Leadership
Esker is focused on its goal to produce low-carbon fuels from difficult waste streams, intended to offer environmental, social, and economic benefits. We expect to do all of this without depending on a food source for our feedstock.
Ryan C. Jackson
Chief Executive Officer
Management
Ryan C. Jackson is an award-winning executive and results-based leader whose career spans over 25 years and features a successful track record of building, growing and enhancing a broad range of businesses across a variety of industries. With an entrepreneurial and pragmatic approach to strategic planning, operations management, and organizational development, Ryan brings to Esker multi-disciplinary expertise and hands-on acumen in human resources, business development, marketing, financial management, project management, strategic planning, divestitures, re-financing and operations.
Prior to assuming the role of CEO at Esker, for whom he also serves as a board member since May of 2021, he was CEO and a Director of Renewable U Energy Inc., a renewable energy focused partnership model with interests in renewable fuels, lithium extraction and other arrangements. Ryan is a spirited entrepreneur with great vision, intuition and insight and since 2006, has overseen RAMECO Group of Companies, an investment firm holding interests in diverse opportunities across the renewable energy, cleantech, real estate development, aerospace and other high-growth sectors.
With an extensive professional network and track record of quantifiable success across industries, Ryan has received multiple prestigious awards throughout his career, including the Medicine Hat College Business Person of the Year, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the Business Development Bank of Canada’s Canadian Mentorship Award. Ryan also previously sat on the Board of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance as the Secretary/Treasurer and earned his Certified Management Consultant designation in 2011.
Rob brings extensive experience to his role as Chief Operating Officer at Esker in building teams, processes, and systems that translate strategy into execution. Prior to joining Esker, Rob served as CEO of Canadian Discovery Ltd., where he provided executive leadership in advancing the company’s strategic vision by delivering data intelligence products and consulting services to conventional energy, carbon capture and storage, and geothermal clients.
Before his time at Canadian Discovery, Rob served as President and CEO of Matrix Solutions from 2008 to 2020. During his tenure, he led the company through significant growth and service expansion, including several strategic acquisitions. His leadership consistently demonstrates an ability to build high-performing organizations while delivering meaningful outcomes for stakeholders.
In addition to his executive track record, Rob brings deep technical expertise in hydrogeology, environmental liability assessment and remediation, water resources engineering, and environmental impact assessment in support of project design and regulatory approval. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Alberta and a Master of Science degree in Earth Science from the University of Waterloo.
Ivy Chan holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Calgary. She brings over 25 years of experience across the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors, leading large-scale strategic projects across energy transition, infrastructure, and petrochemical sectors. She has facilitated commercial and JV arrangements for upstream oil and gas projects and has experience advancing project development from origination through financial close — structuring commercial agreements, securing capital, and aligning cross-functional teams, institutional investors, government agencies, and Indigenous partners. Ivy is recognized for translating strategic ambiguity into executable plans and delivering disciplined results across energy transition, CCS, petrochemicals, pipelines, and infrastructure.
Matt Scorah is a results-driven executive and technical leader whose career spans over 20 years of experience in decarbonization, energy, fuels, and petrochemicals. With a combination of deep engineering expertise and broad business acumen, Matt brings to Esker multi-disciplinary leadership across project development, technology strategy, regulatory, and stakeholder engagement — having delivered major capital projects from conception through to execution across Canada and internationally.
As CDO at Esker, Matt provides strategic leadership in low-carbon production processes including biofuels and Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), while contributing to the company’s broader executive direction. Most recently, as VP of Decarbonization at Canadian Discovery Ltd., Matt led advisory and due diligence services for project owners and investors across waste conversion, low-carbon processes, and CCUS projects. Prior to that he served as Chief Technology Officer at Nauticol Energy, where he took ownership of engineering and contracting across multi-billion landmark projects — a methanol facility with carbon capture in Alberta and a methanol and urea project in Quebec — while playing an active role in financing, regulatory, and community relations.
Throughout his career, Matt has led teams and delivered projects as a consultant, owner, engineering contractor, and academic — giving him a uniquely collaborative perspective on what drives successful outcomes. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ottawa and a Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Matt is a registered Professional Engineer in Alberta and Quebec.
Board of Directors
Mr. Andersen has more than 25 years of senior leadership experience in the midstream and energy sectors, with expertise spanning operations, business development, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, major project development and execution, commercial and customer offtake arrangements, corporate governance and regulatory and stakeholder matters. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Pembina Pipeline Corporation, where he oversaw the company’s Pipeline Division and its pipeline transportation, terminalling, storage and rail operations across Canada and the United States.
He also served as Pembina’s Chief Legal Officer and Senior Vice President, External Affairs, overseeing major project engineering and construction, legal, regulatory, government, environmental, Indigenous and community affairs functions and advising senior management and the Board. Mr. Andersen also led the development of the proposed US$10 billion Jordan Cove LNG project and an Indigenous partnership related to the Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion. Most recently, he was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Captus Generation, where he led the development of a large-scale, co-located behind-the-meter power and data centre campus.
Sheila A. Leggett currently serves on the advisory board for Nutana Power and chairs the technical committee responsible for the International Standards Organization (ISO) environmental management systems standards (14000 series). Ms. Leggett is a strategic leader, has extensive expertise as it concerns corporate governance, and a background in sustainable resource development.
Kaush Rakhit is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Canadian Discovery Ltd. (CDL), one of Canada’s leading energy data and subsurface evaluation firms. He founded Rakhit Petroleum Consulting Ltd. (RPCL) in 1989, which became internationally recognized for its integrated hydrodynamics work and unconventional gas studies. RPCL purchased and merged with Canadian Discovery Ltd. in 2005, and under Kaush’s leadership CDL grew to become one of the largest energy data providers for Western Canada, producing hundreds of technical articles, studies and consulting projects over more than three decades.
A serial entrepreneur, Kaush has co-founded and served as a director of numerous successful energy and technology companies, including Groundwater Solutions Ltd. (now Matrix Solutions Inc.), Vicana Ridge Resources, Kinwest Resources Corp., Seven Generations Energy Ltd., CODA Petroleum Inc., and Kiwetinohk Energy Corp.
Kaush earned his B.Sc. in Earth Sciences from the University of Waterloo and was the first person to earn a post-graduate degree (M.Sc.) in Petroleum Hydrogeology from the University of Alberta. He is a registered Professional Geologist (P.Geol.) and remains active in CDL’s strategic growth areas, including carbon capture and storage, critical minerals and geothermal energy. Kaush is based in Calgary, Alberta.
Ryan C. Jackson is an award-winning executive and results-based leader whose career spans over 25 years and features a successful track record of building, growing and enhancing a broad range of businesses across a variety of industries. With an entrepreneurial and pragmatic approach to strategic planning, operations management, and organizational development, Ryan brings to Esker multi-disciplinary expertise and hands-on acumen in human resources, business development, marketing, financial management, project management, strategic planning, divestitures, re-financing and operations.
Prior to assuming the role of CEO at Esker, for whom he also serves as a board member since May of 2021, he was CEO and a Director of Renewable U Energy Inc., a renewable energy focused partnership model with interests in renewable fuels, lithium extraction and other arrangements. Ryan is a spirited entrepreneur with great vision, intuition and insight and since 2006, has overseen RAMECO Group of Companies, an investment firm holding interests in diverse opportunities across the renewable energy, cleantech, real estate development, aerospace and other high-growth sectors.
With an extensive professional network and track record of quantifiable success across industries, Ryan has received multiple prestigious awards throughout his career, including the Medicine Hat College Business Person of the Year, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the Business Development Bank of Canada’s Canadian Mentorship Award. Ryan also previously sat on the Board of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance as the Secretary/Treasurer and earned his Certified Management Consultant designation in 2011.
The Honourable Peter MacKay provides strategic advice and guidance on government and public services, industry practice, infrastructure, and economic development, and represents the company as a catalyst to Esker’s growth.