Board Members

Date	Issue
Jul 2-09	The Ontario Energy Board has announced that the government has renewed the appointment of two Members of the Board. Gordon Kaiser was originally appointed as Vice-Chair and member of the Management Committee in July 2004, and has subsequently been renewed in his role on a number of occasions. The most recent renewal extends his appointment for one year until July 2010. Paul Sommerville was originally appointed as a full-time Member of the Board in July 2001. His appointment has also been renewed on a number of occasions. The most recent renewal extends his appointment for one year until July 2010.

CHAIR & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Howard I. Wetston, Q.C. was appointed Chair of the Ontario Energy Board in 2003. From 1999 to 2003, he served as Vice-Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission.

Previously, Mr. Wetston was a Judge of the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, Appeal Division, and Director of Investigation and Research, Bureau of Competition Policy. He served as General Counsel to the Canadian Transport Commission, Assistant General Counsel to the National Energy Board, General Counsel to the Consumers’ Association of Canada, Legal Counsel to the National Energy Board, Crown Counsel for the Department of Justice and Crown Counsel in the Nova Scotia Attorney General’s Department.

Mr. Wetston is a member of the Carleton University School of Public Policy and Administration Leadership Council (2008), a graduate of the Corporate Governance College (ICD) Directors Education Program (2005) and 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 25 years of 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.

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.