Marc is a lawyer and MBA with expertise on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility law, policy and management, with additional experience in strategic planning, institutional and program evaluation as well as environmental assessment. Mr. Paquin has worked on a variety of assignments for national governments, the UN and other international organizations, as well as the private sector. He is also a management trainer and teaches at the Université de Sherbrooke.

Prior to founding Unisféra, Marc Paquin had been one of the first professionals to join the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America (CEC), an intergovernmental organization created in the context of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). From 1995 to 2000, he was successively, in-house lawyer, program manager for special legal projects and Secretary of the CEC Council of Ministers. From 1991 to 1995, Marc Paquin was advisor on governmental and regulatory affairs (environment and energy) in the Environment Department of Hydro-Québec, a public utility. Mr. Paquin also worked on the development of a research and workshops program on trade and environment policy at the International Academy for the Environment in Geneva, and participated in a research project on corporate and environmental law at the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law. Marc Paquin began his career with the Montreal-based law firm of Mackenzie Gervais.

Marc Paquin holds a Law degree (LL.B.) from the Université de Montréal and a Master of Law (LL.M.) from McGill University. He also holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Université du Québec à Montréal. He has been a member of the Bar of Québec since 1988. He is a Fellow of the LEAD International program (Leadership for Environment and Development) and an Arthur D. Little certified environmental auditor. He sits on the Trade Agreements Environmental Assessment Advisory Board set up by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Marc Paquin is also a member of the College of Reviewers for the Canada Research Chairs Programme.

Prior to joining Unisfera, Ms. Morin participated in a range of projects related to sustainable development research and corporate social responsibility. She advised a Quebecois state corporation on the application of the new law on sustainable development and participated in research projects for different organisations, including the “Espace québécois de concertation sur les pratiques d’approvisionnement responsible” (ECPAR) and the University of Sherbrooke. She also served as a trainer for an environmental awareness project for high schools and colleges organised by the Centre universitaire de formation en environnement of the University of Sherbrooke.

Véronique Morin holds a Masters degree in environmental management from the University of Sherbrooke. She also holds a B.A. in international studies and modern languages from the Laval University, which included a one year specialization in international politics and social anthropology at Veracruza University in Mexico.

Previously, Ms. Lavallée worked on culture and sustainable development at UNESCO in Paris. She also carried out a consulting mission for the Délégation générale du Québec in Paris.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Quebec in Montreal, with a specialization in International Relations. During her degree she undertook a one year program at the Institut d’Études Politiques of Aix-en-Provence, France. She also holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the University Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne (with Honors), for which she received a scholarship from the Île-de-France Region. Isabelle Lavallée is currently enrolled in the Management and Sustainable Development Graduate program at HEC Montreal.

Prior to joining Unisféra, she worked for RÉSEAU environnement, the most important environmental industry association in Québec, coordinating high-calibre scientific and technical projects before becoming Director of Member Services for close to 10 years. During her tenure, Ms. Oscarson planned and directed numerous technical and scientific events. She also elaborated public awareness campaigns on a provincial scale as well as memoranda on potable and waste water, waste management, site contamination, air and climate change, sustainable development and the agri-environment. In 2000, Ms. Oscarson was nominated as the Québec ambassador for Eco Canada at the GLOBE exhibition.

She holds a B.Sc. in Physical Geography and a certificate in Environmental Science from the l’Université du Québec à Montréal, and a diploma in management Hautes Études Commerciales.

Since 1995, Rick has worked on international projects in the fields of integrated water resources management and climate change adaptation for the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the World Water Council, the Co-operative Programme on Water and Climate and the Government of Japan. He was lead author for several chapters of UNESCO’s 3rd World Water Development Report (to be released in March 2009) and currently serves as the Facilitator for the World Water Assessment Programme’s Expert Group on Indicators, Monitoring and Databases. Rick recently served as Governor on the Board of the World Water Council and remains actively involved in the international water movement.

Rick also spent ten years lecturing on global biogeochemical cycles at the Université de Sherbrooke. He continues to lecture to graduate students about the global water crisis and regularly co-supervises graduate students at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water education in the Netherlands.

Mr. Connor holds a B.Sc. from the Université de Sherbrooke and an M.Sc. in Biogeochemistry from the Geography Department at McGill University.

He is also professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles where he teaches global environmental politics. Jean-Frédéric Morin has an interdisciplinary background in international relations, including a dual Ph.D. in political science and law. From 2006 to 2008, he was a project leader at the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy at McGill University and taught intellectual property law, international trade law and environmental politics at three other universities. Jean-Frédéric Morin has published several peer-reviewed articles on various topics, including international patent lawmaking, biodiversity governance and international investment policy.

Prior to joining Unisféra, he managed an economic governance and a rural development project for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Rwanda and worked with the Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations (CASIN) in Geneva, Switzerland, researching civil society-corporate relations, training diplomats from developing countries and co-organizing a major conference on private investment in microfinance. Previously, he designed a monitoring & evaluation system for an SME development programme of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the Balkans.

Julian Lee is a former Associate of the Washington, D.C., consulting firm Ayrlie Partners, with whom he advised major multinational corporations on CSR matters. He has also held positions with the Canadian Institute for International Affairs, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and has been engaged in curriculum design for the University of British Columbia. He is the co-author of the weekly column "Letters about Germany" in DIE ZEIT.

Julian Lee holds a degree in International Development Studies and Political Science from the University of Toronto and graduated from the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, U.K.

Previously, he was a research assistant for the Chaire de responsabilité sociale et de développement durable at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) during the year 2009. Nicolas was also a CSR and sustainability project officer on a number of initiatives such as the creation of the first carbon analysis of Paris Dauphine University, and the drafting of a sectoral code of conduct for the French automotive equipment industry, which received an award from the Movement of French Enterprises (Medef) in 2009.

Nicolas is a founding member and former president of the association "Dauphine Durable" for the promotion of sustainable development on the campus of Paris Dauphine University. Recently graduated from Paris Dauphine University with a research Master in Analysis and Theories of Sustainability, he wrote his thesis on the international regulation of the sugar trade.

In 2001 and 2002, Annie Villeneuve was a legal advisor to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, where she specialized in international environmental and sustainable development law. She contributed to various studies and reports published by the FAO and the United Nations University Press.

Annie Villeneuve holds a Law degree (LL.B.) and a Masters in International and Transnational Law (LL.M.) from Université Laval, in Quebec City. She has been a member of the Bar of Québec since 2002. In 2005, she took part in the Master of Environmental Law at the Université Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, gaining experience in French and European environmental law.

Ms. Dionne holds a B.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from McGill University and a M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Eric holds a B. Sc. in Economics and a Masters degree in Environment from the University of Sherbrooke. He figured to the RBC honorific table from 2001 to 2005, and received the academic grant from the Famille Roger Beaudoin (2005) for the excellence of its work in environment. In the essay for his Masters, he analysed the opportunities of various carbon trading scheme around the world.