August 2013 - Business in Calgary

enMaX president and ceo Gianna Manes

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Initiation

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THIS IS NOT AN AD FOR ROCKY MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT. But it is an ad for everything we stand for. Things like honesty, integrity, and helping you put food on your family’s table. But above all, it’s an ad to let you know that none of those things are going away because we’re calling ourselves Rocky Mountain Equipment. Because even if the name on the sign is changing, our values won’t.

Introducing the new Rocky Mountain Equipment DEPENDABLE IS WHAT WE DO.

Contents

volume 23 • number 8

PUBLisheRs

Pat Ottmann & Tim Ottmann

editoR

John Hardy

on our cover…

coPY editoRs

Lisa Johnston & Nikki Mullett

Gianna Manes, EXMAX president and CEO

aRt diRectoR

Cher Compton cher@businessincalgary.com

contRiBUtinG desiGneR adMinistRation

AUGUST 2013 $3.50

Nancy Bielecki nancy@businessincalgary.com Sarah Schenx info@businessincalgary.com

ReGULaR contRiBUtoRs

www.businessincalgary.com

Jessi Evetts

Richard Bronstein Frank Atkins David Parker Lonnie Tate Mary Savage

Initiation

by Flood

this issUe’s contRiBUtoRs Heather Ramsay Stewart McDonough Parker Grant Shafak Sajid Andrea Mendizabal

ENMAX president and CEO Gianna Manes

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PhotoGRaPhY

Cover photo courtesy of Ewan Nicholson Photography Inc.

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adVeRtisinG saLes

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We’re Under Construction!

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Calgary Head Office

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Bernie Cooke bernie@businessincalgary.com Kim Hogan kim@businessincalgary.com

Construction Real Estate

Ca

diRectoRs oF cUstoM PUBLishinG

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Bobbi Joan O’Neil bobbi@businessincalgary.com Brent Trimming brent@businessincalgary.com Carla Wright carla@businessincalgary.com Evelyn Dehner evelyn@businessincalgary.com Renee Neil renee@businessincalgary.com

editoRiaL, adVeRtisinG & adMinistRatiVe oFFices

1025, 101 6th Ave. SW Calgary, AB T2P 3P4 Tel: (403) 264-3270/Fax: (403) 264-3276 Email: info@businessincalgary.com

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sUBscRiPtions

Online at www.businessincalgary.com Annual rates: $31.50; $45 USA; $85 International Single Copy $3.50 Business in Calgary is delivered to over 33,500 business people every month including all registered business owners in Calgary, Banff, and Canmore, and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce members.

The publisher does not assume any responsibility for the contents of any advertisement, and all representations of warranties made in such advertising are those of the advertiser and not of the publisher.

No portion of this publication may be reproduced, in all or in part, without the written permission of the publisher. Canadian publications mail sales product agreement No. 41126516

80

COVER 31 • Initiation by Flood

Despite June’s devastating fluke and the urgent crisis management, ENMAX president and CEO Gianna Manes is powered-up and making Calgary a better place

By John Hardy

Find us online!

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to circulation dept.

1025 101 6th Ave. SW Calgary, AB T2P 3P4 info@businessincalgary.com

www.businessincalgary.com 6 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

www.businessincalgary.com

For close to a quarter century, Pivot Data Centres has quietly emerged as Alberta’s leader in providing Data Centre services for our clients’ mission critical IT infrastructure. From the Server Room to the Board Room, we have our clients to thank for the amazing success we have experienced.

It’s time to build on that success and be…well, a little less quiet about it.

We are thrilled to announce the construction of our largest Co-location Data Centre to date – right here in our own backyard. This state-of-the-art Data Centre will set a new standard for Co-location facilities in Western Canada.

Phase 1 is planned to open in late 2013.

Visit pivotdci.com/buildon for more information.

Calgary

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Edmonton

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800.465.1697

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Contents

Volume 23 • Number 8

THIS MONTH’S FEATURES

28

18 • Personal Brands at Work

Despite fashion, styles, trends, diversity, individuality and self-expression, most bosses and co-workers do judge books by their cover and workplace appearance matters.

By John Hardy

22 • 2013 Leaders of Tomorrow

Honouring Calgary’s Visionary Business Leaders

28 • Walking the Walk of Renewable Energy

There are a lot of renewable energy changes and breakthroughs happening behind the scenes. It may take 10 to 15 years to notice actual market changes.

By Parker Grant

35 • 2013 Calgary Head Office Feature The Head Office Capital of Canada

By John Hardy

45 • No More Pencils, No More Books ...

54

E-Learning is revolutionary, it breaks down barriers, it transforms lives and business and it will soon be a $107-billion global business.

So why are some skeptics not convinced?

By John Hardy

54 • Look Out ~ We’re Under Construction!

Notorious for the proverbial season called ‘construction,’ Calgary is currently a flurry of projects, tradespeople and growth.

By Heather Ramsay

58 • Meetings, Resorts and Retreats 59 • Alberta: Canada’s Telecommuting Leader

With more and more IT computing options, the lines between business and personal technology are already being blurred and telecommuting is becoming a normal fact of work life.

By Parker Grant

77

On the Ball!

Millions of dollars of research and development go into designing and creating the best ball for the individual golfer’s abilities, techniques and quirks.

By John Hardy

COMPANY PROFILES REGULAR COLUMNS

65 • DA Watt Celebrates 30 Years 73 • Can West Legacy... A New Leader Emerges

10 • Summer Sound Bites

By Richard Bronstein

12 • Pipelines and Trade-offs

By Frank Atkins

14 • It’s All About Money for the U.S.

By Lonnie Tate

80 • Leading Business 82 • The Calgary Report

Current developments for Calgary Telus Convention Centre, Tourism Calgary, Calgary Economic Development, and Innovate Calgary

86 • Marketing Matters

By David Parker

8 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

59

Summer Sound Bites • Richard Bronstein

By Richard Bronstein

Summer Sound Bites

I

would like to congratulate Senator Mike Duffy for creating a new model for economic growth. This may be a unique Canadian solution for such grimacing problems as youth underemployment and underperforming economies worldwide.

Step One: You fiddle $90,000 in expenses from your employer.

Step Two: Your employer finds out and demands repayment. So you find a sucker to write you a cheque for $90,000 to reimburse your unhappy bosses.

Step Three: You quietly sneak out the back door with the $90,000 that you originally scammed from taxpayers and still call yourself a senator in the service of the nation.

This transaction is a wash for Canadian taxpayers. But it is still a net $90,000 benefit for Senator Duffy for conduct that is at least unethical, if not criminal.

Don’t we have laws against benefiting from illegal activity?

If Prime Minister Stephen Harper, if the Conservative caucus, if Conservative party supporters do not see that this kind of deal is corrosive of public service values, then they deserve all the scorn that will surely be heaped on them in the coming months.

The flood: It came, it destroyed, but we conquered.

I know some families who were badly affected. But they were all incredibly brave and just rolled up their sleeves and got to work. I also know many people who volunteered by mucking basements, hauling trash, and bringing food and water.

While the heroic phase may be over, I know from personal experience (a tornado in Ontario that hit our place) that it is sometimes weeks and months afterwards that worry and depression can set in.

That’s when flood victims will need alternative forms of help from family, friends and others so they can talk about their experiences. Total recovery is a long and sometimes difficult road.

I think what helped make this a great community effort was the tone set by Mayor Naheed Nenshi. He provided trustworthy and timely information updates, he gave encouragement to first responders, and above all, he gave a sense of hope and optimism to all involved by appealing to our good nature.

10 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

I hope that Calgary homebuilders have been paying attention. Do not pick a fight with Mayor Nenshi over trumped up accusations that the mayor wants to end suburban growth.

If I may be allowed to interpret the mayor’s views on urban development, I don’t think he is saying “no more suburbs.” I think what Mayor Nenshi is saying is, how do we imagine a better city over the next 20-30 years when we are likely to add a city the size of Regina to our urban bosom.

Do we keep doing the same things as we did in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s? Or is there an onus on all of us – city planners, builders and citizens – to build a city of the future that is greener, more efficient and effective, that is geared towards human creativity and potential and not just ease of automobile traffic. Mayor Nenshi is not against suburbs, he is just asking developers to become partners in moulding a city of greatness and compassion in the years ahead.

I first met Bill Powers when he was sports editor at the old Calgary Albertan newspaper and I was a rookie news reporter. We worked on different beats, but I always appreciated him as the office wit.

He could put a smile on anybody. But he was also incredibly kind and giving of his time to greenhorns like me. As Bill rose up the ranks of sports broadcasting, I drifted off to political journalism at the CBC in Toronto and we lost touch for a long time. Years later I returned to Calgary and established contact again through the serendipity of his wife, Donna Lee, and my wife working together for the Calgary Jewish community.

Donna Lee was one of those people who, when you met her for the first time, you were friends for life. Donna Lee knew how to work, how to solve problems and how to have fun along the way. Like Billy, she always had time to look after people.

Billy and Donna Lee were very good for each other, they had true love. That’s the lesson I will take from them. I hope their children will be able to come out of this tragedy and still see the good side of human nature.

All we have . . . is hope. BiC

T:7.875” S:7.375”

MEET YOUR NEW It’s time for Canadian businesses to innovate.

A study by The Conference Board of Canada shows that Canada is currently ranked 22nd in the world in business innovation and 26th in business sophistication.1 Fortunately, forward thinkers and business leaders recognize these statistics for what they are: an opportunity.

When we embrace the transformative power that investing in technology can bring, a world of possibilities opens up before us.

TO FIND INNOVATION, LOOK UNDER “D” FOR DATA. Yellow Pages Group, a leading Canadian digital company, used IBM Smarter Analytics and IBM SmartCloud

marketing campaigns with more accuracy, improve the overall user experience and expand their online and mobile presence.

These innovations created an 8.1% increase in site visits,

Gabriel Montagne Marketing Director Web Analytics, Yellow Pages Group

CONSUMER INSIGHT OFFICER. MAKE YOUR DATA WORK FOR YOU.

Every business creates data.

But what separates the leaders from the followers is how they use it.

The Yellow Pages Group used analytics and cloud solutions to distill data from over 9 million monthly site visits into key consumer insights.

solutions to gain predictive insights into their visitors’ behaviours. As a result, they were able to measure

a 50% reduction in noresult searches and a 44% increase in user satisfaction.

Join the conversation at linkedin.com/company/ conversations or learn more at ibm.com/progress/ca

LET’S BUILD A SMARTER PL ANET.

1. World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Smarter Planet, and the planet icon are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at Copyright and trademark information at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. © Copyright IBM Corp. 2013.

S:10.25”

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DATA.

T:10.75”

Harnessing the power of analytics and cloud computing can help create efficiency, increase productivity and foster further business innovation. These key factors can have a significant impact on your business, both in the short term, and as we prepare for the future. At IBM, we believe that investment in innovation is one of the best practices for Canadian businesses looking to succeed in the modern world. It’s more than a smart strategy. It’s key to creating a smarter planet.

In order to compete more effectively, companies are using big data to create big changes within their organizations.

Solutions such as IBM Smarter Analytics and IBM SmartCloud give Canadian business leaders the ability to harness insights from their data and put those insights into practice in real time. Allowing them to reinvent their business model and create a significant advantage over their competitors.

“Gathering information is really just the first step.

Using it in an innovative way to take your business to the next level is where the magic happens.”

Pipelines and Trade-offs • Frank Atkins

By FRANK ATKINS

I

love teaching economics, but it is not an easy task, as economists have their own way of thinking. I find that if I can get students to think like economists the teaching and learning process is much easier. Economists think in terms of trade-offs. A very succinct statement of this has been provided by Gregory Mankiw of Harvard University. In what economists refer to as “Mankiw’s Ten Principles of Economics,” Principle No. 2 is the statement: “The true price of something is what you give up to get it.”

The mundane classroom example of this is that you trade off leisure time to work. In return you receive some kind of income for working. The more that you are willing to trade off leisure for work, the higher will be your income.

Unfortunately, politicians and a great deal of the general public do not think in terms of trade-offs. This is unfortunate, as one of the great trade-off debates today involves the exploitation of natural resources. If we leave natural resources in the ground, we are not creating any pollution, but we get no benefit from the resources that remain in the ground. As we exploit natural resources, it is inevitable that we create some pollution, but we get the benefit of the use of the resources. However, this is not a static trade-off in the sense that the more we exploit the resources, the more we pollute. The use of technology allows us to change the nature of the trade-off,

Pipelines and Trade-offs and to exploit more resources while lowering pollution. This is something that the extreme environmentalists refuse to acknowledge.

This leads us to the anti-pipeline contingent of environmental lobby.

Not only do they not acknowledge

Their outdated views on the safety of pipelines has forced us to ship oil in a less safe manner via rail.

that technology can alter a tradeoff, they actually do not seem to be aware that any trade-offs exist. In Alberta we need to get our oil to markets. Using old data that was gathered before pipeline technology evolved, the anti-pipeline contingent has significantly slowed, and may even have stopped, approval of the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines. In what should have been a predictable response, Calgary-based oil companies started shipping oil by train, as the

12 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

expanded pipeline capacity that was needed was delayed. The environmental lobby was remarkably silent on this move, focused as they are on the evils of pipelines. As it turns out, shipping oil by train is much more dangerous than shipping oil by pipeline. The anti-pipeline people appear to have missed this trade-off.

At the time of writing this article in early July, the cause of the Lac Mégantic train disaster was unknown, so it is not clear how this disaster impacts the pipeline versus rail shipment of oil trade-off. Whatever the cause, this disaster has opened a debate about the safety of pipelines versus train for shipping oil. In my opinion this is good, not only because public debate about these kinds of trade-offs is necessary, but also because it will hopefully make the public see how environmental lobby has no credibility. Their outdated views on the safety of pipelines has forced us to ship oil in a less safe manner via rail.

Further, these environmental lobbyists welcome the support of well-known Keystone XL critic Warren Buffett. As it turns out, Mr. Buffett owns the railway company BNSF, which has seen the amount of oil it transports rise to 90 million barrels a year in 2012, from 1.3 million in 2008. It appears that Mr. Buffett understands trade-offs. BiC FrAnk ATkinS iS An ASSoCiATe ProFeSSor oF eConomiCS AT The UniverSiTy oF CAlgAry.

Leaders never quit.

They may take it on the chin, they may get knocked down, but leaders get back up. We’ve done just that and continue to be in our clients’ corners, custom building solutions to help our clients do what they do best...lead.

Because Alberta means the world to us. atb.com/Leaders

TM

Trademarks of Alberta Treasury Branches.

it’s All About money for the U.S. • Lonnie Tate

By LONNIE TATE

It’s All About Money for the U.S.

T

here is light at the end of the tunnel. It is probable that Canadians will be able to spend all the cold months as visitors to the warm regions of the U.S. No … that doesn’t mean you will be able to spend all your time (other than Stampede week) in the U.S. But it does look as though eight months will become doable.

I think that by the end of the year, the United States of America will have new laws governing immigration. The change will happen because the current U.S. systems are terribly broken. But most importantly, members of Congress need some positive act they can say they voted for and (perhaps) be re-elected in 2014. If they don’t do something good, most will lose their jobs as voters rebel.

The laws will change because it is just plain old good economics. As lots of people now say: “It is the money, stupid.”

First, congressmen and senators vote for anything that keeps them employed. Yes, they will wait until the eleventh hour playing politics, but it will happen.

Second, there are 11 to 12 million illegal residents in the U.S. – most of them Hispanic. They underpin the economy taking all the jobs American citizens do not want. Notwithstanding what politicians and some right-wing folks think, the U.S. economy needs them. Moreover, if they are made legal, they will add $400 billion over 10 years in tax revenues (a not insignificant consideration) in the war on the deficit. So … there will be laws to assimilate these people under the U.S. citizen umbrella over an extended period of time.

Third, the U.S. method for grading prospective immigrants will change. Right now, the U.S. graduates hundreds of thousands of foreign university students … and then sends them home. If they do not have a sponsoring relative who is a citizen (or in the citizenship process) they are toast. Annually the billions of dollars spent training foreign nationals will be converted to a valuable resource working in the U.S. There are hundreds of billions at stake here and it is virtually free money!

Fourth, rules for foreigners visiting the U.S. will revert

14 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

to pre-9/11 in many ways and improve upon those rules in many respects. Before 9/11, the U.S. was the number one tourist destination in the world. Now it is a net tourist exporter and its tourism industry barely reaches the top 20 in the world. A return to the pre-9/11 levels would add $2 trillion and 1 million new jobs to the economy over 10 years.

This is where Canada comes in. There has been much in the Canadian press about how an increase in Canadian tourism will save the U.S. economy. What nonsense! It is likely Canadian seniors will get a break and be allowed to visit for eight months in a calendar year. At best that is a $5-billion annual boost – pretty small potatoes when you consider the rest of the numbers on this page. But Canada is their largest trading partner and getting some old and harmless Canadians spending more in the U.S. is not a bad idea. (Now if only we can get the provincial government to relax the current rules to accommodate the changes on the southern side of the 49th parallel.)

There is a downside – U.S. border security will tighten and with that, reporting required of foreign nationals will become more onerous. Border restrictions will become really tough at the Mexican border because U.S. rednecks will demand that. There will be some spillover from this demand at the Canadian border.

But the majority of illegal immigration to the U.S. comes through visitor visas. People show up with a visitor’s visa and then disappear. Regular reporting will become mandatory and I expect that Canadians will be caught in red-tape requirements. So there will be no more nudging and winking when Canadians overextend their stay.

A few words of caution. I’ve read dire warnings that the proposed new rules will trap Canadian visitors into paying estate and income taxes. For the most part, those rules apply today. So if you spend time in the U.S. or hold property there, get some professional advice so that you know the consequences of your actions. BiC

“Seems like regulations are increasing as fast as demand.”

People who know Natural Resources, know BDO.

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Assurance | Accounting | Taxation | Advisory Services Lorraine Walker Energy and Natural Resources Leader 403 213 2592 lwalker@bdo.ca www.bdo.ca BDO Canada LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership, is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent member firms. BDO is the brand name for the BDO network and for each of the BDO Member Firms.

Entrepreneurs.

They turn us on.

Join us for our electrifying 20th anniversary celebration on October 17 in Calgary and meet the Prairies finalists — and the award winners!

To learn more, contact Louise Hyland at 403 206 5372 or louise.hyland@ca.ey.com.

Learn more at ey.com/ca/EOY. And follow us on Twitter: @EYCanada #EOY20.

Bu pro

Da Ce Se Sa

Je Th Ed

20 years of inspiration

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Business-to-business products and services Darcy Tofin Central Water & Equipment Services Ltd. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Jeff Polovick The Driving Force Inc. Edmonton, Alberta Kyle Powell SureHire Occupational Testing Nisku, Alberta Geoff Gyles, Kerry Green Wolf Trax, Inc. Winnipeg, Manitoba

Cleantech

Manufacturing

Mogens Smed DIRTT Environmental Solutions Calgary, Alberta

Thane Russell Absolute Completion Technologies Ltd. Calgary, Alberta

Graham Illingworth Genalta Power Inc. Calgary, Alberta

Joe Makowecki Heritage Frozen Foods Ltd. Edmonton, Alberta

Mark Chisick Urbanmine Inc. Winnipeg, Manitoba

Mike Fata Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods Winnipeg, Manitoba

Emerging entrepreneur

Oil and gas

John Stevens ENTREC Corporation Spruce Grove, Alberta

Nicole Bourque-Bouchier, David Bouchier The Bouchier Group Fort McMurray, Alberta

Business-to-consumer products and services

Dallas Lenius, Dean Hall Force Pile Driving Red Deer, Alberta

Dale Wishewan Booster Juice Edmonton, Alberta

Dr. Dennis Filips Innovative Trauma Care Edmonton, Alberta

Susan Brattberg, Elmer Brattberg, Audrey Brattberg, Holly Brattberg The Brattberg Group Edmonton, Alberta

Gregory Hartman, Dan Smith, Darrell Boulter, Paul Smith RIDE Inc. Drayton Valley, Alberta

Rick Brink Weddingstar Inc. Dunmore, Alberta

Ernst & Young is a proud supporter of entrepreneurship

Real estate and construction Jerry Naqvi Cameron Development Corporation Edmonton, Alberta Reza Nasseri Landmark Group of Builders Ltd. Edmonton, Alberta Allison Grafton Rockwood Custom Homes Calgary, Alberta

Menno Admiraal Western Camp Services Ltd. Edmonton, Alberta

Sean Rayner Vets Sheet Metal Ltd. Edmonton, Alberta

Dale Tremblay, Alex MacAusland, Jeffrey Bowers Western Energy Services Corp.

Calgary, Alberta

Technology and communications

Energy services

Professional and financial services

Russ Hebblethwaite Enviro Vault Canada Ltd. Calgary, Alberta

Steve King Alaris Royalty Corp.

Calgary, Alberta

Michael Sikorsky Robots and Pencils Inc. Calgary, Alberta

Merv Pidherney M. Pidherney’s Trucking Ltd. Rocky Mountain House, Alberta

Jean-Pierre Parenty Parenty Reitmeier Translation Services Winnipeg, Manitoba

Don Sutherland Studon Electric & Controls Red Deer, Alberta

National silver sponsor

Stanford Orme Asher S.O. Asher Consultants Ltd. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Platinum sponsors

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Craig Mackenzie Ontracks Consulting Edmonton, Alberta

Tara Kelly SPLICE Software Inc. Calgary, Alberta

Personal Brands at Work

Personal Brands at Work • Dress for Success

Despite fashion, styles, trends, diversity, individuality and self-expression, most bosses and co-workers do judge books by their cover and workplace appearance matters.

BY John haRdY

s

ome Calgary area staff, bustling and shuffling through Bankers Hall, the Suncor Energy Centre, The Bow, the Stock Exchange Tower or the hundreds of smaller workplace offices, may be missing the point.

It’s not about fashions, styles or trends. It is very much about ‘what other people think.’ It’s about image, perception, professionalism, appropriateness and making the right impression.

After a few decades of staff committees, HR surveys, subjective opinions and value judgements about everything from spaghetti straps, tailored suits, sneakers, low-rise slacks, beards and thongs to Capris, khakis, nose rings, golf shirts,

t

pantyhose and jeans, official lists of ludicrously specific dos and don’ts are gone or going fast from Calgary workplaces.

Employees and employers seem to be relieved and unanimous: good riddance to rarely enforced and practically unenforceable dress codes!

“There are now so many different types of businesses and so many different versions of what’s appropriate for which business environment,” admits Larry Rosen, CEO and chairman of the iconic Harry Rosen chain of men’s clothing stores and the privately owned company accounting for 40 per cent of Canada’s market in high-end menswear.

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Personal Brands at Work • Dress for Success

of staff and hardly any visitors to popular lofts and other boutique workplaces with dazzling and creative layouts and decor — Calgary is a kaleidoscope of diverse workplaces.

And the confusion and guesswork about what-to-wear and what-NOT-to wear to work choices has spawned much in-demand personal and corporate image and style professionals.

“Companies spend millions on creating and maintaining a corporate brand,” explains Calgary’s Sue Jacques, The Civility CEO — a dynamic corporate and executive image consultant and professional speaker. “Of course employees should be able to express individuLarry Rosen, CEO and chairman of Canada’s iconic Harry Sue Jacques, The Civility CEO, a Calgary-based corporate ality but not at the expense of the company’s Rosen chain of high-end men’s clothing stores and executive image consultant and professional speaker brand. Let’s face it. Sometimes finding the right balance can get tricky.

“To borrow business jargon, there is definitely “It’s really not as black and white (no fashion pun ROI (Return on Investment) to workplace appearances,” she intended) as it used to be. But one aspect is a constant for smiles. “The way employees represent themselves is the way both working men and women. If you want to be taken they are perceived.” seriously, you have to look the part and look professional.

Specific dress code lists, usually stashed in dusty Surveys have shown an undisputed correlation between peremployee manual binders or saved in rarely accessed folders sonal success and personal image,” Rosen says. in the company’s database have almost vanished, replaced From shimmering glass towers with rows of offices and by more realistic, contemporary (some say a bit vague) but cavernous halls of padded workstations where staff and visunwritten codes of employee attitude. itors come and go all day, the intimate offices with handfuls

www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 19

Personal Brands at Work • Dress for Success

Because styles, fickle fashion and hot trends still influence choices (and many Calgary employees rarely think of turning to a professional image consultant) most employees are on their own to determine what is and is not appropriate and what kind of an impression it gives.

“Great clothes aren’t going to make a dumb person smart but great clothes are going to make a smart person more effective,” says Rosen, passionately convinced that appearance at work does send a message and that it’s up to the individual to determine whether the message is good or bad.

“Men’s wear is evolutionary, not revolutionary.

And when it comes to fall and winter trends?” Rosen Leslie Davies, the internationally certified image Andrew Ward, director at Diversified Staffing Services shrugs, reluctant to predict. “Greys, blues, blacks consultant at Calgary’s Impact Image Essentials are always the cornerstone of men’s suits. It makes men look authoritative. We’re seeing a comeback of the three-piece suit and some really sharp, modern ties. After Traditionalists fear it lets the leash out too far while many many years men are finally discovering accessories and how to Calgary managers are satisfied that the rationale and the use more colour: ties, shirts and sportswear. For a working man intent of the less rigid way of achieving the desired end building a wardrobe from scratch? A plain black or navy suit results is working just fine. first and then a grey suit with a pattern, second.”

“In the past few years, Calgary has moved away from preThe most interesting workplace change is people assertscribed dress codes toward a more relaxed environment,” says ing their individuality rather than following fickle fashion Leslie Davies, the internationally certified and Calgary-based trends. “I see such a broad range in Calgary offices,” Jacques image consultant, Certified Human Resources Professional observes with enthusiasm. “Everything from Capris to wom(CHRP) and a member of Human Resources Institute of Alberta en’s full-on business suits, beautiful dresses, great shoes and (HRIA) at Impact Image Essentials. “It may still create some women enhancing their look with accessories.” ambiguity as people get used to it but employers now ‘suggest’ “Change is not only constant but it is good,” Davies says and ‘recommend’ appropriateness without making detailed lists with upbeat enthusiasm. “For example, five years ago in of specific clothing. some Calgary workplaces, pantyhose used to be mandatory.

“Organizations subtly link their brand values to a certain Standards are shifting so quickly. Pantyhose is now optional look and then leave it up to the individual employee. People and leggings and tunics are okay.” want to be trusted and treated as contributing adults with Image and fashion experts also stress some of the lessgood judgment. Besides, managers and HR people don’t obvious aspects of professional appearance. Quality shoes want to be the fashion police,” she says from much Calgary and watches are subtle but potent style items for men, and corporate training experience. “They don’t want to deal with shoes and a quality handbag for women. inappropriate clothing matters. They would rather focus on “For most working women and men, affordability is a big employee performance and productivity.” issue,” Jacques explains. “Ultimately our overall look is a Although recruiters, placement professionals and comstatement of our level of professionalism. So think quality pany HR personnel rarely, if ever, openly credit or blame not quantity.” clothes or appearance for getting or missing a job opporDespite the basic clothing and accessory choices, one still tunity, and it may never click with some surprised and contentious and contemporary workplace appearance hot unsuccessful job applicants, but the unspoken relevance button remains. of appearance, especially during initial interviews, is very Ink. Alias tattoos. Black, blue, green and red ink. Tiny star much a significant issue. clusters, Maple Leaf and Asian (kanji) symbols of courage, “Scrapping formal dress code rules is good but has made power, truth and success ink. Fancy special names inkedthe situation somewhat challenging,” cautions Andrew Ward, in-passion. Profound Bible, Michael Corleone or Steve Jobs director at Diversified Staffing Services, one of Calgary’s ink. Hidden ink and (what causes most of the workplace leading employment agencies with more than 35 years expeproblems) obvious and visible ink. rience. “The corners have become rounded. We don’t want to While stale and dated stereotypes and value judgements insult anybody but we do emphasize that when an applicant may be shrivelling — after all, bankers, bikers, nurses, athletes, targets a certain position, they intend to buy into a certain accountants, soccer moms, commodity traders, landscapers and company image. Of course job skills are the key, but profesdentists have ’em, many companies do encourage individuality sional appearance is a very important part of every company’s and aim for diversity and ink may have become legitimately culture and it’s up to the individual employee to fit in.”

20 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

• Dress for Success

in your Community

mainstream — ink on shoulders, calves and ankles, exposed arms or peeking out from under cuffs and collars can still be a touchy topic and an arguable workplace issue.

“Personally I’m not a fan of permanently marking up your body,” shrugs Rosen. “It limits your ability to express yourself. It’s like wearing the same shirt every day.”

Jacques agrees. “Body art is fine, every picture usually tells a story and it is interesting from a conversational perspective but I advise people to think before they ink. It may be about your personal past and present but, in terms of career and jobs, it could very much affect your future.”

Masking or getting rid of tattoos, partially for work and sometimes just a personal change-of-mind, is so ferociously popular that special websites (like www.tat2x.com) are devoted exclusively to tricks and products to camouflage tattoos, mostly for work.

Laser tattoo removals are readily available, effective and suddenly very popular and big business. According to IBISWorld, one of Canada’s most trusted sources for business information, tattoo removal is now a whopping $66 million business.

The catch, for average working people? It’s expensive! At $125-$250 per laser session, removal costs about 10 times more than the initial price of the tattoo.

Although workplace concealment policies differ, a study done by CareerBuilder.ca (a popular Canadian online employment website) says 31 per cent of surveyed employers rated “having a visible tattoo” as the biggest personal aspect that would dissuade them from hiring or promoting someone.

It may not be fair but when it comes to shirts, shoes, dresses, purple hair dust, Prada suits or a black-and-red dragon on the arm — people do notice ... bosses and co-workers do judge books by their cover ... there’s still no second chance to make a first impression ... and, at work and at play, appearance matters. BiC

Suncor Energy is keeping you informed.

We don’t just work here – we live here, too. Read more about Suncor and what we’re doing to be a responsible neighbour and a positive contributor in the communities where we operate.

Get your copy of our In Your Community newsletter now.

Visit www.suncor.com/inyourcommunity or call 1- 800-558-9071.

IYC JUNE 2013: Oil Sands: (4.5” x 9.75”) 4c.

www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 21

Business in Calgary 2/3 page

leaders of Tomorrow 2013 • News

2013

Leaders of tomorrow

Honouring Calgary’s visionary business leaders

The 2013 Leaders of Tomorrow Awards Gala, held at The Metropolitan Centre

Nancy Bielecki pins a corsage on Saundra Shapiro, one of this year’s winners

Audrey Brattberg, Susan Brattberg, and Elmer Brattberg

Michele Waters, Birol Fisekci, Kelly Bernakevitch

Paul Corbett, Alida Visbach, Carl DeSantis, Beverley DeSantis

Above: Guests view the alumni banners from the previous five years of Leaders of Tomorrow winners Below: Guests mingle during cocktail hour prior to the Awards Gala.

22 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

leaders of Tomorrow 2013 • News

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www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 23

Leaders of Tomorrow 2013 • News

Host Danny Hooper commences the Awards Gala

Guests mingle during the VIP reception

Judge and Platinum partner, Dave Zimmel, MNP, introduces the guest speaker

Shashi Behl, Jody Draude

Guest speaker David Werklund shares his words of wisdom with the crowd.

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www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 25

It started with a vision...

It started with a Then and now

20 years of inspiration

MAC VAN WIELINGEN ARC Financial and ARC Resources

MAC VAN WIELINGEN

C

algary’s Mac Van Wielingen is both a tremendously knowledgeable, experienced and respected energy expert and financial industry strategist, and also a fiercely loyal, committed and passionate (personal and business) people person.

Now more than ever, the global economy fluctuates. In Canada and the world, the energy situation (which includes technologies, supply, demand, regulations and prices) is in a constant state of flux, demanding new and relevant strategies for success. And Van Wielingen — the dynamic,

outspoken and personable Chairman and a founder of ARC Financial (Canada’s leading energy focused private equity investor) and ARC Resources (a leading oil and gas company focused on resource plays and which has one of the strongest balance sheets in the energy sector) and the winner of the 2011 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year-Prairies — continues involved (very occasionally concerned) but upbeat, unconditionally sincere, plugged-in and solidly dealing with the changes.

“The core of our vision and strategy remains the same. The business and the industry always have ups and downs,” he says, with calm confidence and determination. “At any point in time, some changes are larger, and more pervasive and more important than others. But, in every way, we remain focused on the long term. We focus on the facts and the fundamentals, instead of being swayed or influenced by the speculations, analysis and predictions of various experts and commentaries, and we develop our strategies for the long term.”

Despite the changes in the upstream oil and gas sector and the millions and billions invested in growth strategies to explore, acquire and develop crude oil and natural gas reserves and production, Mac Van Wielingen emphasizes with evident pride that ARC’s main priorities remain constant. Focus on the long term. Focus on people.

“When we started ARC Financial in 1989 and then ARC

h a vision...

ARC’s investors are concerned about Canada’s position in the globalization of the energy industry. The up and down roller coaster that is the oil and gas industry is different now. There are uncertainties we have never seen before,” he warns. “Notably the inability to expand and access key markets because of infrastructure constraints.

Alberta needs west coast access to Asian markets. Without infrastructure expansion and access to new markets like China and Japan, the Western Canadian Oil and Gas Sector could become the backwater of the North American energy industry.”

Content and unconditionally proud with the growth and success of ARC Financial and ARC Resources, Mac Van Wielingen’s confidence and positivity (“even with $3 gas”) translates not only to his business life and the industry he knows so well but also to his beloved Calgary community and his private life. “I am blessed with a very close, totally connected and loving family who holiday, travel and ‘play’ together with a shared passion for life.”

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® honours outstanding Canadians who have turned their unique business vision into successful reality. In 20 years, the program has achieved several major milestones in Canada including over 8,700 nominations received, more than 3,000 award finalists named, and presented 980 regional awards — including 40 lifetime achievement awards.

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20 years of inspiration

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Resources in 1996, the priority was always what it still is today. Attracting the most capable and effective people to our team. Leaders. Strategists.

Relationship-builders. And creating an environment where these people can become their best. This is what has driven ARC’s growth and success,” he explains.

“When you get right down to it, it’s all about people and relationships.”

“Leadership, ethics, passion, how we treat each other are vital. It is the core of both organizations and keeping it a priority yields extraordinarily positive results.

“Not only is our corporate culture based on solid values and quality relationships within our company,” says Van Wielingen, “but it is also the key to our long-term partnerships and relationships within our portfolio companies, our investors, our service providers and the communities in which we invest.”

As ARC’s growth and success continue strong — with $3.7 billion (CAD) of capital ARC Financial Corp. is Canada’s leading energy-focused private equity manager and with ARC Resource’s operations spanning western Canada, and $9 billion (CAD) of total capitalization — Mac Van Wielingen has his finger on the pulse of the oil and gas industry and particularly Canada’s options and attitudes about the short and long term oil and gas future.

“There are so many variables and so many uncertainties, even more than there were three or four years ago.

Entrepreneurs turn us on.

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Walking the Walk of renewable energy • Alternative Energies

Walking the Walk

of Renewable energy There are a lot of renewable energy changes and breakthroughs happening behind the scenes. it may take 10 to 15 years to notice actual market changes.

BY PaRkeR GRant

a

cknowledging that change, true action and actual results will be a colossal collaboration that will take years, the frustrating and tiresome problem is that, with very few exceptions – from Alison Redford, Stephen Harper and Barack Obama, ministers and assistants to the deputy ministers to committees, forums, think-tanks, industry, academia and reams of wordy policy frameworks and strategies – there’s a lot of talk about the urgent need for renewable energies and, aside from some encouraging, random Canadian progress, not enough is being done about it.

Mostly at the political and sub-political levels, there’s a lot of talk about sustainable, renewable, wind energy, solar, biofuels and hydro. On a massive, practical, crucially-serious, life-threatening and critical level: it’s mostly talk, not action.

“The push for renewable energies to combat climate change and impact future life may be as much of a social question as it is a scientific one,” says David Wood, chair of renewable energy and NSERC-Enmax professor of renewable energy at the University of Calgary.

“Of course it’s a hugely complex problem, not easy to solve and, unfortunately, it invariably gets muddied up with politics. Without a hint of pessimism, especially since I am an eternal optimist, it may be tough to achieve significant energy change during unpredictable economic times around the world.”

Wood and other renewable energy advocates agree.

Sometimes it may need some tough love and a harsh dose of 28 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

reality from politicians together with industry, experts and a focused vision.

“We must swear off fossil fuels!” daringly declares Dr. Tim Weis, director, renewable energy and efficiency policy at the Pembina Institute. Them’s fighting words for an industry expert based in Alberta.

“There are a lot of renewable energy changes and breakthroughs happening behind the scenes and consumers may not be involved or aware. The problems are not sudden and neither are the solutions. It may take 10 to 15 years to notice actual market changes. In the meantime, we must keep moving (or crawling) forward.”

Although Alberta’s strength in energy has been built on the province’s vast hydrocarbon resources, one of the genuinely dynamic sources of encouraging renewable energy progress is Calgary. As one of the world’s leading energy centres, Calgary is also handling responsibility (and walking the walk) for responding to the world’s urgent demand for affordable, renewable and environmentally-friendly energy.

Calgary’s Sustainable and Renewable Energy (SURE) industry group is a co-operation of over 60 organizations that are involved in relevant renewable energy areas like solar, wind, bioenergy, consulting and engineering, hydro, education, fuel cells, geothermal, green electricity, renewable smart grid and others.

The SURE group, managed by Calgary Economic Development (CED), has brought together the diverse mix of Calgary area com-

Walking the Walk of renewable energy • Alternative Energies

centre for sustainable and renewable technology, including carbon capture and storage and CO2 air capture as well as giving some of SURE’s Calgary-based firms a competitive advantage in the rapidly emerging field.”

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a global energy security and research organization based in Paris and serving 28 oil-importing countries, renewable energy is not only a hot North American topic of planning and discussion but it is already a growing fact of business around the world, on track to actually edge out natural gas as David Wood, chair of Renewable Energy and NSERC-Enmax Prof of Renewable Energy Dr. Tim Weis, director of renewable energy & the second biggest source of electricity, at the University of Calgary, works in the wind tunnel lab is at the Schulich School of Engiefficiency policy at the Pembina Institute after coal, by as soon as 2016. neering at the University of Calgary. Photo courtesy of Riley Brandt, University of Calgary.

As one specific renewable energy case in point, this year’s National Renewable Energy Forum panies that do business in the sustainable and renewable energy held in Toronto featured an Alberta Energy presentation, sector to focus their innovation and share collective knowledge showing that coal and natural gas currently account for and best practices.

89 per cent of Alberta’s electricity, while wind accounts for “A lot of SURE’s assets are unique to Calgary and Alberta only four per cent, followed by hydro and biofuels at three and also help some of the companies develop new renewable per cent each. The final one per cent was lumped together energy technologies as well as expanding into new maras “other.” kets,” notes Lee Malleau, vice president, business and trade The solution is complex but obvious, real and urgent, says development with CED. “Calgary is growing as a global

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Money spent at Winsport goes back to supporting our Canadian High Performance Winter athletes www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 29

Walking the Walk of renewable energy • Alternative Energies

David Wood, (left) and former graduate student Xavier Ortiz prepare do testing in the wind tunnel lab is at the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. Photo courtesy of Riley Brandt, University of Calgary.

Wood. “We must retire Alberta’s coal-fired power stations – most of them are old and need replacing anyway – and convert to gas-fired power stations as quickly as possible. In the long term, we should exploit Alberta’s significant wind and solar resources. After all, other countries, some bigger and some much smaller, are way ahead of us, proving that wind is the most mature of the renewable technologies.”

Weis agrees about wind being a good example of a viable renewable energy field where Canada should be focusing.

“China and Germany are making huge strides. Denmark is already getting a quarter of its energy from wind and targeting half of its power to come from wind by 2020. So, depending on how you read the numbers, at least when it comes to energy from wind, Canada is either the largest of the minors or the smallest of the majors.”

Analysts, academics and industry experts point out that, while Harper, Redford and their ministers review, study, ponder, task force and review and study, ponder and task force some more, particularly Calgary is stepping up to the plate and led by industry like the SURE sector, is actually making some impressive strides in the determined search for renewable energies.

In addition to the information-sharing and brain thrust of the SURE sector, the University of Calgary’s Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE) is actively doing world-class research and training to develop effective, secure and competitive renewable energy options.

“Whether it’s Keystone or Gateway or growing the export market in China – the oilsands still dominate much of Canada’s energy debates,” Weis explains. “But through it all, Canada is quietly, perhaps too quietly, emerging as a renewable energy leader. Two years ago we were sixth in the world in wind energy installations. Ernst & Young ranked Canada as the eighth most attractive country in the world for renewable energy investment, ahead of some traditional leaders like Denmark, Spain and Japan.”

Explaining that, in Canada, electricity is a provincial jurisdiction, he uses electrical power specifics to underscore 30 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

the need for increased and timely federal and provincial leadership and support when it comes to overall renewable energy growth.

“Despite having fewer than 35 million people, Canada has the sixth largest electricity system on the planet, behind only China, the United States, Russia, Japan and Germany.

Given the size of our electricity system, perhaps it’s not surprising to understand that Canada should be one of the leading markets for renewable electricity.

“Discouragingly – and for various, mostly Ottawa reasons – the federal government is actually scaling back its support for renewable energy and energy efficiency,” he warns. “It leaves some (not all) provinces to pick up the slack. Ontario and Quebec have the largest absolute renewable energy targets in Canada, while Prince Edward Island has some of the best wind energy targets per capita in the world.

“Nova Scotia, a historically coal-fired province, has committed to reduce its coal-fired power by almost half in the next 10 years and ambitiously get 40 per cent of its power from various renewable sources by as soon as 2020.

“The bad news?” Weis says, while applauding Calgary’s SURE sector and acknowledging that the province is considering several other options, including a strategy that would require Alberta producers to generate a certain percentage of electricity from renewable sources, “Alberta and Saskatchewan – two provinces that still burn coal for the majority of their electricity – have no plan for replacing coal-fired power with renewables.

“It will take the strong and decisive provincial and federal political will and effort, the type that’s now devoted to the oilsands, to make sure Canada grows the opportunities and jobs that are being created in the renewable energy field.”

“All things considered,” Weis says with optimistic urging, “Canada is currently in a good place for clean energy investments and the global industry is booming. But if we do not have our prime minister, our premiers and our energy ministers aggressively pushing for renewable energy with the same attention they now give to fossil fuel markets and pipelines, Canada may find itself losing ground and jobs in what is projected to be a $3- to $5-trillion industry by 2020.”

Although the facts and details are complex, there is much simplistic and exaggerated public misinformation on the legit and vital topic of renewable energies, the common thread of discussion invariably defaults to the damaging, long-term effects of CO2.

And the University of Calgary’s David Wood puts it into the ultimate perspective.

“The trouble with carbon dioxide is that it takes a very long time to reverse. Maybe hundreds of years. Practically speaking,” he explains as a renewable energy reality check, “cleaning up what’s already there may not only take a very long time but may actually be impossible. Opting for renewable energies is about preventing it from getting worse.” BiC

initiation by Flood • Cover

Gianna Manes, president and CEO of ENMAX. Photo by Ewan Nicholson Photography

Initiation by Flood Despite June’s devastating fluke and the urgent crisis management, ENMAX president and CEO Gianna Manes is powered-up and making calgary a better place

BY John haRdY

d

uring the last week of June, Gianna Manes only took off her work boots, jeans and hard hat to sleep.

Nowhere is it spelled out in the ENMAX president and CEO job description but it is assumed and a given, in life and in business: when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Barely one year after moving to Calgary and starting her new job, some would call it a terrible fluke, initiation-by-flood or just incredibly lousy timing. It was crisis-management at its most exhaustingly stressful but Manes handled it (and in some aftermath ways, is still handling it) with spirit, determination, focus, leadership, empathy and remarkable compassion.

Strategizing with her executive team, getting a spontaneous grin and a thumbs up from a member of an ENMAX road crew, fielding the media barrage, emergency phone

calls and meetings with the mayor and even the occasional hug from a devastated Calgary homeowner who was grateful and relieved while emotionally surveying the damage is most definitely not all in a typical day’s work for ENMAX’s chief executive but it certainly showed the makings of a solid, effective and inspiring pro with a precious and rare combination of guts, smarts and heart.

“This is the greatest job in the world,” she says with enthusiasm, throwing her outstretched arms in the air in her oversized but open workstation on the third floor of ENMAX’s Calgary head office. There are no conventional or executive offices – just workstations. From clerical to administrative, mid and senior management to the president and CEO (with or without her hard hat) all head office staff work in open workstations.

“It’s great to work with a company that everybody relies www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 31

Initiation by Flood • Cover

ENMAX President and CEO, Gianna Manes, speaks to ENMAX crews in Mission about the flood impact to electrical infrasture. (pictured left to right: Gianna Manes, Colin Gaudet, Trevor Hasselback, Brady McQueen, Jay Hauta, and Tony Tomlinson).

Gianna Manes reviews the underground electrical flood plan map for the downtown core with ENMAX employees, Colin Gaudet and Tony Tomlinson.

ENMAX employee, Rob Lecappellain, and President & CEO, Gianna Manes, discuss the impact to electrical infrastructure following the Calgary floods.

Gianna Manes consults with Tyler Stanko, ENMAX Trouble Response, on flooding issues in the Mission area.

on. What we do really matters to people. That’s a good feeling. And I get to lead a company of genuinely dedicated professionals who truly care. I had an unforgettable reminder of that, during and after the flood in June,” Manes says with emotion and still shaking

her head. “Some of our crews weren’t home for a week or more, doing whatever it took to get power restored. It was amazing and gratifying. The staff missed birthdays, anniversaries and their kids’ last day of school but they stuck to it and got it done.”

Effective emergency responsiveness is a vital and basic function of a giant utility but troubleshooting, coordinating and dealing with a summer flash flood that endangers life, knocks out power to more than 34,000 commercial and residential customers, cripples an entire business district, evacuates a downtown core and grinds public transportation to a halt just wasn’t part of Gianna Manes’ high-level ENMAX job interviews a year and a half ago.

Some industry insiders were surprised and curious when a non-Canadian was chosen as ENMAX’s new president and CEO. But the selection committee and the board must have sensed that Manes’ superb skills, background and industry experience would prove to be the proverbial perfect fit not only for ENMAX’s crucial role in the community but also with the corporation’s strategic growth plans.

Before opting to come northwest, Manes – an industrial engineer from Louisiana who paid her dues during a 25-year career with the North Carolina-based Duke Energy, one of the largest power producers in the U.S. – earned international industry respect for her work with gas and emissions trading operations, power plant development, power transmission, distribution and smart grid initiatives, business development in Duke’s wholesale and retail divisions, and the delivery of customer services for Duke’s four million customers.

That was then and this is now.

Sixteen months later, Manes is relieved and satisfied that the massive cleanup was a resounding (and much praised) success; she enjoys not having to wear work boots, a hard hat and jeans to work every day; and she is well into her CEO day job and in ENMAX overdrive.

32 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

Charting the course and making the decisions that ultimately impact more than 1,800 ENMAX employees, generate more than $3.1 billion (gross) in ENMAX revenues, an ambitious ENMAX growth and development plan; and looking after nearly one million ENMAX customers in Calgary, Lethbridge and Red Deer is not only a challenging job but a massive responsibility.

The infectiously upbeat ENMAX president explains that her executive role is different from other CEOs of companies who have an actual product, like cars, doughnuts, oil, machinery, fashion or widgets. “Our product is a bit mysterious and odd.

It’s not tangible but it’s essential.

Unlike buying and using a product, our customers just flip a switch or set a timer and assume our ‘product’ will be there.”

Manes is a no-patronizing straighttalker, unconditionally sincere and adamant about the safety, convenience and trust of some 800,000 (residential to large commercial) ENMAX customers of electricity and other products being priority one. “Most of all, our corporation and our business is about reliability. Our customers must be sure that we are here for them 24-7. Period.

There’s no compromise about that being the absolutely most important part of my job.”

Although she conversationally downplays the enormous importance and impact of the giant organization she leads (her genuine customer focus intentionally simplifies it as “we get the energy, distribute it and make sure our customers stay powered up”), the power generation and the transmission, distribution and the sale of electricity, natural gas and renewable energy products to residential and commercial customers in Alberta are only the official core of the octopuslike ENMAX operations and Gianna Manes’ job.

In an average and normal day (if the job affords such luxuries) the gung-ho multitasker and 48-year-old ENMAX boss admits to juggling several other president and CEO functions like “con-

Engaging Local Service Providers in Remote Regions If you are in the energy and utility (E&U) industry, you know that the success of large capital projects such as pipeline, transmission line or exploration and development programs depend heavily on operating effectively in remote areas. You also know that a hurdle that frequently arises during these projects is sourcing qualified, skilled regional service providers that can meet your project needs.

Even when local providers exist, it can be a significant undertaking to ensure they understand your requirements and work hand-in-hand with your people, processes and systems.

“One of the challenges energy and utility companies face is how to bridge this gap. They need to have an in-depth understanding of the community and local environment, build working relationships with local service providers, effectively communicate project requirements and ensure the services contracted will meet the scope, standards and scale of the project,” says Rod Neumann, lead of MNP’s Consulting practice in Calgary.

Neumann goes on to explain that even if an E&U company has a mandate to partner with regional businesses, they often have to look abroad if they can’t find local partners that meet their needs. That can be costly, cause delays and doesn’t support a longer-term strategy to build trust and support economic development in the region. Regional economic development is then a lost opportunity for both local service providers and the community as a whole.

During training, E&U service providers receive contractor readiness information and consulting support, covering topics such as business planning, training and the basic processes, systems and skills needed to meet E&U standards of safety and performance. In addition, the contractor learns how to efficiently scale its operations to seize new opportunities and effectively service E&U companies.

MNP’s Unique Approach to Building Capacity in Remote Locations One of the reasons E&U companies turn to MNP for help in engaging regional organizations is the firm’s knowledge of and relationships in remote locations, including First Nations and Métis communities. MNP has provided services to more than 800 First Nations clients across Canada and has over 300 staff members that are of Aboriginal or Métis ancestry. Our understanding of the role Aboriginal culture and traditions play in the business decision-making process is important and helps make engaging local leaders in training opportunities that much easier.

“Building relationships is fundamental for success. We help our E&U clients understand the regional context, establish communication strategies and develop stakeholder engagement plans,” says Neumann. “But the key to our success lies in our ability to connect and communicate with all of the stakeholders in a meaningful way so they are prepared to work together and achieve a common goal.”

“Often contractors don’t understand what the E&U company wants to achieve and its requirements” says Tony Colabella, Training and Consulting Services Advisor, MNP. “The solution lies in effectively engaging and educating the local contractor on what’s required and providing training that addresses the existing gaps. When that gap closes, the E&U companies are able to develop a regional pool of qualified service providers.”

The E&U sector is a major contributor to the economy. These triple-bottom-line companies envision sharing opportunities with the people who live and work in areas where development is occurring, but may not be aware of who to approach, how to approach them or what they need in order to effectively participate in projects. A customized training program solves those problems while helping E&U companies save money and ensure projects are completed on time.

Closing the Gaps through Training

To find out what MNP can do for you contact Rod Neumann, Calgary Consulting practice Leader at rod.neumann@mnp.ca or 403.298.8480, or Tony Colabella, Training and Consulting Services Advisor at tony.colabella@mnp.ca or 403.537.7665.

With an in-depth understanding of both the E&U sector and an established regional presence, MNP works with various stakeholders to close these gaps. The firm’s Training and Consulting services are focused on understanding the specific needs of the stakeholders and developing customized solutions, like curricula that prepares regional contractors for potential engagement with the E&U industry.

initiation by Flood • Cover

necting and talking with employees to find out what they need so we can do things better, the cost-effective operation of the corporation and working closely with our management team for various problem solving, planning and the sometimes tricky but vitally important long-term strategy because ENMAX invests in assets that will last 30, 40 years or more.”

ENMAX priorities are much more complex now, particularly since Alberta deregulated its power markets a decade ago. Manes leads a company that continues to grow, from the initially simple Calgary utility to the strategic expansion of its power generation, like the 800-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired Shepard power plant on the city’s southwest border, scheduled for a 2015 in-service date, as well as ENMAX’s current 300-MW Calgary Energy Centre in the downtown core and the 144-MW Crossfield Energy Centre, north of Airdrie.

Her limitless energy, sparkling and amicable personality, charm and people skills combined with her winning and effective management style, tremendous professional smarts and experience make Manes a very good executive juggler.

“I try my best to be consistent because, at work and in my private life, it’s all about integrity. I make sure people know that I say what I mean, and mean what I say. They may not always like what I have to say and it may not be what they want to hear and I’m fine with that,” she says in a nonarrogant way but visibly not enjoying talking about herself.

“At least people always know where things (and I) stand.”

According to Mark Wyatt, the current vice president of Grid Modernization and a long-term former colleague at Duke Energy, “When I first met Gianna in the late ’90s, she was the executive responsible for the development of a major Duke power plant. I remember being instantly at ease because she has such an engaging personal style and shows interest in everyone around her. She genuinely wants to know about you, your situation and what’s going on in your life.

“Gianna is driven and, like most Type A high achievers, she is high energy and expects a lot from herself and from other people,” her former associate remembers with professional and personal fondness. “She is a superb and very effective collaborator and a terrific relationship builder. At work and in private, she’s one of kind.”

Whether literally with rolled-up sleeves in the muddy trenches while the ENMAX team worked around the clock during the Calgary flood or last July, less than three months into her new job, huddling in urgent situation sessions with

her executive team, when Calgary was hit with a stifling heat wave and 10 Alberta power plants went down, including one that ENMAX heavily relied on, Manes’ intense collaboration, coordination and people skills shone through.

“Part of my responsibilities is building the ENMAX team and culture where we work together. We make sure the right people with the right talent are in the right job and then it’s up to us to bring out their best. I may have the opportunity to lead the team but ultimately the organization’s true strength comes from a collective,” she says with conviction.

Manes laughingly denies either being a Type A or having any symptoms of workaholism and rejects all glass ceiling aspects about her exceptional career.

“I like to get results,” she shrugs with a grin. “And some things take longer than others, so there are occasions when I have to push. I never spent time thinking about knocking down barriers. Ever. I’m an engineer in a male-oriented industry and I let my work speak for myself.

“And I have no trouble turning it off and keeping it in perspective,” Manes says. “Yes, this is definitely a business where things (like the flood and other unexpected surprises) can and do happen all of a sudden and 24-7. I am not only surrounded by tremendously capable people but my family is the most important thing in my life. I am fortunate to have a supportive husband and two children.”

She begrudgingly admits to being more of an afternoon and evening person and claims that some of her best thinking happens at strange hours of the day and night. She denies being e-addicted and considers her gadgets to be just tools. “I can turn them off, without hesitation. I used to think I was e-savvy but now, whenever I need some iPad or smartphone help, I just ask one of my (8- and 10-year-old) sons,” chuckles the focused and affable CEO who is responsible for 800 megawatt transformers and power grids.

Without a hint of her native Louisiana’s bayou accent or a southern drawl from 25-plus years of working in North Carolina, Gianna Manes – the jambalaya, gumbo and Cajun food connoisseur, hopeless (dark chocolate) chocoholic and diehard Louisiana State University Fighting Tigers fan – has seamlessly morphed her southern ways into western ways, now frequently snacks at Tim Hortons, has a white cowboy hat and a sharp pair of classic western boots (for those ‘special occasions’) and, despite never saying “Eh?” or ever patriotically bragging about Celine Dion, Justin Bieber or Gordon Lightfoot, life is good and ... Calgary is home! BiC

“Part of my responsibilities is building the ENMAX team and culture where we work together. I may have the opportunity to lead the team but ultimately the organization’s true strength comes from a collective.” ~ Gianna Manes 34 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

2013

calgary head office

The Head Office Capital of canada

BY John haRdY

Photo by Cher Compton

Feature

“W

ulation (with a business-appealing median e’re No. 1!” demographic of 35.9 years) and Calgary It’s a proud bragging right businesses managing to earn the various that Calgary keeps earning No. 1 ratings is very, very impressive. People about many aspects, many things and many from the East, West, the U.S. and abroad categories relevant to living, working and who are “on the move,” recent grads and doing business in our city. displaced workers looking to start or reboot Earlier this year, several national media careers as well as corner offices and boardoutlets such as the CBC, CTV, the National rooms do pay attention and notice Calgary’s Post and even the Canadian online edition dynamic, proud and tempting credentials. of the influential Huffington Post devoted “Attracting head offices is a highly desirpotent coverage of the annual MoneySense able CED priority, because having head magazine survey, rating Canadian cities offices, regional offices, Canadian division on criteria like quality of life, standard of headquarters and major logistics operations living, high incomes, lots of jobs and low Bruce Graham, president and CEO of Calgary Economic Development like Target, Walmart and Bayer who recently unemployment. set-up offices in Calgary, provides treAnd the winner: Calgary ranks No. 1 for mendous actual and spinoff value for our city’s economy,” best overall city, best large city and best place to raise chilGraham says. “Not to mention prestige and pride. dren.

“We aggressively use it all to tell Calgary’s story as an Don’t kid yourself. It’s not just puff tourist hype. It all emerging centre for energy and finance, IT as well as other matters. From the energy business and Calgary’s overall businesses.” opportunity boom. Nice (and safe) neighbourhoods. Lots of The Bank of China recently opened an office in Calgary land. Transportation. Exceptional hospitals and schools. Tax as the city continues to attract more international investrates. Close by to the Rockies (yes, that also matters). ment and the top three Chinese state-owned oil companies We’re also No. 1 for business.

(CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC) already have their Canadian According to Bruce Graham, president and CEO of Calgary head offices in Calgary.

Economic Development (CED), “With 135 corporate head The CED president cautiously adds that, “Locating or relooffices now located in Calgary – most with annual revenues of cating a head office is an extremely lengthy and involved more than $100 million and some with revenues over $1 bilprocess. The most common criteria are: a location with a lion – and compared with Canada’s six top census metropolitan broad and viable labour market to draw from to attract the areas (CMAs), Calgary is now resoundingly first in head office brightest most skilled and best of human talent, overall concentration and employment, on a per capita basis.” quality of life, transportation accessibility – by air, rail and As just one example, the latest addition to Calgary’s H.O. trucking – the total tax picture and corporate intangibles skyline is the impressive Bow tower that opened this June – like association with related head offices and services.” the massive $1.4-billion, 59-storey, 1.7-million square feet This year’s complete Financial Post (FP) 500 list, which of work space is the stunning head office for Encana and ranks Canadian companies and worldwide operations of Cenovus, two of Canada’s biggest energy companies. companies incorporated or based in Canada by total reveCoincidentally, even the clichés are crumbling. nues, shows an undisputable and increasing shift westward.

Although Calgary’s energy boom continues a contempoThe 2013 ranking shows several of the FP 500 best-perrary stereotype (anything as long as the stale and hokey forming companies have head offices or regional, division “Cowtown” is gone and forgotten) according to the stats, offices right here, in Calgary. more than a dozen Calgary head offices have no direct relaIn many No. 1 ways, it is very encouraging good news tion to the energy industry. for Calgary.

Compared to other major Canadian CMAs like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa, Calgary’s 1.4 million popwww.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 35

Calgary Head Office

Feature

Suncor Energy Inc.

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

S

Steven W. Williams

1

uncor Energy is Canada’s leading integrated energy company.

Suncor’s operations include oil sands development and upgrading, conventional and offshore oil and gas production, petroleum refining, and product marketing under the Petro-Canada brand.

While working to responsibly develop petroleum resources, Suncor is also developing a growing renewable energy portfolio. Suncor’s common shares (symbol: SU) are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges.

REVENUE

I

www.suncor.com

Enbridge Inc.

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

E

11

nbridge has become a leader in the safe and reliable delivery of energy in North America and is proud to be recognized as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. They transport energy, operating the world’s longest, most sophisticated crude oil and liquids transportation system, with a significant and growing presence in the natural gas transmission and midstream businesses, and an increasing involvement in power transmission.

REVENUE

www.enbridge.com

Cenovus Energy Inc.

Richard M. Kruger

$31,053,000,000 Husky Energy Inc.

H

Asim Ghosh

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

C

20

Brian C. Ferguson

Agrium Inc.*

A

Michael M. Wilson

REVENUE

www.cenovus.com

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

26

anadian Natural is one of the largest independent crude oil and natural gas producers in the world. The company continually targets cost effective alternatives to develop our portfolio of projects and to deliver our defined growth plan, thereby creating value for shareholders. A balanced mix of natural gas, light oil, heavy oil, in situ oilsands production, oilsands mining and associated upgrading facilities, represents one of the strongest and most diverse asset portfolios of any energy producer in the world.

REVENUE

Talisman Energy Inc.*

T

Harold N. Kvisle

www.cnrl.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

60

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

Canada Safeway Ltd.*

S

www.huskyenergy.ca Rank: Chemical Cdn (out of 800)

22

grium is driven by growth, whether it is to improve the performance of crops that feed the world responsibly, grow their business, their market share or their earnings. Their commitment to growth and diversification, within a framework of financial discipline, will endure as the cornerstone of their long-term strategy.

Agrium Inc. is a major Retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North and South America, a leading global Wholesale producer and marketer of all three major agricultural nutrients.

$16,686,000,000 TransCanada Corp.

W

www.agrium.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

53

ith more than 60 years’ experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and oil pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities.

Russell K. Girling

$8,007,000,000

www.transcanada.com

Nexen Inc.

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

Kevin J. Reinhart

N

68

exen is a Canadian-based energy company with operations in strategic locations around the world including the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, offshore West Africa, Canada, Yemen and Colombia. The company’s goal is to responsibly grow long-term value for shareholders by focusing on three growth strategies: oilsands, conventional exploration and development, and unconventional gas.

REVENUE

www.talisman-energy.com Rank: Food Sell Cdn (out of 800)

69

$6,706,000,000 Harvest Operations Corp.

H

afeway Inc. is one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America. As of March 23, 2013, the company operated 1,638 stores in the Western, Southwestern, Rocky Mountain, and MidAtlantic regions of the United States and in western Canada. In support of its stores, Safeway has an extensive network of distribution, manufacturing and food processing facilities.

Chuck Mulvenna

www.nexeninc.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

74

arvest was formed in July of 2002 and has experienced significant growth and value appreciation since that time. With a balanced asset base, superior operational expertise, extensive land base and development opportunities. Their inventory of future development projects includes 1,900 future drilling locations on more than 1.1 million net acres of undeveloped land.

Myunghuhn Yi

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

$6,689,000,000

14

REVENUE

alisman is committed to conducting its business safely and in an ethically, socially and environmentally responsible manner.

The company is a participant in the United Nations Global Compact and is also included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index. Established as an independent company in 1992, Talisman has grown production from 50,000 boe/d in 1992 to 452,000 boe/d in 2007. Over the longer term, the company believes the diversity of its asset base will provide significant growth opportunities.

$7,229,000,000

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

$16,842,000,000

$14,589,000,000

www.imperialoil.ca

usky Energy is one of Canada’s largest integrated energy companies. The company operates worldwide with upstream, midstream and downstream business segments. A combination of technological innovation, prudent investment, sound project management and responsible resource development allows Husky to deliver strong returns to shareholders. The company has a welldefined and growth-oriented business plan, a stable foundation.

$22,435,000,000

enovus Energy is a Canadian oil company. They are committed to applying fresh, progressive thinking to safely and responsibly unlock energy resources the world needs. Their operations include oilsands projects in northern Alberta, which use specialized methods to drill and pump the oil to the surface, as well as natural gas and oil production across Alberta and southern Saskatchewan.

Steve W. Laut

5

mperial Oil Limited (Imperial) is one of Canada’s largest corporations and a leading member of the country’s oil and gas industry.

The company is a major producer of crude oil and natural gas, Canada’s largest petroleum refiner, a key petrochemical producer and a leading marketer with coast-to-coast supply and retail networks.

REVENUE

$25,306,000,000

C

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE

$38,441,000,000

Al Monaco

Imperial Oil Ltd.

REVENUE

www.safeway.ca

36 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

$5,781,000,000

www.harvestenergy.ca

www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 37

Calgary Head Office

Feature

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.

C

Rank: Transport Cdn (out of 800)

76

Fluor Canada Ltd.*

F

anadian Pacific operates a North American transcontinental railway providing freight transportation services, logistics solutions and supply chain expertise. Incorporating best-in-class technology and environmental practises, CP is re-defining itself as a modern 21st century transportation company built on safety, service reliability and operational efficiency.

E Hunter Harrison

Bob McLeod

$5,695,000,000 Encana Corp.*

E

www.cpr.ca Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

81

$5,371,900,000

NOVA Chemicals Corp.*

N

ncana Corporation is one of North America’s leading gas producers. With over 5,000 staff supporting the company, it is among the largest holders of gas and oil resource lands onshore North America and is a technical and cost leader in the in-situ recovery of oilsands bitumen.

Clayton H. Woitas

Randy G. Woelfel

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

$5,160,000,000

Shaw Communications Inc.

www.encana.com Rank: Media Cdn (out of 800)

83

haw is a diversified communications and media company, providing consumers with broadband cable television, High-Speed Internet, Home Phone, telecommunications services (through Shaw Business), satellite direct-to-home services (through Shaw Direct) and engaging programming content (through Shaw Media). Shaw serves 3.3 million customers, through a reliable and extensive fibre network.

Shaw Media operates one of the largest conventional television networks in Canada, Global Television, and 19 specialty networks.

REVENUE

$4,998,000,000

www.shaw.ca

C

93

PC’s story in Canada began over 100 years ago and continues today with their team of nearly 2,100 full-time employees and contractors. Together CPC is working towards becoming the leading gas and bitumen producer in Canada. CPC develops their projects in a way that is intended to enhance their economic and social benefit to communities while minimizing the environmental impact associated with development.

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS (SEE FOOTNOTE 1)

Sysco Canada, Inc.*

I

Kent Humphries

www.conocophillips.ca Rank: Food Dis Cdn (out of 800)

102

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS (SEE FOOTNOTE 1)

Superior Plus Corp.

S

Luc Desjardins

$5,055,000,000 Gibson Energy Inc.

G

A. Stewart Hanlon

www.novachem.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

84

ibson Energy is a growth oriented, North American midstream oil and gas company. They play a significant role in the oil and gas industry by linking upstream producers with downstream refiners. Each year, the company moves millions of barrels of energy products to market through their facilities and infrastructure _ injection stations, terminals, pipelines, tank storage and a fleet of over 1,900 truck transportation units.

$4,913,029,000 ATCO Ltd.

A

www.gibsons.com Rank: Utility Cdn (out of 800)

97

TCO Group is one of Canada’s premier corporations. As a $14 billion enterprise with more than 9,400 employees, ATCO Group is built upon nine principal operating subsidiaries that span five continents. Engaged in Structures & Logistics, Utilities, Energy and Technologies, their companies deliver service excellence and innovative business solutions.

Nancy C. Southern

$4,362,000,000 Canadian Oil Sands Ltd.

C

www.atco.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

110

anadian Oil Sands is a pure investment opportunity in light, sweet crude oil. Through our 36.74% interest in the Syncrude project, we offer a solid, robust production stream of fully upgraded crude oil, exposure to future crude oil prices, potential growth through high-quality oil sands leases and an attractive dividend.

Marcel R. Coutu REVENUE

www.sysco.ca Rank: Whole Cdn (out of 800)

116

uperior Plus has a portfolio of diversified businesses consisting of propane distribution, specialty chemicals, construction products distribution and fixed-price energy services. Their goal is to provide long-term stable dividends and premium returns to shareholders through value-based growth in core assets. In 2006, Mr. Billing assumed dual role of chairman and CEO to focus on maximizing unit holder value and long-term value growth.

REVENUE

$3,624,300,000

82

OVA Chemicals develops and manufactures chemicals, plastic resins and end-products that make everyday life safer, healthier and easier. Their employees work to ensure health, safety, security and environmental stewardship through our commitment to sustainability and Responsible Care¨ to ensure effective health, safety, security and environmental stewardship. NOVA Chemicals and its employees practise a culture of dignity, respect, openness and honesty with one another and in the communities where we live and work.

REVENUE

n 1977 Sysco surpassed its competitors to become the leading supplier to ‘meals-prepared-away-from-home’ operations in North America. Since then, the industry it serves has expanded from $35 billion to approximately $210 billion. Today, Sysco has sales and service relationships with more than 400,000 customers and remains committed to helping them succeed in the foodservice industry and satisfy consumers’ appetites.

$4,263,597,000

Rank: Chemical Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE

Rank: ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp.* Energy Cdn (out of 800)

$4,553,000,000

www.fluor.com/canada

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

S

Ken Lueers

79

luor first came to Canada in the 1940s under contract to Shell Oil of British Columbia, now Shell Canada Ltd. to perform engineering, drafting, and supervision of construction on the Shellburn Refinery in Vancouver, British Columbia. Fluor Corporation is one of the worlds leading publicly traded engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance and project management companies.

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS (SEE FOOTNOTE 1)

REVENUE

Bradley S. Shaw

Rank: Engineer Cdn (out of 800)

$3,703,000,000 WestJet Airlines Ltd.

W

Gregg Saretsky

www.cdnoilsands.com Rank: Transport Cdn (out of 800)

120

estJet is Canada’s most preferred airline, offering scheduled service to 86 destinations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

Powered by an award-winning culture of care, WestJet pioneered low-cost flying in Canada. Recognized nationally as a top employer, WestJet now has more than 9,000 WestJetters across Canada. Operating a fleet of more than 100 Boeing Next-Generation 737 and Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft, WestJet strives to be one of the five most successful international airlines in the world.

REVENUE

www.superiorplus.com

38 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

$3,427,409,000

www.westjet.com

Calgary Head Office

Feature

Pembina Pipeline Corp.

P

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

121

ENMAX Corp.

E

embina Pipeline Corporation is a reliable and growing energy transportation and service provider with an exciting future.

Their integrated businesses and quality assets combine with prudent financial management to form the foundation of its strategic plan.

They believe in carefully managed, responsible growth that exceeds the expectations of our stakeholders.

Robert B. Michaleski

$3,427,402,000 Keyera Corp.

K

REVENUE

www.pembina.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

138

eyera is one of the largest independent natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) midstream businesses in Canada. Its operating businesses provide a range of gathering, processing, fractionation, storage, transportation and marketing services to the oil and gas industry. Keyera’s NGL and crude oil infrastructure includes pipelines, terminals and processing and storage facilities in Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, a major North American NGL hub.

REVENUE

$2,942,277,000 Devon Canada Corp.*

D

Chris Seasons

www.keyera.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

158

evon Energy Corporation is a leading independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Devon’s operations are focused onshore in the United States and Canada.

They also own natural gas pipelines and treatment facilities in many of our producing areas, making them one of North America’s larger processors of natural gas liquids. The company’s portfolio of oil and gas properties provides stable, environmentally responsible production and a platform for future growth.

$2,600,000,000 Graham Group Ltd.

www.dvn.com Rank: Engineer Cdn (out of 800)

G

169

REVENUE

Trican Well Service Ltd.

T

Dale M. Dusterhoft

P

Murray R. Nunns

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

143

enn West is one of the largest conventional oil and natural gas producers in Canada. Penn West operates a significant portfolio of opportunities with a dominant position in light oil in Canada.

Based in Calgary, Alberta, Penn West operates throughout Western Canada on a land base encompassing over six million acres. It is well positioned to create long-term value for shareholders through a high-quality, long-life asset base, strong balance sheet and experienced management team.

$2,844,000,000 Crescent Point Energy Corp.

C

Scott Saxberg

www.pennwest.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

162

rescent Point Energy Corp is a conventional oil and gas producer with assets strategically focused in Western Canada.

Crescent Point continues, since inception in 2001, to aggressively pursue its three-part business strategy of acquiring, exploiting and developing high quality, large resource in place assets while maintaining a strong balance sheet and balanced three-and-a-half year hedge program.

$2,394,888,000 TransAlta Corp.

T

Dawn L. Farrell

www.crescentpointenergy.com Rank: Utility Cdn (out of 800)

170

ransAlta is helping meet the growing appetite for electrical power while minimizing the environmental impact of doing so.

They’re Canada’s largest publicly traded generator and marketer of electricity and renewable power. They’re investing in new ways to further cut emissions and are regularly recognized for our sustainable approach to business, the environment and the communities they serve.

REVENUE

www.graham.ca Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

173

rican Well Service Ltd. is an international pressure pumping company with operations on six continents. Trican provides innovative, engineered and integrated solutions to its customers involved in the exploration and development of oil and natural gas reserves. With a highly trained and competent workforce and a recognized commitment to ongoing research and development, Trican is a technical leader in each of the service lines in which they operate.

REVENUE

$2,213,400,000

Penn West Petroleum Ltd.

www.enmax.com

REVENUE

raham Group Ltd. is an employee-owned construction solutions partner with over eight decades of experience, providing general contracting, design-build, construction management and public-private partnership (P3) services in the commercial, industrial, infrastructure, earthworks and masonry sectors. The company has offices throughout North America and employs over 1,300 professionals and office staff. As one of Canada’s largest construction companies, Graham has the resources, capacity and expertise to undertake projects of every scope, scale and complexity.

$2,262,476,000

$3,160,100,000

REVENUE

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

Grant Beck

127

NMAX Corporation (ENMAX), through its subsidiaries, provides electricity, natural gas, fibre-optic and value-added services.

Through its subsidiaries and predecessors it has provided Albertans with safe, reliable electricity for more than 100 years. ENMAX operates and competes in Alberta’s restructured electricity industry.

Gianna Manes

REVENUE

James V. Bertram

Rank: Utility Cdn (out of 800)

$2,262,000,000 Ensign Energy Services Inc.

E

Robert H. Geddes

www.transalta.com Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

175

nsign Energy Services Inc. is an industry leader in the delivery of oilfield services in Canada, the United States and internationally.

They are one of the world’s leading land-based drilling and well servicing contractors serving crude oil, natural gas and geothermal operators. Additional services include directional drilling, rental equipment, managed pressure drilling, oilfield manufacturing and production flow back units.

REVENUE

www.trican.ca

$2,197,321,000

www.ensignenergy.com

www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 39

Calgary Head Office

Feature

UFA Co-operative Ltd.

U

Bob Nelson

Rank: Whole Cdn (out of 800)

178

FA Co-operative Limited is one of Canada’s largest and most dynamic co-operatives. As a progressive and diversified business, they strive to provide the products, services and solutions for our owners and customers in rural communities. Since their founding in 1909, UFA has grown from a small-scale local co-operative into an extensive retail operation with 120,000 active owners. Their businesses include agriculture, petroleum, construction and outdoor adventure.

REVENUE

$2,126,586,000 Calfrac Well Services Ltd.

C

Douglas R. Ramsay

www.UFA.com Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

219

E

P

Kevin A. Neveu

$2,040,741,000

www.precisiondrilling.com

Jacobs Canada Inc.*

Rank: Engineer Cdn (out of 800)

J

Chip Mitchell

www.calfrac.com

221

acobs Engineering Group Inc. is one of the world’s largest and most diverse providers of technical, professional and construction services, including all aspects of architecture, engineering and construction, operations and maintenance, as well as scientific and specialty consulting. They serve a broad range of companies and organizations, including industrial, commercial, and government clients across multiple markets and geographies.

Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

226

$1,577,402,000 AltaGas Ltd.

A

nerflex is the single-source supplier for natural gas compression, oil and gas processing, refrigeration systems and power generation equipment plus in-house engineering and mechanical services expertise. Their broad in-house resources give them the capability to engineer, design, manufacture, construct, commission and service hydrocarbon handling systems.

J. Blair Goertzen

www.jacobs.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

237

ltaGas’ vision is to be a leading North American energy infrastructure company with a focus in Canada and the northern and western United States. Their strategy to achieve this vision is simple: capitalize on the supply and demand dynamic for natural gas and power by owning and operating assets in gas, power and utilities in places that provide a strategic competitive advantage.

David W. Cornhill

REVENUE

$1,501,684,000 Apache Canada Ltd.*

A

REVENUE

www.enerflex.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

248

$1,449,680,000 ARC Resources Ltd.

A

pache was formed in 1954 with $250,000 of investor capital with the simple concept of becoming a significant and profitable oil company. Today, Apache Corporation is one of the world’s top independent oil and gas exploration and production companies. The journey to this point was fueled by Apache’s contrarian approach to business.

Timothy O. Wall

www.altagas.ca Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

257

RC is one of Canada’s leading conventional oil and gas companies. Their operations are focused in five core areas across Western Canada, and provide them with an extensive resource base of high quality oil and natural gas development opportunities.

Myron M. Stadnyk

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS (SEE FOOTNOTE 1)

$1,322,000,000

Pengrowth Energy Corp.

P

REVENUE

www.apachecorp.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

261

$1,274,300,000 The Churchill Corp.

C

engrowth Energy Corporation is a monthly dividendpaying, intermediate Canadian producer of oil and natural gas. Its focus is on the development of conventional and unconventional resource-style plays within the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. On March 23, 2012, Pengrowth Energy Corporation and NAL announced a strategic business combination.

Derek W. Evans

www.arcresources.com Rank: Engineer Cdn (out of 800)

266

hurchill, one of the largest publicly listed construction and industrial services companies in Canada, is comprised of three strategic operating segments: general contracting, commercial systems, and industrial services. Operations are focused in Western Canada where tremendous institutional, commercial and industrial construction opportunities exist.

David LeMay

REVENUE

$1,233,367,000 Enerplus Corp.

E

Gordon J. Kerr

185

recision Drilling Corporation is Canada’s largest oilfield services company and one of the largest in the United States, and also has a growing presence internationally. Precision provides contract drilling, well servicing and strategic support services to customers.

The company supplies on-theground expertise - people, equipment and knowledge - to provide value to our customers on a daily basis.

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS (SEE FOOTNOTE 1)

REVENUE

Enerflex Ltd.

Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE

alfrac is an innovative pressure pumping services provider focused on North America’s premier unconventional natural gas and light oil plays plus strategic international markets. With state-of-the-art equipment in-house R&D, a diversified customer base, an expert team of employees, experienced management and record annual revenues in 2011, Calfrac is strongly positioned for continued growth.

$1,595,216,000

Precision Drilling Corp.

REVENUE

www.pengrowth.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

270

nerplus is a North American energy producer with a diversified asset base of oil and gas assets that offer both a stable cash flow stream as well as growth potential. They are focused on creating value for our investors through the successful development of their properties and the disciplined management of their balance sheet.

Through their activities, they strive to provide investors with a competitive return comprised of both growth and income.

REVENUE

$1,188,706,000

$1,222,056,000 Inter Pipeline Fund

I

www.churchillcorporation.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

271

nter Pipeline Fund’s petroleum transportation; processing and storage assets play an important role in connecting energy and petrochemical producers to markets. As one of the largest energy infrastructure businesses in Canada, Inter Pipeline has a strong track record that has produced increasing and reliable monthly cash distributions for their unitholders.

David W. Fesyk REVENUE

www.enerplus.com

40 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

$1,187,023,000

www.interpipelinefund.com

Calgary Head Office

Feature

Calgary Co-operative Association Ltd.

C Deane Collinson

Rank: Food Sell Cdn (out of 800)

273

algary Co-op’s roots run deep in the heart of the community as the only truly Calgarian food retailer. The focus of Calgary Co-op is to provide the freshest, best quality products at competitive prices. In their food centres, they conduct weekly price checks instore and at the stores of their two main competitors. It is the only retailer in Calgary that delivers an annual membership refund in the form of cash and equity to their member-owners.

$1,163,959,000

www.calgarycoop.com

Baytex Energy Corp.

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

B

288

aytex Energy Corp. is a dividend-paying conventional oil and gas corporation based in Calgary. The company is engaged in the acquisition, development and production of oil and natural gas in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and has an emerging presence in the United States. Baytex is committed to maintaining its production and asset base through internal property development and delivering consistent returns to its shareholders.

REVENUE

www.baytex.ab.ca

Vermilion Energy Inc.

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

V

300

ermilion is an oil-leveraged producer that adheres to a value creation strategy through the execution of full cycle exploration and production programs focused on the acquisition, exploration, development and optimization of producing properties in Western Canada, the broader European region and Australia. Vermilion has an 18 year history of consistent strong returns and market outperformance. Vermilion trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VET.

REVENUE

$1,031,019,000

Mike McFadyen

$1,119,900,000 MEG Energy Corp.

M

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

296

EG Energy Corp. (MEG) is a Canadian oilsands company focused on sustainable in situ development and production in the southern Athabasca oil sands region of Alberta. MEG has acquired a large, high quality resource base _ which along with a well-formulated strategic growth plan, positions them to be a strong oilsands player for many years to come.

William J. McCaffrey

$1,050,504,000 Secure Energy Services Inc.

S

www.megenergy.com Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

301

ecure is a TSX publicly traded energy services company focused on providing innovative, efficient and environmentally responsible fluids and solids solutions to oil and gas companies operating in North America.

Rene Amirault

www.vermilionenergy.com Rank: Whole Cdn (out of 800)

315

$1,029,440,000

www.secure-energy.ca

Petrominerales Ltd.*

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

P

ocky Mountain Dealerships Inc. is one of Canada’s largest agriculture and construction equipment dealerships with branches throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They sell, rent, and lease new and used construction and agriculture equipment, and offers product support, and finance to its customers.

Matthew C. Campbell

316

etrominerales has been operating in Colombia for 10 years, and even longer in Latin America. In that time, they have discovered and produced nearly 100 million barrels of oil and have established land bases in Colombia, Perœ and Brazil, each offering material exploration and development opportunities.

Corey C. Ruttan REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

REVENUE

$966,106,000 Trinidad Drilling Ltd.

T

Lyle C. Whitmarsh

www.murphyoilcorp.com

REVENUE

Rocky Mountain Dealerships Inc.

R

280

urphy Oil Corporation is an international oil and gas company that conducts business through various operating subsidiaries.

The company produces oil and natural gas in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Republic of the Congo and conducts exploration activities worldwide.

REVENUE

$1,086,503,000

Lorenzo Donadeo

M

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

REVENUE

James L. B Bowser

Murphy Oil Co. Ltd.*

www.rockymtn.com Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

340

rinidad Drilling provides modern, reliable, expertly designed oil and gas drilling equipment operated by well-trained personnel.

Trinidads drilling fleet is one of the most adaptable, technologically advanced and competitive in the industry. Trinidad Drilling’s story is a story of growth. They have grown both internally and through strategic and value-adding acquisitions. This small Canadian contract driller started in 1996 and has grown to become an industry leader operating in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

REVENUE

$859,327,000

$965,900,000

Corus Entertainment Inc.

C

www.petrominerales.com Rank: Media Cdn (out of 800)

346

orus Entertainment is one of Canada’s most successful integrated media and entertainment companies. Founded by JR Shaw, the company was built from the media assets originally owned by Shaw Communications, and spun off as a separate, publicly-traded company in 1999. Since then, their asset base has grown remarkably through strategic acquisitions and a strong operating discipline.

John M. Cassaday REVENUE

www.trinidaddrilling.com

$842,276,000

www.corusent.com

www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 41

Calgary Head Office

Feature

SMART Technologies Inc.*

S

Rank: High-tech Cdn (out of 800)

366

Cervus Equipment Corp.

C

MART is the world’s leading provider of interactive whiteboards.

The company introduced the world’s first interactive whiteboard in 1991 and remains the global product category leader, providing easy-to-use, integrated products and services that improve the way the world works and learns. For more than 20 years, innovation and commitment to excellence have been at the core of their business.

Neil Gaydon

Graham Drake

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

$740,579,000 Newalta Corp.

N

Alan P. Cadotte

www.smarttech.com Rank: Environ Cdn (out of 800)

372

REVENUE

Balancing Pool

T

$734,245,000

www.newalta.com Rank: Utility Cdn (out of 800)

386

Bruce Roberts

B

Jason E. Skehar

$724,982,000

www.balancingpool.ca

Gran Tierra Energy Inc.*

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

419

ran Tierra Energy Inc. is an international oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Calgary incorporated and traded in the United States and operating in South America. The company currently holds interests in producing and prospective properties in Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Brazil. Gran Tierra’s strategy is focused on establishing a portfolio of drilling opportunities to exploit undeveloped reserves to grow production, as well as undertaking exploration drilling to grow future reserves.

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

N

Anthony G. Petrollo

S

www.grantierra.com Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

424

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS (SEE FOOTNOTE 1)

Parex Resources Inc.*

P

$669,321,000

www.savannaenergy.com

Canexus Corp.

Rank: Chemical Cdn (out of 800)

C

420

anexus produces sodium chlorate and chlor-alkali products largely for the pulp and paper and water treatment industries.

Their four plants in Canada and two at one site in Brazil are reliable, low-cost, strategically-located facilities that capitalize on competitive electricity costs and transportation infrastructure to minimize production and delivery costs.

Gary L. Kubera

$582,426,000

www.canexus.ca

Horizon North Logistics Inc.

H

Robert T. German

Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

444

orizon North is a publicly-traded company (TSX: HNL) that provides resource companies with mobile structures, camp management and catering, matting solutions, and northern marine services. With over 1,000 employees and offices and/or manufacturing plants in Calgary, Sherwood Park, Grande Prairie and Anzac, Alberta, Kamloops, British Columbia and in Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvik and Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, Horizon North operates in Canada’s western provinces and three northern territories.

REVENUE

www.nabors.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

451

$526,616,000

Wayne K. Foo

www.horizonnorth.ca

Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp.

T

arex Resources Inc. is engaged in oil and natural gas exploration, development and production in South America and the Caribbean region. The Company is conducting exploration activities on several blocks in the Llanos Basin and Middle Magdalena Basin of Colombia and onshore Trinidad & Tobago.

Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

454

he CES business model is focused on the design and delivery of technically advanced fluids for the oil and gas industry; it requires limited re-investment capital to grow. As a result, CES has been able to capitalize on the growing market demand for drilling and production fluids in North America while generating free cash flow.

Thomas J. Simons

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

$487,624,000

394

avanna Energy Services Corp. (Savanna) is a premiere North American energy services provider. Their primary offerings include conventional drilling, hybrid drilling, and well servicing and comprehensive oilfield services such as oilfield equipment rental that meet the needs of their diverse oil and gas customer base. Savanna is uniquely positioned in the energy services industry, incorporating Aboriginal partnerships and community involvement with leading technology that includes PLC-controlled service rigs and patented hybrid drilling rigs.

REVENUE

abors is involved in every phase of the life of an oil or gas well. This includes well construction, completion, maintenance and ultimately plug and abandonment. The Nabors companies own and operate approximately 501 land drilling and approximately 743 land workover and well-servicing rigs in North America. Nabors’ actively marketed offshore fleet consists of 40 platform rigs, 12 jackup units and 4 barge rigs in the United States and multiple international markets.

$572,616,000

Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE

$702,478,000

Nabors Canada*

373

www.bonavistaenergy.com

Savanna Energy Services Corp.

Kenneth B. Mullen

$583,109,000

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

onavista Energy Corporation is a Calgary-based oil and gas company with a proven track record of value creation. Since inception in 1997, Bonavista has consistently added shareholder value by pursuing a disciplined and effective strategy that focuses on long term profitability. Today, Bonavista is one of Canada’s largest dividend paying energy companies, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.1 billion CDN.

REVENUE

REVENUE

Dana Coffield

www.cervuscorp.com

Bonavista Energy Corp.

he Balancing Pool plays a prominent role in managing the Power Purchase Arrangements of several major power plants.

The Balancing Pool was established in 1999 by the Government of Alberta to help manage certain assets, revenues and expenses arising from the transition to competition in Alberta’s electric industry.

G

369

ervus is in the business of acquiring and operating authorized agricultural, industrial and commercial equipment dealerships by facilitating dealership succession. The company proudly owns the largestgroup of John Deere agricultural equipment dealers in Canada and has a significant presence in the commercial and industrial and equipment sectors through their Bobcat, JCB, JLG, AR Williams and Peterbilt dealerships across the west.

REVENUE

ewalta is based in Calgary. They provide services through their network of facilities across Canada and customer locations where they mobilize their equipment and people to process material directly onsite. They are in the product recovery business, where innovation and customer-driven approaches add value to their customer’s bottom line. Today, Newalta has 85 facilities across Canada and 2,000 people.

$726,209,000

Rank: Whole Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE

www.parexresources.com

42 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

$471,299,000

www.canadianenergyservices.com

Calgary Head Office

Feature

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust

B Sam Kolias

Rank: Real Est Cdn (out of 800)

465

oardwalk REIT is Canada’s friendliest landlord and currently owns and operates more than 225 properties with 35,277 residential units totaling approximately 30 million net rentable square feet. Boardwalk REIT is vertically integrated and is Canada’s leading owner/operator of multi-family communities with 1,600 associates bringing customers home to properties located in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.

REVENUE

$439,901,000 Tourmaline Oil Corp.

T

MNP LLP

Daryl Ritchie REVENUE

www.boardwalkreit.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

476

Michael L. Rose

$430,000,000 Trilogy Energy Corp.

T

James H. T. Riddell

REVENUE

Veresen Inc.

V

Donald L. Althoff

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

497

REVENUE

Enbridge Income Fund

E

John K. Whelen

C

$409,049,000 Trimac Transportation Ltd.

T

www.trilogyenergy.com Rank: Transport Cdn (out of 800)

504

rimac provides Canadian domestic and international crossborder trucking services. Trimac also provides complementary logistics services through its subsidiary Bulk Plus, and repairs, maintenance and tank-trailer cleaning services through its National Tank Services division. Trimac is Canada’s largest bulk trucking services provider with operations from coast-to-coast

Jeffrey J. McCaig

$391,021,000

505

Pason Systems Inc.

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

P

www.trimac.com Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

506

ason is the leading global provider of specialized data management systems for land-based and offshore rigs worldwide. Their rental solutions, which include data acquisition, wellsite reporting, remote communications, and web-based information management, enable collaboration between the rig and the office.

Marcel Kessler REVENUE

www.enbridgeincomefund.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

508

$386,514,000 Peyto Exploration & Development Corp.

P

onnacher Oil and Gas Limited is a Calgary-based exploration, development and production company active in the production and sale of bitumen, crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

Connacher is a growing exploration, development and production company with a focus on producing bitumen and expanding its insitu oilsands projects located near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Christopher J. Bloomer

www.pason.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

511

eyto Exploration & Development is a natural gas weighted energy trust that is committed to building value through the exploration and development of high quality gas properties.

Darren Gee

REVENUE

$384,946,000

489

rilogy Energy Corp. (TET) is a Canadian energy corporation formed through a spinout of assets from Paramount Resources in April 2005. Originally an income trust, Trilogy converted to a corporate structure in February 2010. Trilogy’s geographically concentrated assets are primarily low-risk, high working interest, lower-decline properties that provide abundant infill drilling opportunities and good access to infrastructure and processing facilities, many of which are operated and controlled by Trilogy.

www.vereseninc.com

REVENUE

Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd.

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE

nbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. (EIFH), through its investment in Enbridge Income Fund (the “Fund”), holds high quality, low risk energy infrastructure assets. The Fund’s assets include a 50% interest in the Canadian segment of the Alliance Pipeline, a 100% interest in the various pipelines comprising the Saskatchewan System, and interests in more than 400 megawatts of renewable and alternative power generation capacity.

$389,600,000

www.mnp.ca

REVENUE

www.tourmalineoil.com

eresen Inc. owns and operates energy infrastructure assets in North America. It operates in three segments: pipelines, midstream, and power. The Pipeline segment owns a 50% interest in the Alliance Pipeline, which is an integrated pipeline system consisting of an approximately 3,000 kilometres high pressure natural gas mainline pipeline located in Canada and the United States; and a 100% interest in the Alberta Ethane Gathering System, a 1,324 kilometres pipeline that transports pure ethane within Alberta.

$400,000,000

473

t MNP, finding the right solutions starts by understanding your vision, your business and you. It begins with a relationship.

The company has grown over the years, one handshake and smile at a time. With more than 70 offices across the country, MNP has become one of the largest chartered accountancy and business consulting firms in Canada.

ourmaline is focused on long-term growth through an aggressive exploration, development, production and acquisition program in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Their business strategy is to maximize shareholder value by increasing reserves, production and cash flows through the exploitation and development of a continually growing asset base.

$422,036,000

A

Rank: Account Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE

www.connacheroil.com

$380,647,000

www.peyto.com

www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 43

Calgary Head Office

Feature

Q’Max Solutions Inc.

Rank: Whole Cdn (out of 800)

Q

Reginald Northcott

520

’Max Solutions Inc. is an independent, privately-owned oilfield services company that has grown from five original partners, located in Western Canada in 1993, to a multi-national company serving the oil and gas industry today. Q’Max Solutions Inc. provides onshore and offshore drilling fluids and environmental solutions. It offers alkalinity control products, bactericides, calcium removers, corrosion inhibitors, deformers, emulsifiers, filtrate reducers, flocculants, foaming agents, lost circulation materials, lubricants, shale control inhibitors, surfactants, thinners/dispersants, viscosifiers and weighting materials.

REVENUE *(SEE FOOTNOTE 2)

$366,300,000

Crew Energy Inc.

C

Dale O. Shwed

www.qmaxsolutions.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

L

522

$364,702,000

Trent J. Yanko

www.legacyoilandgas.com Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

E

533

ssential is a growth-oriented, dividend paying corporation that provides oilfield services to producers in western Canada for producing wells and new drilling activity. Essential operates the largest coil tubing well service fleet in Canada with 44 coil tubing rigs and a fleet of 56 service rigs. Essential also sells, rents and services downhole tools and equipment including the Tryton MultiStage Fracturing System.

$348,580,000

www.essentialenergy.ca

Tuscany International Drilling Inc.*

Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

544

uscany International Drilling Inc. is a Canadian-based international drilling, completion and workover company. Established in late 2008 by Walter Dawson, Tuscany is presently focused on providing new state-of-the-art drilling and workover equipment to customers operating in South America and in central Africa.

Tuscany currently operates in Colombia, Ecuador, Uganda, Brazil, Gabon, Congo, and Tanzania.

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

$329,518,000

TransGlobe Energy Corp.*

T

$353,119,000 Bankers Petroleum Ltd.*

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

B

534

ankers Petroleum Ltd. is a Canadian-based oil and gas exploration and production company focused on maximizing the value of its heavy oil assets in Albania. The Company is targeting growth in production and reserves through application of new and proven technologies by a strong experienced technical team.

David L. French

$347,745,000

www.bankerspetroleum.com

Niko Resources Ltd.*

N

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

549

iko Resources Ltd. is focused on sustained growth through successful exploration. The company is currently one of the largest non-government landowner in both Indonesia and Trinidad. Fuelled by the success of its key natural gas properties, Niko is determined to continue its role as a leader in the field of international oil and natural gas exploration and production.

Edward S. Sampson REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

www.tuscanydrilling.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

551

$319,061,000

Kinder Morgan Canada Inc*

K

ransGlobe Energy Corporation is an international exploration and production company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with oil interests in the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Yemen. The Company has interests in nine international blocks with active programs of exploration and development drilling underway.

Ross G. Clarkson

www.nikoresources.com Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

559

inder Morgan is the largest midstream and the fourth largest energy company (based on combined enterprise value) in North America. Their pipelines transport natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide (CO2) and more. They also store or handle a variety of products and materials at our terminals such as gasoline, jet fuel, ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel.

Ian D. Anderson

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

$317,541,000

www.canyontech.ca

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS

REVENUE

Walter A. Dawson

530

anyon Services Group Inc. is a fast-growing company providing hydraulic fracturing and other well-stimulation services, including coiled tubing, acidizing, cementing, nitrogen and CO2, to oil and natural gas producers developing a variety of play types across Western Canada. They’re a close-knit growing team of employees guided by a valuesbased internal culture. They recognize that the success of their business depends on the success of their customers well completions.

REVENUE

Essential Energy Services Ltd.

T

Rank: Oil Field Cdn (out of 800)

C

Bradley P. D. Fedora

REVENUE

www.crewenergy.com

Canyon Services Group Inc.

egacy’s experienced management team has a proven track record of aggressively growing oil and natural gas companies on a cost-effective per share basis. The company is strategically focused on both a geographic and commodity basis and will maintain prudent fiscal management, allowing them to be well positioned to profit from the current environment.

Garnet K. Amundson

521

rew Energy Inc. is a growth-oriented oil and natural gas producer, Their activities are concentrated in central Alberta and northeast British Columbia and focus on the development and expansion of its core natural gas and light oil producing areas and exploration of its large, undeveloped land base.

REVENUE

Legacy Oil + Gas Inc.

$364,459,000

Rank: Energy Cdn (out of 800)

REVENUE *CONVERTED FROM U.S. DOLLARS (SEE FOOTNOTE 1)

www.trans-globe.com

Footnotes: 1: Revenue from parent company’s annual report. 2: Source: Alberta Venture magazine, The Venture 250

44 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

$311,000,000

www.kindermorgan.com

no more Pencils, no more Books ... • Training & Education

No More Pencils, No More Books ...

E-Learning is revolutionary, it breaks down barriers, it transforms lives and business and it will soon be a $107-billion global business. So why are some skeptics not convinced?

BY John haRdY

o

n August 6, 1991, the world (as we knew it) changed forever.

Information changed. Being in touch changed.

Solving problems changed. Shopping and buying things changed. Enjoying music and getting news changed. Sharing homemade pictures and videos and snooping into other people’s private lives changed. Booking vacations and teeoff times, juggling bank accounts and paying bills changed.

School changed. Being at work changed. Getting our facts straight changed. Researching Shakespeare’s sonnets, Can-

ada’s GDP, roasted garlic soup recipes to chest pain and common causes of angina, the viscosity of bitumen and the Italian word for “crazy” changed.

That’s the actual date, universally accepted as the official discovery and start of the Internet. The milestone, created by European computer-contractor Tim Berners-Lee to give easy public access to a “World Wide Web” (www), is still regarded as mega-historic and the ultimate game-changer.

With all the exciting but dizzying and warp-speed changes and amazing improvements the Internet has triggered in www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 45

no more Pencils, no more Books ... • Training & Education

“While the method of learning usually gets much of the attention, the truly exciting aspect is that, with the limitless options and possibilities of e-Learning, anybody can do it any time and from any place.” ~ Frits Pannekoek

almost every aspect of life and business, one of the most revolutionary transformations keeps breaking down the sacred pillars (and barriers) of conventional university and college education and the enormous field of vocational and skills training.

Commonly known by its catchy reference, e-Learning is becoming a genuinely worldwide phenomenon, rethinking and reworking the way things are taught and the way people learn.

In technical and formal definitions, e-Learning is the use of electronic media and information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. One of the keys for the enormous appeal of e-Learning as well as its unmatchable edge is that it is so broadly inclusive of all forms of educational technology teaching and learning – from web-based learning

to various types of media that deliver text, audio, images, animation and streaming video.

“The e-Learning concept is sometimes poorly communicated and unfortunately still misunderstood,” says Frits Pannekoek, the president of Athabasca University (AU) and acknowledged as one of the world’s most respected e-Learning experts. So far, AU is Canada’s only open university, with 42,000 students ‘hooked-up’ to about 70,000 courses. It was quite an honour when Dr. Pannekoek was also appointed president of UNESCO’s International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), headquartered in Oslo, Norway.

In many ways, AU has been credited with being a model and the perfect reflection of what e-Learning is and how it works.

“We are dedicated to the removal of the barriers that restrict access to university-level study and increasing equality of educational opportunity for adult learners throughout Alberta, Canada and anywhere in the world.

It’s absolutely the next generation, not the institutions, driving the e-Learning concept and, in a state-of-the-art, supply-and-demand kind of way, shaking the foundations of the conventional learning world. Insiders call it learning analytics. And it’s really not such a complex or mysterious science,” the respected education specialist chuckles and explains with calm simplicity and gentle charm.

“It is adapting content to the learning

style of the learner and the individualized learning done online, using a computer. Of course the logistics are more detailed but our AU approach to post-secondary education is based on four key principles: excellence, openness, flexibility and innovation.

“They are at the core of what we do and how we do it. Most important, it’s entirely about the learner, the student. At our end we adopt and develop the newest available learner-centred learning models and apply technology to make learning openly accessible,” he explains. “While the method of learning usually gets much of the attention, the truly exciting aspect is that, with the limitless options and possibilities of e-Learning, anybody can do it any time and from any place.”

Dr Fritz Pannekoek, Chancellor of Athabasca University

CONTINUING EDUCATION

good thinking.

Tanu Dixit. Graduate.

Environmental Management Certificate

OVER 1,000 COURSES FOR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. At U of C Continuing Education we provide high quality educational opportunities to lifelong learners that meet their personal and professional development needs. Each year, we serve over 20,000 adult learners and offer more than one thousand courses taught by hundreds of instructors — all experts in their fields.

Courses are offered in a variety of formats at the University of Calgary main and downtown campuses as well as online. Customized training opportunities for organizations are also available.

CONTED.UCALGARY.CA | 403.220.2866

PROFILE

One of the most promising and rewarding careers that many students are focusing on is that of the

“Supply Chain Professional” A ccording to the Canadian Supply Chain Sector Council (CSCSC), more than 720,000 Canadians are employed in the supply chain sector and the numbers are growing!

Canadians are demanding more products and services, which fufu els the supply chain sector, creating more jobs. Over 86,000 new employees are needed in the supply chain sector each year. You can be part of it!

“Supply chain management is the lifeblood of the business world,” Nick Bensch SCMP says. “My career in SCM has allowed me to work in a variety of industries across Alberta, with each one bringing its own unique challenges and opportunities. I encourage students to explore this opportunity, because there truly is something for everyone in supply chain management.”

What is supply chain management? Simply put, it’s the process of strategically managing the flows of goods, services, finance and knowledge. For example, a retail organization purchases consumer goods from a producer. The retail organization has to negotiate pricing and inventory with the producer so that the retailer can order the products and sell them at a price that is attractive to the consumer. The retailer has to be strategic to get a competitive edge in order to maximize their sales profits, while minimizing the inventory stock to meet the demands of the public.

In addition to the logistics aspect, there’s procurement, warehousing, transportation, inventory control, contract management, financing, marketing and other factors that are a part of the supply chain profession.

In other words, supply chain professionals strategize to provide a competitive advantage for their employer. They help firms deliver significant and real value to customers, while enhancing the shareholders’ profits.

Jerome Ferber SCMP and President of AIPMAC observes, “Over the years, organizations have recognized that to stay competitive, they need to maintain margins without increasing prices. They need to grow their market share in an ever changing business landscape.

This has increased a focus on cost reduction, partnerships, alliances and risk management. The people that are the best equipped to make the most of opportunities in those areas are supply chain management professionals.“ Businesses today are challenged with many issues, including globalization, sustainability, market loss and information technology.

In this dynamic environment, improving supply chain performance has become essential for companies to remain successful. It’s a growing trend that will only intensify.

“Effective supply chains are able to integrate and coordinate their activities. This improves the likelihood to optimize the flow of goods and services from supplier to customer, while reacting efficiently to the consumers’ changes in demand,” adds Ferber. “The supply chain professional impacts an organization’s reach to consumers locally, regionally, nationally and/or globally.”

As you can see, there are numerous roles, responsibilities and challenges for supply chain professionals – which reflects the great need by employers for people with the right training, knowledge

In this dynamic environment, improving supply chain performance has become essential for companies to remain successful.

It’s a growing trend that will only intensify. and skills. Supply chain professionals can be generalists who focus on all aspects of the supply chain. There are also supply chain professionals who specialize in a specific area of supply chain management, such as procurement, transportation, or logistics.

Top employers in all sectors – including energy firms; manufacturing organizations; wholesale and retail businesses; commercial service enterprises; transportation companies; communications corporations; governments and public sector institutions; educational bodies; financial establishments; non-profit organizations and many others play a major role in Alberta and Canada’s economy.

Canadian supply chain professionals control more than $130-bil$130-billion in annual spending, making a significant contribution to the economy. The supply chain profession influences the social and economic success of Canadians and citizens worldwide.

The Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC) is the leading and largest association in Canada for supply chain managemanage ment. It is the principal source of supply chain training, education, networking and professional development in the country. Students enrolled in accredited post-secondary institutes can join AIPMAC for

only $20, compared to the regular annual membership fee of $420.

PMAC grants the SCMP Designation (Supply Chain Management Professional), the highest achievement in the field and is valued highly by top employers. The SCMP Designation Program is an inin tense comprehensive program geared to managerial and executive professional success. Although achieving the SCMP Designation can be very challenging, the benefits are significant in professional growth advancement and financial rewards.

The Supply Management Training (SMT) program offers incomparable flexibility for people interested in starting in the industry or develdevel oping their skills within the industry. Anybody can enter the SMT program, as there’s no educational or experience pre-requisites. You have your choice of in-class or self-study courses designed for the demand for skilled entry to mid-level practitioners. The program’s flexibility allows you to study while maintaining employment and other personal needs.

For more information on the exciting and rewarding strategic supply chain career, visit the Alberta Institute PMAC website at www. aipmac.ab.ca or email info@aipmac.ab.ca. Contact AIPMAC tollfree at 1-866-610-4089.

Students who thrive in strategic planning

will excel in the rewarding career of a Supply Chain Management Professional We’ll help you help them get on the right path!

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no more Pencils, no more Books ... • Training & Education

“The 21st century and the sophisticated technology was the right time to start to offer the limitless flexibility of global training, so we started Global eTraining (GeT).

It’s about learning how to learn.” ~ Susan Brattberg

H “The 21st century and the sophisticated A widely-accepted and sometimes forgiven quirk and harmless rut of the technology was the right time to start IT world is an insatiable weakness for to offer the limitless flexibility of global geek speak, mostly jargon, catchphrases training,” Susan Brattberg says, “so we and acronyms. The often convoluted started Global eTraining (GeT). It’s about and alien-sounding terms sometimes learning how to learn. Taking complex buffer the fact that e-Learning includes information, breaking it down into digital and is already synonymous with mullearning formats because e-Learning is, by timedia learning, technology-enhanced far, the most interactive type of learning. learning (TEL), computer-based instrucEveryone has different times when they tion (CBI), computer-based training learn best. E-learning takes away the barri(CBT), computer-assisted instruction ers like set hours, class times, routines and or computer-aided instruction (CAI), schedules and people e-learn at their own Internet-based training (IBT), webtime and pace.” based training (WBT), online education, E-learning can occur in or out of a classSusan Brattberg. Photo by Ewan Nicholson Photography. virtual education, and virtual learning room. It can be self-paced, asynchronous environments (VLE), also called learnlearning – a student-centred teaching ing platforms. method that uses online learning resources Susan and Holly Brattberg’s family has been in Alberta’s to allow information sharing without the constraints of a vocational and technical skills training field since e-Learnclock or a specific place – or instructor-led, synchronous ing was in its infancy. Today, with more than 25 years of learning. E-learning is best suited to distance learning and experience – primarily as their Digital School delivered comflexible learning but it can also be used in conjunction with puter-based technical training at the college level – the family conventional face-to-face teaching, in which case the term was solidly rooted in constantly searching for the latest in the blended-learning is used. online e-delivery of training courses and programs.

Brattberg, a sharp and very tech and education savvy 50 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

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no more Pencils, no more Books ... • Training & Education

professional, not only an energetic advocate for the possibilities and advantages of e-Learning, is passionately proud about being Calgary-based and on the cutting edge of global e-Learning. “As the first private college in Canada to be licensed for online delivery, Digital School embraced technology to its highest potential. For us, words like paperless, virtual, green and social don’t just mean bandwagons to jump on. They are the present and the future of education.

“Our biggest online learner base is from throughout Alberta but our largest number of users is in the U.S., then Australia and Europe. Asia and India are our fastest growing market.”

Despite lingering skepticism and cynicism, partially (but not exclusively) from education traditionalists, the popularity of e-Learning is resoundingly a global phenomenon and the supply of e-Learning is almost as staggering as the demand.

Neither boosters nor detractors can guess how big the trend may still become.

Almost daily (if not by the minute) the e-Learning boom continues to not only alter lives but, according to a recent report by Global Industry Analysts (GIA), one of the world’s largest market research firms with more than 9,500 clients in 27 countries, by 2015 e-Learning will not only be an entrenched and routine fact of education life but a $107-billion global business.

While openly admitting to superficial and second-hand knowledge about e-Learning techniques, concepts and products, some still grumble with leftover misinformation about dinosaur days when correspondence-course hucksters roamed the education world, peddling quickie degrees and diplomas from the back of matchbox covers and obscure and fictitious schools.

There are fewer and fewer skeptics still questioning e-Learning’s alleged devaluing of traditional education and its human aspects like social interaction, the role of teachers and instructors, the individuality of vital learning traits like concentration and discipline, and they are leery about the overall one-dimensionality of e-Learning.

At AU, GeT and other popular e-Learning sources, whether it’s partially or solely in cyberspace, the course content and the resource materials are complex, specifics-focused and strictly digital. Contemporary e-Learning providers ensure that a “live” personal touch relationship is a vital component of the e-Learning process.

“AU has one of the largest nursing programs in Canada and it’s a terrific example of the course content and resources of e-Learning. It’s simply not good enough to just include PDF copies of nursing textbooks. In the anatomy course, learning about the heart, the material must include the audio and the video of the actual heart, pumping and beating.

“And the one-to-one interaction is an absolute must!”

Dr. Pannekoek emphasizes with conviction. “Every 20 or 30 learners are assigned a tutor and a contact. And all AU tutors must have a master’s degree while many have doctorates.”

52 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

“And the one-to-one interaction is an absolute must!”

Dr. Pannekoek emphasizes with conviction. “Every 20 or 30 learners are assigned a tutor and a contact. And all AU tutors must have a master’s degree while many have doctorates.”

“Architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) and technical skills are our primary course focus,” Susan Brattberg explains. “The actual course content is also a tool to elevate and enhance instructor-led training (ILT) and it’s a priority that every learner is given important and proactive help desk support.”

With the raging popularity of cloud technologies, learning analytics, web-based learning, online learning and practice management systems, virtual classrooms to enable webinars (online, distance seminars) for skills training, learning apps to make even mobile (m-Learning) possible and the blurring of the lines between traditional universities and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), it seems art – the classic childhood rhyme – has inspired real life, again. “No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks” has never been truer.

Because e-Learning is not a fuzzy, abstract part of the future. It is solidly and resoundingly a fact of today. BiC

Calgary Welcomes global 4-h youth Ag Summit • News

calgary Welcomes Global 4-H Youth Ag Summit “How to feed a hungry planet” |

4

-H Canada and Bayer CropScience are partnering to welcome 120 international youth delegates to Calgary for the global 4-H Youth Ag Summit (YAS) in August.

The summit will assemble young adults aged 18-25 from 21 countries worldwide to “come to the table,” share their ideas and develop a plan of action on how to feed a hungry planet.

Throughout the weeklong event, youth delegates, 25 global mentors and numerous volunteers and speakers will share ideas and explore opportunities with global peers, business leaders, elected officials and scientists about this global challenge. One revolutionary idea could make history.

Youth delegates were selected based upon about 450 applications submitted from around the world. A volunteer selection committee read the application essays and selected delegates based upon location, challenges addressed, innovative ideas and enthusiasm. Of the total selected, 60 delegates come from communities across Canada.

“Thank you very much for the invitation to this amazing event,” wrote delegate Marta Wlodarz, representing Poland (pictured). “I am so happy and excited.”

This enthusiasm was echoed by Eric Mwangi Njorge from Kenya who wrote, “I look forward to becoming a significant contributor to the summit.”

In November 2011, the United Nations declared that the planet’s population surpassed seven billion people. By 2050, experts predict an additional two billion people will need healthy food and nutrition. As representatives of the next generation, YAS delegates must understand the challenges and opportunities facing their communities.

“Hosting the YAS is a real honour for Canada,” notes 4-H Canada CEO Shannon Ben-

August 19-25, 2013

ner. “No one person, company or nation holds the answer but these young adults know groundbreaking agricultural solutions can be found through discussion and innovative collaboration. They are committed to acting upon the outcomes of the YAS when they return home. We look forward to hosting these young global leaders and enabling a meaningful dialogue aimed at addressing issues, opportunities and tangible next steps.”

YAS delegates will participate in a full schedule of presentations, debates, discussions, group work, tours and networking, and social opportunities. Starting with a Stampede Breakfast, day one is for goal-setting and orientation capped by a VIP reception. The Day 2 (Wednesday) theme is innovation, followed by sustainability on Thursday and leadership on Friday, as well as action planning, final reporting and feedback sessions. Saturday is set aside for a day trip and celebration. Delegates leave on Sunday.

“Hosting an international event like this takes real commitment from our volunteers, partners and staff,” says Bruce Banks, CEO of 4-H Alberta. “We are also grateful to our many corporate sponsors who helped make this possible.” BiC

www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 53

[title] • [section]

Look out ~

We’re Under construction!

Notorious for the proverbial season called ‘construction,’ Calgary is currently a flurry of projects, tradespeople and growth BY heatheR RaMsaY Photo by Cher Compton

i

t has been a summer like no other for our city and the amazing people who make it home. While Mother Nature wreaked havoc and disaster stretched throughout the city and well beyond, we were all humbly reminded of the power of humanity, hard work, and just why Calgary is such a wonderful place to be. That energy, opportunity and enthusiasm reaches far beyond the activities of late June.

As we look towards the latter half of the year, and take a moment to reflect on the growth, development and pending activities in our city, the hum of the nation’s powerhouse continues to gain momentum. While the global economic recovery continues to be tainted with uncertainty, it is 54 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

expected that the U.S. economy will regain strength in 2014, and create a much-needed shift that will aid in re-establishing the global market and trade opportunities. Experts on our side of the 49th anticipate that the changes will bring 2.5 per cent gain next year, and start to close the gap.

In light of the global markets, Calgary continues to weather the post-recession storm and will go on to lead the nation well into 2017. According to Calgary Economic Development, Calgary has had the second highest average annual and total GDP growth over the past decade, the most productive and best paid workforce, the highest personal income and the greatest purchasing power, a lower

look out ~ We’re Under Construction! • Construction Real Estate

cost of living than either Toronto or Vancouver, is tied with Edmonton for the lowest unemployment rate (2012), and has the second highest total growth in retail sales over the past 10 years (2003-2012). Not to mention that Calgary is number one of the Top 10 Cities in Which to Invest, number one of the Top Canadian Destinations and one of the six biggest cities in the country.

An additional indication of Calgary’s economic viability and stability is the development and construction taking place within commercial and residential real estate markets. The Scott MacPherson, dean at the School of Construction at SAIT (in front of the Trades and Technology Complex).

Conference Board of Canada states that this activity is due to increased business investment, unemployment seen post-recession growth as housing starts and industry rates that have remained low, continued wage increases profits will likely decrease. and overall improvement in trade.

The national peak price for a home was $368,000 and it is When it comes to the residential construction industry, likely that there will only be a 2.5 per cent decline, leaving experts anticipate that the market will be coming in for a average pricing at $359,000. While new home construction ‘soft landing’ throughout the remainder of the calendar year. had been gaining strength over the past decade, of late more Expectations are that the sector will continue to moderate, prudent developers are curtailing construction. This shift meaning it will no longer be able to support the previously

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look out ~ We’re Under Construction! • Construction Real Estate

could mean that industry profits may not return to their pre-recession levels, until at least 2016.

Indications from Calgary Economic Development demonstrate the current shifts in the construction market in Calgary. Year to date, housing starts are down by 27.3 per cent, while building permit values have increased by 18.2 per cent (at a value of $2.3 billion), major Calgary project values are $18.5 billion (an overall decrease of 2.8 per cent) and Calgary’s benchmark house price is $459,700 as of June 2013.

The downtown office vacancy rate is 5.7 per cent, the suburban office vacancy rate is 12.4 per cent, the industrial real estate vacancy rate is 2.7 per cent and the retail real estate vacancy rate is 2.4 per cent.

While the residential market continues to move in new construction and resale, so too does the number of large-scale projects that are underway or scheduled to break ground in Calgary. Once the following 15 projects are complete, there will be an additional 3,150,504 square feet of space on the market.

Industry experts and businesses such as PCL Construction are encouraged by the number and scope of projects that are in the works, however, concern comes with accessibility to skilled talent. While technical schools in Alberta continue to churn out skilled workers, they are not able to do it fast enough to

Calgary office projects under construction Project

Total Area

Estimated Completion

(sq.ft) Eight Avenue Place West

841,000

2014

City Centre

875,000

2016

Centre 10

355,000

2013

Eleventh Avenue Place

198,000

2013

20/20

135,000

2013

Maxwell Bates Block

35,070

2013

Biscuit Block

56,930

2013

Royal Vista Business Park

19,360

2013

Imperial Oil Headquarters 1-5

730,000

2014-2016

Britannia Crossing

65,752

2014

Quarry Crossing A

152,105

2015

Quarry Crossing B

152,105

2015

Blackfoot Point 1

23,200

2014

Blackfoot Point 2

52,600

2014

Blackfoot Point 3

40,700

2014

Blackfoot Point 4

16,100

2014

*Source: Calgary Economic Development

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56 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

• Construction Real Estate

Centre 10 rendering. Photo courtesy of Centron.

keep up with demand. Over the next decade, the numerous large resource projects across Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador are going to suck up as many skilled construction workers that trade schools can produce. The demand will continue and likely create a second wave of the labour shortage.

According to a study conducted by the Construction Sector Council in Ottawa, entitled Construction Looking Forward 2013 to 2020, the predicted demand for skilled construction workers and supervisors will only continue to grow. The pressure will then trickle down to post-secondary institutions and their ability to deliver apprenticeship programs that meet industry needs.

“We are seeing significant demand for commercial and residential tradespeople in a multitude of areas. Our preemployment training and apprenticeship numbers are consistent with last year. As more and more projects and development starts within Alberta and specifically Calgary, we are going to see exponential opportunities for people to enter the trades and be able to take advantage of viable career opportunities,” explains Scott MacPherson, dean at the School of Construction at SAIT. “The major developments we are seeing around the city are a great way to showcase the various trades and talents required in construction. Our goal is for longer term initiatives and special programs and apprenticeships to support the construction industry.”

It is estimated that there are over 150,000 skilled tradespeople or administrative/management staff currently working within the construction industry in Alberta. Of those, 107,000 are working in the non-residential sector. The Construction Owners Association of Alberta estimates another 40,000 tradespeople and administrative/management staff will be required over the next eight years. Anyone interested in becoming an electrician, plumber, boilermaker, carpenter, steam fitter, pipe fitter, welder or millwright will have no trouble finding employment and long-term career opportunities. BiC

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Alberta: Canada’s Telecommuting leader • Emerging Technologies

Alberta:

canada’s telecommuting Leader With more and more IT computing options, the lines between business and personal technology are already being blurred and telecommuting is becoming a normal fact of work life.

BY PaRkeR GRant

t

hanks to the mind-boggling brilliance, the limitless possibilities and the warp speed of emerging technologies in the workplace, the corny and clichéd “small world” is getting even smaller by the nanosecond.

What used to be exciting but fantastic sci-fi has become Wi-Fi reality.

Technology trends like mobility and social networking are already impacting corporate strategies, rationale and protocols and the monsoon of emerging technologies is already changing the ways and the places where Calgarians work.

IT experts and flashes of IT forecasting and guesswork thrill about the exciting and hot emerging technologies like speech recognition, HTML5 (an exciting new standard for mobile applications) cloudbursting, automated storage and metadata servers.

But one of the most practical, functional, personal and life-altering emerging technologies has already emerged: workplace mobility – an increasingly popular and common work feature, a valuable job perk and a big deal in Calgary and contemporary workplaces around the world.

Whether it’s working on laptops, tablets and oversizedscreen 5G smartphones at small, wobbly round tables at Starbucks, propped up on the SUV passenger seat, balanced on laps while gliding along on the C-Train or the 47-inch IPS direct LED full-HD monitor sprawling on the home office desk set-up of an 800-square-foot downtown-core condo or in the roomy, spare bedroom/den of a modern two-storey home in Chestermere, Cranston or McKenzie Towne.

With more and more IT computing getting outsourced to the Cloud, the lines between fantasy and reality – the lines www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 59

Alberta: Canada’s Telecommuting leader • Emerging Technologies

In Calgary, throughout Canada, the rest of North America and around the world, mobility is a major, dynamic and limitless factor for employers and employees.

Sheldon Dyck, president of ATB Investor Services

between business and personal technology – are already being blurred.

In Calgary, throughout Canada, the rest of North America and around the world, mobility is a major, dynamic and limitless factor for employers and employees.

From Okotoks to Oslo and Oshkosh, today’s employees are constantly on the go, jumping from client sites, field and branch offices or huddling with business contacts across town or in distant corners of the world. In this fastpaced and ferociously service-oriented and client-based economy, mobility is becoming critical to workforces of all sorts and sizes.

According to a recent BMO (Bank of Montreal) survey of Canadian business owners, Alberta companies are on the Canadian cutting edge and are documented as the most likely to offer their workers the opportunity to telecommute. The survey found that 34 per cent (and quickly growing) of Alberta-based companies offer telecommuting – the ability to work remotely from outside the office – to their employees.

The Alberta trend is much higher than the national average of 23 per cent.

“In an evolving workforce, Canadian businesses are fighting to be flexible, innovative and enticing by offering incentives that will benefit not only the organization, but also their employees,” explains Steve Murphy, senior vicepresident of commercial banking for BMO. “Flexible work arrangements help employees achieve greater work-life balance, improve workplace productivity and strengthen employee morale.”

Among Canadian businesses that offer telecommuting to employees, 65 per cent say it has a positive impact on employee productivity and 58 per cent report it improved the quality of work produced by those employees who telecommute.

As Calgary-based Sheldon Dyck, president of ATB

Investor Services, a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and Harvard Business School graduate, cautions with an admitted positive bias and passion about workplace mobility and telecommuting, “It may be a bit of a hard sell at first in some companies and company cultures. It takes a mind shift before people start to understand the benefits and the advantages of telecommuting and the flexible work environment it creates.

“Especially the financial industry is usually seen with the cliché of banker hours/10-2 and stereotyped as being very conservative and bureaucratic with top-down thinking,” he admits.

“So it was not only forward-thinking but a bit courageous when the Investor Services division of ATB Financial made a leap of faith and embraced a flexible work environment that included the technology of telecommuting and workplace mobility. When we first tried it, we had some early commercial grade installs in the homes of a few executives. We quickly realized that the opportunities and advantages were huge and telecommuting could fundamentally change the way we work across the whole company.”

Dyck was instantly hooked and admits to not only pushing for it but piloting ATB’s telecommuting and staff mobility for more than five years. The tipping point was the easy availability of HD videoconferencing.

“It’s tremendously effective for our clients as well as our staff,” he says. About 350 of ATB’s wealth management group have now worked with telecommuting for more than a year.

“Today, some of our biggest staff and client advocates are the ones who resisted the change in the beginning. But embracing it requires a very strong and innovative leadership and management culture. We measure success with things that matter and the office we sit in is not part of the measurement. Someone can be completely unproductive sitting in a fancy corner office playing Angry Birds. We manage based on results, not optics or office hours. ‘Hold me accountable for what needs to be done not by how long I sit at my desk.’ Ultimately, we look at an employee’s productivity and output, not what time their car gets into the parking space.”

Executives like Dyck, management consultants and other corporate boosters of telecommuting underscore and

60 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

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Alberta: Canada’s Telecommuting leader • Emerging Technologies

preach workplace mobility as not only a potent, state-of-the-art way to do business but a bonus for the company and the employee.

For the company, not needing as much dedicated, often premiumpriced, downtown office space means enormous cost savings and shrivelled overhead for traditionally key expenses like ‘brick and mortar’ real estate, utilities and more.

For the employee? Not only more flexibility and control over work schedules, managing workloads and productivity but significant cost savings on traditional expenses like the commute, going out for lunch, parking, daycare and more.

To illustrate, Dyck makes the point about “a single mom in our operations group used to take two buses and a C-Train for 1.5 hours each way, about three extra hours of childcare and she constantly lived with the guilt about quality time with her family. She converted to telecommuting, works perfectly well from home and, with all the eliminated expenses of going to and from the office, it works out to almost doubling her salary.”

Although there’s increasing business world agreement about the benefits of telecommuting, there’s also recognition that it’s not for

everybody and every business.

“Traditionally we have seen workplace mobility or working from home in some industries (like financial, business-to-business and IT, of course) but other than that, it’s not rampant,” says Norman Althouse, senior instructor of strategy and general management at Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business and lead author of The Future of Business, a studied text at 22 Canadian universities.

“Many organizations are more focused on whatever it takes for better customer service, like going to the customer, not contacting them by remote. Other than traditional companies that currently use mobility, the change may be slow. It’s very difficult to change an organizational culture, both from the corporate and from the employee perspective.

“As the millennials or generation Y becomes more entrenched in organizations there’s bound to be a greater acceptance of mobility. They are technically savvy and will demand a better balance between work and personal life than the generations before them,” he predicts.

There’s widespread agreement about the common pros and cons of telecommuting.

“Some people need the structure and the social environment that a traditional office provides,” Althouse says. “That could be seen as quite a telecommuting negative in some situations. We’re social beings, we want to be included. Working independently from home prevents the ability to socialize.”

Although ATB’s Sheldon Dyck agrees about the social aspects of workplaces, he suggests that telecommuting doesn’t have to be all or nothing. “We still get together regularly for face-to-face work and staff events. We just don’t turn into avatars. It’s just that 70 per cent of the time, we choose not to commute and waste two to three hours of our day in traffic.”

Norman Althouse, senior instructor of strategy & general management at Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business

62 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

Tracking the acceptance of telecommuting throughout Alberta, Canada and North America, the recent BMO poll and other management surveys show:

41%

• 41 per cent said telecommuting and flexible workplace options are popular perks offered to attract good talent; • 65 per cent say telecommuting has a positive impact on employee productivity;

65%

• 62 per cent of companies already have remote meetings through desktop videoconferencing;

62%

88%

• 88 per cent of companies offer employees personal devices such as smartphones, PDAs and tablets;

54%

• 54 per cent of companies routinely use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other tools to engage employees, customers and other stakeholders;

77%

• companies are increasing space utilization: (77 per cent) by providing open workspaces and (46 per cent) by increasing the number of telecommuting employees; and

46%

• companies with telecommuting employees generate as much as 30% bottom line occupancy savings per year. BiC

30%

TECHSHOWCASE 2

0

1

3

September 12, 3-6pm AT THE ALASTAIR ROSS TECHNOLOGY CENTRE 3553 - 31 Street NW, Calgary

FEATURING 25+ interactive tech company exhibits

i t o Rob

ition t e p m o c s c

perfect pitch contest

and more! Details at: innovatecalgary.com/TechShowcase2013

Celebrates 30 Years

By Mary Savage

The management team at D.A. Watt Consulting

Photo by Bookstrucker Photography

Infrastructure in the Making…

In the field, in the office and on the road

“If you believe you can accomplish something, then it’s amazing what you will actually achieve!

Our beliefs were a big part of laying the foundation for our success. We had a lot of sleepless nights, but we saw the opportunities ... we turned a blind eye to risk and we hit the ground running!” ~ David Watt, president, D.A. Watt Consulting

A

lberta’s economy during 1983 had plummeted – causing many businesses to fold or operate with a skeletal staff. For ambitious entrepreneurs, it was a dismal time to start a business, but that didn’t stop David

Watt and Tom Medlicott. They saw the hidden opportunities that lie between the cracks of a recession. And with virtually no investment capital, they moved forward with an unwavering belief they could build a business.

DA Watt | 30 Years |

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David Watt, president and founder of D. A. Watt Consulting Group Ltd. Photos, this page, by Bookstrucker Photography.

In the decades that followed, their vision came to fruition and D.A. Watt Consulting Group Ltd. (DAW) is one of the oldest and most respected engineering firms in Calgary.

The company provides an extensive scope of services that offers leading-edge geomatics, civil engineering and transportation planning expertise to both the private and pubic sectors. From subdivisions and shopping centres to traffic studies and thoroughfares, DAW has helped to shape the city we call home.

It is a company where all three divisions work seamlessly

Bruce Nelligan, Vice President

to maximize their resources – all in an effort to provide the best services and guidance possible. Inside each operating division, you will find state-of-the-art technology – much of which has been designed in-house – thereby placing DAW in a league of their own.

Their leadership and management team has developed many long-standing relationships, both internally and externally.

Many of the employees who were originally hired during the 1980s are still with the firm – a rarity in any industry. Today you will find a thriving and progressive business that employs

Spacemakers is proud of the long-term relationship shared with DA Watt Consulting.

Congratulations on your 30th Anniversary!

Mike Meyer, mike@spacemakersconstruction.com • P: 403-277-5565 • F: 403-277-5562 www.spacemakersconstruction.com DA Watt | 30 Years |

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85 people. Additionally, they are proud of the scope and breadth of their external relationships; many of which span three decades.

They have never lost sight of the importance of the people, and DAW has spent 30 years building a business based on integrity, trust and individualized attention to their clients and employees alike.

As DAW celebrates their 30th anniversary, they reflect on their evolution, but more importantly they are focused on the future: building a succession plan for the next generation. From the very beginning, the founders’ vision was to build a legacy firm – a vision in the engineering and surveying industry that is virtually unheard of in an age of rapidly increasing corporate takeovers.

Reflecting on Three Decades…

By the time the two men started the business, Watt had about 15 years of experience in the engineering sector and Medlicott brought equal experience in the legal survey field – making a perfect partnership to build an engineering and land surveying firm.

By the early 1980s, both men worked for the same company: Entek Engineering owned by Nu-West Developments Ltd., and when the economy sank, they recognized an abundant pool of resources that surrounded them.

“Due to the rapidly shrinking economy of the early 1980s, Entek was going to fold. Tom and I recognized an opportunity to pick up the threads and start an engineering and survey company based on Entek’s legacy; which was focused on the land development industry,” says Watt.

“Entek had about $150,000 worth of computer equipment and we bought that equipment for $20,000. Our office had an existing lease of $7.50 a square foot that we negotiated down to $1.75 a square foot. We bought a lot of survey equipment and I’d be surprised if we paid more than 20 cents on the dollar for it – it was risky, but there was opportunity,” recalls Watt.

During the mid to late 1980s, D.A. Watt secured a few large-scale projects, one of which was with Morguard Investments. They had about 1,000 acres of land that was banked for future development – a carry-over relationship from the Entek days. DAW looked after the land management and survey work along with forging new business relations, among them was with colleague Grant McDonald, who in the years that followed would join the company and become a key person within the organization.

It was also during the late 1980s when Watt and Medlicott met Nick Finn who was working for a national transportation company. At the time, the three men were working together on a proposed regional town centre on the west side of the city at 17th Avenue and 69th Street southwest – the site of the future west LRT, office buildings, shopping centres and adjacent subdivisions.

In 1987, Watt approached Finn to sublet office space for his transportation business and six years later, Finn partnered with DAW – heading up the transportation division, Finn Transportation Consultants. The new partnership allowed DAW to expand into new industries and strengthened their position in the marketplace, and within a year, Finn became a principal of DA. “In difficult economic times and in this industry, you’re marketing the principals of the firms: David was synonymous with

No one knows the lay of the land like you.

Congratulations to D.A. Watt on 30 years!

j mckeehomes.com i DA Watt | 30 Years |

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land development, Nick was known for his experience in transportation, Tom brought his expertise to the legal survey side of the business and Grant brought project management expertise. It’s more than just the name you hang on the front door – the clients are hiring the people behind the company name,” says Tom Medlicott, co-founder and principal. “Sustaining this principal of personal commitment to long-term relationships continues to account for the long-term success and growth of the company.”

Over the decades, there has been a lot of cross-pollination among the divisions: the engineering division started to work outside of residential subdivisions – moving into the industrial and commercial sector. Geomatics started to work for the architects that had been clients of the transportation division, and the company continued to broaden its scope of client services.

By the mid-1990s, McDonald had returned to DAW after a short departure to pursue software development. McDonald became a principal of the firm while managing the shallow utilities aspect of the business – a role he still performs within the company today.

In 2004, DAW was rebranded in an effort to strengthen

their public profile – bringing the transportation, engineering and geomatics divisions together. “It was at that point when we started to focus on corporate marketing and we shifted our internal efforts to provide a comprehensive package under a single brand,” adds Medlicott.

On the engineering side, there have been significant changes to their internal operations. “We have increased our capabilities and as an example, we used to hire consultants for storm water management and analysis, but we now have those experts in-house,” says Watt. “There are many companies that provide engineering services, but there’s not many that do it as well as we do. We are one of the very few small to mid-sized, multi-disciplined engineering companies that is committed to succession planning.”

Today, there is a new management team poised to lead the company into the future. “For the past decade, we’ve been working hard to ensure we have another generation behind us that can take over the business and we hope they will do the same,” says Finn.

Bruce Nelligan, vice president, joined the company seven years ago as the assistant manager of transportation. He was attracted to DAW because of the size of the firm and career

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Congratulations

Congratulations to DA Watt Consulting on their 30 th Anniversary!

D.A. Watt Consulting on your 30th Anniversary As a valued partner to Baywest Homes for most of those 30 years, we applaud this occasion and your continued success serving the land development & new home industry.

DA Watt | 30 Years |

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development opportunities. Within four months of being hired, Nelligan was promoted to manager and in subsequent years, became vice president. He is also one of the board members and is a key voice in contributing to the development of a long-term plan for the firm.

“We are growth-oriented, we are expanding our services and we are creating opportunities for our employees,” says Nelligan. “But we also understand the importance of keeping our internal culture personalized: we don’t want to operate as a large-scale firm. Clients like working with smaller firms and knowing the principals are in touch with their projects – the clients appreciate a personal touch.”

Joining Nelligan in leading the company forward is Mike Szarmes, manager of geomatics, Graham Cripps, manager of engineering, Tomasz Kroman, manager of transportation, and Tyler Harrison, manager of finance and administration.

“We want to continually bring value to our clients and that’s achieved through providing guidance, our work ethic, technology and training,” says Cripps. “DAW is evolving and our employees want to work with the best tools in order to provide our clients with the best advice – and we are completely behind them.”

DAW recently expanded into Kelowna and Lloydminister, and is actively seeking other western Canadian opportunities for growth. “The future is bright and we have a strong team of people who are extremely dedicated,” adds Nelligan.

In the Field and On the Road…

DAW has played a role in helping to build infrastructure throughout the city. In recent years, their team of experts has been involved with a few keynote projects: The Bow Building, Mount Royal University, the Calgary Airport expansion and the East Village development to name a few.

These projects have drawn upon their engineering, geomatics and transportation expertise from the onset.

DAW has been involved with the East Village since 2005 where early work involved road closures, subdivisions and consolidations to establish a framework for land development. Currently there are three highrise developments underway along with ongoing projects such as the National Music Centre and the St. Louis Hotel.

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Congratulations to our friends at DA Watt Consulting!

One local company helping another. ~ From all of us at Stormwater Solutions Inc.

DA Watt | 30 Years |

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Mapping the Earth’s Surface…

Land and legal surveying has been integral to DA’s operation, hence the geomatics team is continually watching the technology horizon in order to stay one step ahead of the curve. Laser scanning, data preparation for machine control and in-house software development has given DAW a competitive edge that allows them to work smarter and more efficiently.

“Laser scanning means we can survey the land very rapidly and safely that otherwise couldn’t be done efficiently,” says Mike Szarmes. “We are able to collect and process a lot of very high-quality information because of our capabilities – the data is incredibly accurate. When the client wants more information, there’s no need to resurvey.”

GPS and data preparation for machine control (heavy earth moving equipment) is another area where DAW is breaking new ground. “Many of our clients have started to use ‘machine control’ technology, eliminating the need for staking the ground. With ‘stakeless surveying’ we now provide a detailed map of the surface for the excavation work,” he adds. “We have invested in the software that’s necessary to analyze and process the mapping and navigational information collected.” | BUILDINGS | CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE | SPECIAL PROJECTS |

The geomatics team also uses many standard instruments found in the field today: GPS, total station, robotic total stations, precise level instruments and CADD to mention a few. “We use all of these tools collectively and, combined with our in-house expertise, it enables us to provide high-end results. We are very diverse and that supports the needs of a diverse clientele,” he continues.

As Szarmes has observed, they have a variety of different initiatives underway in software development and are currently improving their CADD processing capabilities to improve coordination of field crews. “In three years, we haven’t needed to increase our homebuilder fees and that’s due to improvements in our internal efficiencies … and that’s huge,” remarks Szarmes.

“When we approach a problem, we don’t look at what our competitors are doing: we look back at how we traditionally have carried out the work, define the processes, talk to the right people, design an effective and efficient solution, and move forward,” he says. “We are not a typical engineering and survey firm, and because we are a smaller firm, we think differently – and our clients appreciate that fact.”

Congratulations on achieving 30 years!

We wish you many more years of success!

Congratulations to D.A. Wa Consulting on your 30th anniversary

From all of us at Lane Quinn Benefit Consultants Ltd.

Shown: City Centre Rendering

Sharing your vision.

Building success.

Phone: 403.261.6084 | Fax: 403.264.1027 www.lanequinn.com

We are more than builders.

We are construction partners who are passionate about what we do and about our partners’ success.

PCL is proud to partner with D.A. Watt Consulting in southern Alberta.

Happy 30 th To D.A. WATT! You have been a perfect partner in launching our 3 communities. We look forward to our continued partnership.

mattamyhomes.com

Watch us build at PCL.com DA Watt | 30 Years |

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Likewise DAW has been a member of the Urban Development Institute (UDI) and the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (Calgary Region) for many years. Residential subdivisions have been a part of their core business since day one. “Through land surveying, we’ve always done residential development in both the city and surrounding communities,” says Medlicott.

“The Urban Residential Distribution program (URD) with Enmax Energy is another long-term relationship that started about 15 years ago when electric power, natural gas, telephone and cable TV utilities were consolidated – creating the ‘single trench’ approach,” adds Medlicott.

“We were involved very early on with that process and we have worked in various capacities. At one point we looked after all the project management, scheduling and surveying.

For the past 12 years, we have done the shallow utility surveying for every new subdivision in the city,” he continues.

In 30 years, many things have changed, but there are still a few things that remain the same. “We have maintained client relations by providing excellent service and that’s reflected in our reputation. It’s a very exciting time to be a part of DAW and I’m honoured to be given the opportunity to help lead this company into the future,” says Nelligan. •

www.dawatt.com f ssional fe a success. on 30 years of profe

A lot can change in 30 years... your excellence has not.

“Congratulations on

30 years

of Success!”

From Your Partner In Business...

Kim.Biddle@eagleengineering.ca

C ONGRA TULA T IONsfuSl!

We’ve enjoyed our numerous succes consulting team projects over the years. We look for ward to continued success wit h the D.A. Watt team in the years ahead!

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DA Watt | 30 Years |

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Congratulations & Thank you Dave Watt ...and his very competent team for exceptional engineering services in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

We count on them and we get results.

Musgrave Agencies Ltd.

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DA Watt | 30 Years |

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www.musgraveagencies.com Lloydminster, AB/SK

L-R: Sean Burnand, Blaine Froese, Jason Laird, Elmer Ventura Photo by Mary Savage.

Can West Legacy…

A New Leader Emerges

By Mary Savage

W

hen Sean Burnand and Jason Laird decided to merge their businesses, it was over a decade in the making – working as ‘friendly competitors’. They manufacture industrial labelling – everything from ID tags to large format printing and they understand their market extremely well. They provide permanent industrial marking solutions: an essential service to the industrial and commer-

cial sectors. And they are passionate - just ask them about their newly formed enterprise: Can West Legacy Inc. Prior to the merger and as independent business owners, the respective companies produced labels for the oil and gas industry, equipment manufacturers, the construction sector, military and aerospace, the automotive industry, high-voltage signage and like applications.

Can West Legacy | 1

Burnand and Laird’s paths crossed many times: they ordered products from each other, they came up with new ideas to better service their niche market and they shared many of the same customers.

After 12 years, the wheels of a merger were finally set in motion. The decision to blend Can West Label Inc. and Legacy Marking introduced a powerful team in the industrial label marketplace and as Can West Legacy emerged, it did so with an unmistakable drive for excellence.

“The merger has broadened our scope of work while maintaining a very high standard. We share the same vision and that was key to our merger - we are very specific when meeting our customers’ needs,” says Sean Burnand, general manager.

They also share a common work ethic: to find the best solution for their clients in order to produce a perfect order each and every time. In their corner of the manufacturing world and unlike many operations, they don’t mass-produce anything.

Today, Can West Legacy is an industry front-runner that provides an extensive selection of specialty products and services not found anywhere else in Western Canada. They are only one of two companies in Calgary that carry CSA and UL approvals. They have clients throughout North America

and Mexico, and they have recently moved to a larger facility that includes a manufacturing area of about 8,000 sq. ft.

In addition to Burnand and Laird, the business also has two more partners: Blaine Froese and Elmer Ventura who were part of Legacy Marking Inc. During the merger, they retained all their employees and they have recently hired a few more people in order to keep pace with their evergrowing business.

“Passion starts at the top and flows downward and our employees share our passion – they know what we are trying to achieve and they are just as committed about building the business as we are,” asserts Jason Laird, president.

“We have a renewed excitement and we are learning again!” notes Burnand. “Every day brings a new challenge and we carry so many different products, why not find the best one for our customers’ application? We truly enjoy helping our clients find the best solution - that is what drives us forward.”

From Press to Plate…

Can West Legacy is integral to the mechanics of any commercial or industrial operation and it is multilayered -

Products & Services

• Product safety warning labels

Imprinting Methods

• CSA & UL approved labels

• Calibration labels

• Screen Printing

• Acid Etched & colour-filled Stainless Steel plates

• Laser engraving

• Laser Engraving

• Plastic engraving

• Rotary & Diamond Drag Engraving

• Control panels

• Serial number plates / Labels

• Acid Etching & Colour fill

• Industrial labelling

• Graphic overlays

• Metal photo ®

• Lamacoids

• Safety labels

• Anodizing

• Valve tags / Cable tags

• Vinyl graphics

• Danger ID tags

• Sandblasting

• Safety signage

• Anodized plates

• Large format printing

• Asset tracking labels

• Indoor & outdoor banners

• Stainless Steel / Aluminum data plates

Can West Legacy | 2

from the people who build the equipment to the installers.

Nearly every step of the process requires some form of permanent identification, so when the Can West Legacy team meets with a client, they ask two standard questions every time: how long do you want the product to last (months or decades) and what is the application and the environment?

“We have product on military warships that has to last 75 years and we have an adhesive that’s specifically designed to meet those requirements,” says Burnand. “When engraved panels are installed on oil rigs and pump trucks, those panels need to withstand the elements for decades. If the emergency switch label starts to wear off, now you’re dealing with people’s lives and that speaks to the quality we need to produce and maintain.”

As an example, Can West Legacy offers 15 different types of adhesives and they utilize 3M products 90 per cent of the time. “We have tested every type of adhesive on the market and 3M is the best,” comments Burnand. “When you have an adhesive label, typically you need a clean, dry surface for application, but we have an adhesive for the oilfield that activates on a greasy surface.”

Likewise, when you walk into a building and look around, labels are everywhere – some are visible while others are part

of the mechanics of the building. “From the elevator panel and the directional board in the lobby to the cable tags, exhaust fans and wiring diagrams, they all have a serial number with a special tag and specifications,” adds Laird.

“Is it for an indoor or outdoor application? Is it attached to a cable buried underground or affixed to a sour gas well site? All of these applications change the type of product and by asking very specific questions, we can determine exactly what the client needs,” explains Laird. “When that product goes out the door, we know it’s the right product for the customer’s requirements.”

As the owners have observed, Can West Legacy operates much like an emergency room: customers don’t think about ordering the ID tags or engraved labels until their equipment is sitting in their yard and ready to ship.

“We are very responsive to our customers’ needs and timelines, and we have adjusted our operating capacity to accommodate those needs,” notes Burnand. “Before we initiate a night shift, we won’t allow our plant capacity to exceed about 85 per cent so we can take on more work to service those customers that need it. Not all of our customers need the quick turnaround, but it’s the nature of our work.”

Applications & Industries

Materials • 3M adhesives

• Brass / Magnesium Alloy

• Industrial Identification

• CSA & UL approved protective overlaminates

• Coroplast

• Equipment Manufacturers • Electronics

• 3M polyesters (labelling material)

• Oil & Gas Industry

• GE Lexans

• Construction

• Aluminum foils

• Electrical

• Lamacoid plastics

• Military • Medical / Health Care • Aerospace • Architectural Companies • Property Management

• Stainless Steel / Aluminum • Acrylic • 3M Tamper Evident vinyls • Coloured 3M Vinyl

Can West Legacy | 3

• Wood

Three Generations & Three Mergers

The history behind Can West Label reaches back to 1969 when Sean’s grandfather, Bernie, established the business. It was one of the first companies in western Canada to manufacture CSA and UL aluminum labels with a highly durable adhesive that was specifically designed for industrial and oil field applications.

“Instead of manufacturing something that’s going to last for six months to a year, let’s make something that’s going to last for 20 to 75 years outside – that was Bernie’s vision and that was how the business started,” recalls Burnand.

In 1982 Bernie’s son, Peter, purchased the company and by the mid 1990s, Sean was hired. “My first day on the job found me sweeping floors: I learned the business from the ground up,” says Burnand. In 2012 Sean purchased the business from Peter. Today, both Peter and Bernie are a vital part of the operation.

During the mid 1990s and across town, Laird was selling the engraving equipment to manufacture metal and plastic labels. A few years later, his employer announced he was going to liquidate their equipment and sell the business, and Jason welcomed the opportunity for a new venture.

In 1999, Laird formed his first engraving business. In 2003, he was joined by Froese and Ventura, and together they acquired three more companies to enhance Legacy’s existing product and service offerings.

In January of 2013, Can West Label and Legacy Marking formed one entity and in recent months, their growth remains unabated with the new acquisition of Express Signs – once again expanding their capabilities by adding the large format signage.

The future looks bright as Can West Legacy continually raises the bar in delivering high quality products and services. They are the leaders in establishing standards of excellence throughout their industry and they are constantly in pursuit of new markets and opportunities for advancement.

Back: Elmer Ventura, Blaine Froese, Sean Burnand. Front: Jason Laird Photo by Mary Savage.

“When you surround yourself with the right people, great things start to happen. Our employees are selfstarters, innovative thinkers and very capable. They understand our vision, what we are trying to build and they make it happen.” ~ Jason Laird On any given day, their manufacturing facility has about 350 jobs underway with the capacity to add more. Depending on the order, Can West can complete a job within a couple of business days and that reflects their operating model – from their quality control systems to the employees on the manufacturing floor.

“When you surround yourself with the right people, great things start to happen,” observes Laird. “Our employees are self-starters, innovative thinkers and very capable,” he adds. “They understand our vision, what we are trying to build and they make it happen.”

Can West Legacy has a seven-stage quality control system set up for every order. “When you consider a label, it’s not a case of simply pushing a button. Every product goes through several production stages and we must maintain the high standard. Nothing goes out the door until it’s perfect,” says Laird. •

www.canwestlegacy.com Can West Legacy | 4

on the Ball! • Golf

On the Ball!

Millions of dollars of research and development go into designing and creating the best ball for the individual golfer’s abilities, techniques and quirks.

BY John haRdY

s

“Despite summer being half over, it may ometimes (and always with the best of sound obvious but some golfers need remindintentions, laced with varying degrees of ing,” grins the going-seasonally-crazy Terry frustration and exasperation) golfers are Carter, a certified golf pro and the director a bit like chronic dieters. They’re in denial, they of Calgary’s National Golf Academy. “Your make excuses, and they desperately and gullactual skill should dictate the specific type of ibly grope for wild gimmicks and easy fixes. ball you use – and don’t use. There are things From the legit to the wacko, golfers are like ball flight laws and backspin to consider.” insatiable about eternally trying anything Terry Carter, certified golf pro and the director of Bill Morgan is Titleist’s senior vice presito improve their game. Their stance. Their Calgary’s National Golf Academy dent of golf ball R&D and heads a team of swing. Their angle and their centre of gravmore than 75 chemists, engineers, matheity. Their follow-through. New clubs, the maticians and materials scientists whose sole job is golf ball latest grips, space-aged designs, weird-looking putters, digiresearch and development. tal gizmos and lucky club covers.

“The aerodynamics of a golf ball is crucially important, Think about it! There is only one consistent component to regardless what level of player you are,” he says. “And aerodyevery golf game. Only one piece of equipment that golfers namic flight is controlled by the forces of lift, drag and gravity. use on every shot. The lowly, often overlooked golf ball.

Gravity is the same for everybody using the same weight ball.

For obvious, multibillion-dollar sales secret reasons, neiLift is the force that causes the ball to rise. Drag is the air’s ther Titleist, Bridgestone Srixon, TaylorMade or Callaway will resistance to the ball’s movement through it. A ball’s aerodyeven remotely hint about actual numbers made or sold but they namic design is mostly about the dimples – the dimple pattern, openly and proudly confirm that tens of millions of dollars are the count, shapes, depth and the dimple edge angles. The basic spent on research and development for the finicky science of function of the dimples is to optimize lift and minimize drag.” creating the best possible ball for every possible and specific Always a popular trivia stumper, the number of dimples golf reason. on a golf ball varies from 300 to 500 and most have between Despite all that R&D money, and the time and effort in 350 and 450 dimples. the science of creating the right ball, many golfers still just Going too deep into the science of golf ball design and pershrug and play “whatever is in my bag.” formance can be frustrating and baffling for the average, It’s unanimous. The specific type of ball affects the shot enjoyment-driven golfer but ball spin is also a big consideration. and the entire game. All golfers know (and play) the basic “Spin affects each shot you play,” Carter explains. “On truism that every shot counts. And so does the golf ball! long shots, low spin contributes to longer, straighter disToo often, golfers are preoccupied with other miracle tricks tance. On short shots and chips, more spin provides stopping to improve their game and overlook the taken-for-granted power to hold greens. There are significant performance obvious: their ball. differences between golf ball models, particularly on the Although many factors have a direct impact on increased short-game scoring shots. driving distances in golf (like newer and improved drivers), “The two basic differences are usually the spin and the one of the undisputed most important drive-distance boosters feel of the ball. Some golfers prefer a softer feel and others of the game has been the improved construction of the ball. feel like a rock.”

For diehards who are insatiable about numbers and stats, With the usual golf shop-talk and technicalities, Calgary it is documented that (mostly due to golf ball changes golfers from The Links of GlenEagles, Bearspaw and Fox and improvements) touring PGA pros have increased their Hollow to Shaganappi Point, Priddis Greens and D’Arcy average driving distance from about 257 yards in 1980 to Ranch are ...on the ball. BiC currently 280 yards. www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 77

Shanks for the Memories

T

he “Shank” may be the most irritating shot in golf not only because of the poor result, but because it is a bad memory that we have a hard time getting rid of. The shank happens when the ball is struck in the hosel of the club (Figure 1), causing the ball to go straight right. The Shank only occurs in iron shots, because woods don’t have a hosel. Although it can happen in any swing, this ugly shot is most prevalent in the pitch swing.

The Shank produces a dead feel and sometimes golfers think this shot went off Figure 1 to the right because it was hit off the toe. This misunderstanding is like a compound fracture because if you think that you hit it off the toe, then you are going to make your best effort to move the ball towards the heel of the club, thus causing another shank.

Once the shank gets in your head, it is very hard to get rid of. The shank happens because the golf club is travelling on an outside/ in path (to the target line).

It is travelling on this path because the golfer, just prior to impact, stands up and out of the shot too early, which Figure 2 causes him to lift up his posture, pushing the club again outside, causing the shank.

Sometimes a shanker may try to stay very still and stop rotating his upper body. By staying so still the golfer is forced to overuse his hands, wrists and arms which causes too much movement of the club head and destroys the proper path.

In Figure 2, the golfer has turned his chest completely through to the target. This can help to minimize the use of the hands and the arms helping to keep the club on the proper path so not to expose the hosel of the golf club, and cause a shank.

Here is a homemade teaching aid to help minimize the use of your hands and wrists.

Take three feet of a half-inch dowel. Tape the dowel onto your grip so that it extends beyond the length of your club (Figure 3).

Now grip the golf club and make a few short pitch-like swings. If you are remaining still and using your hands by flipping your wrists, the piece of dowel will give you a little slap on the side of your body. You want to learn to minimize the use of your hands and really get your upper body turning through to the target while maintaining your posture. This tool is great for both the pitch swing and the chip swing.

After you begin to get the feel of this motion, you can get rid of the dowel and see if you are able to mimic Figure 2 when making a pitch swing.

It is amazing once you begin making this motion; the shanks will go away and you will become a better golfer, not only in your pitch shots, but in your full swing.

Remember the pitch shot is a small version of your full swing; ensure that you are rotating your chest through towards the target and miniFigure 3 mizing the use of your hands and wrists in the golf swing.

This is a tall order, but as you achieve this you will become a much better ball striker, and this shot will be all but a memory.

See our Video Golf Tips at mckenziemeadows.com.

Scott Orban, Chief Operating Officer McKenzie Meadows Golf Club

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www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 79

AUGUST 2013

Building the workforce of tomorrow Chamber publishes report to strengthen Métis labour market outcomes

BY SHAFAK SAJID

A

lberta’s economy is one of the strongest in Canada.

The province has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, with some of the strongest economic growth expected for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, Alberta is faced with the challenge of growing labour and skills shortages.

According to Alberta Human Services, the province is forecasted to experience a shortfall of 114,000 workers in the coming decade. Businesses and employers can meet this challenge by attracting and retaining labour groups such as the Métis. But for small and medium business owners, the hiring process can be daunting and draining on limited resources.

To help fix this problem the Calgary Chamber recently published Building the workforce of tomorrow: Employment and career direction for the Métis. This research report and toolkit for business identifies strategies and opportunities for employers to connect with the Métis workforce.

The Métis are one of Canada’s three constitutionally recognized Aboriginal Peoples, along with the First Nations and Inuit. The unique cultural, geographic and demographic characteristics of the Métis make them an ideal source of labour. The Métis are a skilled and growing workforce relative to the broader Aboriginal population in Canada. They also have higher education levels and better social and health outcomes which make them an ideal underutilized pool of labour that could be better engaged.

The Métis report presents an intensive labour market analysis to better understand the barriers faced by the Métis population as well as occupational choices and profiles of Métis people. The report concludes that there is a difference in the occupational profiles and career advancement opportunities available to the Métis population. For instance, the Métis population is more likely to be concentrated in the trades, sales and services occupations relative to the nonAboriginal population across Canada and less likely to work in management, business and administrative occupations relative to the non-Aboriginal population. However, over 80 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

The Métis are a skilled and growing workforce relative to the broader Aboriginal population in Canada and have higher education levels which make them an ideal underutilized pool of labour that could be better engaged. time the proportion of the Métis population in management occupations has increased while the proportion of the nonAboriginal population has decreased.

Over the years, the Métis have been moving in the right direction occupationally and this needs to continue. Based on an analysis of current labour market data as well as primary research in the form of qualitative surveys of 124 key stakeholders, the Calgary Chamber identifies strategies for the government, businesses and Métis organizations to improve labour market outcomes by focusing on educational rates, comprehensive retention strategies, mentorship programs and career advancement opportunities.

Small Business Week

2013 Board of

Organizations of all sizes can benefit from getting involved with Small Business Week

BY CATHERINE STONE

Executive

S

mall Business Week, which runs from October 20 to 26, pays tribute to the contributions that small and mediumsized businesses with less than 100 employees make to the Canadian economy. In Calgary, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce is the go-to source for all events and activities relating to Small Business Week in the city.

Aside from celebrating small businesses, the Chamber recognizes that Small Business Week has a number of opportunities that both small and large companies can benefit from. Small businesses can learn, network and socialize with their peers, while large businesses have the perfect chance to connect with a small business audience through a number of event and program offerings.

Nominate an small business

Directors

awesome

The highlight of Small Business Week is the Small Business Week Awards. Nominations are now open and small businesses with less than $5 million in revenue are encouraged to apply by August 30, 2013. This year’s Small Business Awards has five categories: the Innovation Award, the Customer Service Excellence Award, the Community Involvement Award, the Environmental Stewardship Award and the Breakout Business Award. Businesses that are shortlisted in their nominated category have the opportunity to be considered for the prestigious Small Business of the Year Award. Being short-listed for any one of these awards is a great way to gain valuable public exposure that has been known to attract new employees, customers, and business partners – and leads to an increase in sales.

If you want to nominate a small business that’s doing amazing things, visit www.SmallBusinessWeekCalgary.com

Sponsor a Small Business Week Award The Small Business Week Awards is the largest event in Calgary that celebrates

the accomplishments of small businesses and savvy entrepreneurs. Coming in as a sponsor of an award is a great way to gain exposure to this valuable market segment. As a sponsor, your company’s name and logo will be featured prominently on SmalllBusinessWeekCalgary.com, which was viewed last year by 6,000 people.

Your company name and logo will also be included at the awards ceremony, which is attended by up to 200 people.

If you’re interested in sponsoring an award, contact membership@calgarychamber.com

Host an event or learning workshop Once again the Calgary Chamber has partnered with ATB Financial to launch SmallBusinessWeekCalgary.com, which is the single, largest touch point for events and activities relating to Small Business Week in Calgary. This website lets larger companies who either offer services useful to small businesses or are interested in hosting an event relevant to a small business audience to post what they are doing online where it will get noticed and attended by the right type of people. It – quite simply – is the easiest way to get directly in touch with the largest small business audience in Calgary.

If you have something to post, visit SmallBusinessWeekCalgary.com/events.

Showcase your company at Small Business Week Expo

Joe Lougheed – Chair Dave Sprague – Immediate Past Chair Leah Lawrence – Chair Elect Rob Hawley – 2nd Vice Chair Denis Painchaud – Vice Chair, Finance Adam Legge – President & CEO Directors David Allen Bill Brunton Eva Friesen Guy Huntingford Rob Lennard Dilan Perera Linda Shea Paul Waddell Management Adam Legge, President & CEO Michael Andriescu, Director of Finance & Administration Kim Koss, Vice President, Business Development Rebecca Wood, Member Services Manager

Leading Business magazine is a co-publication of the Calgary Chamber and Business in Calgary Calgary Chamber 600, 237 8th Avenue S.E. Calgary, Alberta T2G 5C3 Phone: (403) 750-0400 Fax: (403) 266-3413 calgarychamber.com

The other highlight of Small Business Week is the trade show expo, which is held before the Small Business Awards ceremony on Thursday, October 24. This event gives businesses the opportunity to display their products or services, discover new businesses and network with others in Calgary’s business community. The event typically attracts up to 200 attendees and sells out quickly.

If you’d like to book a trade show booth, contact events@calgarychamber.com.

www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 81

Beakerhead: Celebrating Art, Engineering and Ingenuity September 11-15, 2013

BY ANDREA MENDIZABAL

A show-stopping, garden-themed art car stands watch at Beakerhead’s 2013 program announcement on June 10. See more curious art cars and other feats of ingenuity when Beakerhead officially takes to the streets on September 11 - 15, 2013.

G

iant tesla coils, vegetable oil fuelled carnival rides, mechanical spiders and curious art cars – for five days in September, Beakerhead will activate the streets of Calgary with art, feats of engineering and ingenuity.

Designed to be an annual event, the inaugural Beakerhead will see the city come to life with challenges, performances and exhibits.

“Beakerhead brings together art and engineering to see what king of creativity can happen at that crossroads,” says Mary Anne Moser, co-founder and president, Beakerhead.

“It is a shout out to human ingenuity. We all have creative and rational sides that are powerful – not to mention entertaining — when brought together.”

Aiming to attract residents and tourists from around the world, Beakerhead is a large-scale collaboration with organizations in Calgary and beyond, and includes a ‘green’ carnival, called Sustainaval, and funfair with rides powered by wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy; galleries of engineered art; presentations and workshops where creativity is put into action, and more.

Founded by Jay Ingram, a renowned Canadian science broadcaster and author, and Mary Anne Moser, a science editor and communications professional, Beakerhead gained definition as a hands-on happening, designed for people to make and create, experiment and exhibit, compete and delight by bringing the arts, sciences and engineering together.

Calgary, home to more engineers per capita than any other city in Canada and a creative and entrepreneurial capital, emerged as the perfect place for this catalytic reaction.

82 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

“Many of Calgary arts, science, engineering and education organizations have come together as a community to make Beakerhead happen in 2013. The name Beakerhead is a way for existing organizations to come together to be something that is larger than the sum of its parts and express a core characteristic of the new west in the process,” says Moser.

More than 70 organizations are collaborating to put together the large-scale, five day program of events called Beakerhead.

Program partners from Calgary’s advanced technology community, including Innovate Calgary and AcceleratorYYC will also host events around Calgary to show the city’s entrepreneurial and innovative spirit.

Some of the advanced tech sector’s activities include a Hack Day on September 14 where entrepreneurs and computer programmers race against the clock to punch out code in the hopes of building and creating new technology startup companies and apps in a collaborative environment.

Calgary’s up and coming technology companies will also take the stage during the annual Technology Showcase at the Alastair Ross Technology Centre on September 12. This afternoon of electrifying energy, excitement, competition, and networking will bring together some of the newest tech companies driving innovation in the city.

To learn more about Beakerhead and for a full listing of Beakerhead events happening around Calgary, visit beakerhead.org.

To learn more about Innovate Calgary’s Technology Showcase, visit innovatecalgary.com/TechShowcase2013.

The Marketing Response to the Alberta Flood

BY STEWART MCDONOUGH Mayor Naheed Nenshi

O

ur community was pushed down, and we are pulling her back up. You’ll want to see what this community has accomplished,” said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “You’ll get a chance to experience the energy of these streets, our great festivals, events and experiences.

Summer is the time you want to be here. Come and visit Calgary – our doors are open.”

On the day before the start of the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth and just two weeks after floods devastated parts of southern Alberta, Tourism Calgary and Mayor Naheed Nenshi launched a three-week regional and national marketing campaign letting travellers know that Calgary’s attractions, restaurants, hotels and festivals are ready to host the world this summer.

In a collaboration with Travel Alberta and the Calgary Hotel Association, Tourism Calgary shared an inviting message that “Calgary’s Doors are Open” across the country through radio, newspapers, online advertising, social media and public relations.

The campaign, which was conceived and executed in five days, features Mayor Naheed Nenshi who has been nationally recognized for his steadfast and inspirational leadership throughout the crisis. The mayor, along with City Council colleagues, has told a strong story of Calgary’s resiliency, tenacity and spirit – one that could not be submerged.

Throughout the period of crisis and recovery and in order to mitigate the negative effects the flood could have on the local tourism community, Tourism Calgary conducted more than 30 interviews with radio, television and digital outlets in both French and English Canada on the destination.

Tourism Calgary in collaboration with Travel Alberta and the Stampede are hosted 70 media and travel trade tour operators during the Stampede. The destination’s marketing organization also developed online consumer travel updates and business status alerts on visitcalgary.com including an FAQ page with links to helpful resources in the city.

Tourism Calgary shot and produced a short “Doors Open” video on visitcalgary.com that exceeded 72,000 views in just five days. Social media channels were also instrumental in

disseminating travel information and updates to visitors.

A #yycisopen social media campaign was launched in conjunction launch toopen.let the world know Calgary’s doors are We’re excited Calgary’s with spirit comesthe from our video ability to for you to experience everything this keep moving forward no matter what “Calgary challenges is open business”. great city has to offer. Our attractions, we face.for It’s the strength to pick restaurants, hotels and festivals are ourselves up, roll up our sleeves and make ready for the world. this place even better.campaign Because that’s when launch The marketing was timed to coincide #yycisopen people like us — and cities like ours — shine. with the truly conclusion of the city’s state of emergency, which was thenvisitcalgary.com included in much of the national media coverage generated from the event. The real battle will be to continue to share a consistent message across the tourism industry that will break through perceptions of a city under water.

The Calgary Stampede recovery is miraculous, but it’s a 10-day boost that could mask a more difficult and longer road ahead for the larger tourism industry. Fortunately, the Stampede offers a tremendous vehicle to show the world that Calgary is not, in fact, under water - that its stores, restaurants, hotels and most of its tourism experiences are open.

The summer tourism season is critical for a tourism industry that welcomes more than five million visitors annually, employs one in 10 working Calgarians and contributes $1.4 billion in spending to local businesses.

After natural disasters of this type large percentages of small businesses can fail, putting an important sector of the local and provincial economy at risk.

And while there are signs for hope and hotel rooms are full during the Stampede, those rooms were largely booked pre-flood. What will be most critical are the weeks and months post-flood to gauge the effect of the June 20 flood on the local tourism economy.

Although Hurricane Katrina’s impact was more significant and devastating than the Alberta floods, there are lessons to be learned from their experience. After Hurricane Katrina, it took New Orleans seven years to return to pre-disaster levels. And New Orleans is an internationally recognized tourism brand with year-round attractions including the French Quarter that was not severely damaged.

What is clear is that for Calgary and many of its neighbouring communities throughout Southern Alberta recovery is a long process that will last well beyond physical reconstruction.

Naheed Nenshi Mayor of Calgary

APPROVALS

411, 11th Ave SE Calgary, Alberta T2G 0Y5

CYANI MAGENTAI YELLOWI

Telephone: (403) 237-2388 Toll Free Phone: 1-800-665-4927 Fax: (403) 265-4659

www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 83

2013 Calgary Flood and the impact on labour shortages?

E

arlier this summer, Calgary faced the biggest challenge in our city’s history. Before the water even receded, Calgarians came together.

Scores of volunteers spent days and weeks cleaning out friends’ and strangers’ homes, businesses and their communities. When we talk about the energy in Calgary, it’s was clearly demonstrated by Calgarians coming together including friends, neighbours, colleagues and strangers - to cleanup and re-open Calgary.

The cleanup will continue for months to comes as homes, businesses and infrastructure are restored and rebuilt. But for an already tight labour market, the cleanup will add even more pressure for companies to find the skilled workers they need across all fields.

Calgary was already experiencing critical skills shortages in a number of areas. The work required to re-build various communities and infrastructure projects is going to strain our already constrained labour pool. Due to demographic shifts, talent mismatch, changing nature of work and age-related attrition, talent has become a top concern for employers in Calgary.

Add to this the amount of workers now required to swiftly restore and re-build many communities in the Calgary region and you end up with a shortage of workers in more areas. It’s becoming evident that employment demand will increase in such occupations as residential and industrial construction, followed by a demand for workers in commercial construction.

Understanding the city’s needs Calgary Economic Development’s workforce efforts play a critical role in strengthening Calgary’s labour force and we are actively working with the Calgary business community to understand how the flooding has impacted their current and expected needs. Bottom line is that we need to ensure that we have the right people with the right skills, attitude and education to do the jobs available.

Focus on the local markets first Calgary Economic Development’s role includes fostering collaboration between industry, post-secondary institutions, government and associations to understand Calgary and Alberta’s workforce needs for the purpose of creating workforce development strategies to meet labour demand.

Calgary Economic Development promotes full utilization of local talent to meet our needs, which includes advocating 84 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

Mayor Nenshi speaking to students at the University of Ottawa

for training and apprenticeship opportunities to develop unemployed/underemployed and under-utilized pool of workers.

Looking across Canada and beyond Even with the collaboration between post-secondary, industry, government and associations, Alberta simply does not produce enough skilled workers to meet the immediate need in certain occupations and sometimes companies need to look beyond our city to find the right talent.

Calgary Economic Development helps industry through our various labour attraction initiatives. The Calgary. Be Part of the Energy integrated marketing campaign is part of a comprehensive and strategic effort to attract talent to Alberta and promote Calgary as a great city to not only make a living, but make a life Just prior to the flooding, Calgary Economic Development was joined by some of its Action Calgary partners and Mayor Nenshi in Ottawa and Toronto to speak with business and post-secondary groups about the opportunities in Calgary for career, business and lifestyle. Action Calgary partners also had the opportunity to meet with students and faculty at universities and trade schools in Southern Ontario.

Last year, Canada’s Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, joined us in Ireland where we lead a group of Calgary employers on a labour attraction mission to find skilled workers for positions that were not able to be filled by Canadian workers.

This fall we will be addressing any labour shortage created by the flood and in September, we will be returning to Ireland and England with employers experiencing labour shortages, that can’t source the supply locally or nationally.

Company wishing to learn more about Calgary Economic Development’s local, national and international workforce strategies can contact Jeanette Sutherland, Manager of Workforce and Productivity at 403-221-7887 or jsutherland@calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com

EnErgy is at thE CEntrE of Calgary The Calgary TELUS Convention Centre is committed to providing world-class conference facilities to major organizations in all areas, and we are especially proud of our close ties to Alberta’s energy sector. It is well-known that Calgary is Canada’s energy capital. The city is home to offices of major national and international energy industry companies, trade associations, as well as the country’s energy regulator, the National Energy Board. Decisions made in Calgary by these organizations affect global finance and technological innovation. Involvement on this international scale requires an infrastructure within the city to support the travel and tourism needs of the business professional. The Calgary TELUS Convention Centre (CTCC) is a key part of this infrastructure and recently hosted the Oil Sands Heavy Oil Technologies conference this July. The CTCC will also be hosting the upcoming World Petroleum Council’s 4th Youth Forum this coming October.

The Oil Sands Heavy Oil Technologies conference in July provided industry professionals an opportunity to learn about new technologies and processes that continue to demonstrate Alberta’s leadership in developing global energy solutions.

In addition to industrial and business concerns, the conference also addressed the environmental concerns that have been central to debates about Oil Sands projects.

The CTCC provided an expansive and welcoming space for delegates from around the world, and its downtown location offered immediate access for delegates to Calgary’s broad range of accommodation, restaurants, and tourism destinations.

The World Petroleum Council (WPC) returns to the Convention Centre with October’s Youth Forum. The Forum will provide an opportunity for young energy industry professionals, academics, and industry leaders from across the business and social spectrum to come together in Calgary to discuss business, technology, and environmental concerns that stem from the energy industry. The Calgary TELUS Convention Centre hosted the full World Petroleum Congress in June of 2000, which, with an attendance of 4600 delegates, was at that time one of the largest Congresses in the organization’s history. It was an event that, in the words of 16th WPC chairman Jim Gray, “crystallized Calgary’s reputation in the oil and gas industry, and...identified Calgary and Alberta as partners of choice for many international companies.” The theme of this year’s Youth Forum, “Unconventional Solutions for an Unconventional World,” promises to focus on the challenges facing the industry, including keeping abreast of technological advances, corporate social responsibilities, and anticipating solutions for the challenges that lie ahead.

With Calgary’s continuing importance to the international energy community, the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre and Calgary Economic Development have identified the need for a Canadian Energy Technology Centre. The Centre would be developed with the mandate to help Calgary be recognized as the premiere location to discuss, debate and access information about all things related to energy. The Energy Technology Centre would be developed as part of a new and expanded convention centre in downtown Calgary. The inclusion of an energy centre within a new convention facility could serve multiple economic development objectives including attracting additional audiences associated with global energy-related conventions and meetings.

Through partnerships with Calgary Economic Development, Meetings + Conventions Calgary, Travel Alberta, Energy Cities Alliance, and the Canadian Tourism Commission, the CTCC is focused on ensuring Calgary remains an attractive and competitive destination for business travel and conferences for energy sector clients the world over. calgary-convention.com www.businessincalgary.com | BUSINESS IN CALGARY August 2013 • 85

David Parker • MarketingMatters

Marketingmatters

By daVid PaRkeR

o

ver the years there have been a number of advertising agencies come and go, grow bigger and bigger or reduce in size, and then there are those that choose to remain within a manageable size that suits their working environment and the size and character of their clients.

Tandem Marketing is one such agency that is in its 17th year in business in this city. Managing director Todd Fraser is in the same location and still with seven very capable staff who have been able to keep clients like Remington Development happy since Tandem opened its doors.

Remington is one of its largest accounts thanks to the busyness of the developer – particularly in its very successful Quarry Park development – and the relationship that has built up over those years.

Fraser says he shies away from pitching the big accounts but was successful recently in being chosen over a number of other firms by Chandos, an Edmonton-based construction company with a fast growing presence in Calgary, after its vice president corporate accounts, Tim Coldwell, visited several agencies to determine which one he felt would best serve his company’s needs.

Another recently acquired account is the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations (CCVO) that hired Tandem to rebrand its recruitment vehicle.

CCVO is Calgary’s largest source for careers in the non-profit sector and its new website, called Reachire, not only matches non-profit employers with

employees but also educates career seekers on the myriad of benefits of working in non-profit.

And do check out the well-received infographic Fraser and his team produced for commercial mortgage and real estate broker Millar Foran.

•••••••••••••• When Kelly Choi of Blacksheep Marketing began working on a campaign to promote the rejuvenation of a building at 916 Memorial Drive NW she sat down with owner Sable Developments and came up with 916 reasons for living in Kensington.

Shops, restaurants, LRT or easy walk to downtown are easy – but Choi came up with 916 including enjoying a ‘Bulldog’ on the patio of Julio’s Barrio.

•••••••••••••• Trevor McConnell, one of this city’s best known – and best – creative guys, has become an independent creative director after many years of coming up with some tremendous campaigns for agencies such as Parallel Strategies, Venture Communications, and for the past eight years with Scout Communications.

McConnell is now freelance but says he intends to spend more time writing fiction – no doubt he will be a success at that too.

•••••••••••••• Karo Group has expanded beyond its 40-year-old Western Canada base with the opening of an office in Toronto. The new shop is headed by Marc Whitehead, a veteran strategist with an impressive resumé with prominent national and global brands who worked with Karo president and CEO Chris Bedford when they were both with McKim Advertising.

First clients on the Toronto account list include Organic Meadow, a pio-

86 • August 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com

neer in organic farming for almost 25 years, and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. Both will also use the services of the Calgary and Vancouver offices.

Newest accounts gained in Calgary include Wild Rose Brewery that is in the process of opening a new brewery in Foothills Industrial Park. Keeping the familiar WR in its logo, Karo is working on a rebrand for the brewery so we can expect new label designs and a new promotional campaign for Wild Rose Brewery standard draught and bottled beers as well as its seasonal, cask and barrel-aged products.

•••••••••••••• I just caught PR wizard Neil Bousquet moments before the moving truck took all of his attention. He has relocated to Oliver at the south end of the Okanagan Valley. He says he will continue to serve his Calgary PR clients but will be networking around the Interior of B.C. to establish a new business there.

•••••••••••••• After spending the majority of their first six months in their newly-created business partnership, C&B Advertising, working on its Travel Alberta account, Phil Copithorne and Leigh Blakely have been busy pulling in new clients. Among them is Heritage Park that has been showing off its promotional video C&B produced; they are now working together to create material to celebrate the park’s upcoming 50th anniversary. BiC

Parker’s Pick: Has to go to C&B’s Come Hell or High Water T-shirts for the Stampede.

MOTIVATE YOUR TEAM AT THE CENTRE OF ENERGY

EXPERIENCE THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT THAT DREW 300,000 PEOPLE TO THE CALGARY TELUS CONVENTION CENTRE IN 2012.

–

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT:

calgary-convention.com

Bow Valley College means Business.

Just ask the Canadian Institute of Management.

The Canadian Institute of Management recently accredited BVC’s Business Administration Diploma Program; acknowledging the quality of our faculty, our program, and results.

The BVC School of Business offers more than a dozen certificate and diploma programs in high-demand business careers. Whether they studied in-class or online, our graduates are tomorrow’s leaders in business, accounting, tourism, human resources…and more.

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