Board of Directors
Mike Brigham: President
Mike Brigham is a Toronto-based business man with a passion for renewable energy. In 1985, Mike designed and installed his first off-grid solar electric system at his island cottage north of Toronto. Since then he has designed, installed and helped maintain other off-grid systems for friends and neighbours. Mike is a Director of TREC Renewable Energy Co-operative and having worked on developing SolarShare projects since 2007, is now the president of the co-operative. He is also a consultant to the Green Energy Act Alliance on the topic of Feed-In Tariffs and sits on the steering committee of Our Power, an initiative to bring solar power to residential homeowners in Ontario. Mike has been on the TREC Board of Directors since 2007 and on the SolarShare Board since it’s inception in 2010.
Brian Iler: Secretary
Brian Iler is a founding Partner in the seven-lawyer law firm Iler Campbell LLP in Toronto. With its primary focus on providing legal services and advice to Ontario’s charities, co-operatives, and non-profits, the firm has a unique niche in the legal community. Brian has been on the Board of Directors of TREC and SolarShare since their inception and he is a founding director of Toronto’s innovative wind energy co-op, Windshare, which co-owns the wind turbine on Toronto’s waterfront. He’s also a past chair of Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, a founding director of the Community Power Fund, and a member of the management committee for the Green Energy Act Alliance.
David Robertson: Treasurer
David Robertson is a chartered accountant and the managing partner of the accounting firm Prentice, Yates & Clark. David specializes in accounting, auditing and financial reporting for non-profit organizations. David graduated with an undergraduate degree from Ryerson in Hospitality and Tourism Management in 1979 and received his designation as a chartered accountant in 1982. David has been on several non-profit boards over the years including FoodShare Toronto and is also a member of Windshare Energy Co-operative. David's natural focus is accounting and numbers and he is also interested in the accountability of boards to their members and/or shareholders and stakeholders and what form that accountability takes. David has been on TREC's Board of Directors since 2002.
Thomas Haubenreisser: Director
Dr. Thomas Haubenreisser, Principal of INVEST-4-IMPACT, has over 25 years experience within the financial service and management consulting sectors. Thomas champions the advancement of impact investing through the development of new funds (Canada Impact Investment Fund, Community Power Capital) that provide investors with financial and social returns. Previously Thomas held senior positions within Royal Bank of Canada (Head of Innovation, Vice President of Strategy & Business Development), CIBC (General Manager of Commercial Mortgages) and Brendan Wood International (Partner). He is active in community-based initiatives participating on the boards of Toronto Dollar, Community Power Capital, Water Power Group and Brendan Wood International. He is a founding member of the Toronto International Microfinance Summit and volunteers with Grameen Foundation’s Bankers without Borders program.
Rebecca Black: Director
Rebecca Black is a highly creative marketing and communications professional whose proven project management expertise helps clients achieve their sustainability and sales goals on time, on budget and in style. Since founding Black Current Marketing in 2006, Rebecca has produced successful campaigns and oversold events for a range of satisfied clients. Prior to working in the sustainable business sector, she held senior music industry management positions in Canada, New York and Australia in Artist Development, Label Management and International Business Development roles. Rebecca has a Masters degree in Business and the Environment from York University (Toronto).
Jeff Harti: Director
Jeff has been an active promoter of and participant in Ontario’s Community Power sector for a number of years. He has previously served on the boards of both the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association and Citizens for Renewable Energy. His professional career spans the public, private, and not for-profit sectors and Jeff currently works as the Manager of Environmental Initiatives for a municipality in the GTA. Jeff’s educational background includes an Honours Bachelor of Environmental Studies in Environment and Resource Studies from the University of Waterloo, a Masters of Science in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science from Lund University in Sweden; and he completed the Ontario Co-operative Associations’ Co-operative Management Certificate Program, at Schulich School of Business, York University.
Michelle Bird: Director
Michelle Bird is a Project Manager at RESCo Energy, a leading solar energy EPC. With an educational background in geography, digital mapping, renewables and, most recently, construction project management, Michelle finds the perfect place to explore a passion for sustainable, intelligent design and project execution in the solar energy industry. Prior to joining RESCo Energy, Michelle was with Helios Energy where she had exposure to design and construction of both rooftop and ground mount solar projects. Michelle has a BA in Geography (York University), a Masters in Spatial Analysis (University of Toronto), NABCEP (North American Board of Energy Practictioners) entry level certificate (Fremont, California) and is in the process of completing a Construction Project Management certificate at George Brown College.
Glen Estill: Director
Glen Estill was the founder of Sky Generation, a wind development company. The company built a 1.8 MW wind turbine on the Bruce Peninsula in 2002. At the time, is was the 9th commercial scale turbine built in the Province, and only the second one built by the private sector. The company continued to develop wind projects, adding two turbines on the Bruce Peninsula in 2006, and 10 turbines south of Grand Bend in 2009 and 2010. The company was sold to Sprott Power in 2011. Estill served several years on the Board of the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), and was it’s President in 2004. He has served on a variety of wind advocacy committees for CanWEA, the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, and the Green Energy Alliance. Mr. Estill writes a blog on wind and energy/environmentally related topics: www.wind-blog.com Glen Estill has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (UWO 1980) and MBA (UWO 1983)
Shon Sorensen: Director
Shon Sorensen has been active in the Renewable energy field as an educator and trainer for a number of years. He is past Chair of the Canadian Solar Industries Association’s (CanSIA) Education Committee which developed the Photovoltaic Technician Program delivered through Seneca College to students all across Canada. He also served as an instructor in this program as well as a yearly series of one-day to one-week workshops on Photovoltaic Systems at the Kortright Centre for Conservation. He is a graduate of the College of Education, University of Toronto and the RCC School of Electronics. After retiring as a Professor of Electronics at George Brown College in 2001, he established his own company, Alternative Electric Energy Products.