Carbonzero's Leadership Team
Howie Chong, President
Howie Chong is the President and Founder of Carbonzero, one of Canada’s leading full-service greenhouse gas emissions management companies. A certified emissions expert, Howie has been working with companies and organizations for nearly a decade in helping them assess and manage their environmental footprint, with over five years of experience in greenhouse gas emissions accounting, carbon markets and international climate policy. Howie has presented at international and Canadian conferences on climate change, carbon markets and climate policy and has served with several environmental organizations, including four years on the Board of the Sierra Club Canada. In 2008, How-Sen was named one of Canada’s Future Environmental Leaders by Green Living Magazine for his work as an entrepreneur in the new green economy. He holds a degree in environment and political science from McGill University. www.HowieChong.com
Les Gower, Chief Financial Officer
Over the past three decades, Les Gower has held numerous management and finance related positions. Les began his business career as a corporate lending officer with the Mercantile Bank of Canada. He has since held positions of Vice President Finance and Administration, General Manager, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Corporate Secretary and President. Since 1995 as the principal of CFO Services, he has provided strategic and financial planning and management to companies across a range of industries including computer software, manufacturing, and distribution.
Elizabeth Koster, Advisory Services
Elizabeth Koster is an environmental management expert. Previous to working with Carbonzero, Elizabeth has worked with local and provincial governments as well as the NGO community on a range of environmental initiatives. Over the past several years her focus has been on working with municipalities in British Columbia to reduce climate change emissions, including the measurement, management and assessment of emissions reduction solutions for the District of West Vancouver. She is a recent graduate of Royal Roads University’s Masters in Environment and Management, where her thesis work focused on how Canadian municipalities audit their climate change emissions.
Richard Tuttle, CEO & Chairman
Richard Tuttle is a business executive operating out of Toronto, Canada. Rick has 32 years of experience as the Chairman and/or CEO of a number of technology and environmental early stage private ventures in Canada and the United States. He is currently Chairman of: the New Carbon Economy Fund, WireIE Holdings International Inc., e3 Solutions, and Carbon Offset Management Group. Rick is a current Director of Business Propulsion Systems Inc., of New York City and Toronto. www.NewCarbon.ca
Dan Fraleigh, Chief Operating Officer
Dan Fraleigh brings to Carbonzero over 16 years of experience in areas ranging from technology and development to media and entertainment. Since 1997, he has been involved in managing and developing telecom and web-based projects for enterprise level companies including: Novartis, Mediconsult, and Rogers. A technology "greening" advocate and eco-motivated entrepreneur, Dan is adviser and/or board member to a number of environmentally focused and socially minded organizations including; SaveGreen, Live Green Toronto, Fashion Takes Action and Greenmom. As an accomplished performer and tv host, he has worked both in front and behind the camera with production companies including: Alliance Atlantis, Vision TV, ChumCity, CTV & Global.
Katie Altoft, Senior Advisor
An environmental professional for over 13 years, Katie Altoft brings a breadth of experience in government, industry and not-for-profit settings to Carbonzero. During her years with the Canadian Standards Association, Katie led the National Technical Committees and Canadian Advisory Committees that wrote standards on a wide variety of issues such as environmental management systems and auditing, as well as the International Standards Organization (ISO)’s largest technical committee, which developed the ISO 9000 series of standards implemented by over 700,000 companies worldwide. In 1995, she and four partners launched the successful environmental consulting company, Environmental Management Solutions, which conducted over 50 phase 1 and 2 environmental site assessments and remediations, and performed energy audits and environmental compliance checks for federal and provincial agencies.
