Robert Niven, MSc
Chief Executive Officer & Founder

​​Robert Niven is the Chief Executive Officer of CarbonCure Technologies, the global leader in carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal technologies for the concrete industry. Rob founded the company in 2012 with the simple goal of making concrete sustainability both profitable and easy for the industry. With Rob at the helm, CarbonCure and its partners are achieving their mission to annually reduce and remove 500 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere annually.

Under his direction, CarbonCure has won numerous international awards honouring leadership in sustainability, innovation and technology development including the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, Cleantech Group's 2020 North American Company of the Year, the BloombergNEF New Energy Pioneers Award and recognition as one of the Top 100 Global Cleantech Companies for seven consecutive years.

Featured as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 for his leadership in CO₂ utilization, Rob holds an MSc in Environmental Engineering from McGill University and a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. In his spare time, Rob is an avid outdoors enthusiast and devotes his time to nature conservation and environmental community events.

Kristal Kaye
Chief Financial Officer

As CFO, Kristal is responsible for all of CarbonCure’s financial functions. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) with extensive experience in process improvements, operational efficiencies and building high performing teams across a variety of industries including mining, energy and retail pharmacy. In her previous role, Kristal was the CFO for Arctic Canadian Diamond Company. 

Kristal has a Bachelor of Applied Business Administration from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and subsequently completed a Master of Business Administration at Laurentian University. To fulfill her passion for continuous learning, Kristal also completed the Directors Education Program and obtained her ICD.D designation.

Kristal is based in Calgary, where she lives with her husband Ted, two children, Tyson and Dylan, and their dog Bailey. Outside of running kids to school and sport activities, in her free time, she enjoys unplugging at their lake cottage, traveling and working on her golf game.

Scott Henson
Chief Operating Officer

As COO, Scott Henson drives CarbonCure’s operational excellence, focusing on customer satisfaction and business success. He is a seasoned executive with a strong record of product incubation, product design, leadership development, international operations and optimizing businesses at scale. Before CarbonCure, he held various leadership roles at Microsoft, Amazon and GoFundMe and led strategic partnership teams for major platforms like Windows, Xbox and Fire TV.

In recent years, Scott has shifted his career toward addressing the social, environmental and business challenges posed by climate change, leveraging his expertise in change management, product leadership and relationship management to contribute to this important cause.

Based in Seattle, Scott is actively involved with local initiatives such as Seattle Climate Change Meetup and the local Elk’s Club. He also serves as a board member at Carbon Leadership Forum. Scott and his wife Catherine have two adult daughters, Autumn and Siena. They also have a dog named Abbey (named after Abbey Road) and two cats named Miso and Banjo.

Dean Forgeron, PhD, PEng
Chief Technology Officer

As a concrete innovator, Dean is responsible for the engineering and product development activities at CarbonCure. Along with industry partners, Dean has successfully developed and commercialized technologies for the concrete sector that have been adopted in international markets. His background includes development of concrete macro-synthetic fiber reinforcement, material characterization of fiber reinforced concrete, self-consolidating and self-leveling fiber reinforced concrete, and green concrete technologies.

Dean completed his BEng at TUNS in Halifax before completing his PhD at Dalhousie University. Outside of work, Dean enjoys traveling, outdoor activities and motor sports.

Katherine Gyles
Vice President of People & Culture

As our Vice President of People & Culture, Katherine is responsible for all aspects of people, performance and culture, serving CarbonCure’s mission and values. She is a seasoned and insightful coach and executive leader with a passion for authentic connection and keeping the humans front and centre at work. She draws on more than 30 years of experience in People & Culture, Communications and Organizational Effectiveness in various sectors.

As a natural connector and coach, she is known for her ability to listen respectfully and deeply, and to distill complex dynamics into a clear picture. Working collaboratively, she has helped organizations create culture characterized by caring, respectful and accountable relationships, strong results, clarity of purpose and values, and strategic integration of talent, tools and processes.

Katherine is a graduate of Queen’s University, holds a certificate in Human Resource Management and is an Associate Integral Coach candidate. She has volunteered throughout her life with organizations like the Atlantic Economic Council, where she is a Board member and Chair of the HRC. Fun facts: she finds mindful well-being and community by singing in a Halifax women’s acapella chorus and staying active. Along with her husband Chuck, Katherine has two children attending university. The crew can often be found enjoying the outdoors with their two dogs Bella and Eddie (the only true-born Bluenoser in the family).

Christian Weisenburger
General Counsel

In his role as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Christian oversees the legal aspects of the business arrangements of CarbonCure and participates as a member of the leadership team. Joining the company near its inception in 2009, he has guided from a legal perspective each stage of the company’s growth. 

Lisa Bate
Board Chair and President of Bate Sustainability Inc.

A certified corporate director (ICD.D) and globally renowned sustainability leader and architect, Lisa Bate has extensive expertise and progressive experience in environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, design and implementation. She is a passionate thought leader with a vast portfolio of work, including three separate real assets certified 'firsts' of Net Zero Carbon (NZC) building performance. An ESG ambassador with strategy, design and project management leadership, Lisa has experience across Canada, the U.S., Caribbean, China, Vietnam, Singapore and India with a recent lead role to develop a five-year strategic plan and sustainability growth target now in the implementation phase for a group of companies with more than 120 offices in more than 40 countries. She is also a sought-after speaker, author, advisor, board director and former chair of both the World Green Building Council and the Canada Green Building Council, as well as a former representative with the United Nations Environmental Protection – Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative.

Lisa was the inaugural Global Sustainability Lead at B+H Architects with executive leadership positions spanning from 2007 to 2022 that include Regional Managing Principal, North America, Managing Principal, China and EVP, Asia. From 1991 to 2007, Lisa led her own firm Six Degrees Architecture and Design that was acquired by B+H.

ESG advocacy is in Lisa’s DNA. Alongside CarbonCure, she has served as Vice Chair of the Foundation for Architectural Research, Canada since 2006. Prior board directorships include Foundation Development Society Limited, Bermuda, Vice Chair; World Green Building Council, Past Chair of the Board, and member of the Corporate Advisory Board; Canada Green Building Council, Past Chair. Other initiatives include The Climate Group, ConcreteZero Task Force, 2022; Urban Land Institute (ULI), Mainland China, Shanghai Management Committee; National Roundtable for Sustainable Infrastructure, Canada; Ontario Association of Architects, Past President/Chair, Canada; Pro-Demnity Insurance, Past Board Director, Canada.

Lisa is a 360-champion defining gender parity, diversity and inclusion as critical components to achieve global sustainability and resilience goals.

Kayode Akinola
Head of Private Equity Directs at Blue Earth Capital

Kayode Akinola heads the global private equity direct investments practice at Blue Earth Capital. He has more than 20 years of private equity investment experience across developed and emerging markets, and before Blue Earth Capital was a Director in the Private Equity team at investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in London. Prior to KKR, he was a Partner with Helios Investment Partners an emerging and frontier market focused private equity firm. Before Helios, Kayode was with investment firm Investcorp in London focused on private equity transactions in Europe. Kayode started his career in 1999 with Deutsche Bank as a member of the Leveraged Finance team in London and holds an LLB (Laws) from University College London.

Michael S. Burke
Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AECOM

Michael S. Burke is the Retired Chair and Chief Executive Officer of AECOM (NYSE: ACM), a premier, fully integrated infrastructure firm that designs, builds, finances and operates infrastructure assets in more than 150 countries through nearly 60,000 employees.

After joining the company in 2005, Mr. Burke served as a key AECOM leader and was instrumental in the evolution of AECOM from a private company to a public firm whose staff of architects, engineers, designers, planners, scientists and management and construction professionals serve clients virtually anywhere in the world. Mr. Burke directed the company’s initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which was one of the 10 largest NYSE listings for 2007, and one of the largest engineering industry IPOs of all time.

Mr. Burke is a former member of the Business Roundtable Board of Directors and Chair of its Infrastructure Committee. The Committee is leading the organization’s efforts to advocate for the modernization of U.S. infrastructure assets. Globally, he is the former Co-Chair of the Steering Committee, Infrastructure and Urban Development Industries, World Economic Forum. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Archer Daniels Midland Company, one of the world’s largest agricultural processors and food ingredient providers.

William C. Holden
Chair of the CarbonCure Industry Advisory Council

As Chair of the Industry Advisory Council, Bill Holden helps guide CarbonCure on the issues that matter most to today's concrete producers. Holden possesses over thirty years of executive and general management construction materials experience in aggregates, ready mix, masonry products and building materials.

Bill served as the President of Block USA, one of the leading concrete masonry producers in the country, and as President of Couch USA, a major producer of ready mix, block and building materials serving the Southeast USA. As well, Bill was formerly Chairman of the Board of the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA) and Alabama Concrete Industries Association, and Chairman of the NCMA’s Long Range Planning Committee. Bill currently serves as a board member of The Concrete Industry Management Program.

Robert Niven
Chief Executive Officer, CarbonCure Technologies

Robert Niven is the Chief Executive Officer of CarbonCure Technologies, the global leader in carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal technologies for the concrete industry. Rob founded the company in 2012 with the simple goal of making concrete sustainability both profitable and easy for industry. With Rob at the helm, CarbonCure and its partners are achieving their mission to reduce 500 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually by 2030.

Under his direction, CarbonCure has won numerous international awards honoring leadership in sustainability, innovation and technology development including the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, Cleantech Group's 2020 North American Company of the Year, the BloombergNEF New Energy Pioneers Award and recognition as one of the Top 100 Global Cleantech Companies for seven consecutive years.

Featured as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 for his leadership in CO₂ utilization, Rob holds an MSc in Environmental Engineering from McGill University and a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. In his spare time, Rob is an avid outdoors enthusiast and devotes his time to nature conservation and environmental community events.

Chris Poirier
Member of Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Over the last 25 years, Chris has started or led six technology-based companies that span industries ranging from medical device manufacturing to design automation software to energy technology. Prior to joining BEV, Chris was the Chairman & CEO of CoalTek, Inc., a clean coal technology company. During his 12-year tenure at CoalTek, Chris led the company’s entry into the China market. Chris continued to serve on the board of CoalTek and CoalTek’s joint venture company in the PRC through 2018.

Chris was a three-time appointee to the National Coal Council, a special advisory committee to the US Secretary of Energy, under both the G.W. Bush and Obama administrations. He is an investor in and a member of the board of directors/advisors for a number of traditional technology, energy/environmental technology and materials companies. 

Chris earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from Boston College. Chris lives in Wellesley, MA with his wife and four children.

Onne van der Weijde
Senior Advisor to the CEO, CRH

Onne van der Weijde is a global executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience in the construction materials industry. He is renowned for his expertise in driving profitable growth, sustainability projects and operational excellence in large organizations across diverse cultural and geographic landscapes. Throughout his career, Onne has successfully led companies with more than 30,000 employees, implementing strategic initiatives that have significantly improved performance and stakeholder alignment. 

Currently based in the Netherlands, Onne serves as a senior adviser to the CEO of CRH, one of the world’s largest vertically integrated building materials businesses. He also holds non-executive directorships with Schneider Electric India since 2021 and Siam City Cement Thailand since 2022. Onne's extensive experience spans Europe, South East Asia, ASEAN and Africa, where he has honed his skills in construction materials and applications, finance, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial leadership. His ability to navigate complex markets and drive change has earned him recognition as a transformative leader in the industry.

In addition to his professional achievements, Onne is committed to fostering sustainable practices within the cement and concrete sectors. He is an advocate for innovative technologies that reduce the carbon footprint of construction materials, aligning with CarbonCure's mission to decarbonize the concrete industry.

Onne holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Bradford and a Bachelor's Degree, Business Administration and Management from The Hague University of Applied Sciences. He also completed the Senior Management Program at Harvard University.