In-House Team

Douglas Hart
Director
Doug founded Watershed Energy Systems in 1977 as a Canadian pioneer in solar energy. Since then he has developed numerous solar projects, as well as various other technologies for which he holds Canadian and US Patents. With a Master of Science degree in molecular biology, and a passion for sustainability, Doug guides Watershed’s strategic direction.
 
David Elfstrom
Engineering Programs Manager
After nearly a decade of working in the field of medical physics and receiving his Professional Engineering License, a concern of fossil fuel use spurred David to study building science and mechanical engineering. David has since completed a wide variety of college, university, and trades courses to obtain a healthy mix of theory and practice. He is a LEED Accredited Professional, a qualified HRAI Residential Air Systems Design Technician and has full training from the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition in geothermal systems installation and design. David founded Passive Buildings Canada and is a board member & officer. He is also a member and officer of the Ontario Straw Bale Building Coalition, and a founding member of Post Carbon Toronto. He lives, eats and breathes ‘green’ in Toronto’s first geothermally-heated & cooled multi-unit residential building.
 
Christine Wickett
Environmental Programs Manager
While studying Environmental Resource Management at the University of Waterloo, Christine developed tools and evaluation criteria for communities and larger institutions to help advance environmental engagement and management systems in larger operations systems.  Christine has been a project coordinator and developer for over a decade working with organizations and company programs to enhance their outreach and environmental compatibility. Christine’s environmental education, conservation and networking programs have been commended by members of the United Nations and government representatives. More recently, Christine has developed assessment programs related to waste diversion and environmental efficiency standards in some of the most advanced and emerging markets around the world.
 
Jingli (Fred) Zhang
Energy Monitoring Technician
Jingli has worked with electrical and electronic testing, monitoring, and telecommunications systems for over 25 years. Jingli received a Bachelor of Science degree from Shanxi University in China, and has since developed projects ranging from electrical and electronic monitoring, to automatic control, to data analysis and information management systems (MIS). With a background in computer engineering, Jingli was also previously responsible for the design, testing and development of transformer and power supply testing systems. He is a well-rounded computer “guru”, and a specialist in monitoring systems. Jingli joined Watershed because he wants to help create a better world.
 
Sam van Berkel
Building Systems Analyst and Designer
Sam received a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Waterloo in 2010, graduating near the top of his class and with two years of engineering internship experience. He has studied building science, building modeling and energy use in buildings and is passionate about reducing the environmental impact of our communities. Sam has also completed an apprenticeship in natural building, is familiar with straw bale and other natural building methods and is an active member of the Natural Building Engineering Group. In addition, he is a member of Engineers Without Borders and volunteered in Ghana in 2008.

External Support

Allan Titus
Allan spent most of his life as a high school Physics teacher. His educational background is in Physics and Math, accompanied by an M. A. in Sociology. He retired from teaching in order to help the movement toward a more sustainable and responsible relation between humanity and the Earth. With Watershed he has been doing building audits for multi-residential buildings in order to assist the owners in identifying profitable measures they can take to make their buildings more efficient. Allan has also has spear-headed the water tune-up program which identifies efficiencies related to water consumption.
 
Will Sacks
Growing up near the Toronto waterfront, Will did a report on pollution in Lake Ontario in grade two, and went on to build his first working wind turbine at the age of twelve. While in university he raced a full-size solar car over 3000 kms from Chicago to Los Angeles using only the power of the sun.
 
More recently, Will has worked on projects related to aggregated generation & smart grid, utility electricity incentives, building retrofits, renewable energy, energy and greenhouse gas planning, enterprise energy management, and strategic energy planning.
 
His talents lie in uniting technology and business principles to find optimized solutions to a wide variety of economic and environmental problems. Will holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Economics from McGill University and is a Professional Engineer and LEED Accredited Professional.
 
Egidio Shiavone
Since 1998 Egidio has been involved in the energy industry through the founding of Dataco in Alberta, Canada which has serviced utilities throughout Western Canada through deregulation and continues to provide solutions for the changing utility industry.
 
Egidio is a graduate of Ryerson University and is currently assisting Watershed in the design, marketing and business development for EnergyBrain and Dry Smart. Egidio also provides business development consulting services to utilities for Conservation Demand Management and Suite Smart Metering.