Doug Goss – Chair of the Organizing Committee, Heritage Classic Hockey Game
Counsel, Bryan & Company
Influential Icon: Classic’s class act
When the Edmonton Oilers began looking for somebody to help stage an outdoor hockey game at Commonwealth Stadium, lawyer Doug Goss was a natural selection.
A huge Oilers fan, Goss, a merger-and-acquisitions specialist with Bryan & Company, has put his talents to work for dozens of worthwhile causes in Alberta’s capital. Among the more notable efforts, Goss sits on the boards of the Edmonton Eskimos Football Club, the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation and Kids Kottage. He also co-chairs Alberta’s Promise, a group established by Premier Ralph Klein and led by business leaders to help improve the lives of children. Goss, who also serves as a board member for Capital Health, the Alberta Economic Development Authority and NAIT, was mooted as an ideal mayoralty candidate by an Edmonton Journal columnist, an idea that Goss dismissed because, he says, his wife Joanne, a provincial court judge, would kill him.
Q: What was the most surprising lesson learned in putting on the Heritage Classic?
A: If you have a little vision, then you never know how big something is going to get until you really get involved in it. When we started planning for the game, we thought maybe if we were lucky that we might sell 30,000 seats. It went from that to a Grey Cup-like event, with basically four days of events. We had 700,000 people apply for a lottery just for the right to buy 7,000 tickets. If there was a lesson, if you dream big and have the right people around to execute a strategy, you can accomplish just about anything.
Q: What is the best thing about living in Alberta? What’s the most frustrating thing?
A: The best thing is the sky is the limit. We have great prosperity, we have tremendous assets, both physical and human. We have an incredible future. The most frustrating thing is federal politics.
Q: What one situation do you wish you could have the chance to face again and how would you respond differently?
A: I don’t like to look back, I like to keep looking ahead and pushing the ball forward. Really, I’m happy with the way my career has gone and the effect that I’ve had on the groups and organizations that I’ve worked with.
Q: What keeps you sane?
A: That if you take time to do things right, you can make a difference in the lives of the people you touch, whether it is your family or your community. We have a great community in Alberta, not just Edmonton. I’m involved with about 10 non-profit organizations and another eight to 10 corporations that sit on the board or otherwise. In every case, I’ve found that if you work hard and have the right vision, you can really make a difference.
Q: Which of these best describes you: Dreamer, Decision-Maker or Doer?
A: I’m probably a doer, but I think it is tough to discount the other two because they are equally as important.
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