Board Members

CHAIR & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

The Honourable Howard I. Wetston, Q.C. was appointed Chair of the Ontario Energy Board (the Board) on June 30, 2003. Immediately prior to his appointment to the Board, Mr. Wetston served as Vice-Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission starting January 13, 1999.

From June 16, 1993 to June 12, 1999 Mr. Wetston served as a Judge of the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division and ex-officio member of the Federal Court of Canada, Appeal Division. From October 1989 to June 1993, he was the Director of Investigation and Research (DIR) (now Commissioner of Competition), Bureau of Competition Policy and from October 1986, he served as Senior Deputy DIR where he was accountable for the overall direction and management of mergers and acquisitions.

Previously, Mr. Wetston was in private practice in Ottawa, associated with the firms of Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer in Calgary and Phillips & Vineberg in Montreal. Before entering private practice, he served as General Counsel to the Canadian Transport Commission and Assistant General Counsel to the National Energy Board. Prior to that, he served as General Counsel to the Consumers' Association of Canada and Legal Counsel to the National Energy Board. From 1976 to 1980, he was a member of the Department of Justice as Crown Counsel and previous to that, Crown Counsel in the Nova Scotia Attorney General's Department.

Mr. Wetston was educated at Mount Allison University and Dalhousie University. He was appointed Q.C. in 1990 and is a member of the Ontario and Alberta Bars.

Mr. Wetston is a member of the Board of Directors of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto (2004).

VICE-CHAIRS

Gordon Kaiser was appointed Vice-Chair of the Board in July 2004. He has specialized in competition and regulatory law for three decades and served as a partner at two law firms. Mr. Kaiser has acted as Special Counsel to the Attorney General of Canada in competition law and represented the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in gas and electricity rate hearings before the OEB and the National Energy Board. Mr. Kaiser has served as a special lecturer in Competition Law at Queen’s University and as a Visiting Professor in Law and Economics at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Competition Law in Canada and a number of journal articles on economic regulation.

Pamela Nowina was appointed Vice-Chair of the Board in July 2005, and a full-time member of the Board in March 2004. She has more than 20 years of experience in the natural gas and electricity sectors. Ms. Nowina was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM Canada Business Consulting Services, where she was responsible for the Strategy Practice for the Energy sector. In this position, Ms. Nowina provided consulting services to many of Canada’s largest utility companies and related government agencies. Ms. Nowina also has held several management positions at Union Gas Ltd. Ms. Nowina holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Windsor and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Toronto.

FULL-TIME MEMBERS

Paul Vlahos served as Interim Chair of the Board from December 2002 to June 2003. Mr. Vlahos was appointed Vice-Chair of the Board in April 2000 and has served as a full-time member since October 1994. Before his appointment to the Board, Mr. Vlahos held positions in the natural gas industry and on the OEB’s staff. He also served as general manager at the Ontario Telephone Service Commission. Mr. Vlahos taught economics at the University of New Brunswick, and holds a Master’s degree in economics.

Paul B. Sommerville, a lawyer, was appointed as a full-time member of the Ontario Energy Board in July 2001. Mr. Sommerville, who received his law degree from the University of Western Ontario, was called to the bar in 1983 and joined the family law firm, Sommerville & Sommerville, in Toronto. In 1986, he became director of legal services for the Ontario Trucking Association, and in 1989, counsel responsible for environmental and health and safety matters for General Motors.

Cynthia Chaplin, was appointed to the Board as a full-time member in March 2004. Ms. Chaplin has extensive experience in the natural gas and electricity sectors in Canada and the United Kingdom as an energy economist and consultant. She has held senior positions with British Petroleum and Amoco, with Britain’s gas regulator, the Office of Gas Supply, and with the Ontario Energy Board. Most recently she has provided strategic advice on energy regulation and market restructuring to a variety of Canadian clients. She holds a Master's degree in economics from the University of Toronto.

Ken Quesnelle was appointed a full-time member of the Board in August 2005. He is the former Vice-President and Assistant General Manager of Woodstock Hydro Services Inc. and past Chair of the Electricity Distributors Association. Mr. Quesnelle has been a very active participant in the remodeling of the electricity sector in Ontario over the past several years, having taken a leadership role on numerous industry task forces and advisory groups. He has over 25 years of experience in the utility business with a focus on electricity distribution. As EDA Board Chair, Mr. Quesnelle networked with a wide variety of electricity sector stakeholders, thus gaining a global perspective on the issues the industry faces.

Bill Rupert, FCA was appointed to the Board as a full-time member in May 2006. From mid-2004 to late 2005, Mr. Rupert served as the OEB’s Managing Director, Regulatory Policy Development. Prior to that, he was a partner for 19 years in Ernst & Young’s Assurance and Advisory Business Services practice, providing risk management, financial reporting, and audit services to the energy and financial services industries. For two years in the 1980s, he was a practice fellow at the Financial Accounting Standards Board in the United States. Mr. Rupert was a member of the Technical Panel of the Independent Electricity System Operator for five years. He also served as a member of the Commodity Futures Advisory Board of the Ontario Securities Commission. Mr. Rupert is a Chartered Accountant and holds an undergraduate degree from Trent University and an MBA from McMaster University.

PART-TIME MEMBERS

Cathy Spoel was appointed as a part-time member of the Board in October 1999. She is a lawyer with more than 15 years of experience in administrative law, with a focus on land use planning, environmental, municipal and energy law. Ms. Spoel has an honours degree in mathematics and a Master’s degree in law, specializing in alternative dispute resolution. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1983.

David Balsillie was appointed to the Board as a part-time member in June, 2007. Dr. Balsillie has served as an Assistant Deputy Minister with both the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of Environment, and is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Toronto. He has expert knowledge in environmental matters, particularly in sustainable forest management, land-use planning and resource allocation, biodiversity conservation and global warming. Dr. Balsillie is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Forestry Association, a member of the Forestry Futures Trust Fund Committee operating under the direction of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and a trustee on the Trees Ontario Foundation. Dr. Balsillie received his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Life Sciences and Forestry from the University of Toronto.