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The place for unfiltered climate news and Deep Sky developments.
Only bold endeavors will solve this crisis.
Deep Sky is a venture aiming to remove gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate. Our belief is that with the right people and resources, we can make a lasting impact.
Damien Steel
CEO
Damien Steel joined Deep Sky as CEO in 2023, bringing with him a wealth of experience in technology and market development. With over 15 years in venture capital, Damien previously served as the Global Head of OMERS Ventures, where he managed over $2 billion in assets and played a pivotal role in nurturing early-stage technology businesses. His entrepreneurial spirit and deep understanding of technology markets have positioned him as a key leader in the climate sector. At Deep Sky, Damien is dedicated to leveraging innovative carbon removal solutions to address the pressing challenges of climate change, driving the company’s mission to create a sustainable future.
Fred Lalonde
Co-Founder
Fred is co-founder of Deep Sky and CEO and Co-Founder of Hopper, which sells billions of travel and travel financial services per year. Frederic previously co-founded Newtrade Technologies, which was acquired by Expedia in 2002.
Joost Ouwerkerk
CTO & Co-Founder
Joost is co-founder and CTO of Deep Sky, and former CTO of Hopper, the most downloaded travel app in North America and 50+ countries globally. An experienced technical leader who has partnered with Fred Lalonde for over 15 years, Joost is building the team, tech and infrastructure needed to scale.
Laurence Tosi
Co-Founder
Laurence A. Tosi is an American founder, investor, and philanthropist. Having held executive roles at Merrill Lynch, Blackstone, and Airbnb, Tosi is currently Managing Partner of WestCap, the strategic operating and investment firm he founded in 1998.
Phil De Luna, PhD
Chief Carbon Scientist, Head of Engineering
A renowned scientist and carbontech innovator, Phil is responsible for building Deep Sky Labs. Previously, Phil was a Sustainability Expert at McKinsey & Company. With a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering and a Masters in Chemistry, he has published 50+ papers in high impact science journals. A Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient in 2019, Phil was also a finalist in the $20M Carbon XPRIZE. Phil is a Governor General Gold Medal-winning scientist, a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and has been recognized as the top 0.01% in his field by Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers.
Ron Hirson
Advisor, Corporate Development
An entrepreneurial executive, investor and advisor with more than two decades of business and product management experience, Ron has navigated two IPO's and two acquisitions as either a co-founder or key executive. Previously, Ron was Chief Product Officer at DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU), Entrepreneur in Residence at Khosla Ventures and Mayfield Fund, Co-Founder and President of Boku, and VP of Product Management at AT&T Interactive. He is an inventor on 125+ issued patents and advises multiple startups.
Charlie Renzoni
VP Carbon Markets
Charlie leads commercialization at Deep Sky through the sales, structuring and financing of our carbon removal projects, delivering the highest quality and integrity carbon removal products to our customers. With an original background in mechanical engineering, Charlie has focused his career on scaling products in emerging technology markets, recently serving as a fintech and climate investor at OMERS Ventures and as a management consultant at Accenture.
Jason Vanderheyden
VP Government Affairs and Public Policy
Jason has more than 15 years of experience in government affairs, public policy development, business development and strategic partnerships. An expert navigating complex policy issues, he has worked with hyper-growth startups, Becton Dickinson, Medtronic, General Electric and Toyota Canada.
Brooks Wallace
VP Communications, Marketing
From crypto to climate, Brooks brings nearly 15 years of communications and marketing experience for disruptive tech brands. She’s helped generate visibility for companies such as Amazon, Bank of America, Blockchain.com, Coinbase, Google, Hopper, Levi’s Data Science, Zenefits, and more. A ‘Media Relations Pro’ awardee from Ragan, Brooks is a former board member of PRSA’s Boston and San Francisco chapters.
Alexandra Petre
VP Site Operations
Alex manages site operations at Deep Sky Labs. An angel investor, she was previously COO for the scooter company Bird, helping to advance micro mobility in the US and Canada. She was also in Financial Markets at Blackrock, an energy consultant at Accenture, an associate at the Embassy of Canada, and an associate at the Treasury Board of Canada.
Gregory Maidment
VP Subsurface
A leading expert in geological carbon sequestration, Greg spearheads Deep Sky’s carbon storage and sequestration development in Eastern Canada. Previously, he was Director of Operations and Applied Research at Carbon Management Canada, where he oversaw one of only three operational underground carbon storage facilities in the country. Before that, Greg held geophysics, geology and petrophysics roles at several oil and gas exploration companies.
Quentin Servais Laval
VP Finance, Operations
Quentin brings more than a decade of finance and operations experience to Deep Sky. Previously, he led Operations at Lithos Carbon and CDR.fyi. Quentin led teams in five countries with luxury giant LVMH, scaled up Instacart in Canada from 0 to 60% coverage in the country, and grew a tech-driven labor marketplace through two rounds of funding. He currently sits on the board of AFEN (French Association for Negative Emissions).
Catalina Sánchez-Roa, Ph.D
Head of Carbon Mineralization
A climate scientist by trade, Catalina leads Deep Sky's permanent carbon mineralization work. She was most recently a Climate & Sustainability consultant for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a climate scientist working on Carbon Capture and Storage at Columbia University, and a scientific advisor to Carbfix. Her technical expertise lies in understanding Earth systems for carbon mineralization, geothermal energy, earthquake mechanics and induced seismicity. Her work includes proof of concept and optimization of geologic carbon storage as a means of mitigating climate change.
Genevieve Elie
Director finance and HR
An operations generalist, Genevieve is responsible for scaling Deep Sky into Canada’s leading carbon removal project developer, overseeing both finance and HR functions. Previously, she was Corporate Projects & Governance Manager at Pelican International, where she remains a Board Member.
Gabrielle Paris
Director of Legal
Gabrielle leads Deep Sky’s legal function, providing counsel, negotiating contracts, and supporting the team with all legal matters. An experienced VC lawyer, Gabrielle is very involved in the Montreal tech ecosystem and has represented many of the most promising venture backed companies. Her expertise spans the lifecycle of tech companies, from inception to liquidity event. Previously, she built the legal function at RenoRun and worked with startups at Fasken.
Leon Sutherland
Director of Design Engineering
Leon is an experienced engineer with more than 15 years of experience designing and fabricating power, gas processing, gas compression, and refrigeration facilities. He has a track record of delivering safe, cost-saving systems with expertise in facility process design, HAZOP, and Front End Engineering Design. Previously, he worked at Plasco Energy Group (now Omni Conversion Technologies), Startec Compression and Process, and Convrg Innovations.
Jonathan Edwards, PhD
Senior Principal Engineer, Capture
With a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Jonathan is focused on Deep Sky Labs. With 7 years of carbontech experience, he was previously a Principal Research Scientist at CERT Systems and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto. A finalist in the COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, he’s been recognized as a Corporate Knights Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leader and a Globe and Mail Report on Business Changemaker.
Anne Raby
Lead Software Engineer
A passionate software development leader delivering large-scale solutions for nearly two decades, Anne is building the software layer for Deep Sky’s high-quality carbon credit sales. From telco to travel, she is motivated by driving efficient and maintainable solutions to complicated problems. Previously, she has led software teams at Hopper, Kaloom, LogMeIn, and Ericsson.
Max Dugan-Knight
Climate Data Scientist
An experienced data scientist skilled in applied machine learning and statistical research, Max spearheads Deep Sky’s data science efforts. He’s passionate about exploring huge data sets and communicating results to non-technical audiences. Previously, he led machine learning projects at DataRobot, mining large, messy datasets, building data pipelines, training and validating ML models, and communicating findings to diverse audiences.
Gabriel Hardy
Senior Software Developer
A skilled software developer with expertise in cloud computing and telecommunications, Gabriel helps build high-quality carbon credit sales software for Deep Sky. With academic experience in blockchain technology, he has held key roles at VMware, Hivestack, Kaloom, and Ericsson.
Shaun O’Connor
Senior Geologist, Mineralization
Shaun is a geologist with an extensive background in mineral exploration, geological modeling, and interpretation of geological and geophysical data. His work at Deep Sky includes geological modeling of potential carbon mineralization sites in mafic and ultramafic rocks, characterization of mafic and ultramafic rocks using geophysical and geological data, and advancing understanding of in-situ mineralization potential of ultramafic rocks.
Natalie Rome
Carbon Capture Engineer
As part of the carbon capture team, Natalie designs and develops industrial scale Direct Air Capture facilities. She brings expertise in large-scale process engineering and optimization, including detailed modeling and digital twin development from the oil and gas refining industry. She also has experience developing and improving economic and planning models to guide optimal plant operations.
Isabelle Callaghan
Project Manager, Capture
As Product Manager of Capture, Isabelle coordinates the build of Deep Sky Labs and supports the capture team on partnerships. Previously at McKinsey & Company, Isabelle worked on a variety of sustainability projects and topics from clean energy and solar utilities, to hydrogen and biofuels, to CCUS and policy.
Kyle Connelly
Construction Manager
Focused on building Deep Sky Labs, Kyle is a master electrician who has 13 years of experience in residential, commercial and industrial construction. Previously, he worked for Westridge Electric, Ladacor Advanced Modular Systems, and Quigley Electric. Before entering the trades, he coached the Canadian junior national luge league after competing in the 2002 Olympics for Canada.
Emily MacMillan
Project Geologist
Emily is a project geologist with experience in both conventional and unconventional oil and gas plays across Canada, and a strong knowledge base in Precambrian geology in the Northwest Territories and northern Manitoba. Emily combines her diverse expertise with a passion for innovative solutions to advance geological carbon storage.
Sarah Reilly
Executive Assistant
Sarah has a unique background in tech, beauty and finance. Most recently, she was Director of Culture and Strategic Initiatives at Volta. Previously, she supported executives at Manifold, OMERS Ventures, ME Bank and the The Australian Lending & Investment Centre.
Directors
Fred Lalonde
Chairman
Fred is co-founder of Deep Sky and CEO and Co-Founder of Hopper, which sells billions of travel and travel financial services per year. Frederic previously co-founded Newtrade Technologies, which was acquired by Expedia in 2002.
Damien Steel
CEO
Damien Steel joined Deep Sky as CEO in 2023, bringing with him a wealth of experience in technology and market development. With over 15 years in venture capital, Damien previously served as the Global Head of OMERS Ventures, where he managed over $2 billion in assets and played a pivotal role in nurturing early-stage technology businesses. His entrepreneurial spirit and deep understanding of technology markets have positioned him as a key leader in the climate sector. At Deep Sky, Damien is dedicated to leveraging innovative carbon removal solutions to address the pressing challenges of climate change, driving the company’s mission to create a sustainable future.
Laurence Tosi
WestCap, Founder
Laurence A. Tosi is an American founder, investor, and philanthropist. Having held executive roles at Merrill Lynch, Blackstone, and Airbnb, Tosi is currently Managing Partner of WestCap, the strategic operating and investment firm he founded in 1998.
Jean-François Béland
VP Strategic Initiatives, Investissement Québec
With a background in public service, energy and carbon capture, Jean-François is a seasoned executive with a commitment to decarbonization in Québec.
Sophie Forest
Brightspark, Partner
Being an entrepreneur herself and working to fund and grow early-stage companies for over 20 years, Sophie knows venture inside and out.
Dakota Smith
Hopper, President, Co-Founder
Dakota is President and Co-Founder of Hopper. Previously, he founded Traveler’s Digest, which grew to 1M monthly unique visitors and signed several of Asia's largest hospitality brands as clients.
Annesley Wallace
TC Energy, EVP
Annesley is Executive Vice President at TC Energy, where she oversees power generation and unregulated natural gas storage. Previously, she served as EVP and Global Head of Infrastructure at OMERS, overseeing C$34 billion in assets across energy, digital, transportation and government-regulated services. Before that, Annesley was at SNC-Lavalin, focused on energy and infrastructure.
Sam Duboc
Elkland Capital, CEO
Sam is President and CEO of Elkland Capital Inc., a former Chair & CEO of MindBeacon, a co-founder and CEO of EdgeStone Capital Partners, one of Canada’s leading private equity firms. Previously, he was a managing director at CIBC Capital Partners and co-founder of the Loyalty Group Inc. (now called LoyaltyOne), the parent company of the AIR MILES Reward Program. He has also served on numerous boards including as chair of BDC.
Henry Gladwyn
Managing Partner, OMERS Ventures
Henry is a Managing Partner at OMERS Ventures, based out of New York. Prior to joining OV in 2019 Henry worked in growth investing and as a corporate lawyer.