Leadership & Governance

Frédéric Dugré, Co-Founder, President, CEO & Board Director

Frédéric Dugré graduated in 1996 from Laval University in Quebec City with a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering. In 2000, he co-founded H₂O Innovation with the goal of taking part in the consolidation of the water treatment industry. Mr. Dugré has more than 20 years of experience in the management, financing and business development of publicly traded companies. His expertise in financing and marketing of clean technologies and his passion for the water treatment industry were instrumental for H₂O Innovation’s growth. Among the different business recognitions that H₂O Innovation received through the years including the award of Water Company of the Year in 2020 by the GWI, Mr. Dugré was named twice among the top 25 Water Leaders in 2017 and 2021 by the WaterWorld Magazine. During 5 years, M. Dugré has served as board member of the Canadian Sciences & Technologies Museum in Ottawa. Since 2016, he is supporting entrepreneurship and innovation through the crowd-funding platform the “Ruche Québec” as a Board of Director.

Marc Blanchet, CFO
Marc Blanchet is a lawyer and was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 2003. At the beginning of his career, Me Blanchet served as a business lawyer, specializing in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and Financing at law firms in Quebec City, Canada and Paris, France. Since joining H₂O Innovation in 2007, Marc has served in many capacities in Corporate and Legal Affairs, Finance, and as Corporate Secretary. Since 2015 he holds the position of H₂O Innovation’s Chief Financial Officer.

Guillaume Clairet, COO
Guillaume Clairet holds a Physics Engineering degree from Laval University, an MBA from the University of San Diego, and is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in Canada. In his early career, Mr. Clairet worked on projects involving groundwater remediation for the Canadian National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS). Since joining H₂O Innovation in 2004, Guillaume has held multiple positions of increasing seniority in project management, sales, business development, and most recently as Executive Vice President. He has served in his current role as Chief Operating Officer of H₂O Innovation since 2015 and remains active in many industry associations. Notably, Mr. Clairet has served for several years on the Board of Directors of the International Desalination Association (IDA) and is an active mentor of the Imagine H₂O water cluster. Guillaume is also on the Steering Committee of CentrEau (Quebec’s Water Management Research Center based out of Laval University).

Gregory Madden, CCO
Gregory Madden began his engineering career in the water industry in 1994. After earning his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, he got his start designing and building water treatment systems for beverage plants. Mr. Madden evolved through various positions in the water industry and earned his MBA from the University of Wisconsin in 2004. As part of the H₂O Innovation team since 2009, Gregory has grown with the organization in the projects, chemicals, components, and services businesses, initially as Vice President of Aftermarket Services. Greg took on the role of Chief Strategy Officer from 2020 to January 2024, when he was appointed as Chief Commercial Officer for H₂O Innovation. He is an active member of many industry associations, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA).

Édith Allain, Senior Vice President, Mergers-Acquisitions-Integrations and Corporate Secretary
Business-minded jurist with a broad experience in commercial and corporate laws, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), as well as securities legislation. Head of H₂O Innovation’s corporate and legal department, managing a team of paralegals and lawyers – dedicated and engaged towards our business lines. Having progressed, over the years, in different professional environments, such as law, accounting and multidisciplinary firms, through corporate legal departments where her practice evolved and where she developed her managerial capacities.

Elena Savostianova, Chair

Elena Savostianova has over 18 years of professional experience in the energy and infrastructure sectors. Prior to Ember, Elena served as a Principal with Global Infrastructure Partners CAPS team, focusing on renewable energy opportunities. Before GIP, Elena spent nearly a decade as part of Credit Suisse’s Power and Renewables group where she was responsible for coverage of energy corporates with a focus on renewable energy and infrastructure, as well as financial sponsors active in the energy and infrastructure space. Her responsibilities included deal sourcing and execution of the complete capital stack, from equity transactions on the corporate side to senior secured debt underwritings at the asset level. Elena joined Credit Suisse in 2005. Prior to that Elena was a member of Deloitte’s Management Consulting division and the JPMorgan Chase Oil & Gas Investment Banking team.

Elena holds an M.B.A. from Yale University and a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics from Hamilton College.

Alex Smyk, Director

Alex Smyk is a Vice President at Ember Infrastructure. Alex is responsible for sourcing, evaluation, and execution of investment opportunities and portfolio company management. Alex has 9 years of experience in infrastructure investing and finance. Prior to Ember, he was a member of the investment team at Global Infrastructure Partners, where he focused on the power and renewables sectors. Previously, Alex was a member of Citi’s Power & Utilities group in the Investment Banking division.

Alex holds a B.A. in Financial Economics and Environmental Science from Columbia University.

André Lévesque, Director

André’s experience as an influential player in the Quebec investment industry for over 20 years has enabled him to develop the emotional insight required to understand the needs of entrepreneurs. Over the years, he has also acquired the ability to shape their decisions in a positive way. As a self-driven and highly imaginative individual, André promotes a leadership style based on guidance and coaching. He is dedicated to the improvement of strategies for attaining clear, well-defined objectives. André has had the opportunity to sit on the boards of many of Quebec’s most successful private companies in recent years and continues to do so today with the greatest humility. He currently holds the position of Managing Director, Private Equity at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).

Barrett Veazey, Director

Barrett Veazey is a Vice President at Ember Infrastructure. Barrett is responsible for sourcing, evaluation and execution of investment opportunities and portfolio company management. Barrett Veazey has 9 years of experience in infrastructure investing and finance. Prior to Ember, he was a member of the investment team at Global Infrastructure Partners, where he focused on the energy, power, and transportation sectors. Previously, Barrett was a member of Barclays’ Global Industrials Group within the investment banking division.

Barrett holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Georgetown University.

Caleb Powers, Director

Caleb Powers is a Partner at Ember Infrastructure and a member of the Investment Committee. With over 15 years of experience in infrastructure finance, Caleb was previously a Vice President at The Carlyle Group, where he led investment activities in the water & waste sectors, with additional transaction experience in the energy and agriculture sectors, for Carlyle’s Global Infrastructure Opportunity Fund. Prior to his time at Carlyle, Caleb was a Vice President with Global Infrastructure Partners in New York as a member of the investment team. Caleb began his career in the Natural Resources Group at Deutsche Bank in New York, focusing on the power, utilities, and renewable energy sectors.

Caleb received a B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Henry Saint Bris, Director

Henry Saint Bris is the Founder and Managing Partner of Ansa, Senior Advisor at Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), and independent Board Member for various companies. As former Chief Strategy Officer for the Suez Group, member of the Strategic Committee, and Group Marketing and Institutional Relations SVP, Henry pioneered circular economy initiatives with the European Commission, the World Economic Forum (Advisory Board Member) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Henry founded Ernst & Young Environment in Paris in 1992. Henry holds a diploma from Sciences Po Paris, a Master’s degree in business administration from University Paris IX Dauphine, a postgraduate degree in Environment Management and Engineering from Ecole des Mines de Paris and completed the Harvard Business School AMP. He is a board member at the US-based Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF), and a regular lecturer about resources, the environment, and the circular economy, at Sciences Po and Harvard.

Marc Fortin, Director

Marc is a Senior Director with Investissement Québec, responsible for equity investments in the manufacturing and diversified sectors. Prior to joining IQ in 2020, he spent 19 years with TD Securities, initially as a member of the investment banking team where he helped Quebec-based companies raise equity and debt capital and provided M&A advisory services. He later joined the institutional equity sales desk, with coverage responsibilities for a broad base of institutional investors. Marc holds an MBA from HEC-Montreal.