Instructors

GuyLaine Charles (ISDA Documentation; NAESB Negotiation)

GuyLaine Charles is a partner at Teigland-Hunt LLP, a boutique law firm located in New York City. Her clients include energy companies and other major corporations, institutional investors, hedge-funds, and financial institutions based in the United States, Canada, and Europe. She advises on the negotiation and documentation of trading agreements including physical and financial over-the-counter derivative and commodities transactions through ISDA Master Agreements, the NAESB Gas Contract, and the Edison Energy Institute Master Agreement for electricity.

GuyLaine has practiced law since 1995 and is admitted to the New York Bar and the Law Society of Upper Canada (the Ontario bar). Before joining Teigland-Hunt she practiced with major law firms in both New York and Toronto. GuyLaine has presented at several ISDA conferences, provided ISDA tutorials for clients, and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, the American University Washington College School of Law, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.

GuyLaine obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a Law Degree from the University of Ottawa. She also holds a Master’s in Law from Dalhousie University.

Marcel Chorel (Electricity; Wind Fundamentals)

Marcel Chorel’s career in the electric utility industry has spanned over 40 years, and in that time he has been involved in almost every conceivable area: sales, planning, design, construction, operations, marketing and administration, and economic analysis. For a decade, Marcel worked for Sask Power Corporation before moving on to TransAlta Utilities. He rose to become the Director of Generation Planning and was Director of Land Administration at the time of his retirement. Since then Marcel has worked as a consultant and served on the Boards of Directors of a number of credit unions.

Marcel began teaching electricity courses at CERI in 1996 and has helped over a thousand people to understand the fundamentals of electricity and the industry’s ongoing restructuring efforts in Canada and throughout the world.  He has helped Oak Leaf to develop its new Wind Energy Fundamentals course and has instructed the course to enthusiastic reviews.

Marcel earned a BSc in Electrical Engineering and a Diploma in Business Administration from the University of Saskatchewan. He has also completed the Senior Executive Program at the University of Western Ontario.

Mike Edwards (Natural Gas: From Wellhead to Burner-Tip; Upstream Oil & Gas; Global Oil & Gas)

Mike Edwards brings to Oak Leaf over 40 years of experience in various segments of the upstream oil and gas industry – domestically and overseas. His experience includes exploration, production, pipeline construction, corporate planning, economic analyses, training and regulatory affairs. Mike was also the first instructor to work for the Canadian Energy Research Institute when Training Services started up in the mid-1990’s.

His previous company affiliations include Texaco, Getty Oil, Suncor, Alberta Natural Gas and Alberta and Southern in Canada as well as Dowell Schlumberger, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Kufpec (Tunisia) Ltd. and CanBaikal Resources overseas.

Mike was the federal government’s chief advisor on oilsands and heavy oils and former Chairman of the Canada/Saskatchewan Heavy Oil Agreement. He was a member of the Canadian team negotiating a comprehensive oilsands R&D exchange agreement with the United States. Other responsibilities included organizing an enhanced oil recovery technology exchange program through the International Energy Agency and serving on the Technical Advisory Committee of the Computer Modelling Group.

Mike has presented management training programs in Russia, Tunisia, Croatia, Abu Dhabi, Turkey, Kazakhstan, South Africa, and Sudan and has instructed petroleum economics courses at The University of Calgary, Mount Royal University and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Mike’s enthusiasm for the energy industry and dynamism as an instructor have been witnessed by thousands of course participants throughout the world.

From 2000 until 2008, Mike was an Acting Member of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board adjudicating natural gas and electric utility rate cases. He is a Director of Baden Technologies (a TSX-V listed oilfield equipment manufacturing company) and has degrees in engineering and petroleum economics.

Alan Murray (Wellhead to Burner-Tip)

Alan Murray is a former Chief Engineer at the National Energy Board and is an Adjunct Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Calgary. A Mechanical engineer by training, he holds a doctorate in Civil Engineering from the Queen’s University of Belfast and is a Fellow of the ASME.

Alan has worked in a number of areas in Pipeline Design and Construction, System Planning, Logistics and Procurement, for Nova Corporation, subsequently TransCanada Pipelines, where he was Director of Pipeline Services. The founding Chair of the ASME Pipeline Systems Division, Alan is the co-author of the text books “Pipeline Design and Construction – a Practical Approach” and “Pipeline Integrity Assurance” and has published 55 papers on a variety of engineering topics. He received the ASME Award of Distinction in 2006 and currently serves on a number of Codes and Standards committees and Government panels on energy research and development.

Don Towson (Oil Sands)

Don has been working within the oil industry for over 40 years. He has developed deep expertise in research and engineering related to heavy oil and oil sands field pilots and has also worked for years as a commercial development manager and technical advisor for Imperial Oil and Petro-Canada. In 1994 Don established his own consulting company, D. E. Towson & Associates Inc, which he still runs today. He has taught oil and gas courses with PHH Petroleum Consultants and Heavy Oil and Oil Sands courses with CERI. Don has also written and presented many seminars and technical papers relating to heavy oil and oil sands; Don was a CIM and an SPE Distinguished Lecturer on the subject.

Don holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia and a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham, England. He is an active member of the Canadian Heavy Oil Association and is currently Honorary Director.