John Desjarlais is Nehinaw (Cree)-Metis from Kaministikominahikoskak (Cumberland House), Saskatchewan. John has a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and started his career in 2001 in the mining industry and worked in a variety of roles including E&S, maintenance and reliability engineering management until moving onto executive leadership in economic development and construction. John now serves as the Executive Director of the Indigenous Resource Network as well as Past President of APEGS. John also has extensive regulatory, volunteer, governance, and civil society experience serving on a variety of boards, committees, and other initiatives culminating into several awards over his career recognizing his civil service and servant leadership.
Rahul Goel is a Canadian aerospace engineer, entrepreneur, and angel investor, best known as the Founder and CEO of NordSpace, a company building Canada’s end-to-end space mission capabilities—from rockets to satellites. With a passion for advancing Canada as a spacefaring nation, he is also pursuing a PhD in space robotics at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Jeremy Wang is a Canadian aerospace engineer and entrepreneur with 10 years of experience in uncrewed and autonomous systems. Jeremy currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Ribbit, which he co-founded in 2020. Ribbit builds and operates dual-use self-flying airplanes to improve access to transportation, especially in rural, remote, and coastal regions. Ribbit is a contractor of record to multiple public safety, defence, research, and transportation agencies, and has additionally partnered with several wholesalers, Indigenous communities, and humanitarian groups. In 2023, Ribbit performed Canada’s first automated gate-to-gate flight. Prior to Ribbit, Jeremy held progressive technical and leadership roles in diverse settings such as aircraft collision avoidance research at York University, liquid rocket engine development at DLR, on-orbit servicing research at the Space Generation Advisory Council, and drone, hybrid rocket, and CubeSat development at UTAT. Jeremy most recently served as Chief Technology Officer at The Sky Guys, where he founded a new division developing dual-use NATO Class I drones and...Read More >
Marie-Pier Berman is responsible for providing tactical and strategic leadership for the Operations group overseeing the delivery of NAV CANADA’s air traffic services (ATS) with a focus on providing safe, efficient, orderly, and cost-effective services. In addition to the delivery of ATS services, Ms. Berman leads the development and implementation of programs, procedures, and practices including ATS Standards, Flight Operations, and Aeronautical Information Management (AIM), ensuring that business initiatives are aligned with corporate objectives and integrated to deliver value to NAV CANADA’s customers. Ms. Berman was a commercial pilot before joining NAV CANADA in 2003 as an instrument flight rules (IFR) Air Traffic Controller. She has held successive roles as Unit Procedures Specialist, Shift Manager, Manager of Operational Training, MACCO and GMFIR, all in Winnipeg. From 2020 to 2022, she served as Assistant Vice President, ATS Service Delivery, and has been in the role of Vice-President, Chief of Operations since November 2022.
Ryan Coates is the Executive Director of Transport Canada’s Strategy and Emerging Technologies Branch. Ryan joined Transport Canada in 2008 and has been instrumental in shaping public policy, implementing legislative change and advancing priorities in Transport Canada’s Civil Aviation program. He has built on this experience and is currently providing leadership as Transport Canada implements strategies for RPAS, AAM and Commercial Space Launch. Ryan holds a Graduate Degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Concordia University in Montréal, Québec.
