Mr. Jacques Brassard
Minister of Natural Resources, Québec

Jacques Brassard is the Minister of Natural Resources in the Québec Government since December 1998. He is also the Government House Leader in the National Assembly of Québec. He was first elected Member of the National Assembly in November 1976 and reelected in the five following elections. He served in many ministerial and parliamentary functions, including Minister of Recreation, Fish and Game, Minister of the Environment and Wildlife, Minister for Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Transport.

Mr. Olivier Appert
Director, International Energy Agency

Olivier Appert was appointed Director of the International Energy Agency's Long-Term Co-operation and Policy Analysis Directorate on October 1st, 1999. Prior to that, from 1998 to 1999, he was the Senior Executive Vice-President of ISIS, a technology holding company that is a publicly listed subsidiary of the Institut français du Pétrole (IFP). From 1994 to 1998 he worked as Executive Vice-President of the IFP in charge of research and development activities. From 1989 to 1994, he headed the oil and gas department of the French Industry Ministry. Mr. Appert also served in the private sector from 1986 to 1989 as Vice-President of the Philips group for mobile radioactivities and strategy. He was Executive Director of the French Industry Minister's Office from 1984 to 1986 and was a member of Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy's Office from 1981 to 1983.
 

Mr. James Bond
Director, Global Mining Group
World Bank

James Bond is Director, Global Mining Group within the Finance and Private Sector Development Vice-Presidency of the World Bank. Within a matrix organization which combines a dual regional and sector focus, Mr. Bond manages activities relating to mining and industrial restructuring. He has worked in many countries worldwide, and served in various management and operational positions within the organization. Before joining the World Bank, Mr. Bond spent ten years in the international oil industry, working for Total, the French Oil Company, and the French Institute of Petroleum.
 

Mr. Mark Malloch Brown
Administrator,
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Mark Malloch Brown was confirmed Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme in April 1999. He served at the World Bank as Vice-President for External Affairs and Vice-President for United Nations Affairs from 1996 to 1999. He joined the World Bank as Director of External Affairs in 1994. Prior to joining the World Bank, he was the lead international partner from 1986 to 1994 in a strategic communications management firm, the Sawyer-Miller Group. He advised President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines when she ran against Ferdinand Marcos. From 1979 to 1983, Mr. Malloch Brown worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In 1981, UNHCR and its staff were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr. Leonard Good
President, Canadian International
Development Agency, Canada

Leonard Good was appointed to the position of President of CIDA in October 1999. Previously, he served as Deputy Minister of Environment Canada from 1989-93 and 1998-99. In the period 1994-98, he was Canada's Executive Director at the World Bank. Mr. Good served in the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, from 1978 to 1986, where he acted successively as Director General, Assistant Deputy Minister, and Associate Deputy Minister. From 1987 until 1989, Mr. Good worked in the Privy Council Office as Deputy Secretary (Plans).

Dr. Arthur B. Laffer
Chairman, A. B. Laffer & Associates, USA

Arthur B. Laffer is the Founder of Laffer Associates, an economic research and consulting firm that provides investment-research services to institutional assets managers. Dr. Laffer's economic acumen and influence in triggering a worldwide tax-cutting movement in the 1980's have earned him the distinction in many publications as "The Father of Supply-Side Economics". One of his earliest successes in shaping public policy was his involvement in Proposition 13, the groundbreaking California initiative that drastically cut property taxes in the state in 1978. Dr. Laffer was a member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board for both of his two terms (1981-1989).

He was Professor and the founding Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Alep from 1963 to 1968. Since 1969, Dr. Ayoub has been a Professor at Laval University. He was the founding director of the Energy and Natural Resource Economics Research Group from 1973 to 1988. He founded the International Symposium on Petroleum Economics and the petroleum economics seminars for African leaders. He was Chairman of the Société québécoise d'initiatives pétrolières from 1980 to 1983. He has been a director of SOQUIP-Atlantique and Explo-SOQUIP since 1983.

Mr. Daniel Dumas
Manager,
Studies Program, World Energy Council

Daniel Dumas manages the World Energy Council's Studies Program at WEC's Central Office in London. He acts as Director for various study projects related to energy markets in transition and to energy pricing in developing countries. He also supervises several projects around the world. Prior to his position at WEC, Mr. Dumas was Project Director with Hydro-Quebec International, for Europe and the CIS countries. He was previously involved with some of Hydro-Quebec's U.S. Joint Ventures.

Dr. Xolani Humphrey Mkhwanazi
CEO, National Electricity Regulator, South Africa

From 1989 to 1992, Xolani Humphrey Mkhwanazi worked in Western Australia where he worked as a Research Fellow and Consultant before returning to South Africa at the end of 1992. In 1993, he joined the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC) as Senior Scientist in Applied Radiation Technology. He was appointed Manager of Technology Transfer to SMME and Chief Executive Officer of the National Science and Technology Forum from 1997 until his appointment in February 1999 as Chief Executive Officer of South Africa's National Electricity Regulator.

Mr. Paul Stinson
Vice-President, AES Corporation, USA

Paul Stinson joined AES in 1986 after working for seven years in oil refining and synthetic fuels industry development for Exxon. Mr. Stinson became Manager of AES's Silk Road Group in 1997, where he was responsible for business development and operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Since April 1999, Mr. Stinson has been Manager of the new AES Great Plains Group formed in the Central U.S.

Dr. Michelle Michot Foss
Director, Energy Institute, Houston University, USA

Michelle Michot Foss has been an analyst of U.S. and foreign energy and non-fuel resource development and environmental issues for nearly 22 years. She was named Director of the Energy Institute, University of Houston ­ College of Business Administration, on July 1, 1995. Previously, she initiated the research effort on natural gas market development in Mexico. In 1989-90 Dr. Michot Foss was director of research at Simmons & Company International, investment bankers specializing in oil services.