM Symposium 2015 Calgary will feature keynote speakers and education sessions focusing on Canada’s oil, gas and energy sector providing attendees insight into this unique sector along with creative ways to build successful travel programs and policies even as Canada deals with an oil and gas crisis. Sessions will focus on the current state of Canada’s oil and gas sector, pricing and politics, buyer and supplier relations, challenges, duty of care and more.

Following a successful, sold-out inaugural ERM Symposium in 2014, we are thrilled to provide ERM Symposium 2015 attendees with a top-notch speaker line-up for insightful discussions on the oil, gas and energy sector as attendees look to manage tough economic times in this sector by keeping business travel alive to drive the economy. The Symposium also provides an excellent opportunity for travel buyers and suppliers to network with other professionals that are involved in energy, resources and marine travel.

Keynote Speakers include:

• Jeff Gaulin, Vice President, Communications, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) – who will open the symposium discussing the real truth of Canada’s oil & gas sector and our up-to-the minute position in the world oil economy. Jeff will speak to what is different today and what this means to Canada’s 3-P’s: Prices, Pipelines & Politics.
• W. Brett Wilson, CBC TV’s Dragon’s Den “Dragon Emeritus”, celebrated Entrepreneur & Philanthropist, Co-Founder of FirstEnergy Capital Corp. and Author of Redefining Success: Still Making Mistakes, who will speak as our lunch keynote on Redefining Success both personally and professionally, an appropriate topic as we all learn to work and live in today’s volatile oil and gas sector.

A stellar line-up of Featured Session Speakers include:

• Caroline Comeau, Director of Sales, Canada, IHG
• Mike Guadagnoli, Assistant Vice President, Business Rental Development, Enterprise Holdings Inc.
• Steve Hankirk, President, Canadian North
• Glen Kitteringham, Security and Risk Management Consultant
• Linda Lee, Executive Assistant & Corporate Travel Coordinator, TransCanada Corporation
• Shelly Lewchuk, Manager Corporate Travel, Canadian Natural Resources Limited
• Theresa Lim, Facilities Travel, Manager Corporate Contracts & Reservations, CP Rail
• Hartmut Mailandt, Business Development Manager, IBS Software Services Americas
• Kate Moorhead, Project Support Administrator, Canadian Natural Resources Limited, Horizon Oil Sands
• Ramesh Nair, VP and Head of Business – Oil & Gas Logistics, IBS Software Services Americas
• Brett Nichols, Global Account Manager, Delta Airlines / SkyTeam
• Ian Race, SVP Sales & Account Management, Vision Travel Solutions
• Gregg Saretsky, President and CEO of WestJet Airlines
• John Stepovy, Business Development Manager, Pacific Western
• John Vawter, VP CWT Energy, Resource & Marine

GBTA’s Canada ERM Taskforce, comprised of Canadian business travel industry experts with specific working knowledge of Canada’s Energy & Resources sector, worked to advise GBTA Canada in crafting the content and presentations for this year’s Symposium. Co-Chaired by GBTA Canada’s Advisory Board members, Shelly Lewchuk of Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Daniele Gadbois of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the ERM Taskforce volunteers included Linda Lee, TransCanada Corporation; Bertram Fernandes, Ledcor; Alex Kocen, ConocoPhillips Canada; and Jackie Cherewyk, Best Western International.

Attendee registration is still available and is complimentary for all travel buyers. For more information and the full agenda, please visit: gbta.org/Canada/ERM. Press registration is complimentary for accredited media.

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