Indira Samarasekera
Higher Educator
As the 12th president of the University of Alberta, Indira Samarasekera is spearheading the $62-million purchase of the former Hudson’s Bay building in downtown Edmonton for the university’s research commercialization centre and extension programs. In addition, Samarasekera, a mechanical engineer and former Dofasco Chair in Advanced Steel Processing at UBC, is credited for inventing mathematical models to predict the mechanical properties of hot rolled steel.
Murray Smith
Our Man in Washington
OK, he doesn’t reside in Alberta any more, but since being installed as the province’s first envoy in Washington, D.C., last year, former energy minister Murray Smith lives and breathes the scent of wild roses. It was his intervention that saw Alberta become the first-ever Canadian participant in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in June (our exhibit featured a chuckwagon and a 200-tonne dump truck) and put on a series of forums, dubbed Alberta Week, for the U.S. capital’s power brokers.
Peter Tertzakian
Energy Prognosticator
The chief energy economist for ARC Financial Corporation in Calgary became the subject of water-cooler conversations around Washington, D.C., last winter with the publication of A Thousand Barrels a Second, an international bestseller predicting a ‘break point” in world oil markets over the next five years that will force industry and consumers to finally change their habits of energy use.
Ed Schultz
Meat Marketer
While much of the media’s attention has focused on Alberta’s cattle industry in the post-BSE era, Alberta Pork general manager Ed Schultz helped recapture attention for Alberta’s other white meat through a high-profile marketing campaign called Pork Sports. The organization, which represents Alberta’s hog producers, agreed to team up with the province’s major sports franchises to promote pork through increased signage at hockey, football and lacrosse games and making more pork products available through concession stands. As part of the agreement, Alberta Pork will become title sponsor of the annual CFL Labour Day Classic between the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos. The campaign also saw Alberta Pork ink Canada Safeway as its exclusive retailer. Schultz, Alberta Pork’s general manager since 1974, also serves as one of the industry’s key point men on a long-standing trade dispute with the United States over anti-dumping duties imposed on live hogs from Canada. Closer to home, Schultz will also help make the industry’s case as environmentalists push for more restrictions on intensive livestock operations and animal rights activists lobby for tougher rules on animal welfare and safety.
Gregg Scott
Oilpatch Realtor
Just about every resource developer in the province knows Gregg Scott. About 25% of every dollar spent on leasing Crown land is brokered by his Calgary company, Scott Land & Lease, earning him title of Top Land Buyer in the Canadian Oilpatch. Buoyed by surging oil prices and dwindling land, the total value of transactions for the Calgary-based company, headed by Scott, reached $670 million in 2005.
Kathleen Sendall
Oilpatch Frontwoman
A name on everyone’s lips these days, Kathleen Sendall has quickly ascended to CEO-succession status since being appointed Petro-Canada’s senior vice-president, North American natural gas. In March, Sendall was appointed chair of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), heading one of the most powerful industry groups in the country.
Muriel Stanley Venne
Rights Crusader
A champion of human rights, Muriel Stanley Venne called upon advertisers to boycott the Western Standard when disparaging remarks were published in a February issue about Colleen Klein, Premier Ralph Klein’s wife, who is MŽtis. The private management consultant, founder and president of The Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women and chair of the Aboriginal Human Rights Commission tasted victory when Air Canada announced it would pull the Calgary-based political magazine from its planes. Capping a varied career in business and public life, the Edmonton YWCA bestowed on Stanley Venne its Hon. Lois E. Hole Award for Lifetime Achievement in June.
John Torode
Urban Renewer
Coming off the sale of Torode Realty, the namesake company he founded 30 years ago, John Torode is still, to no one’s surprise, one of the biggest players in the business. A consummate dealmaker and visionary, Torode’s latest project is condominium development Arriva. When completed, the three towers will be some of the priciest condos in Calgary, and change the face of east downtown. Though hotels typically aren’t a money-maker, serial entrepreneurs like Torode tend to have a knack for bucking the trend. Early 2006, Torode’s newest real estate venture Torode Realty Advisors unveiled the stylish Hotel Arts, Calgary newest boutique hotel, to rave reviews. Future plans for the development include condos and retail space.
Lorne Tyrell
Health Pioneer
Research by Lorne Tyrell led to the development of the patented anti-viral drug Lamivudine, used for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection. The director of U of A’s National Centre of Excellence for Viral Hepatitis, Tyrell is the recipient of several national awards for innovation in science and technology, including 2005′s Ernest C. Manning Prize and the prestigious Prix Galien Canada Medal, which has been handed to breakthrough researchers like the Canadian team involved in the development of Viagra.
David Werklund
Self-made Success
The bruises from a not-so-successful initial public offering 13 years ago have long healed, and the experience has only made David Werklund, the front man for CCS Income Trust, one of the most determined CEOs in the oil industry. Today, the Calgary-based trust is the fourth largest oil well services company in Canada with a market capitalization of $1.8 billion. Last fall, he was named 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year, first for the Prairie Region, then for all of Canada. A modest man indeed, Werklund credits the success of the company to CCS’s 2,000 employees who have seen the company through diversification and a conversion to an income trust.
Ron Woodward
Collegiate Leader
Appointed president of Red Deer College in 1998, Ron Woodward is a major player in Canadian academe. The Edmonton-born educator chaired the National Association of Canadian Community Colleges and Institutes Applied Research Task Group, an organization established to develop innovation opportunities in colleges and institutes. The one time assistant deputy minister in British Columbia’s Advanced Education department also sits on the board of the Alberta Science and Research Authority and chairs the board of the Canadian Environmental Technology Advancement Corporation. Closer to home, Woodward has overseen considerable growth in Red Deer College’s programs, student enrollment, facilities and partnerships with community groups and universities in Mexico, France and Japan. In 2005, he chaired the United Way of Central Alberta Campaign, which exceeded its $1.4 million goal. Woodward’s achievements in higher learning and technology were recognized by the Alberta government, which presented him with an Alberta Centennial Medal in October 2005 for his outstanding contributions to higher learning in the province.
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