Robert Kerr
Managing Director, Garforth International Canada, Inc.
Community and Municipal Implementation
rob.kerr@garforthcanada.ca
Mr. Kerr’s work experience has been a balance between private and public sector. His primary focus has been in the municipal/community area having worked with the cities of Guelph and Mississauga, Honeywell, Hydro Quebec, Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc. and Energy Advantage. For 10 years between 1995 and 2005, Rob held senior positions at ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability where he provided policy and program support to cities around the world committed to energy management at the community level, as well as mitigation and adaptation activities related to
climate change. Throughout his career, Rob developed expertise in managing inter-governmental relationships to the benefit of local governments and communities, from his advocacy work at the global level (starting with the UN Climate Conference in Kyoto, Japan in 1997) to advisory relationships with the federal and provincial governments and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
In his time at ICLEI, Mr. Kerr oversaw the start-up of ICLEI Energy Services, a services unit of ICLEI Canada. ICLEI Energy Services provided analytical and policy support services to ICLEI members. Mr. Kerr was the Project Manager for a number of Canadian municipal projects, including Sudbury, in providing GHG emissions inventories and corporate building energy retrofit strategies.
Mr. Kerr is also a Senior Associate with QUEST (Quality Urban Energy Systems of Tomorrow). Currently he is managing a project that is researching and analyzing the local economic impact of implementing community energy plans in support of QUEST’s recently announced New Brunswick Smart Energy Communities Accelerator Program.
In his role as Community Energy Manager with the City of Guelph and subsequently as the Principal of a municipal and community energy consultancy (and full-time associate to Garforth International), Mr. Kerr has managed projects including the development of strategic plans, feasibility studies, analytical analysis and risk assessments for a number of Ontario municipal and community clients. In addition to Guelph, Mr. Kerr has provided project management services to energy and climate studies in Oakville, Brampton, Newmarket and Windsor. Details of these projects are provided below, listed in order of most current, including contact information for project references.