Former Workplace Safety and Insurance Board general counsel and corporate secretary David Luther has joined the new not-for-profit organization IESO Nova Scotia as general counsel, board secretary and regulatory affairs.
IESO Nova Scotia will run the province’s electricity system, manage integrated resource planning, procure energy resources and services, and handle real-time system operations. It will gradually absorb these responsibilities from Nova Scotia Power in phases over the next two years.
Luther brings experience in corporate and commercial law. He has spent his career working in-house, starting with a stint at WorkSafeNB where he was commercial counsel from August 2020 to September 2021.
He became WorkSafeNB’s general counsel and corporate secretary in October 2021, a role he held until July 2024. During this period, he made key recommendations that helped reduce the backlog of WorkSafeNB’s decision review office.
Luther was on WSIB’s executive leadership team by July 2024, where he managed 150 staff. He led the organization’s legal operations and teams.
He also oversaw WSIB’s legal matters and board-related services like archive services. He identified and evaluated legal risks and opportunities impacting the company’s strategy and operations, per LinkedIn.
Moreover, Luther led WSIB’s appeals services division, which is an internal segregated administrative appeal body that independently reviews original decisions. He also supervised the company’s information access teams.
He founded Coaxion Law, which offers legal services to clients in North America, in August 2020. He was a special advisor to the CEOs of large North American and Caribbean entities on matters like mass terminations and restructurings involving over 3,000 employees, business transformation, and board and shareholder relations.
Luther was named among Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers last year.
IESO Nova Scotia recently announced that it was establishing an integrated resource plan to aid in planning the province’s long-term electricity future. The organization also made a request for expressions of interest for at least 300 megawatts of fast acting generation to support Nova Scotia’s Clean Power Plan. This will bolster renewable energy use and phase out coal fired generation.