Board Member

	Fred Stewart - Board Chair Fred Stewart, B. Comm., LL.B., is Chair of the SOFCC Network Board. Mr. Stewart was elected to the Alberta Legislature in 1986, and served two terms in various capacities including Government House Leader and Minister of Technology Research & Telecommunications, including responsibility for the Alberta Research Council. He was instrumental in the formation of the Premier’s Council on Science and Technology, the Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Awards, the Alberta Science Foundation, the Alberta Women Science Network, and Operation Minerva. Since 1993, he has worked with the Alberta advanced technologies community focusing on technology commercialization and corporate positioning. Mr. Stewart is former Chair of the Board of Calgary Technologies Inc., a founding Chair of Netera Alliance (now Cybera), a co founder and Director of Corporate Relations for the Informatics Circle of Research Excellence (“iCORE”), a member of the Board of The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS) and is currently Chair of Alberta WaterSMART. His contributions to Alberta’s advanced technology community have been recognized by a Special ASTech Award in 1999, a Lieutenant Governor’s Millennium Medal in 2001 and an Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005.
	Dr. Scott A. Barnett Scott A. Barnett is a Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering department at Northwestern University. He is also founder and President of Functional Coating Technology LLC. After receiving his Ph.D. in Metallurgy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1982, he held postdoctoral appointments at the University of Illinois and Linkoping University (Sweden). He took his present position at Northwestern in 1986. His research focuses on thin films and coatings produced by physical vapor and colloidal deposition methods. His general areas of interest in fuel cells include thin electrolyte deposition, low-temperature operation, electrode reaction mechanisms, and hydrocarbon reactions.
	Dr. Viola Birss, FCIC, FECS Dr. Birss joined the Chemistry Department at the University of Calgary as an Assistant Professor in 1983, where she was promoted to Associate Professor in 1987 and to Full Professor in 1991. Dr. Birss’ main research interests are in the area of electrochemical energy conversion and electrode processes, with a primary focus on improving the performance and enhancing the durability of solid oxide and proton exchange membrane fuel cells, the protection of metals from corrosion, and biosensor development. Dr. Birss is a founder and co-chair of the Western Canada Fuel Cell Initiative (WCFCI), involving over 35 research groups in the four western provinces. Since 2005, she has also been the co-founder and co-leader of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) Canada, a national organization currently involving over 90 individuals from industry, government, academia, and is the scientific co-lead of the NSERC SOFC Canada Strategic Research Network, which commenced operation in early 2008. Dr. Birss’ outstanding research achievements have been recognized by numerous honors and awards, including the W. Lash Miller Award in Electrochemistry in 1985, the inaugural C. Benson Award of the CSC in 1991, the CIC Lecture Award in 1998, the NSF ADVANCE Distinguished Lectureship Award in 2005, a Top 40 Alumni Award at the University of Calgary in 2006, Fellowship in a number of societies, and a holder of a Tier I Canada Research Chair (Materials for Fuel Cells and Related Energy Applications). She has also served on many grant selection committees (NSERC, DOE, etc.) and has been on the executive committee of many professional organizations.
	Dr. Brian Borglum Brian Borglum is Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer of Versa Power Systems. In conjunction with his team, he is responsible for the development of technology that advances planar solid oxide fuel cells. He previously held positions with Siemens, Westinghouse and Raytheon corporations. He received his undergraduate degree from Alfred University and his M.S and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
	Edward (Ed) Brost, M.Sc., P.Eng. Ed is the Manager of Environmental Technology and GHG Strategies – Oil Sands for Shell Canada Limited. A chemical engineer by training, Ed holds a M.Sc. in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University. Ed has worked at Atomic Energy of Canada at the Chalk River Nuclear Research Laboratories, Ontario Hydro, Bruce Nuclear Power Development and Lambton Generation Station. Since joining Shell, Ed has worked in Chemicals and Refining in Canada, coordinated sector wide research projects while at Westhollow Technology Center in Houston, and assumed the role of Environment Manager at the Scotford Upgrader after returning to Canada in 2000. In 2004 Ed moved to the Business and Project Development team in Calgary and assumed his current role as Manager-Environmental Technology and GHG Strategies.
	Eric Denhoff Eric Denhoff has served as a CEO and held senior management positions in both the public and private sectors. He has extensive experience as a senior negotiator, problem solver, policy development specialist and business facilitator. For 15 years, Mr. Denhoff served in senior positions for the Government of British Columbia, including: Chair and Chief Executive Officer of one of British Columbia’s largest Crown Corporations; Deputy Minister, Ministry of Finance, Triumf-Kaon project; Deputy Minister, attached to the Trade Development Corporation; Deputy Minister, Aboriginal Affairs; and Chairman, BC Systems Corporation and Telecommunications Privatization Review. Mr. Denhoff also served as a member of the Council of Deputies, Sustainable Development Committee, Social Policy Committee, Privatization Committee, and as Chair of the Aboriginal Treaty Negotiations Committee. As an international negotiator, Mr. Denhoff has negotiated labour agreements, federal-provincial agreements, and a significant number of private/public partnerships in Canada and internationally. In the private sector, Mr. Denhoff’s experience includes his previous role as Chair, BC Development Board, SNC Lavalin Inc. and previous service as International Trade and Environmental Negotiator for the British Columbia Forest Industry.
	Ken Furusaki One of the main goals in Ken Furusaki's carrier is to create viable business models from R&D seeds, which can contribute to global environmental protection. Solid electrolytes have been one of his main interests. The ZrO2 Oxygen Sensor for vehicle emission control systems is one of the examples. This product is now used annually in 40 million cars and trucks worldwide to achieve low emission vehicles. SOFC technology is currently one of the key R&D projects in his laboratory. The team consists of three sections, Cell, Hot Module (stack and catalysts) and System (ECU, sensors and actuators) working to determine the best technical path to the potential application. Other R&D challenges in his laboratory include Solar Cells, Thermoelectric Devices, Hydrogen Sensors and Optical Gas Sensors. Mr. Furusaki obtained his B.Sc. in Materials Science (Electrochemistry) from Osaka University and joined NGK Spark Plug Co. LTD in Japan. He was General Manager for NGK's Sales and Technical Centre in Michigan for 6 years before returning to Japan as the General Manager of the Frontier Research Laboratory in NGK's R7D Centre.
	Anthony Petric, Ph.D., P.Eng. Dr. Petric received his initial degree in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto. He worked as an engineer for Algoma Steel and Alcan International before obtaining his doctorate from Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal. He has been a professor at McMaster University since 1989. He was a Visiting Scientist at INPG, Grenoble in 1995-96, an ASM Canada Council Lecturer in 1999 and held the NSERC Fuel Cell Technologies Chair from 2002 to 2006. Dr. Petric's research focuses on high temperature materials for energy applications and deals with the measurement of thermodynamic and thermoelectric properties, conductivity and phase diagrams. Most of his effort at McMaster University has been in the study of alternate materials for solid oxide fuel cells, including electrolytes (LSGM), anodes (SYT), cathodes (Cu-Mn spinel) and interconnect coatings.
	Dennis Prediger, P.Eng. Dennis Prediger is Director of Product Line Management and Technology for Global Thermoelectric. Global Thermoelectric is a Canadian manufacturing company specializing in small industrial remote power installations. Dennis, as the Product Line Manager, is responsible for all existing and new product lines, including the introduction of new power producing technologies such as solid oxide fuel cells. Dennis is a Professional Engineer with 14 years of power product development, 6 years of that in solid oxide fuel cells with Global and Versa Power Systems. In 1993, Mr. Prediger received a B.Sc. in Engineering from the University of Alberta.
	Robert Therrien, P.Eng., NSERC Robert is a Portfolio Manager in NSERC’s Research Partnerships Directorate where he manages a multimillion dollar portfolio of university research grants, including Industrial Research Chairs, Collaborative R&D Projects and Research Networks. Robert is a Professional Engineer and received his B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ottawa in 1991. Prior to joining the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council in 1998, Robert worked as an environmental consultant and as a Project Engineer with Environment Canada.
	Dr. Frank Tietz Dr Frank Tietz obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Hanover, Germany, in 1992. After an AvH post-doc grant in Italy he joined Forschungszentrum Jülich in 1995 as a senior researcher. Today he is the leading senior scientist at FZJ for high-temperature electroceramics and SOFC materials research. Dr. Tietz is currently involved in two EU-FP6 Integrated Projects on SOFC development and a large German project on application of SOFCs as automotive auxiliary power units. In recent years he coordinated an EU RTD project in FP5, managed national SOFC projects as well as bilateral co-operations with Slovenia, Greece and India, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science and acted as referee for SOFC projects in Great Britain and New Zealand. During his 20 years experience on technical and functional ceramic materials related to superconductors, cationic and anionic conductors, semiconducting ceramics as well as composite materials and interface phenomena, he has published about 200 papers.
	Maja Veljkovic Director General, NRC- Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation (NRC-IFCI) Maja Veljkovic is Director General of the National Research Council of Canada Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation (NRC-IFCI), and the Lead for the National H2FC Program. Prior to joining NRC-IFCI in 2001, Maja served as Senior Engineer and R&D Manager at Syncrude Canada, where she was responsible for major R&D and engineering projects. Most recently, she was Syncrude’s Senior Advisor, Upgrading Research Program. Maja's academic training began at the University of Belgrade in Yugoslavia, where in 1972 she obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. In 1976, she received her Masters of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia. Maja's professional achievements have been recognized by election to many prestigious professional societies, including the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) where she presided as President from 2004-2006, working on the Vision for Canadian Engineers initiative and organizing of the Climate Change Technology Conference 2006. In the past, she has served as President of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering and Chair of the Upgrading Technical Planning Group of the Canadian Oil Sands Network for R&D (CONRAD). She has also received a number of awards recognizing her professional contributions, including the 1997 YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Science and Technology and is a recipient of CIC and the EIC fellowships. Recently Maja served on the panel of the “Meeting of the Mines” event that framed a message to the next US president regarding sustainable transportation strategy.