John English, Ph.D. (Board Co-Chair)
Director Emeritus, Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and Co-Chair, BOD, Arctic360, Co-Chair, Canadian International Council
A Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, John English has been a Liberal Member of Parliament, a Special Ambassador for Landmines and a Special Envoy for the election of Canada to the United Nations Security Council. He has also served as President of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, co-editor of the Canadian Historical Review, chair of the Board of the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum. From 2012- 2019, John English served as Director of the Bill Graham Centre at Trinity College, and is now serving as Director Emeritus.
Madeleine Redfern, LL.B. (Board Co-Chair)
Executive Director of the Northern Branch, Arctic360
Madeleine Redfern is an Inuk involved in high-tech and innovation and is actively involved in transformative technologies in telecommunications, transportation, and energy. The former Mayor of Iqaluit, Madeleine is President of the Ajungi Consulting Group, Chair of the Nunavut Legal Services Board, Advisor to the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, and a Board member of Maliiganik Legal Aid. She is a graduate of the Akitsiraq Law School with an LLB from the University of Victoria and the first Inuk to be given a Supreme Court of Canada clerkship.
Madeleine is also Chief Operating Officer at CanArctic Inuit Networks Inc, which is committed to building 4500 km of marine fibre optic cable into Canada’s Arctic to significantly improve telecommunications in Inuit Nunangat and Nunavut. She is also CEO of SednaLink Marine Systems, which would transform segments of SednaLink fibre optic cable into a SMART (science monitoring and reliable telecommunications) cable to monitor marine climate changes, assist with environmental monitoring (especially near marine protected areas) and help in collecting marine intelligence.
Madeleine has a great deal of governance and volunteer experience with Indigenous and Inuit organizations, including, as Secretary-Treasurer of the Inuit Non-Profit Housing Corporation, President of the Tungasuvvingat Inuit Community Centre, founding Board Member of Ottawa Inuit Headstart, and founding member of the WabanoAboriginal Health Centre. She was also Executive Director of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, which reviewed the “effects of federal government policies on Eastern Arctic Inuit” between the 1950s and 1980s. Her advocacy, professional, and governance work has shown her dedication and passion toward the development and delivery of programs assisting Aboriginal, Inuit, northerners and Canadians that reflect community values, needs, and priorities.
Nauja Bianco (Acting Board Secretary)
Executive Director, North Atlantic House & The Greenland House (Odense, Denmark)
Nauja Bianco is a native Greenlander, born and raised in the capital Nuuk in Greenland.
Ms. Bianco is an independent consultant and adviser within Arctic and Nordic affairs, freelance journalist, and communications adviser. She is the owner of Isuma Consulting (www.isumaconsulting.com).
Ms. Bianco’s main career has been in government, diplomacy, and international relations. Ms. Bianco has long standing experience working with international relations in the Greenland Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the intergovernmental organization of the Nordic Council of Ministers (a cooperation between Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland along with Greenland, Faroe Islands and Åland Island).
Ms. Bianco’s area of expertise is cooperation and governance in the Arctic as well as in the Nordic countries. Being a native – but global – Greenlander working for cooperation and added value for the Arctic is an ambition. She has also worked for stronger trans-Atlantic bonds.
Ms. Bianco focuses on the need of connecting the dots – initiatives as well as people.
After living in Brussels, Belgium 2006-2010 (working with Greenland’s EU relations) and Toronto, Canada, 2017-2019 (starting up her independent consultancy firm) she now lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, while travelling the Arctic (when Corona virus does not prohibit it).
Peter Garapick (Board Treasurer)
Director of Industry and Government Relations, Quark Expeditions and Member of Executive Committee, Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO)
Peter is originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia and grew up messing about in boats. This influenced his career and life as he went from sailing student to instructor, dingy and yacht racer to Bluenose II tall ship crew. While completing his BSC in Biology and MBA in Marketing and Transportation at Dalhousie University, Peter worked summers with Canadian Coast Guard at an Inshore Rescue Boat station, first as deckhand and then in-charge coxswain.
The summer-work translated into a full-time career that would last 30 years. Though he managed almost all the CG programs over the years, his focus was always on Search and Rescue and it was in the last several years of his career that he matched this role with the Arctic. There, he led the implementation of community based SAR stations in Arctic communities as part of the CCG Auxiliary, having visited more than 45 communities and saw the establishment of 25 SAR units. He also established the first Inshore Rescue Boat station in the Arctic in Rankin Inlet – coming full circle of where he started with CCG.
His work in the Arctic also involved the Arctic expedition cruise industry where he aimed to ensure safe operations in such an extreme environment. He was so impressed with this safe and responsible industry that it led to his next career. Today he is the Consulting Director of Industry and Government Relations for Quark Expeditions and a member of the Executive Committee of the Norwegian based Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators(AECO).
Peter is married to Elsa who he met on a dock one summer when she was messing around in boats. They reside in the countryside of SW Ontario near water, along the shores of Lake Eire. They have two daughters, one finishing a degree in Engineering and the other in her third year of med school.
Darrell Beaulieu
Chief Executive Officer, Denendeh Investments
Darrell Beaulieu was born and raised in Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories and has served three terms as the Chief of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, whose traditional territory surrounds the capital area.
In October 2005, Darrell was appointed President and CEO of Denendeh Investments Incorporated by its Board of Directors. Prior to being appointed to DII, Mr. Beaulieu was the founding President of Deton’Cho Corporation and Deton’Cho Diamonds. Mr. Beaulieu has been employed or self-employed in various aspects of mineral exploration in the NWT for many years and has served on both the Mine Training Society and NWT Chamber of Mines Boards of Directors.
At present, Darrell is on the Board of Directors of the NWT Law Foundation, Northland Utilities (Yellowknife & NWT), and since 2005 was appointed the Chair of the Northwest Territories Business Development Corporation (BDIC) by the Government of the Northwest Territories.
Lesil McGuire
J.D., Former Alaskan State Legislator, Partner at Arctic Advocacy Group, Alaska
Throughout her distinguished career – most recently as a 16-year, elected official in the Alaskan State Legislature – Lesil McGuire has consistently exemplified what is possible through value- driven leadership. With a visionary approach grounded in stewardship, she was well recognized as a leader that could build consensus and find successful solutions out of partisan gridlock. She was the driving- force behind a series of governance solutions that now guide Arctic Policy in both Alaska, and the nation. She builds on that legacy as Founder of the consulting company, Inconnu Solutions.
Lesil McGuire’s successful methodology starts with a tireless commitment to gathering knowledge – not merely relevant data, but the perspectives of all involved. She then uses her leadership experience to connect the innovative spirit within organizations to unleash the potential to seize opportunities and respond to challenges. Lesil’s talent is in bridging between competing interests, generating the most optimum solutions and inspiring action. Consequently, shifting her methodology from public service to the private interests of her clients has been seamless. Simply navigating the complex legal and socio- political landscape that exists today will not suffice. Success in the long-term will require the ability to influence solutions that can weather the inevitable changes yet to come, and provide mutual benefit to all concerned.
Lesil graduated from Willamette University with an undergraduate degree in Speech Communication and Political Science. Following her undergraduate studies, she went on to work in Washington D.C. for two years as a legislative and press aide for United States Senator, Ted Stevens. She subsequently obtained her Juris Doctorate from Willamette University College of Law while clerking in the United States Attorney’s Office in Oregon. She was a member of the Willamette Law review and a member of its editorial board. She studied at the Chinese institute of Law in Shanghai on an exchange and clerked for the United States Department of Justice. Her law degree was put to use when she came back to Alaska and worked for the firm of Birch, Horton, Bittner & Cherot in the corporate division.
Lesil began her work in the Alaska State Legislature as counsel for the House Judiciary Committee. At age 29 she was elected to the state House where she served three terms chairing committees all three terms and one term in majority leadership of the whole. In 2006, she was elected to the Senate where she served for ten years also chairing committees every term and in majority leadership of the whole as Rules Chairwoman.
During her tenure, she led the effort to craft Alaska’s first energy policy, Alaska’s first Arctic policy, to ease regulatory frameworks incentivizing independent power production, to create lending programs inside the states’ investment bank AIDEA , that led to increased development in energy projects bringing more affordable and reliable sources of power to Alaskans, to create some of the States’ first human trafficking laws, to create laws that afforded victims of crime, especially children, more rights and to help the state move to more negotiated rule making that brought private sector expertise to the table with policy makers so that laws were not created in a vacuum.
In her final term as Senator, Lesil served as the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Co-Chair of the Arctic Policy Committee. She was honored to be selected for such prestigious recognitions as the Vice-President and first woman President of Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) and Chair of the Council of State Governments-WEST in 2007/08. She was a Henry Toll Fellow in 2003 and was selected as a German Marshall fellow from among her peer in 2008. From 2000 to 2003 she also served as the Anchorage Caucus Chair. She has served on boards for American Diabetes Association, Anchorage Economic Development Corporation, Covenant House, Anchorage Republican Woman’s Club, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, Civil Air Patrol, Traumatic Brain Injury Foundation, Fraternal Order of the Alaska State Troopers, and Special Olympics.
Robert McLeod
Former Premier, Northwest Territories
Robert R. McLeod retired in 2019 following his second term as Premier; the first person in the history of the Northwest Territories to ever repeat in the role.
In addition to being the Premier of the 18th Assembly, Mr. Mcleod served as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations.
During the 17th Legislative Assembly, Mr. McLeod served as Premier, Minister of Executive, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, Minister Responsible for Women and Minister Responsible for New Energy Initiatives.
During the 16th Legislative Assembly, Mr. McLeod served as Minister of Human Resources, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Minister
Responsible for the Public Utilities Board, Lead Minister on New Energy Initiatives and Lead Minister for the Mackenzie Valley Gas Pipeline Project.
Mr. McLeod was born and raised in Fort Providence, Northwest Territories.
Mr. McLeod holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Alberta and an Honours Diploma in Administrative Management from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton. In 1989, Mr. McLeod also completed a program of national and international studies at the National Defense College in Kingston, Ontario. As part of that program, Mr. McLeod traveled to 25 countries and completed a thesis on Aboriginal Self Government and the Possibilities for Constitutional Reform.
Mr. McLeod is an active member of the Yellowknife community serving and participating in several community organizations. He has served as president of the Yellowknife recreational hockey league, president of the Yellowknife golf club (led the expansion to 18 holes), member of the Yellowknife Elks club and as Senator for the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre.
Mr. McLeod has served on numerous boards and agencies. He served as the co-chair of the Northern River Basin study, Director for the Canadian Tourism Commission and chaired the Canadian Diamond Strategy Working Group and the Mackenzie River Basin Committee. At the national level he served as vice president for the Fur Institute of Canada and chair of the Canadian Wildlife Coalition.
Mr. McLeod and his wife, Melody, have one son, Warren (Shannon) and two beautiful grandsons, Carter and Cooper.
Jessica M. Shadian, Ph.D.
President and CEO, Arctic360
Shadian spent 20 years living and working throughout the Nordic and North American Arctic as a researcher, professor, and consultant. Her research and publications focus on Arctic geopolitics, Canadian Arctic foreign policy and diplomacy, Arctic infrastructure, critical minerals, and innovation. Her expertise is regularly solicited by international media outlets, governments, think tanks, and other institutions throughout the circumpolar region and globally.
Shadian’s 2014 book entitled: The Politics of Arctic Sovereignty: Oil, Ice, and Inuit Governance (Routledge) is the first in-depth history of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) and Inuit sovereignty in global politics reaching back to pre-European discovery. Shadian holds a Ph.D. in Global Governance from the University of Delaware (2006) during which she wrote her dissertation at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), University of Cambridge, UK on an NSF award.
Shadian spent 5 years in the Norwegian High North as a post-doctoral researcher at the Barents Institute and then as a Senior Researcher at the High North Center for Business and Governance, Nord University, Bodø. During this time, Shadian became the co-creator and organiser of an Arctic Dialogue series which brought together state and local political leaders, oil and gas and other industry leaders, local Indigenous communities, and academia (from Norway, Alaska, and Greenland) concerned with Arctic offshore oil and gas development to share knowledge and ideas. Through a Marie Curie COFUND Fellowship award, Shadian served as an Associate Professor, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Denmark before completing a two-year Nansen Professorship, co-funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Akureyri, Iceland in June 2017. Having settled in Canada, her experiences around the Arctic made it clear that Canada needed its own Arctic specific think tank and working in collaboration with colleagues she dedicated herself full-time to build Arctic360.
Hugh Short
Co-Founder and Chairman/CEO, Pt. Capital
Hugh S. Short is the Co-Founder and CEO for Pt Capital, an Alaska-based private equity firm with assets in North America and Europe. Hugh leads the portfolio construction, organizational growth, fundraising, and expansion into new markets. Prior to co-founding Pt Capital, Hugh was president and CEO of Alaska Growth Capital BIDCO, Inc., a subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. Hugh also served as the mayor of Bethel, Alaska from 2002 to 2004, and is a board member for Rural Energy Enterprises. Hugh is a shareholder of four Alaska Native Corporations, with heritage as an Inupiaq Eskimo. Short received a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Alaska Anchorage; and studied at the Pepperdine Graziadio School of Business.
