Planning Committee

Matt Caddel, a seasoned professional geologist with over 24 years of experience with bp Canada Energy Group, has dedicated his career to the exploration and development of energy resources, with a recent focus on sustainable practices and carbon capture.

Currently, Matt is an integral part of bp’s commitment to sustainable energy goals. As a member of the global bp Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage group, he is leading efforts in North America assets to reduce carbon emissions and advance the use of clean energy technologies.

Throughout his career, Matt has worked exploration and development in diverse geological settings, spanning from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and Canadian foothills to offshore locations such as Beaufort-Mackenzie and Newfoundland. Prior to his recent role in CCUS, Matt worked on the evaluation of oil sands, including a secondment into Devon. He has also contributed to international projects, lending his expertise to ventures in the Gulf of Mexico, Angola, and Kuwait.

Matt holds an MSc from the University of Calgary and a registered professional geoscientist with APEGA.

Beyond the confines of his professional life, you’ll find Matt immersing himself in the natural wonders of the southern Canadian Rockies. Whether he’s conquering challenging ski slopes or exploring scenic hiking trails, Matt’s love for the outdoors fuels his passion for sustainable energy.

Gord is a Professional Geoscientist (APEGA) with over 12 years of consulting experience working primarily in the field of environmental and engineering geophysics. After completing degrees in Geophysics and Physics from the University of Alberta, he began his career by working on numerous near-surface geophysics assignments across Western Canada and the Arctic. His work has supported projects in the environmental reclamation, pipeline, hydrogeology, geohazard, arctic engineering, and construction sectors.

In 2022, Gord completed a graduate degree in Sustainable Energy Development at the University of Calgary, with research focused on mapping the economic potential of geothermal projects across Alberta. In early 2023, he joined Sproule, helping expand the organization’s geothermal consulting capabilities based in the Netherlands into Canada while working alongside Sproule’s Energy Advisory team. He supports clients with expertise in data analysis and project management, providing insights into emerging emissions reductions technologies in the North American market such as geothermal, carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS), and hydrogen.

Mia is a Professional Geologist with over 10 years of experience in asset evaluations and oil development in the western Canadian energy industry. Working across the sedimentary basin for companies such as Husky Energy, IconOil, and Perpetual Energy provided a solid technical foundation from industry which led to her career transition from fossil fuel development to renewables.

Mia’s current role is Corporate Development Manager at Proton Technologies, a Canadian hydrogen company dedicated to commercializing its disruptive technology, producing low-cost, emissions free hydrogen from oil fields. Mia utilizes her technical background and corporate knowledge to fuel achievement of strategic business goals. Mia holds a BSc. in Geology from the University of Calgary and is a registered member of APEGA.

Dr. Grasby received a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from University of Calgary in 1997. He has worked on regional groundwater studies in the Canadian Prairies and in British Columbia, including climate change impacts of regional water supply. He has also conducted extensive studies on thermal and mineral springs in western and northern Canada. He is lead author of the 2011 GSC publication, “Geothermal Energy Resource Potential of Canada”

David has 20+ years of geological experience in the Canadian oil patch, specializing on Devonian and Mississippian Carbonate Systems. David completed his B.Sc. in Geology and Oceanography from the University of Southampton, moving on to the University of Alberta to gain an M.Sc. in Modern Carbonate Sedimentology. He has diverse experience in the Canadian oil patch, including as a writer and illustrator of exploration reviews for the Canadian Discovery Digest, an area geologist of iconic Alberta fields of Swan Hills and Dunvegan, and as carbonate sedimentology specialist for Devon Corporation.

David has over nine years of CO2 enhanced oil recovery experience as senior geoscientist where he has helped implement the development of the Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration program at Clive, Alberta. In addition to his role as geoscientist and reservoir modeller, he has had a lead role in the development of Monitoring, Measurement and Verification (MMV) plans and proposals.

Prior to joining McDaniel, Francis gained experience at an international E&P company. He drilled dozens of wells through the Western Canadian Basin and was responsible for geo-modelling over a billion barrels of oil. His pursuit for field optimization led him to assess several water disposal opportunities in deep saline aquifers. He was involved in the deployment of over a quarter billion dollar of capital within the Canadian oil and gas sector.

Francis is taking this decade of experience as an operator to McDaniel where he is spearheading their Carbon Advisory. McDaniel Carbon Team has been helping dozens of CCS/CCUS proponents with feasibility study, risk assessment, audit & due diligence.

Natasha Morris is a Professional Geoscientist (APEGA) and University of Calgary Graduate that has worked on a wide range of commodities; diamonds, base and precious metal deposits, to hydrocarbon plays, that span largely across North America from the Arctic Circle to the Permian Basin. She has worked for 12+ years at a number of different companies, prospect generators, mid-cap (>$1bill.) mining companies and a supermajor oil and gas company. She currently works as a Senior Geoscientist for E3 Lithium, a start-up company in Alberta that will be producing battery-grade lithium from low temperature geothermal brines, that underpin some of Alberta’s most prolific hydrocarbon producing fields. Natasha is passionate about the intersection and transfer of learnings, across energy and associated mineral extraction development and is incredibly excited to be pioneering a new industry for Alberta in the critical metal space.

Ms. Nadaraju has over 30 years of diverse professional experience in the oil and gas industry, including business development, asset exploitation/development, strategic planning, and investor relations. Her technical expertise spans both the conventional and unconventional oil and gas plays in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Geology from the College of Wooster, Ohio and an MSc. degree in Geology from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Following her 25-year tenure at Encana Corporation (now Ovintiv), Ms. Nadaraju joined Avanti in 2021, as VP Subsurface. She has served as a board member for the Canadian Energy Geoscience Association (CEGA) from 2021-22. She currently serves as a non-independent board member for Avanti Helium.

Genga enjoys the outdoors – hiking in the Canadian Rockies, loves travelling, enjoys preparing and having meals with family and friends or just reading a good book.

Nico Vandersalm has almost two decades of reservoir and exploitation experience in the western Canada oil, gas and now energy transition industry. In 2020, after spending most of his career drilling, developing and maximizing value through horizontal multi-stage fraced resource plays he moved to Enhance Energy. Enhance is small private entity sequestering carbon in Clive, Alberta as part of a CO2 EOR project at the end of the ACTL. He was responsible for field development planning and all MMV management and execution. During his tenure, 3.5 Mega Tonnes of anthropogenic CO2 was permanently injected, stored and verified with the Alberta government. Most recently Nico has moved to the Emission Reduction and Innovation group at Tourmaline Oil Corp as Senior Advisor, Carbon Solutions and is focused on their CCS strategy and execution for their pilot projects in Alberta and British Columbia. He is excited to continue pushing the envelope in the carbon space and looking forward to contributing to Tourmaline’s success. Nico hold a Bachelor of Science in Oil and Gas Engineering from the University of Calgary and is a registered professional Engineer with APEGA.