Mark Kolesar
Managing Principal
Mark Kolesar is the Managing Principal at Kolesar Buchanan & Associates Ltd. He is a researcher, author and expert in utility regulation and policy development and a frequent participant in webinars and conferences in Canada, the U.S., the UK and Europe. Mark’s current research areas include incentive regulation, distributed energy resources, utility business models, energy transitions and regulatory renewal. He has published articles in academic journals, including Info, The Journal of Internet Research, and The Electricity Journal. He recently contributed to books on Energy Communities and The Future of Decentralized Electricity Distribution Networks published by Elsevier.
Mark has over 30 years of experience in regulation and public policy, external relations, marketing, strategy and business development, and mergers and acquisitions in the regulated utilities sector. He was Vice President, Economic Affairs at TELUS Corporation, and a member of the Alberta Utilities Commission for twelve years, including six years as Vice Chair and two years as Chair.
Mark taught as a sessional faculty for over twenty years at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary. His principal teaching areas were Strategy Development and Implementation and Business Planning. He sits on the Advisory Board of the Center for Research in Regulated Industries at Rutgers University. Mark has an Honours Degree in Philosophy and an MBA in Managerial Economics and Finance.
Mark is available to appear as an expert witness. His principal areas of expertise are regulatory strategy, the theory and implementation of performance-based regulation, rate design, facilities approvals, rate of return, the impact of distributed energy resources on regulatory frameworks, and utility policy.
David Morton
Senior Advisor
David has over 13 years of experience regulating public utilities. Before that, he had 30 years of experience as a consultant in the information technology sector. David was appointed Chair and CEO of the BCUC in December 2015 and served until September 2023. As Chair and CEO, David’s responsibility was to deliver on the Vision of the BCUC – to be a trusted and respected regulator that contributes to the well‐being and long‐term interests of British Columbians. In addition to being the Chair and CEO, he was also a BCUC Commissioner – a role he had since 2010.
David is and has been actively engaged in numerous national and international regulatory associations:
He is the current Chair of ICER, The International Confederation of Energy Regulators, and the past Chair of the Canadian Association of Utility Commissioners (CAMPUT) and Co-Chair of its International Affairs Committee and the Co-Vice Chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (NARUC) Committee on International Relations. He also regularly participates in speaking engagements and international training opportunities through NARUC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) for regulators around the world, including Argentina, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Macedonia, Moldova, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and Bangladesh.
David is a professional engineer in British Columbia, has a licence in accounting from the Society of Management Accountants Canada, is certified with the ICD.D designation in 2013 by the Institute of Corporate Directors, and holds a bachelor of applied science from the University of Toronto.