Pauline Baudu, M.A.
Europe, NATO, Arctic security and climate change
Pauline Baudu works on issues of Arctic geopolitics and security, and the convergence of climate and security. Her research considers the climate-security nexus through policy analysis and strategic foresight on security in the European and North American Arctic, climate-driven migrations and the intersection between climate change and gray-zone tactics, with a special focus on the role of NATO in addressing these issues.
Baudu’s expertise is regularly solicited including in the consultation process to develop Canada’s new NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (CCASCOE). She is also involved in an academic project to contribute to NATO’s strategic knowledge, planning and adaptability under the conditions of climate change. She also served as a Research Assistant at the Polar Institute and the Environmental Change and Security Program, Wilson Center (Washington D.C.). She is currently a Research Consultant with the Center for Climate and Security of the Council on Strategic Risks (Washington D.C.) as well as a member of the Network for Strategic Analysis (Ontario, Canada).
Baudu’s Arctic research builds on her pre-existing experience and research on human rights, migration and asylum law. Since 2018, she has served as a public official at the French National Asylum Court in Paris, providing legal expertise and country-risk analysis to inform judges in the asylum decision-making process. She has also worked with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva and diverse civil society organizations on issues of migrants’ rights and non-discrimination.
Baudu is a graduate from the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS Sup’) in Defense, Security and Crisis Management. She received the Third Place Award at the 2022 Defence Associations Institute graduate student conference (Ottawa) for her policy paper on paradigms for NATO’s High North engagement. Baudu also holds an M.A. in Crisis Analysis and Humanitarian Aid from Université Savoie-Mont-Blanc and a B.A. in Applied Linguistics (English and Spanish) from Université de Tours.
Mark Brajer, PEng, MBA, ICD.D
Indigenous Economic Development
Mark joined Tłı̨ chǫ Investment Corporation & Group of Companies (TIC) in December 2017 as Chief Operating Officer. Mark was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in August 2019 and is responsible for overseeing all TIC’s operations, subsidiary companies, and joint ventures. TIC has over 24 wholly owned businesses and joint ventures, involved in construction, engineering & environmental, equipment leasing, retail & hotel operations, fuel delivery, site services & labour management, tourism and more.
Mark Brajer’s career has been largely in the operations, supply chain and engineering areas over a 30-year career, more than half at an executive level. He has worked across North America before starting his position with TIC in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Mark has worked for E.D. Smith, Alberto-Culver, Unilever, Epicure and now the Tłı̨ chǫ Investment Corporation. In his over five years at TIC, there has been a drive to improve the sustainability of the organization, grow the business organically and inorganically, diversify the corporation, and provide the Tłı̨ chǫ with an economic development business they can be proud of, across the region.
He has undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering (B.Eng.) and Chemistry (B.Sc.) from McMaster University, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, and a Food Science Certificate from Guelph University. Mark is a licensed engineer in Ontario, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Yukon.
Mr. Brajer currently sits on the boards of Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, the Corporate Indigenous Relations Council, the NT/NU Chamber of Mines and the NWT Chamber of Commerce and has served on many community and not-for-profit boards across the country. Mark currently lives in Victoria, BC and Yellowknife, NT, where he works.
David Connelly, CD, MBA
David Connelly CD, MBA, B.Comm., lives in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. He is the former Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Strategy of Cheetah Resources and Vital Metals, Canada’s only producer of rare earth products and owner of the consulting firm Royale Enterprises Ltd., which specializes in strategic planning, community engagement and ESG.
As an investor in and advocate for responsible economic development, David has structured many successful strategic alliances and led turnarounds. He has helped pioneer groundbreaking Indigenous business partnerships and impact benefits agreements.
He serves or has served on over two dozen public companies, private companies, Indigenous development corporations, not-for-profit, quasi-judicial and government boards.
With more than 40 years of experience, David began his career in project and international banking in Japan, Australia and Canada, including a stint with the Government of Canada restructuring funding for challenging projects. He then transitioned to developing transportation, communications and energy infrastructure projects.
As President and CEO from 1992-1997, he led the turnaround of the Inuvialuit Development Corporation, then Canada’s largest Indigenous development corporation. He co-authored the “Five Year Review of The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement 1993 -1998”. In recognition of his contributions to Indigenous economic development, he received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2002 and, in 2012, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee for the leadership of volunteer groups and corporate social responsibility.
He shared the Prospector and Developers Association of Canada’s Environmental and Social Responsibility Award and the NWT MAX Environment and Community Engagement Award and again in 2022 for Economic Contribution to the NWT. David chaired the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee (CSR) for Canada’s first publicly traded exploration company to elevate CSR to the Board level.
David volunteered for five years, first as the founding Chair of the National Property Committee and then as Deputy National Commissioner of Scouts Canada, responsible for restructuring a $300 million property portfolio. King Carl XVI, Gustaf of Sweden, made David a Baden-Powell Fellow of the World Scout Foundation in 2017.
David is a past Governor of Scouts Canada, Past Chair of the Canadian Forces Liaison Council North, Co-Chair of the Friends of HMCS Yellowknife, and a past three-term National Vice President of a major Canadian political party. He is a Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary.
David is a Trustee of the Interamerican Scouting Foundation. He served three terms on each of the national boards of Scouts Canada, Saint John Ambulance and The Order of St. Lazarus (Palliative Care) and three terms as Chair of the NWT Social Assistance Appeal Board and Treasurer of NWT Skills Canada. He is the Past Chair of United Way NWT and NWT Chamber of Commerce. As a Naval reserve officer, David served as the Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Advisor to eight Commanders of Joint Task Force (North). He deployed in numerous sovereignty operations. David was awarded the Canada Decoration with clasp and commendations for meritorious actions saving civilian lives.
David was promoted to Commander in the Order of St. John in 2010 for leadership and community service and Knighted by the Order of St. Lazarus for supporting palliative care in the Arctic in 2015. From Cape Breton (Ile Royale), Nova Scotia, he is an adventure traveller, who frequently treks in remote areas. He is an avid scuba diver and enjoys cooking, wine and the arts. He is a proud husband to Rebecca Connelly, a brother, uncle, and puppy daddy.
Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot
Arctic resource development and Indigenous equity partnerships
Heather Exner-Pirot is a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington DC. She sits on the Boards of the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation, Saskatchewan Indigenous Economic Development Network, and The Arctic Institute, and is the Research Advisor for the Indigenous Resource Network. Exner-Pirot is also the Managing Editor of the Arctic Yearbook and she publishes regularly on energy security, Indigenous economic development, resource politics, and Arctic governance. Exner-Pirot obtained a PhD in Political Science from the University of Calgary in 2011.
Rob Huebert
Arctic Security and Defence
Rob Huebert is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary. He also served as the associate director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. He was appointed as a member to the Canadian Polar Commission (now renamed Canada Polar Knowledge) for a term lasting from 2010 to 2015. He is senior fellow with the Laurier MacDonald Institute; a fellow with the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies; and is a research fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Dr. Huebert has taught at Memorial University, Dalhousie University, and the University of Manitoba. He publishes on the issue of Canadian Arctic Security, Maritime Security, and Canadian Defence. His work has appeared in International Journal; Canadian Foreign Policy; Isuma- Canadian Journal of Policy Research and Canadian Military Journal. He was co-editor of Canada and the Changing Arctic: Sovereignty, Security and Stewardship; Commercial Satellite Imagery and United Nations Peacekeeping and Breaking Ice: Canadian Integrated Ocean Management in the Canadian North. He also comments on Canadian security and Arctic issues in both the Canadian and international media.
Ayoe Kristiansen, M.A.
Greenland and critical minerals
Ayoe Kristiansen is an Inuk living in Nuuk, Greenland. She is the Associate Community Engagement and Nuuk representative for Greenland Minerals, a subsidiary of the Australian based, Energy Transition Minerals.
Kristiansen has an M.A. degree in social science from the University of Greenland (Ilissimatusarfik). Her master thesis concentrated on potential mining projects in Southern Greenland with a focus on the needs and requirements around the ‘Social License to Operate’ when it comes to opening and operating a mine in Greenland. In particular, Kristiansen’s research examined the stakeholder engagement processes of the Kuannersuit(Kvanefjeld) project in Narsaq. In December 2022, Kristiansen’s thesis won an award by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science competition, “Thesis competition about the Danish Realm” on her work of the potential for mining to positively affect Greenland’s economic position in the Danish realm.
During her M.A. studies, Kristiansen served as a research partner for a Ph.D. scholar from the University of Oxford. She served as a Student Fellow with Arctic360. There Kristiansen co-produced Arctic360’s special ‘Breaking the Ice’ podcast series on Canada-Greenland cooperation.
Kristiansen received her B.A. in Social Science and psychology from Roskilde University in 2018. She has also been active in numerous non-profit organizations including Avalak (an organization for Greenlandic students in Denmark), Save the Children-Youth in Denmark, and the Red Cross in Greenland. During her BA studies, Kristiansen worked as a student consultant for Visiobox Consulting where she conducted analyses and interviews for other companies.
Dr. Hema Nadarajah
Asian states and the Arctic
Dr. Nadarajah is a Post-Graduate Research Scholar with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and a consultant for WWF on energy-related issues. She has a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. Her dissertation examined international law governing the Arctic, climate change, and outer space from an international relations lens. Dr. Nadarajah has also published and presented widely on Asia’s role in the Arctic and formerly worked for the Government of Singapore on issues of international biodiversity conservation and climate change. She has a Master of Environment from the Australian National University where she specialized in Climate Change Policy, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto where she majored in Geography and Geology.
Dr. Elana Wilson Rowe
Arctic cooperation, Russia, climate change
Elana Wilson Rowe is a Research Professor and Head of the Center for Ocean Governance and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and an associate professor at the Norwegian Institute for the Life Sciences (NMBU). She holds a PhD (2006) in Geography and Polar Studies from the University of Cambridge. Wilson Rowe’s research areas include Arctic governance¨and diplomacy, Russia’s Arctic and foreign policymaking, and ocean governance. She is the author of’ Russian Climate Politics: When Science Meets Policy’ (Palgrave, 2013) and ‘Arctic Governance: Power in cross-border relations’ (University of Manchester, 2018). Her research is focused on methodologically rigorous approaches to polar geopolitics and governance at a regional/global level, as well as ‘experience-near’ studies of how the changing geopolitical climate is experienced by Arctic communities, peoples, and science-policy networks. She is currently leading a five-year research project awarded by the European Research Council comparing the politics of the Arctic, Amazon Basin and the Caspian Sea (‘The Lorax Project’, #loraxprojectERC). She was a member of Norway’s committee establishing research priorities for the UN Ocean Decade.
Dr. Mike Sfraga
US Arctic Policy
Mike Sfraga is the founding director of the Polar Institute. President Biden recently appointed Dr. Sfraga incoming Chairman of the United States Arctic Research Commission. Dr. Sfraga is as An Alaskan and a geographer by training, his work focuses on the changing geography of the Arctic and Antarctic landscapes, Arctic policy, and the impacts and implications of a changing climate on political, social, economic, environmental, and security regimes in the Arctic.
Sfraga served as distinguished co-lead scholar for the U.S. Department of State’s inaugural Fulbright Arctic Initiative from 2015-2017, a complementary program to the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council; he held the same position from 2017-2019. He served as chair of the 2020 Committee of Visitors Review of the Section for Arctic Science (ARC), Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, and currently serves on the Finnish Institute for International Affairs Scientific Advisory Council (SAC). Sfraga previously served in a number of academic, administrative, and executive positions including vice chancellor, associate vice president, faculty member, department chair, and associate dean.
Sfraga has testified before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, he maintains an active national and international speaking and facilitation schedule, and his commentary has been featured in several major media outlets including MSNBC, National Public Radio, Voice of America, The Wall Street Journal, Alaska Public Media, CCTV/CGTN, Bloomberg News, and C-SPAN.
Sfraga is the author of the biography Bradford Washburn: A Life of Exploration, is affiliate professor at the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, serves as the co-director of the University of the Arctic’s Institute for Arctic Policy, and has served on a number of non-profit boards and advisory committees.
Sfraga earned the first PhD in geography and northern studies from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“I attended Arctic360 in March 2022 alongside our embassy’s Political and Trade Officer. I joined my fellow Nordic ambassadors and Canadian, American, and Greenlandic counterparts on a panel discussing northern perspectives on the Arctic, while he sat on another focused on Arctic trade alongside other Nordic trade officials. Our objectives were to share Iceland’s perspectives on the importance of deepening collaboration across the Arctic; to expose participants to Icelandic technologies and expertise that can contribute to solving common challenges; to broaden awareness of Iceland’s Policy on Matters Concerning the Arctic Region; and to meet important new contacts who can speak with authority on Arctic policy issues and commercial opportunities across the north, and who could become valued partners in advancing shared goals going forward. We are pleased to report that Arctic360 2022 delivered on all four counts and that we plan to return in 2023.”
— Hlynur Guðjónsson, Ambassador of Iceland to Canada
Strengthening the
North American Arctic
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