Committees

Executive Committee

• Mark Bain, Chair

  Partner, Torys LLP

  Mark Bain is a partner at Torys, where he acts as head of the Public-Private Partnerships practice, and co-head of the Infrastructure and Energy practice.

  Mark is consistently recognized as one of Canada’s leading infrastructure and project finance lawyers. He has acted on more than 80 major public-private partnership transactions across Canada and internationally. His experience spans many infrastructure sectors including power, water, broadband, transport, rail, public transit, ports, health care, education, justice, pipelines, Indigenous projects and urban redevelopment.

  Mark has represented all of the principal parties to such transactions, including sponsors, equity investors, lenders, underwriters, contractors, service providers and public authorities.

• Johanne Mullen, Vice Chair

  

  Partner, National Capital Projects and Infrastructure Leader, PwC Canada

  Johanne Mullen is a Partner and National Capital Projects and Infrastructure Leader with PwC.

  Johanne has 20 years of experience in the areas of project finance, structured finance, public-private partnerships and financial advisory. She is a trusted advisor to both the public and private sectors, structuring and placing financing for large projects in the transportation, health and urban infrastructure sectors.

  Johanne is a director of the Institut pour les partenariats public-privé du Québec and a director of The Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships.

  She is recognized as a leader in her field having advised on some of Canada’s defining capital projects including the multibillion-dollar financing for Nalcor Energy, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletes' Village, Iqaluit Airport and the City of Saint John Safe Clean Drinking Water Program.

• Tim Philpotts, Treasurer

  Partner and National Public Sector Transactions Advisory Leader, EY Canada

  Tim is a partner at EY, and the National Public Sector Transactions Advisory Leader. He’s recognized nationally as one of the leading financial advisors on P3 transactions.

  Having more than 20 years of experience, he’s one of the leading advisors in the Canadian marketplace and is instrumental in providing advice to multiple governments across Canada on some of the highest profile and pathfinder projects.

  Tim’s experiences stretch beyond a diverse array of projects, including numerous accommodation, health care, education and transportation projects, and he’s advised governments, private sector partners and acted as principal on major infrastructure projects. He’s worked on pathfinder projects in many countries including the UK, Canada, Norway and the United States. Most recently, he’s worked with the Saskatchewan government on two big projects; the Regina Bypass Project and the Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford.

  He received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Exeter, is recognized as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and is a registered representative of the FINRA Series 63.

• Michael Ledgett, Corporate Secretary

  

  Partner, Dentons LLP

  Michael centres his practice on corporate and commercial law, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, public private partnerships, and the transportation industry.

  His corporate commercial and transactional practice serves businesses (domestic and foreign), governments and their agencies and not-for-profit organizations.

  His P3/Smart Cities practice serves governments and their agencies, as well as private sector developers, operators, lenders and investors on P3 and Smart Cities projects.

  His transportation industry practice serves primarily the bus, port, rail, transit and truck sectors of the industry. His practice also embraces the emerging world of autonomous vehicles. His transportation practice serves governments and their agencies, as well as private sector participants in the industry.

  Michael is recognized as one of Canada’s leading lawyers in The Legal 500 Canada (Infrastructure and Projects; Transport – Other Transport; The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Transportation: Road & Rail; Lexpert Special Edition – Canada’s Leading Infrastructure Lawyers as one of “Canada’s Leading Infrastructure Lawyers.”

• Linda Brown

  Linda is a partner in the Business Law and Financial Services groups in Vancouver. She is also a member of the firm’s Board of Partners and of the Audit Committee of the Board of Partners.

  Linda’s practice is centred on projects and project finance, with an emphasis on infrastructure projects and assisting clients with the bidding process on the original procurement of the project through to financial close, as well as with refinancings, mergers and acquisitions and other secondary market transactions in respect of completed projects. The other focus of Linda’s practice is financial services, assisting corporate and project borrowers with the establishment of capital markets platforms, credit agreements and issuances of debt securities.

  Linda has been an instructor for Business and Professional Programs at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia Law School. She is also the president and board chair of Ballet BC.

  She received her LLB from the University of British Columbia in 1988 and was called to the British Columbia bar in 1990 and the Ontario bar in 2018. She served as law clerk to Justice Douglas Lambert of the British Columbia Court of Appeal from 1988 to 1989.

• Brian Budden

  

  President & President and Chief Executive Officer, Plenary Group North America

  Brian has significant experience across a full spectrum of public-private partnership projects in Canada and the United States. He joined Plenary approximately 12 years ago, originally leading, structuring and closing project bids before taking over leadership of the North American Origination and Commercial teams in 2014. Two years later, he was appointed president and CEO. He sits on the boards for all of Plenary’s North American projects, currently representing roughly $20 billion in project value.

  Under Brian’s leadership, Plenary has been recognized with awards for Most Admired Corporate Cultures (Waterstone Human Capital), Best Workplaces in Financial Services (Fortune), and Best Workplaces Overall (ranked #2 nationwide in 2019), and has received designation in both Canada and the U.S. as a Great Place to Work, among multiple other industry accolades.

  Before joining Plenary, Brian practiced corporate restructuring at a Bay Street law firm. He exited law by returning to receive his MBA from Dartmouth College (Tuck). He then led acquisitions, divestitures and strategic initiatives at a subsidiary of Magna International. Brian is a member of YPO and has been active in mentoring and service on charitable boards.

• Sam Chai

  Sam Chai is president of Kiewit Development Company, the project investment and development arm of Kiewit. He leads a highly motivated, cross-border team of investment and development professionals in North America focused on landmark projects across a broad range of energy and infrastructure sectors.

  Since joining Kiewit in 2013, Sam has served as head of finance, head of asset development and chief operating officer. Under his leadership, Kiewit has developed and invested in notable P3 projects including the Goethals Bridge Replacement Project in New York/New Jersey, the Tłıchǫ All-Season Road project in the Northwest Territories, the Southwest Calgary Ring Road project in Alberta, the Central 70 project in Colorado and the Waterloo Light Rail Transit, East Rail Maintenance Facility and Confederation Line Extension projects in Ontario.

  Prior to joining Kiewit, Sam was vice president in the infrastructure advisory and development group at a global investment bank. In that role, Sam led numerous development pursuits, investor relation activities, and financial and commercial advisory engagements for both public and private clients in Australia, Canada and the U.S. Prior to that, Sam held both consulting and public sector roles in the Australian energy market.

• Ehren Cory

  

  Chief Executive Officer, Canada Infrastructure Bank

  As Chief Executive Officer, Ehren is focused on the CIB’s strategic direction including implementing the $10 Billion Growth Plan to accelerate infrastructure investment in Canada and building the CIB as a results-oriented organization.

  Prior to joining the CIB, Ehren was the president & CEO of Infrastructure Ontario, a provincial Crown agency responsible for financing, building and enhancing the value of Ontario’s infrastructure and real estate assets. In addition to his four years as CEO, he also spent four years with the agency in executive roles responsible for the successful transaction structuring, tendering and delivery of billions of dollars in infrastructure projects.

  Prior to joining Infrastructure Ontario, Ehren was a partner at McKinsey & Company in Toronto, where he served as a leader in the Public Sector and Capital Projects practices, advising clients in both the private and public sectors.

  Ehren is a graduate of the MBA program at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, where he graduated with distinction. He also received an Honours degree in Business Administration (HBA) from the University of Western Ontario.

• Cory Grandy

  Cory Grandy was appointed Deputy Minister of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure on September 9, 2020. He began his career with the public service in Newfoundland and Labrador immediately following his graduation from Memorial University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Civil). After a relatively short period in the Department of Works, Services and Transportation, Cory spent eight years in the Department of Education in various positions such as school planning consultant and both manager and director of school construction in acting capacities.

  In 2008, he took on the task of implementing the Provincial Solid Waste Management Strategy as the director of waste management and later municipal infrastructure and planning in the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment. In 2012, Cory was appointed as the assistant deputy minister of the Works Branch in the Department of Transportation and Works. Following a departmental reorganization in 2017, he became the assistant deputy minister of the new Infrastructure Branch leading the province’s infrastructure portfolio including the planning, design and construction of education, health and justice facilities, as well as infrastructure in support of the provincial transportation system.

  In 2019, Cory was appointed associate deputy minister of transportation and works. He also spent a short but highly valued period as a cabinet officer with Executive Council.

• Elisabeth Hivon

  Executive Director & Partner, Canada, Meridiam Infrastructure North America

  Since early 2011, Elisabeth has served as the Executive Director for Meridiam Infrastructure for their Canadian operations. She was part of the team that closed, in the spring of 2014, the successful Waterloo LRT Phase I project. She has also participated in the pursuit of recent Canadian projects such as the Edmonton Valley Line LRT and the Saint John Water Treatment Plant. In early 2012, Elisabeth was involved in closing the NE Anthony Henday project with her partners at Hochtief and ACS.

  Prior to joining Meridiam, Elisabeth worked for SNC-Lavalin Capital where she was involved in a number of projects in Western Canada. She was the lead in closing the SE Stoney Trail Project and also acted as the CEO of the project company.

  Elisabeth also worked for the predecessor of Infrastructure Quebec where she worked on the CHUM project and Montreal Symphony Orchestra projects.

  She is a geotechnical engineer by training and holds an MBA and the CFA charter.

• Steve Nackan

  

  Executive Vice President, President, Concessions, Aecon Group Inc.

  Steven N. Nackan is Executive Vice President and President, Aecon Concessions. He is responsible for Aecon’s infrastructure development and concession management activities.

  Prior to joining Aecon in 2002, he worked for the global law firm of White & Case LLP, advising government agencies, banks and industry in the development, implementation and financing of major international infrastructure projects. He studied in Boston where he gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Brandeis University and a Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School.

• Lisa Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer, CCPPP