Zahra Teshnizi is Senior Planner at the City of Vancouver. She leads implementation of the Embodied Carbon Strategy to cut embodied emissions from new construction by 40% by 2030. Zahra led publishing the City’s Embodied Carbon Guidelines which enabled adding wbLCA reporting and embodied-carbon limits to the Vancouver Building By-law. The Guidelines helped inform Canada’s National wbLCA Practitioner’s Guide, which Vancouver now references. She led the work that informed the first rezoning-stage embodied-carbon reporting in 2017, contributes to the National Model Codes Task Group on Embodied GHG Emissions, coordinated UBC’s Brock Commons tall-wood research, and at Mantle Developments led CSA Group research demonstrating deep-retrofit whole-life-carbon savings over demolition and rebuild.

Yuma Kuno joined Sumitomo Forestry from 2016 as one of the internal architects designing single-family custom-built houses using the Big-Frame method (Patented technology of Sumitomo Forestry) in Japan. He holds a master’s degree in architectural environmental engineering from Yokohama National University’s Institute of Urban Innovation with a strong interest in sustainability in architecture and community development. From 2021, he has been working alongside group developers of Sumitomo Forestry America, focused on driving the global mass timber initiatives and promoting Sumitomo Forestry’s WOOD Cycle in the United States.

Saint-Gobain, founded in 1665 in France, is celebrating its 360^th birthday in 2025.  Saint-Gobain is a global leader in light and sustainable construction, operating in 80 countries with more than 161,000 employees. The company focuses on innovative solutions for sustainable construction and aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. CertainTeed Canada, a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, specializes in roofing, siding, insulation, gypsum, and ceilings with 13  manufacturing plants in six provinces (Alberta, BC, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec). CertainTeed has over 6,300 employees across North America and operates more than 60 manufacturing plants. Together, they provide high-quality building products with a strong emphasis on sustainability, energy efficiency, and customer service, supporting construction projects across Canada and beyond.

Vanessa Mountain, a proud member of the N’quatqua Band of the St’at’imc Nation, carries the traditional name Kayaya. She has also been honored with the name T’sundi’gumgila’ogwa, gifted by her husband’s family.

Vanessa began her professional journey in the financial services sector, steadily advancing through leadership roles at a major financial institution. Her career evolved toward Indigenous economic development, where she designed and implemented programs that support capacity building within Aboriginal organizations. In particular, she has focused on fostering entrepreneurship by equipping individuals with access to capital and the business knowledge necessary for sustainable success.

In addition to her executive leadership, Vanessa contributes to several governance roles. She serves on the Board of Directors for The Bloom Group Society, which provides vital support services in Vancouver’s Downtown East side. She is also a Trustee for a significant trust on behalf of the St’at’imc Nation and was recently appointed to the Board of TTQ Development Corporation, the economic development entity of the Douglas First Nation.

Vanessa currently applies her diverse expertise in her role as Vice President of the BC Indigenous Housing Society. She brings a strategic and community-centered approach to advancing Indigenous-led land development initiatives across British Columbia

Valérie Lasek is a senior official at the French Ministry of Ecology, where she has worked in the fields of planning, urban development, and construction, particularly focusing on sustainable cities. Since 2021, she has been leading the Bordeaux Euratlantique Public Development Authority, which has been committed to timber construction in the new districts south of Bordeaux since 2015. As co-organizer of Woodrise in Bordeaux in 2023, the EPA is a founding member of the French association Woodrise Vallée, which brings together industry stakeholders in a single location to accelerate training, research, and the integration of wood construction methods to decarbonize urban planning and the real estate sector.

Tomoyuki Gondo has been working as a researcher at the University of Tokyo since 2017. He got a PhD from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2011. He has served as a member of several national and association committees related to wooden architecture and resource utilization. His research areas include 1) the history of prefabricated housing and high-rise construction, 2) the field surveys on construction industries in several regions and countries, and 3) the development of new construction methods for complex shapes including tensegrity or bending active. He got the AIJ (Architectural Institute of Japan) Book Award twice. In his educational programs in graduate school, he integrated the design and construction process: the students constructed such GFRC (Glass-Fiber Reinforced Concrete) shell mock-ups, or they deconstructed empty houses in Japanese local island and designed from the reclaimed materials. 

Thomas Tannert joined the University of Northern British Columbia in 2016 as BC Leadership Chair in Tall and Hybrid Wood Construction. He received his Ph.D. from UBC, a Master’s degree in Wood Science and Technology from the University of Bio-Bio in Chile, and a Civil Engineering degree from the Bauhaus-University Weimar in Germany. Before going to UNBC, he worked in multi-disciplinary teams in Germany, Chile, and Switzerland and at UBC Vancouver. Dr. Tannert holds a Canada Research Chair and is member of the executive of the technical committee for CSA O86 “Engineering Design in Wood

For more than 6 years I have been working at the FCBA as a research engineer and research coordinator of the timber construction department. Specialised in civil engineering and structural mechanics, my doctoral thesis focused on dynamics and finite element analysis. At the FCBA I lead projects on seismic behaviour of buildings, non-destructive testing, vibrations in lightweight floors and modelling of timber structures.

Born in London and raised in Jamaica, Steven studied biology at Western University and architecture at the AA, graduating with honours. As a partner with ArtBuild architects, he steers the development and application of bio-adaptive design principles, seeking new ways to fuse ethics and aesthetics. The practice’s internal Lab works with biologists, academics, industrialists, and research groups to develop biomimetic concepts which can be transferred to mainstream construction practice. Steven lectures widely on subjects that bridge biology and the built environment, exploring the very nature of intelligence informing architects and the building sector at large.

Steve Pryor is a structural engineer from earthquake-prone California in the western region of the United States.  He has been with Simpson Strong-Tie for 27 years and currently serves as their Advanced Research Manager.  Prior to joining Simpson, Steve was a practicing structural engineer in California designing residential, commercial, and industrial facilities.  Steve has participated on a number of building code committees and has authored numerous papers.  With a career dedicated to understanding the seismic performance of structures, Steve has led Simpson’s partnerships with many universities in ground-breaking research into performance-based seismic design, soft-story retrofits, post-tensioned mass timber rocking walls, and has developed new structural steel lateral force resisting systems.  Along with many others at Simpson Strong-Tie, Steve has a passion for trying to find practical solutions to difficult structural problems. 

Since 2010, Stephen has been a leading champion for the mass timber industry in North America. As the Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Smartlam North America, he educates clients on the design possibilities and benefits of using mass timber as a sustainable alternative to concrete and steel. Stephen worked with the design leaders for companies like Google and Microsoft and helped them turn their mass timber goals into reality. He led the negotiation and implementation of mass timber for one of the tallest wood buildings in the world, Brock Commons in Vancouver Canada and played a key role in negotiating the largest wood constructed roof in North America at Rocky Ridge Recreation Center in Calgary, AB, Canada. Both projects won awards for their innovative use of mass timber.

As a member of the team that brought mass timber to North America, Stephen was responsible for developing an industry-standard design guide for architects and engineers to learn how to design with mass timber.

With his master’s degree in Wood Science and 30 years’ experience in the engineered wood industry, Stephen works with his clients to ensure the right engineered wood product is being used for the right application.  He takes great pride in the relationships he has built across North America, Asia and New Zealand and he maintains high levels of client retention.

Stéphane Viéban, a forestry engineer by training, began his career in Congo and then at the Regional Forest Property Center in Cantal. His time at the La Rochette Group (forestry operations and paper industry) allowed him to develop an interest in “environmental and quality” approaches and development projects.
In 2000, he entered the world of forestry cooperatives, which he has remained involved with ever since. For more than 20 years, he has worked on the structuring of forestry cooperatives in the southwestern quarter of France, starting with the management and development of the FORESTARN cooperative.   

By diversifying the activities of forestry cooperatives, he strengthened their roles and multiplied the services offered to cooperative members.
Since 2013, he has been the General Director of the Alliance Forêts Bois group, which has become the leading French forestry cooperative, a national leader in the management, silviculture, and harvesting of wood in private French forests. He is also responsible for numerous subsidiaries of the cooperative (nurseries, forest work companies, wood industries, etc.), all contributing to the group’s cooperative objectives: to add value to the production of its forestry members, while adapting their forests to current and future global changes (climatic, societal, health, etc.). 

Convinced of the importance of synergies to be developed with all the actors in the sector, he has also been actively involved in professional bodies throughout his career. He is currently the President of the Board of Directors of the technological institute of the French forest-wood sector: FCBA (Forest/Cellulose/Wood/Furniture). 

Dr. Nakashima has a background in both engineering and agriculture. Before joining BRI Dept. of Structural Engineering, he engaged as JSPS research fellowship at RISH, Kyoto University, and served as an assistant professor at Utsunomiya University. His research focuses on the development of structural design methods for joints in mass timber buildings, as well as the seismic resilience performance of wooden structures, including both traditional wooden houses and modern mass timber buildings. 

Shinobu Homma grew up in the Niigata Prefecture in Japan, in a household that practiced traditional Japanese joinery. He received his Bachelor of Technology in Architecture degree at the Tokyo University of Science before immigrating to Canada in 1980. He was the Technical Principal at Bing Thom Architects and then Revery Architecture for over 30 years, until his retirement in 2024.

Exuding endless energy, Shinobu is a respected mentor for the next generation of designers, with a breadth and depth knowledge of fine detailing, technical knowledge, and design sensitivity.

Shinobu is also a passionate and well-known volunteer in the community and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 for his service, achievements, and contributions to Canada.

Dr. Shiling Pei received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University in December 2007 and joined the faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado School of Mines in Fall 2013. His research focused on traditional and innovative timber systems, performance based engineering, structural dynamics, and large-scale testing. Dr. Pei received the 2012 ASCE Raymond C. Reese Research Prize for his work on a full-scale 7-story wood-steel hybrid building test at Japan’s E-defense shake table. He led the NHERI TallWood Project and completed shake table test of a full-scale 10-story mass timber building, which earned him recognition by Engineering News-Record as one of the 25 News Makers in 2023. Dr. Pei currently serves as the Chair of the ASCE Technical Committee on Wood Design, and also manages an Open Forum for timber engineering at https://timberengineering.org/

Shelley graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Environmental Studies (Architecture) in 1980 and from the Architectural Association with a Masters in Architecture in 1984. Prior to forming Urban Arts Architecture in 2006, she was the principal of Urban Forum Architecture for 14 years. Shelley has been an adjunct professor at the UBC School of Architecture, University of Waterloo, and the Emily Carr University. Her recently completed Radium Hot Springs Community Centre and Library was one of the first DLT buildings in Canada and received a SAB Green Building Award.

I’m part of the Green & Resilient Buildings team in the Sustainability division of Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability, where I’ve worked for twenty years. My work on green buildings includes creating incentives in Planning policy, reviewing applications, as well as advising staff, consultants, and applicants. Some of the topic areas I deal with are Passive House, mass timber, Net Zero energy standards, embodied carbon, and the related sections of the zoning by-law. 

Rob Manuel, a First Nation professional and dual citizen of Canada and Australia, serves as Strategic Advisor with the BC First Nations Forestry Council. He works alongside First Nations to activate the full spectrum of forest-sector opportunities — not only harvesting and processing, but stewardship, wildfire risk reduction, ecosystem services, and cultural values.

With over 25 years of resource-sector experience, including international work in energy, Rob brings a systems perspective to the design and assurance of projects. He is committed to supporting First Nations as full partners in shaping the future of British Columbia’s forest economy — where mass timber, prefabrication, and new approaches to sustainable construction align with community priorities and long-term prosperity.

Rob views forestry not just as an industry, but as a platform for First Nation self-determination, innovation, and intergenerational wealth creation.

Founded in 1959, the Canadian Wood Council (CWC) is Canada’s unifying voice for the wood products industry. As a national federation of associations, our members represent hundreds of manufacturers across the country. Our mission is to support our members by accelerating market demand for wood products and championing responsible leadership through excellence in codes, standards, and regulations. We also deliver technical support and knowledge transfer for the construction sector through our market leading WoodWorks program. The CWC is active in a technical capacity in all areas of Design Standards, Product Standards,  Building Codes, Test Standards, Market Development and Stakeholder Support.

Honourable Ravi Parmar was first elected as the MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca in a by-election in 2023 and re-elected as the MLA for Langford-Highlands in 2024.

In November 2024, Ravi was appointed British Columbia’s Minister of Forests and also serves as Deputy Government House Leader. Previously, he held the role of Parliamentary Secretary for International Credentials, where he led the implementation of the International Credentials Recognition Act.

Before his election as MLA, Ravi served for nearly a decade as Chair of the Sooke School District Board of Education. In this role, he worked alongside former Premier John Horgan to deliver the largest expansion of public education in the district’s history, including the construction of several new schools and a first-of-its-kind post-secondary campus in downtown Langford.

Raised in Langford by parents who immigrated to Canada in the 1990s, Ravi has been a lifelong champion for his community. He has a strong record of standing up for people and delivering results.

Ravi Kahlon was first elected as the MLA for Delta North in 2017.

Ravi is the Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth. He previously held the role of Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, Minister of Housing, and has also served as Parliamentary Secretary for Sport and Multiculturalism, Parliamentary Secretary for Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, and Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation.

Born and raised in Victoria, Ravi was introduced to field hockey by his father and grandfather. He is a two-time Olympian in the sport for Team Canada and has been inducted into the Delta Sports Hall of Fame.

Prior to his election as an MLA, Ravi spent seven years in banking, and another six years working with the New Democrat Caucus as Director of Stakeholder Relations.

Ravi has been active in the North Delta community for many years as a volunteer on the boards of the Delta Parks and Recreation Committee and Men’s High Performance Field Hockey BC.

He is also a certified coach and mentor to many youth in North Delta, and spends time coaching field hockey and soccer.

Ravi lives in North Delta with his wife and son.

Raphaël Dang began his duties as the Consul General of France in Vancouver in September 2025. His jurisdiction covers British Colombia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and the Northwestern Territories.

Following higher education in Political Science, Public affairs, Economy, Italian and Chinese, Raphaël Dang has worked for the French Central Bank and then joined the French diplomatic service in 2013, where he started as a desk officer and negotiator on Sustainable development and climate change at the General Directorate for Globalization and partnerships.

In 2016, he was promoted as head of the team on EU development policies. He then served in the United Nations and International Organizations Department in Paris on Security Council negotiations. He then joined the Permanent mission of France to the United Nations in New York in 2017.

After four years in New York, he moved to Rome and the French Embassy to Italy where he served as counsellor on foreign policy and strategic affairs.

In November 2022, he joined Minister Catherine Colonna’s private office, as counsellor on United Nations, multilateral, global and legal affairs. He was then appointed in the same position in the private offices of the two following Ministers of Europe and Foreign Affairs: Stéphane Séjourné and Jean-Noël Barrot.

Raphaël DANG has also taught international relations and Asian and Far East civilizations at Sciences Po Paris from 2013 to 2017.

Pierre is professor of timber design at the University of Auckland and Chief Technical Officer at Tectonus. He served as the Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 2011 to 2017. 

Structural engineer specializing in timber structures, Pierre’s expertise is with timber connections. 

His work on timber connections under earthquake loads led his research group to develop a resilient damper that re-centres buildings, reducing the need to demolish buildings following an earthquake event.  

He co-founded Tectonus in 2016 to commercialise the resilient damper and conducted R&D to demonstrate the damper advantages in steel, concrete and timber buildings (for new builds and retrofits). 

The resilient damper is in use in buildings in New Zealand, in Canada and under consideration for building projects in the USA and Japan. 

Operations Director

Philipp was born in Switzerland, training first as a carpenter and foreman and then as a Project Manager for a Zurich-based Architectural office specialising in timber buildings. Philipp then studied at Bern University of Applied Science, Architecture, Wood & Civil Engineering in Biel, qualifying as a timber Structural Engineer in 2007. He went on to work at Blumer-Lehmann AG as a Project Engineer before moving to London to work as the Design Director at Eurban. He currently directs and manages Eurban’s team of Engineers and Architects.

Petr Skrla is the co-founder and CEO of Senzomatic, a Czech technology startup developing advanced sensor systems for monitoring and protecting modern wooden buildings. Under his leadership, Senzomatic has pioneered solutions that integrate IoT sensors, real-time monitoring, and predictive analytics to safeguard timber structures against moisture damage. Petr brings extensive experience in startups and innovation, bridging engineering insight with business strategy.
Petr has been involved in Private Equity, PropTech, sustainability, and digital transformation in the built environment. He is actively engaged in R&D collaborations and in building international partnerships. Beyond Senzomatic, he is also an active angel investor, a Co-Founder of the Czech Business Angel Association, and a mentor, activities that reflect his passion for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Peter studied Marine Biology, Zoology and Forestry the University of British Columbia and over the last 35+ years has used that science-based foundation to advance a better understanding of wood products, wood construction and the forest sector.

He is National Sustainability Manager for the Canadian Wood Council (CWC), a technical and knowledge transfer organization, which provides free technical support to designers, contractors, building and fire officials, owners and regulators to build a strong wood culture in Canada through education, training and awareness

He regularly presents to design professionals, contractors, educators, regulators and building officials in Asia, Europe and throughout North America on achieving greater sustainability, durability and the appropriate use of wood.

He is a regular participant and session facilitator with the UN Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry; a market reviewer specializing in wood and the green economy for the Forest Products Annual Market Review published by the UNECE Forestry and Timber section; and a contributor to the Mas Timber Report distributed at the International Mas timber Conference and active in Prefabrication-, Education-, Carbon-, and Circularity-related issues for wood products.

He was involved the Low Carbon-Assets through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA^2) Initiative of the National Research Council of Canada and I lead the wood industry’s efforts to gather Life Cycle Inventory data and create regional Environmental Product Declarations for the majority wood products manufactured in Canada.

Paul is CEO of Built by Nature, a not-for-profit organisation whose vision is a built environment in unison with nature.  Previously Paul was Managing Director, Sustainability and Social Impact, Lendlease Europe. He was the founding CEO of the UK Green Building Council. Before that, he worked for WWF-UK as Director of Campaigns, Campaign Director for WWF’s One Million Sustainable Homes campaign and co-founder of One Planet Living. Paul was a trustee and Vice Chair of the Board of Centre for London, the city’s only dedicated think tank, and a director of BeOnsite, a not-for-profit focused on bringing unemployed people from disadvantaged backgrounds into sustained employment.  

Paul was Chairman of the public/private sector Zero Carbon Hub and a member of the Zero Carbon Homes 2016 Task Force, established by the UK Government to translate the zero carbon homes policy ambition into reality. He was a member of the UK Government’s Green Construction Board and Chair of its Buildings Working Group. On an international level, he was a member of the Board of the World Green Building Council and Chair of the WorldGBC Europe Network. 

As founder of Fast + Epp, Paul Fast has emerged a leader in architecturally-exposed structures and is recognized for his unconventional use of materials, including hybrids of timber, concrete and steel. For over three decades, Paul has been the design lead for many of the firm’s most significant award winning projects, including the Richmond Olympic Oval, the Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre, the Kingsway Pedestrian Bridge, and the 18-storey Tallwood House at UBC. In 2021, he was awarded IStructE’s Gold Medal for his contributions to the advancement of structural engineering worldwide. Paul is a Clinical Professor at the College of Fine + Applied Arts, University of Illinois and is an Honourary Member of the Architectural Institute of B.C..

Patrick Geers brings over 24 years of expertise in mass timber engineering to his role at Western Archrib, where he leads the design of innovative structural systems and maintains the company’s exceptional quality standards. A passionate carpenter with degrees from both Canadian and German institutions, Patrick combines hands-on craftsmanship with advanced engineering knowledge.

His international career spans positions in Austria and Germany, providing him with unique cross-cultural perspectives on structural design and community-centered architecture. Patrick currently serves on multiple technical committees including the CSA 086 Committee for Wood Design Standards and acts as an industry advisor to the ARTS group at the University of Alberta.

His work focuses on creating sustainable structures that navigate challenging environments while connecting communities. Through his leadership in both technical innovation and quality assurance, Patrick continues to advance the possibilities of mass timber construction for buildings that serve as community anchors and exemplars of sustainable design.

Dr. Noureddine Bénichou is a Principal Research Officer at the National Research Council of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. from Carleton University in Civil and Environmental Engineering and has developed into an international fire expert through an extensive experience in the experimentation and modeling of fire phenomenon. His research areas include fire resistance modeling and experimentation of structures, fire safety in buildings, fire risk analysis, and wildfire impacts on the wildland-urban interface (WUI). He led and completed large R&D projects to advance understanding of fire conditions and its impact on the occupant population, and assessing this impact in terms of risk and cost, including projects on the development of tools, guides and standards to increase the resilience of the built environment against WUI fires. Dr. Bénichou is the author of over 350 technical publications. He was elected as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2024, and received the 2023 Public Service Award of Excellence, the 2022 Fire Researcher of the Year from the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs in, and the 2021 Sjölin Award from the International FORUM of Fire Research Directors, for his global reputation and outstanding lifetime contributions to fire-safety engineering and practices.
Dr. Bénichou represents Canada in ISO Sub-Committee 4 on Fire Safety Engineering; is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, and Conseil International du Bâtiment; and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carleton University.

Nick Milestone. BSc. BSc (Hons) MSc. Is the Chief Operating Officer, for Mercer Mass Timber, Director of Wood Works USA and former Chairman of the Timber Research and Development Association UK (TRADA) and Vice Chair of Timber Development UK.

Prior to joining Mercer Mass Timber LLC, Nick was a main board Director of Remagin (Sigmat) UK Ltd. A hybrid Light Gauge Steel (CFS) and Mass Timber modular building system solution provider.

Nick previously held the position of Senior Vice President of the US Softwood Lumber board, Director for Mass Timber and Hybrid Solutions for Katerra Inc, North America and the Director for Off-Site and Innovation for the Wm Hare Group (UK, UAE and Singapore) developing building systems in Mass Timber, Structural Steel and load bearing Light Gauge Steel structures.

Following a brief spell working in Singapore for the Tiong Seng Construction Group in 2017. Nick was with the Bowmer & Kirkland construction group from 2002 to 2017 and was the Managing Director of B & K Structures Ltd, the UK’s largest and most successful structural steel and mass timber design and construction business, developing sustainable and low carbon building systems.

The learnings and innovations gathered from 39 years’ experience in the UK and international ‘off-site’ construction industry have helped develop a successful hybrid construction business utilizing the key components of structural steel, glulam, cross laminated timber, structural timber cassettes and light gauge steel framing technology for the residential, education, leisure, commercial and retail markets delivering over 350 landmark projects for Blue Chip Clients.

Through TRADA and in consultation with Industry heads such as Arup, Nick led the UK’s first ‘National Structural Timber Specification’ covering the design, manufacture and installation tolerances for solid wood construction, other key publications include The design and performance of Cross Laminated Timber and Hybrid Structures in construction.

Nick also led and chaired the working committee for the Mass Engineered Timber Handbook for Singapore, developed in conjunction with the BCA, building construction authority, Singapore

Nick has been in the construction industry since 1986, starting off as a trainee quantity surveyor progressing through to senior quantity surveyor / senior construction manager / construction director / managing director.

Notable accolades and awards include.

Winner of the UK National business award for innovation in mass timber / hybrid building systems – 2008

Finalist at the European business awards for innovation – 2009

Judge and award winner for the UK national structural timber awards

Advisor to.

Project Director – Nanyang Technical University, Mass Timber Structure, Singapore

Fellow of the Leeds Sustainability Institute, Leeds Beckett University, UK

Committee member of the Council for Tall Buildings in Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Chicago, USA

Build X Studio, A low cost affordable and social housing build system in mass engineered timber, Nairobi, Kenya

US Softwood lumber Board, Senior VP

Dr. Monireh Aram is a scientist in the Building Systems group at FPInnovations. She earned her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the Université de Sherbrooke in 2023, where her research focused on fire events related to building façades and smoke control in fires involving building-integrated photovoltaic systems. With extensive experience in modeling of complex building materials and experiments, she has been actively involved in research, modeling, and experimentation of timber structures, wood-based materials, and timber construction techniques since joining FPInnovations. Her work has resulted in several impactful articles, reports, as well as the development of guides and technical sheets

Dr. Li was trained as a structural timber engineer. Before joining UBC Wood Science, he was an associate professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He has researched extensively on high-performance engineered wood products and connection systems, multi-storey mass timber and timber-steel hybrid structures. He has a strong interest in developing robust and innovative timber building solutions via experimental, analytical and numerical techniques.

Michael Sørensen is the Global Market Director at Henning Larsen. Based at the international design studio’s headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, he oversees strategic market development and client engagement. Previously, Michael led Henning Larsen’s New York studio for five years, directing projects across North America.   

As Design Director, he leads large-scale initiatives, collaborating with multinational teams to ensure a consistent design vision through all stages of design. His leadership reflects his belief that architecture should create meaningful human connections and positively impact communities. Michael’s portfolio includes notable projects such as the Downsview Framework Plan in Toronto which reimagines the 250-acre former airfield into a human-scale, people-first community.

Known for its holistic approach, Henning Larsen creates environments where transformative ideas flourish. The studio has earned prestigious accolades, including the International Architecture Award, Architizer A+ Awards, Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award, and the Mies van der Rohe European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. 

A nationally and internationally recognized city builder, architect and urban strategist with over 30 years’ experience guiding organizations and leading diverse projects, Michael Heeney joined the Surrey City Development Corporation (SCDC) as President and CEO in 2017. He came to SCDC from Bing Thom Architects where he was Managing Principal. For over 28 years with that firm, he led local and international projects, often ones without precedent and in highly complex situations and jurisdictions. Amongst others, these projects included the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC, the Central City complex in Surrey, Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas and Arena Stage in Washington DC.

Michael Green is an award-winning architect, speaker, and author known for using design to create meaningful, more sustainable built environments that benefit both people and planet.
A leader in wood and bio-based construction and innovation, he has completed some of the most significant timber buildings in the world, and has been recognized with over fifty international awards for design excellence, including the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Firm of the Year , Architizer’s Revolution in Design Award in 2023, Best in North America Firm Award in both 2021 and 2022, four Governor General’s Medals, two RAIC Innovation Awards, and the American Institute of Architects Innovation Award.
Michael lectures internationally on the future of design and construction, including his TED talks, “The Natural Building Blocks of Sustainable Architecture” in 2023 and “Why We Should Build Wooden Skyscrapers” in 2012. He serves as a government policy advisor on mass timber design and is the co-author of the first and second editions of ‘The Case for Tall Wood Buildings’ and ‘Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction and Performance.’
An avid traveler and adventurer, Michael has explored remote regions of every continent.These journeys through nature are what inspire his work.

Dr. Michael (Mike) Burnard was born in the USA where he worked in the forest sector for more than a decade. In 2013, Mike moved to Slovenia to complete his PhD. Now, Mike is the deputy director of the InnoRenew CoE, a research organisation creating solutions for sustainable construction with renewable materials. His research interests are focused on enhancing human health and using wood in the built environment as well as advancing sustainability through intelligent use of renewable resources, particularly in buildings. Mike also works in many other areas including business management, innovation, data science, and ICT. During his professional career in the US, Mike was a board member (6 years) and President (1 year) of the Portland Wholesale Lumber Association. He is now President InnovaWood, an international network of wood education and research organisations. Mike is an associate professor at the University of Primorska in Slovenia where he teaches and mentors students in sustainability, data science, ethics, and human health in the built environment.

President & Co-Founder of Arboreal, South America’s largest Mass Timber facility | CEO & Co-Founder of Enkel Group, a construction company specializing in engineered timber projects | Co-Founder of MOOD, a prefab offsite Mass Timber housing company

Matías Abergo is an entrepreneur with over 16 years of experience building companies and driving innovation. He co-founded Arboreal with the vision of positioning Mass Timber as a scalable and sustainable alternative for the building industry, combining sawmilling, CLT and GLT production, structural engineering, BIM modeling, and CNC technology on a fully integrated site. He also leads Enkel Group, a construction company focused on delivering advanced timber-based projects, and co-founded MOOD, a prefab offsite Mass Timber housing company that brings automation and sustainability into residential construction.

Recognized as a leading voice in South America for sustainable construction, Matías is committed to advancing timber-based systems worldwide and to driving the decarbonization of the building sector.

A registered architect and mechanical engineer, Martin brings over two decades of experience and leadership to DIALOG’s urban design, mixed-use development, higher education, and transportation projects. He is passionate about developing sustainable design solutions that are socially, economically, and environmentally responsible, with a portfolio of work that has been recognized with awards for planning, architecture, and innovation.

Martin is currently leading the design of 2150 Keith Drive, a 10-storey mass timber office building employing an innovative braced frame structural system that integrates an array of outdoor spaces into a honeycomb exoskeleton. He has taught at the UBC School of Architecture and Faculty of Engineering and has served as chair of the UBC Advisory Urban Design Panel and is currently serving on the UBC Land Use Committee. He has served on the Board of the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and served as chair on the City of Vancouver Urban Design Panel. At DIALOG, Martin is a founder of the Green Practice Roundtable, an internal research arm to advance sustainable outcomes.

Marjan is a Lead Scientist in the Building Systems Group at FPInnovations. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Wood Science at the University of British Columbia, and at the Centre for Integrated Wood Design, at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Marjan has 35 years of research and technical experience in seismic performance of buildings, specializing in mass timber buildings. He is an author and co-author of over 200 scientific and technical publications, textbook chapters, and special publications such as the Canadian Technical Guide for the Design of Tall Wood Buildings, two editions of the Canadian CLT Handbook, and the Canadian Technical Guide for Mid-rise Wood Frame Construction. He has been on the forefront of the introduction of CLT as structural material and system in Canada.

Over the years Marjan has been member of several Canadian and International Technical Committees (TCs), including CSAO86, the Canadian TC on Engineering Design in Wood, the National Building Code of Canada Standing Committee on Earthquake Design, and the Canada-Japan-USA Building Experts Committee.

Marie Johansson has been working as a researcher at RISE since 2014. Here research areas at RISE have mainly been timber engineering, with areas such as tall timber buildings, connections, prefabrication and material properties.  Marie was the project coordinator for the international project DynaTTB – Dynamic Response of Tall Timber Buildings under Service loads as well as several national projects regarding Tall Timber buildings. She has a PhD from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden and has been Professor in Building Technology at Linnaeus University. 

Lucas Epp is the Vice President and Head of Engineering at StructureCraft and is a leader in the fields of timber engineering and computational design. His work has a deep focus on implementing efficient, sustainable structures through a computational and creative design approach – exemplified in projects such as the KF Aerospace Centre for Excellence at the Kelowna Airport, the Taiyuan Botanical Garden Domes in China (which won ACEC’s Award of Excellence and Ambassador Award, IStructE’s Structural Award, and ENR’s Global Best Project Award), and Beedie’s Fraser Mills Presentation Centre in Coquitlam. Lucas has lectured widely, and has taught at the Architectural Association, ETH, Imperial College, and the University of British Columbia. Lucas is also the founder of Branch — a software revolutionizing structural analysis, design, detailing and manufacturing for mass timber and beyond.

Lubor has operated LTA as a local and international practice since 1975 with a specialized focus on large-scale wood and engineered wood structures. His designs have won many awards nationally and internationally and have been featured in architecture and design journals both in Canada and abroad. Lubor was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 2014 and received the Canadian Wood Council “Wood Champion” award in 2008 in recognition of his lifelong contributions to wood architecture.

Mr. Lu is the Deputy Director General of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Formerly a senior government official and technical leader in green and low-carbon development for urban and rural construction in Jiangsu Province, he has contributed significantly to making the region one of China’s most proactive in advancing sustainability and a national frontrunner in modern wood construction. He has played a key role in aligning Jiangsu’s urban and rural development strategies with China’s dual-carbon goals, with a strong focus on policies, regulations, and technical solutions.

As a strong advocate for modern wood construction, Mr. Lu has championed the use of wood in public projects, most notably the main timber pavilion of the 10^th Jiangsu Horticultural Expo—an iconic structure spanning 4,500 square meters. He also facilitated the establishment of the Provincial Innovation Centre for Modern Wood Construction Engineering. These initiatives underscore Jiangsu’s enduring commitment to incorporating renewable materials and low-carbon approaches into the sustainable development of urban and rural environments.

Deeply engaged in policy formulation and standard development, Mr. Lu also led the drafting of the Green Building Development Regulations of Jiangsu Province and has overseen the release of more than ten local standards in areas such as green buildings and prefabricated construction. He has spearheaded over 20 major research initiatives, including the Research and Demonstration of Green Smart Buildings (Next-Generation Housing). His work has earned national recognition, including the National Green Building Innovation Award, the Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Award, and the Jiangsu Science and Technology Award.

Under his leadership, Jiangsu has achieved more than 1.5 billion square meters of green buildings and launched over 1,300 demonstration projects in high-quality green buildings and eco-districts—maintaining a national leadership position. The province has published more than 60 local engineering standards related to green and low-carbon development and supported over 1,600 green building technology research projects. The province’s project on Renewable Energy Applications in Buildings was honored with the UN-Habitat Dubai International Award for Best Practices in Improving the Living Environment.

Mr. Lu has also played an instrumental role in launching the Jiangsu Green and Low-Carbon Building International Expo, a comprehensive, full-chain service platform for the construction industry, where wood construction technology has been showcased as a key highlight of green and low-carbon development. He further led the establishment of China’s first provincial pilot zone for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the urban and rural construction sector, where wood is promoted as a sustainable building material.

The Center of Expertise on Commercial Wood Construction (CECOBOIS) is the leading organization dedicated to advancing the increased use of wood in construction in Quebec. Through targeted training programs, technical assistance, advanced technical documentation, and specialized design tools, CECOBOIS enhances professional competencies and reinforces sectoral expertise in wood-based construction. The organization works in close collaboration with government bodies to support the development and implementation of policies and programs that facilitate broader market access for wood in construction. It also plays a pivotal role in fostering industry collaboration by connecting architects, engineers, developers, and wood suppliers engaged in non-residential and multi-residential projects. CECOBOIS plays an active role in raising awareness of the environmental benefits of wood, particularly by highlighting its potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It provides professionals with tools and guidance for evaluating the embodied carbon of buildings, notably through its GHGMAT calculation tool and a comprehensive database detailing buildings average carbon footprint.

Leanne Sawatzky is Director of Renewable Cities, a special initiative of Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue. With 20 years of experience advancing sustainable, livable and resilient communities, her leadership emphasizes systems-thinking, partnership and collaboration. Renewable Cities convenes stakeholders to address complex challenges, such as prefabricated mass timber adoption and has published guides and resources for local governments and the building industry on design solution considerations for mid- to high-rise buildings, and strategies to reduce sector risk.

After a PhD in the field of the structural mechanics and timber engineering, I worked at FCBA as a timber construction engineer for 18 years. My missions included technical support for designers, assessment of timber structural components and fasteners, training courses for timber engineers and European and French standardizations such as Eurocode 5 and 8. Since 2019 I am now the national expert for timber construction at SOCOTEC Construction which is one of the main control body in France and still strongly involved in the European timber construction standardization.

Kelsey Winter is the mother of three young girls and her and her husband are grateful to be able to raise their family on the traditional lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples, today known as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. She is the Manager of Wildfire Operations Research at FPInnovations, a national not-for-profit that specializes in creating solutions that accelerate the growth of the Canadian forest sector. Winter’s team utilizes operations research projects and empirical evidence to assist wildfire agency partners in increasing their positive impacts in the wildfire management ecosystem. She has a background in Natural Resources, Fire Ecology and Fire Management and before FPInnovations worked for the British Columbia Wildfire Service managing the FireSmart program. 

After joining the public service in 2007 as a territorial engineer, Julien HERBERT worked for several years as a public contracting authority for the construction and renovation of schools. He then joined the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion where he was Deputy Head of Office in the Office of Stakeholders, Products and Innovation in Construction. Since 2019, he has joined the AQC (Agence Qualité Construction) where he has been a project manager to support some project owners such as SOLIDEO in mastering innovation, particularly in the field of bio-based construction. He is now the manager of partnerships and territorial initiatives within AQC.

Dr. John W. van de Lindt is the Harold H. Short Endowed Chair Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University. He has conducted more than 50 research projects related to buildings and other systems related to earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes and floods. Van de Lindt led both the NEESWood and NEES-Soft project teams between 2005-2013 which consisted of two-story, four-story, and six-story shake table tests on the world’s largest shake tables including in Miki Japan and San Diego, California.  He is the past Chair of ASCE’s Technical Administrative Committee for the Structural Engineering Institute.  He is the Co-director for the National Institute of Standards and Technology-funded Center of Excellence (COE) for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning headquartered at Colorado State University.  Professor van de Lindt led the project to introduce cross laminated timber (CLT) into U.S. building standards and codes as an approved seismic force resisting system, served as a Co-PI for NHERI Tallwood and NHERI Converging Design Projects.   He has published more than 450 technical articles and reports including more than 260 journal papers, served on a number of editorial boards, and is the Editor-in-Chief of the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering.