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. Once settled in Canada, Shadian joined the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History as a Senior Fellow. From her experiences around the Arctic, it soon became clear that Canada needed its own Arctic specific think tank. Working in collaboration with colleagues and its founding members, Shadian decided to dedicate herself full-time to help build Arctic360.
Madeleine Redfern, LL.B.
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.
‘I was honored to participate in the Arctic 360 conference and contribute our pension plan’s perspectives. I appreciated the calibre and diversity of the attendees and conversations. It was inspiring to be part of such a powerful group of people who care so much about Canada and the North, and how they can be developed for our mutual and collective prosperity.’
‘I was honored to participate in the Arctic 360 conference and contribute our pension plan’s perspectives. I appreciated the calibre and diversity of the attendees and conversations. It was inspiring to be part of such a powerful group of people who care so much about Canada and the North, and how they can be developed for our mutual and collective prosperity.’
— Alison Loat, Senior Managing Director, Sustainable Investing and Innovation, OPTrust
Partnership Committee
Trina Hiscock, Founder & Chief Simplifier, TRIA Consulting/Strategic Advisor to Arctic360
Rosemary Kuptana, Inuit Political Leader
Dan Pujdak, Chief Strategy Officer, Blackbird Strategies
Advisory Committee
Darron Bain, Managing Director, Concert Infrastructure
Clint Davis, Chief Executive Officer, Nunasi Corporation
Jim Gamble, Senior Arctic Program Officer, Pacific Environment, Anchorage, Alaska
Michael Gordon, Director General Kativik Regional Government (KRG)
Paul Gruner, Chief Executive Officer, Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC)
Tom Hoefer, Executive Director, NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines
Inuuteq Holm-Olsen, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Greenland Representation to the EU in Brussels.
Bob McLeod, Former Premier of the Northwest Territories
Elie Mouzon, Software Executive, ESG/HSE/GRC
Tom Paddon, Chair, Baffinland Iron Mines
David Ramsay, Former Minister, Dept of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Gov’t of the NW Territories; Board of Directors for Fortune Minerals
Alice Rogoff, MBA, Publisher, Arctic Today
Mead Treadwell, Co-Chair, Polar Institute, Wilson Center
Doug Turnbull, Vice Chairman and Country Head, Canada, DBRS Morningstar
Strengthening the
North American Arctic
Arctic360 is dedicated to educating and engaging with the public about the pressing issues and potential solutions for building a prosperous and sustainable Arctic region. Contact us if you have any questions about our activities or if you would like to be more involved.
