The past year has been a tough one for Canada’s energy industry. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting plunge in oil prices put an already battered Canadian energy industry back into survival mode, with the future looking uncertain.

But the industry is in good hands.

Young professionals continue innovating, inventing, and creating new enterprises to build on the successes of previous generations. The 16 individuals making up the Daily Oil Bulletin's Rising Stars Class of 2020 shows the depth and breadth of this effort to reinvent the energy industry.

In partnership with Fluor Canada, the Daily Oil Bulletin’s Rising Stars program celebrates the dynamic young leaders who prove that the Canadian energy sector continues to offer opportunities for a new generation. This year’s winners are a diverse group, coming from sectors including technology, finance, communications, engineering, environmental management, and business development and analysis.

Here is the DOB"s Rising Stars Class of 2020:

• Mark Ashton, founding partner of 360 Energy Liability Management 
• Karla Ingoldsby, vice-president of thermal oil for Athabasca Oil Corporation
• Garrett Gramlich, production engineer for Canlin Energy Corporation
• Jill Viccars, founder of Drift Technological Solutions Ltd.
• Jocelyn McMinn, managing director of Calgary-based Cevian Technologies
• Alan McCarthy, area manager, Pacific Projects, for Tervita Corporation 
• Gregory John, Indigenous content and communications for the Canadian Energy Centre
• Ana Villareal-Escudero, mechanical compression engineer with TC Energy Corporation
• John Hirschmiller, geologist with GLJ Ltd.
• Melvina Stacey, deputy director, HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) with Fluor Canada
• Breanna Richard, independent consultant specializing in M&A post-merger integration and project management
• C. Brett Stevenson, a founder and managing partner with Animus Capital Partners Inc.
• Brian Van Vliet, environmental leader with Spartan Controls
• Farheen Akbar, project and electrical control engineer with Gas Liquids Engineering
• Ben Klepacki and Connor O’Shea, co-founders of Westgen Technologies Inc.

Beginning on Tuesday, October 6, the Daily Oil Bulletin will run daily features profiling the 2020 Rising Stars, including video clips of the winners in their own words. Over the next three weeks, read the entire series of articles here.

In early November, we will run a series of features with the Rising Stars providing insights and opinions on key issues facing the industry as it works to adjust to new realities. A video conversation between the Class of 2020 will also be featured in the series. 

Again, congratulations to the Daily Oil Bulletin’s 2020 Rising Stars.

The 2020 Class of Rising Stars is brought to you by Fluor Canada.

Since 1949, Fluor Canada has been involved in the engineering, procurement and construction of a wide range of energy related projects that are spread across the Canadian landscape. Fluor provides local, regional and international clients with full-service capabilities, which include economic evaluations, conceptual engineering, feasibility studies, program management, detailed engineering, procurement, transportation and logistics, modularization, fabrication, direct-hire construction, construction management, commissioning, start-up, operations and maintenance.