Vision and goal setting
Set data and analytics roadmaps for energy and climate initiatives, and led the economic analysis for the BC Timber Sales Review, the province-wide review behind the 2026 expansion of BCTS’s mandate.
Economist · Public Service Leader · Educator
Dr. Mehdi Bagheri
Economic leadership for British Columbia’s public finances, energy and resources, and communities.
Seven years in the BC Public Service across oil and natural gas royalties, low-carbon fuels, and forest economics, with a policy fellowship at Treasury Board Staff. I lead teams and analysis that help executives decide, and I teach graduate climate policy at Royal Roads University after earlier teaching and research at UBC and the University of Victoria.
Public service
- 7years in the BC Public Service
- 3ministries: Energy, Forests, and Finance (Treasury Board Staff)
- 6roles across economics, policy, and data leadership
Teaching and research
- 22+peer-reviewed journal articles
- 1,700+citations (h-index 22, Google Scholar)
- 24graduate supervisions (5 PhD, 19 MSc)
PhD, University of British Columbia · P.Eng., Engineers and Geoscientists BC · Associate Faculty, Royal Roads University
Executive leadership
Leadership, with the evidence
Organized by the BC Public Service competencies for strategic leaders, plus Indigenous relations.
Creating and managing change
Built a ministry data warehouse with automated reporting, led agile delivery of decision-support tools, and now drive data governance and repeatable workflows across ministry teams.
Building strategic alliances
Led engagement with the fuel industry, environmental groups, and provincial agencies; managed cross-ministry data governance committees; Co-Chair of the Biomass Supply Analysis Working Group; member of a National Standard of Canada committee.
Promoting empowerment
Supervised staff in three roles, led multi-disciplinary technical teams, and supervised or co-supervised 24 graduate students.
Executive presence
Brief senior leadership on royalties, revenue, and the costs of regulation; teach graduate climate policy at Royal Roads University; author of 22+ peer-reviewed articles.
Indigenous relations
Analysis for the branch’s Indigenous opportunities programs, direct engagement with Indigenous partners, and formal Indigenous relations training.
Management toolkit: agile delivery · project management (Master’s Certificate, UBC) · data governance · regulatory impact assessment · stakeholder engagement
Every piece of advice should answer a question someone has to decide, and say plainly what it means for that choice.
How I lead
Economics
Policy areas
Public finance, economic development, energy and resources, communities, and climate. Each card says whether it comes from my own work or is a current area of focus.
Public finance and fiscal policy
Revenue forecasting, royalty and fiscal frameworks, inter-provincial fiscal comparisons, and fiscal impact analysis, including a policy fellowship with Treasury Board Staff at the Ministry of Finance.
Track recordRoyalties Economist, Ministry of Energy (2022–2023) · Treasury Board Staff fellowship, Ministry of Finance (2018)
Economic development and investment
Economic impact modelling with input–output methods, market and strategic investment analysis for the forest bioeconomy, and program evaluation.
Track recordSenior Economist, Ministry of Forests (2024–present) · input–output research in Energy Economics · program evaluation at R.A. Malatest
Energy, oil and gas, and LNG
Royalty frameworks for oil and natural gas, the resource base behind British Columbia’s LNG supply, the economics of low-carbon fuel standards, and data systems for energy and climate policy.
Track recordThree roles in the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation (2022–2024)
Critical minerals and mining
Bringing resource economics, supply-chain analysis, and life-cycle assessment to critical minerals: fiscal returns, supply-chain risk, and the emissions of extraction and processing.
Builds onMy royalty, supply-chain, and life-cycle assessment work
Municipal and community economics
Policy work with the City of Vancouver Sustainability Group, and research on city-integrated renewable energy, low-carbon community planning, and municipal waste-to-energy.
Track recordCity of Vancouver (2014) · research in Applied Energy and Waste Management
Environment and climate economics
Cost-benefit and regulatory impact analysis, carbon pricing, and life-cycle assessment with greenhouse gas accounting, so emissions are counted from source to end use.
Track recordLow Carbon Fuels Branch (2023–2024) · GHG accounting certificate, University of Toronto · teaching SPCC 615
2006 – 2026
Career at a glance
Education, teaching and research, and public service across twenty years, running in parallel since 2024. Select any bar or point for details.
Education
Teaching and research
Public service
Oct 2024 – present
Senior Economist
Ministry of Forests, Innovation, Bioeconomy and Indigenous Opportunities Branch.
Since 2019
Experience in the BC Public Service
Roles grouped by ministry, most recent first.
Ministry of Forests
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Oct 2024 – present
Senior Economist
Innovation, Bioeconomy and Indigenous Opportunities Branch
Led the economic analysis for the BC Timber Sales Review, the province-wide review behind the 2026 expansion of BCTS’s mandate; the review team was nominated for a 2026 Premier’s Award. Economic and data analysis for forestry and bioeconomy policy, including supply chains, markets, fiscal impacts, and strategic investments. Supervise staff and lead data governance across ministry teams.
Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation
Now the Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions-
Aug – Oct 2024
Chief Engineer and Data Systems Architect
Led multi-disciplinary technical teams and the agile delivery of data architecture and decision-support tools for renewable energy and low-carbon infrastructure planning.
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Oct 2023 – Aug 2024
Senior Policy Advisor Lead
Low Carbon Fuels Branch
Economic evaluation and regulatory impact assessment of low-carbon fuel standards, including life-cycle carbon-intensity analysis. Supervised staff and led engagement with industry, environmental groups, and provincial agencies.
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Oct 2022 – Oct 2023
Royalties Economist
Energy Economics and Royalties Branch
Oil and natural gas royalty frameworks, revenue forecasting, and inter-provincial fiscal comparisons.
Ministry of Forests
Formerly Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development-
Aug 2021 – Oct 2022
Senior Economist and Data Warehouse Architect
Built a data warehouse for forest inventory, harvest, and economic data, with automated reporting and decision-support tools.
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Aug 2019 – Aug 2021
Biomass Economist and Database Systems Lead
Biomass supply chains, carbon accounting, and energy economics for large timber and forest-product datasets.
Ministry of Finance
Treasury Board Staff-
2018
Senior Economist (Mitacs Policy Fellow)
Earlier: Senior Policy Analyst, R.A. Malatest & Associates (2018–2019); Policy Advisor and Environmental Engineer, City of Vancouver Sustainability Group (2014); Environmental Engineer-in-Training, RES’EAU-WaterNET Strategic Network (2014–2015).
Approach
How I lead
No surprises
Assumptions, risks, and limits are written down early, so decision-makers are never caught off guard.
Build capability that lasts
Documented, repeatable workflows and data systems that teams can run and improve themselves.
Partner early
Engage Indigenous partners, industry, communities, and other ministries while advice can still change.
Service
Committees and service
- Co-Chair, Biomass Supply Analysis Working Group, BC Ministry of Forests (2019–present).
- Committee Member, National Standard of Canada for Biomass Supply Chain Risk Assessment (2020–present).
- Representative, BC Public Service data governance and information management committees.
- Member, Institute for Integrated Energy Systems (IESVic), University of Victoria (2016–present).