ENERGY – PRIVATELY HELD
Lance Torgerson Noralta Lodge Ltd.
B
orn in Calgary and raised in the northern Alberta town of Slave Lake, Lance Torgerson returned back to his native hometown after attending the University of Calgary and earning a business administration in management degree from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), with a desire to start a remote workforce accommodation company that went above and beyond what was offered in the industry at the time. “I was told on many occasions that the company would fail,” recalls Torgerson. “It strengthened my resolve to make it work.” At the age of 25, he formed Noralta Lodge Ltd. in 1997. He borrowed money from his parents, who remortgaged their home to loan him the capital, and started out with his first mobilized camp of 16 beds. “I was immediately all in,” he says. In the beginning, the company was run by Torgerson and one other staff member and has now evolved into thousands of rooms with hundreds of staff. He remains the youngest town councillor in the history of Slave Lake and is clearly committed to the community in numerous ways as his company grew to one of the largest independent lodging companies in the country. Noralta Lodge Ltd. has hundreds of customers including some of the largest names in the oil and gas sector. When the Slake Lake fires hit, Torgerson immediately offered up his facilities to house displaced residents – one of many examples of giving back to the community over the years. If history is any indicator, Torgerson’s resolve and determination are sure to take his company profitably into the future.
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Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012