Denis Marquis, P.Eng. is a Principal and Impact Assessment (IA) Specialist with Dillon Consulting Ltd.  After 10 formative years in a regulatory role (with the New Brunswick Environment Department as an Industrial Approvals Engineer and later as Director of Approvals), Denis has spent over 23 years conducting IA and permitting assignments for small- to large-scale developments, mainly in Atlantic Canada but stretching across Canada.  Denis recently rejoined Dillon Consulting, where he leads federal and provincial IA and permitting assignments for the renewable and conventional energy, infrastructure, mining, and manufacturing sectors. 

With Bachelor's and Master's degrees of Chemical Engineering from UNB (1992), and with a curiosity into sustainable industrial development, Denis has striven to raise the bar in project IA in our region. His professional interests lie in smart scoping, efficient IA execution with multidisciplinary teams, and fostering relationships with local and Indigenous communities. Denis' core background is in air quality management, and he has co-authored publications on establishing good practices for significance thresholds in IA.  

Denis has served as a Director of ACAIA since its inception in 2024 and was acclaimed as a continuing Director for a two-year term starting February 2026.  In his ongoing tenure as a Director, Denis hopes to continue to help elevate the practice of IA in Atlantic Canada. 

Don Maynard is owner and principal consultant of Granville Ridge Consulting, in Prince Edward Island.  Don's 38 years of experience working as a biologist and environmental assessment practitioner on Atlantic Canadian and national projects provides him with a holistic perspective, the understanding, and the working relationships to move projects successfully through environmental data collection, assessment and permitting processes. This experience has been gained while working in both the public and private sectors and has required Don to work with a wide variety of multi-discipline and multi-jurisdictional teams.

Don has served as a Director of ACAIA since its inception in 2024 and was acclaimed as a continuing Director for a one-year term starting February 2026.  In the next ACAIA term, Don's goals are to continue to grow the organization and increase the virtual professional presentations.  As well, to the extent possible, Don hopes to increase the networking of members, whether that be in person (preferable) or virtually with the ultimate goal of enhancing the knowledge base/quality of EA in Atlantic Canada.

Ian Stewart is an Associate Professor of Humanities, History of Science and Technology Program, University of King’s College, and has resided in Nova Scotia since 1995.  

Ian regards IA as a crucial aspect of science-informed, deliberative, and participatory democracy in support of sustainable development and ecological integrity.  He has served as a Board member to the East Coast Environmental Law Association since 2021, inspired by its work in public literacy in IA. 

In addition to various funded projects dedicated to expanding Canadian academic capacities for IA, Ian has contributed publications and scholarly presentations, including at several recent IAIA, OAIA, and Canadian Institute conferences, as well as presenting in ACAIA's inaugural Speaker Series. Ian sat on two advisory committees for the Nova Scotia Regional Assessment for Offshore Wind (completed January 2025), and is currently completing an OFI-funded project on Dalhousie research capacities in support of offshore wind IA.  Ian co-leads the newly formed MEOPAR-funded Canada Network for Offshore Wind Research, which will include research on IA methodologies suited to this region.

As a practitioner, Ian has been involved since 2020 in IA review processes and IA-related research as a Senior Associate of Nexus Coastal Resource Management. In 2023, he completed the course work for the IAIA Foundations in Impact Assessment.

Ian was acclaimed as a Director for a two-year term starting February 2026.

Jillian Bieser, PhD, is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.  Jillian is an environmental scientist with over 15 years of experience in IA.  She completed both her Master's and Doctorate at the University of Toronto with a focus on ecological restoration and has experience in IA from academia, public, private, and non-profit sectors. Jillian has been employed at the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada for the past seven years, most recently as a Senior Analyst on assignment in the Legislative and Regulatory Affairs division. She taught and supported the Environmental Impact and Risk Assessment course at the University of Toronto and was recently appointed as a part-time Academic, Assistant Professor supporting the Environmental Impact Assessment Certificate program at Dalhousie University.  

Jillian was a board member of the Ontario Association for Impact Assessment (OAIA) for 8 years and is looking forward to leveraging that experience in her contributions to ACAIA. Jillian believes the scale of the IA community in the Atlantic provinces offers a unique opportunity to strengthen existing networks within a group that is already very well-connected. As a Director of ACAIA, Jillian would like to utilize her experience to help expand the reach of ACAIA across the community through the delivery of our own conference and/or workshops tailored to our regional context. She would also like to enhance our connection with IAIA to solidify ourselves as contributors to the global IA community by enhanced participation of ACAIA in IAIA events and programming. 

Jillian was acclaimed as a Director for a two-year term starting February 2026.

Mike Atkinson is Director, Atlantic Region, for the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. 

Mike has a master’s degree in Limnology obtained at Hull University in the UK. Mike started his professional career as an aquatic scientist working for the UK’s Environment Agency, where he provided expert advice on fisheries and water quality related issues for IAs for projects impacting UK rivers.  In 9 years working with the UK government, he also managed a multidisciplinary environmental compliance team dealing with water quality management, fisheries science, environmental compliance and enforcement, hazardous waste management, watershed management, and municipal infrastructure planning.

Since moving to Canada in 2003, Mike has worked on environmental regulation and environmental assessments across many Canadian jurisdictions. He is currently Regional Director - Atlantic with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC, formerly CEAA).  In this role, he has been deeply involved in the IAs for most of the major development projects in the region over the last 15 years.

Prior to this, Mike worked in the private sector for Amec Earth and Environmental, leading a team of IA specialists conducting assessments of projects across Canada.  Between 2003 and 2007, he worked in Canada’s North as Manager of Environmental Assessment and Land Use Planning for the Government of Nunavut, working on the assessment of numerous mining and infrastructure projects, developing IA legislation, and providing expert testimony to Nunavut’s communities on large hydroelectric projects with transboundary concerns. 

Mike has worked closely with over 70 different Indigenous communities across Canada, fulfilling the Crown duty to consult in the context of environmental assessment and resource management.

Mike has served as a Director of ACAIA since its inception in 2024 and was acclaimed as a continuing Director for a one-year term starting February 2026.  During his ongoing tenure as a director of the ACAIA, Mike would like to further the professionalism and expertise of IA practitioners in the field within Atlantic Canada.  He would like ACAIA to embrace, debate, and be a forum to respond to modern trends in IA including the use of technology such AI and predictive modeling, regional and strategic assessment to realize project efficiencies, focused robust assessments, and timeliness.