50 Most Influential

Robert Ritchie

Robert Ritchie – President and CEO, Canadian Pacific Railway

Robert Ritchie wasn’t named Railroader of the Year by trade mag Railway Age because he’s the head honcho of a national rail company.
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Randy Klapstein

Randy Klapstein – CEO, Pointe of View Developments Inc.

Together with the City of Calgary and a consortium of private sector companies, Pointe of View Developments CEO Randy Klapstein, 49, is creating an even greater imprint on the landscape of Calgary with the redevelopment of the city’s East Village.
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Pat Daniel

Pat Daniel – President and CEO, Enbridge Inc.

Under Pat Daniel’s skilled stewardship, Enbridge has emerged as one of the biggest energy players in the world.
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Louise Nesterenko

Louise Nesterenko – Chair, Certified General Accountants Canada

As bean-counters go, Louise Nesterenko is number one. The 2004-2005 chair of the 62,000-member Certified General Accountants Association of Canada aims to restore professional gloss to the accounting industry.
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Linda Hohol

Linda Hohol – President, TSX Venture Exchange

In her three years of leading the TSX Venture Exchange, president Linda Hohol has helped restore the Calgary-based stock exchange’s respectability that had been tarnished in the eyes of investors by a series of scandals and dot-bombs.
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Kevin Taft

Kevin Taft – Leader of the Official Opposition

A former government researcher and best-selling author whose books on public policy took dead aim at Ralph Klein’s revolution, Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft helped re-establish the Grits’ grip on the provincial capital in the November 2004 election.
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John Masters

John Masters – President and CEO, Calgary Technologies Inc.

If, 100 years from now, Alberta’s oil industry runs dry and Calgary is still a thriving metropolis, historians will look back and give John Masters the nod.
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Jay Westman

Jay Westman – President and CEO, Jayman MasterBUILT

It’s Jay Westman’s belief that if you can dream it, he can build it. Six months into 2005, Jayman MasterBUILT, headed by Westman, has already been issued close to 1,500 home-building permits, pushing the company to its third straight title as Alberta’s largest home builder.
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Hal Kvisle

Hal Kvisle – President and CEO, TransCanada Corporation

Under the leadership of Hal Kvisle, Calgary-based TransCanada Corporation has grown into the biggest natural gas pipeline company in North America. Kvisle has shown no signs of stopping as he jousted with fellow pipeliner- Enbridge over who will build the Canadian portion of the $20-billion US Alaska gas pipeline. Kvisle’s tough-minded attitude about protecting his company’s interests extended to another northern mega-project, the $7-billion Mackenzie Valley pipeline. Kvisle warned that undue financial demands by four aboriginal groups would threaten the proposed 1,350-kilometre pipeline. In 2004, Kvisle became the first Canadian to chair the board of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, a powerful group representing the industry’s major players across North America. Closer to home, the civil engineer also chairs the board of governors of Calgary’s Mount Royal College. Kvisle also sits on the boards of the Bank of Montreal and PrimeWest Energy Inc. – WG

Why should TransCanada succeed in its battle with Enbridge over the Alaska gas pipeline?
First of all, I wouldn’t characterize it as a battle. TransCanada has been involved in this project for 25 years and has established good working relationships with the Alaska producers, the state of Alaska and the Canadian government. Enbridge wishes to carve out a piece of the project and we understand why they would want to do that. But let’s remember TransCanada has a 70% market share of natural gas transmission in Canada, which results in significant benefits to all producers who use the system. Enbridge owns half of a company with a 10% market share. We are the largest operator of gas pipelines in North America. We have this massive system starting in northern Alberta that the Alaska gas pipeline can connect to. It is funny to hear about how large the Alaska project is because it is really small compared to our project in the 1990s to double the gas pipeline infrastructure in North America and build a network that tied in New York, Chicago and California. I admire Enbridge as a pipeline company. If we get to the point where we need a partner, we would certainly look at Enbridge. But that point has not arrived yet.

Who do you think is the greatest Albertan ever?
You couldn’t ask a more difficult question. If it were the greatest public figure in Alberta, it would unquestionably be Peter Lougheed. If it were the greatest visionary for Alberta and Western Canada, it would be Jack Gallagher, the president of Dome Petroleum. Another person is Dick Haskayne, the strongest corporate leader and corporate director that I have ever known. Finally, I must mention John Beddome, the former president of Dome Petroleum who died in May. There are thousands of people in downtown Calgary whose careers were touched by John Beddome.

In 100 years, will you warrant your own chapter in the history books, a footnote to great events or a single Google hit?
I guess I have a single Google hit now, so hopefully I can hang in with that in 100 years. I think 100 years from now, people will have no idea who I was or have any interest in what I was doing.

Hal Danchilla

Hal Danchilla – Political strategist

When Premier Ralph Klein saw his party’s chokehold on the Alberta legislature erode to a mere landslide in the 2004 provincial election, he tapped Edmonton’s Hal Danchilla to find some responses for the Conservatives’ reduced majority.
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