The Journal’s first Power 30 list was published one year ago, as Edmonton’s downtown geared up for its biggest, most transformative rebuild in history.
At the same time, oil prices tumbled to lows not seen in years.
In less than six months, the Tory dynasty of 44 years had ended and a brand new government under NDP leader Rachel Notley was installed.
Five months later, the nation turned its back on the three-term federal Conservatives and handed a majority to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau — largely without the support of Alberta, which sent just four Liberal MPs to Ottawa.
It has been an incredibly interesting year, all in all. Amid those profound political, social and economic changes, who remained on top as Edmonton’s most powerful in 2015?
Well, with the economy suffering, corporate titans took a hit. Business columnist Gary Lamphier shrugged when our first draft was compiled, featuring a number of new and political faces. It was just that kind of year, he noted, with seismic political shifts amid a challenging business climate.
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Meet Edmonton's community builders
Some people zoomed from not-even-on-the-radar to our top 10, like Health Minister Sarah Hoffman. Or that 18-year-old with the city’s most famous clavicle, Connor McDavid.
Some saw their status rise for obvious reasons, like Notley, who soared from #11 last year to #1. Others, like environmental economist Andrew Leach and police chief Rod Knecht, held their own.
We define “power” as this: well-connected, well-known individuals with the means, influence, vision and leadership skills to get things done. They have a little celebrity, certain skills and/or work ethic, and sometimes, just enough luck to land in the community’s spotlight.
As we stated last year, this is an entirely subjective list compiled by the Journal’s most opinionated staffers — columnists Lamphier, John MacKinnon, David Staples, Paula Simons and Graham Thomson.
Sometimes it feels like a game of rock-paper-scissors, playing who ‘tops’ whom. Sometimes it’s very much a reality check, tracking a lack of diversity or gender balance. But most of all, it’s a reflection of this community and a snapshot of the year that was.
I encourage you to let us know who you think we’ve over- or under-ranked, or missed entirely. After all, next year is a whole new game.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.
1. Rachel Notley
Dramatic voter turnaround vaults NDP leader to the top
When we put Notley on our list last year, she didn’t make the top 10 (she was 11th). Even then, we said naming her as one of Edmonton’s most influential people in 2014 was a bit like the Nobel committee awarding U.S. President Barack Obama its Peace Prize in 2009.
It was all about the promise of things to come.
And Notley delivered on that promise.
Against the odds, she turned Alberta’s little four-MLA NDP opposition party into a giant killer, defeating the Tory dynasty that had governed the province for almost 44 years.
Since officially becoming premier on May 24, Notley has unleashed a whirlwind of change on Alberta’s political scene. She has fulfilled election promises to enact far-reaching and, in many cases, controversial revisions to government policy including a review of energy royalties, a new climate change strategy, boosting the minimum wage, hiking corporate taxes, banning political donations from corporations and unions, and introducing a provincial budget that runs a $6 billion deficit this year alone while borrowing billions to build roads, schools and hospitals.
How Alberta weathers the current economic downturn created by depressed energy prices is, in many ways, in the hands of the new premier and Alberta’s first NDP government.
Rachel Notley’s political power has moved from potential to kinetic. It’s no wonder she’s No. 1 this year.
Amarjeet Sohi, MP for Edmonton-Mill Woods
2. Amarjeet Sohi, federal cabinet minister
PM taps first-time city MP for cabinet
Amarjeet Sohi, the most powerful federal Liberal in Alberta, gets things done. Sohi, 51, can come off as a quiet and lacking in flash, but he has heartfelt convictions and is a problem solver/consensus builder with a long track record of success.
He started out his political career in Edmonton as a Mill Woods bus driver and activist pushing for mass transit, which he views as a key lever for social equity and mobility. First elected as a city councillor in 2007, he got the LRT line to Mill Woods pushed to the top of the list of Edmonton’s infrastructure needs. At the same time, he showed his pro-business, pro-city building chops as a committed booster of Edmonton’s arena project.
Not short on ambition, Sohi considered but rejected running for mayor in 2013.
He barely beat his opponent Conservative Tim Uppal to take the Edmonton-Mill Woods seat in the October federal election, one of only four government MPs elected from Alberta. Justin Trudeau’s new Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Sohi’s new challenge is to become an architect of a new national dream for urban rail transit.
Daryl Katz, chairman of the Katz Group.
3. Daryl Katz, city builder
New city vision takes shape in glass and steel
If Daryl Katz’s influence in Edmonton was expressed, up to now, in his ownership of the Oilers, a franchise with a great past, and the Rexall pharmacy brand, his civic heft now is represented more palpably in brick and mortar, glass and stainless steel.
Rogers Place, the centrepiece of the $2.5 billion Ice District, is being constructed at a breakneck pace, set to open in October 2016.
Factor in the other components of that project, one office tower that will house hundreds of City of Edmonton employees, another that will be the headquarters of Stantec, the engineering powerhouse, as well as a hotel, and the arena precinct is shaping up as precisely what Katz said it was all along — an urban development that will transform downtown.
It is touted as the second largest mixed-use urban development in North America, behind Hudson Yards in New York City. The motivational engine that drives it is Katz’s fan-boy love of the Oilers, the team of his youth.
“One of the big reasons I needed to do what I did is because it’s the only chance we have to recreate what we had in the ’80s,” Katz told Sports Business Journal recently.
Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson.
4. Don Iveson, mayor
Mayor steers course through choppy policy waters
Mayor Don Iveson is a brilliant, hard-working, personable, popular mayor. He uses his big brain and charm to advance a progressive agenda. He’s keenest when making headway on environmentalism, aboriginal relations, social housing and mass transit, but he’s a policy wonk by nature and an expert on most civic files. He’s so far been able to keep council moving forward in a united fashion.
All that said, Iveson has been caught flat-footed on a number of issues that got citizens in an uproar, from the city’s incompetence on major projects to the job performance of city manager Simon Farbrother, from the city’s aggressive bike-lane build to taxpayer rage over a proposed 4.9 per cent tax increase in each of the next three years.
Iveson won himself some credit by demonstrating political deftness, moving to get Farbrother fired and pushing for something of a clampdown on spending in the 2016 budget.
Brian Topp, chief of staff to Premier Rachel Notley.
5. Brian Topp, premier’s chief of staff
Man at the top of Alberta’s political game
He has been called something of a bully, sometimes divisive and as “brilliant as he is blunt.”
And that’s what his friends say.
As chief of staff to a premier, being a bit pushy is part of the job description. Being “brilliant” is a help, too.
A native of Quebec, Topp has a long history with the NDP, including working as deputy chief of staff to Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow from 1993 to 2000. He is also a former NDP president and senior adviser to federal leader Jack Layton. Topp ran unsuccessfully against Thomas Mulcair for the party leadership in 2012.
Topp helped run the Alberta NDP’s campaign in May’s provincial election after which Premier Rachel Notley appointed him as her top adviser and troubleshooter.
Notley relies heavily on Topp to help steer her policy objectives through the labyrinth that is the legislative process, both political and administratively.
He has formed a close, and from all accounts warm, working relationship with the government’s top civil servant, Richard Dicerni, to improve morale problems in the bureaucracy.
Topp, 55, is new to Edmonton, having moved here after the election with his wife to a condo near the Strathcona neighbourhood which he says allowed him to take in the area’s theatre productions over the summer and pop by Notley’s nearby house for the occasional brunch.
Topp and Notley are, politically speaking, Alberta’s power couple.
Interim federal Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose, the MP for Sturgeon River-Parkland.
6. Rona Ambrose, MP
Interim Conservative Leader can reshape her party
Rona Ambrose is no stranger to power. After all, she was part of Stephen Harper’s federal cabinet from 2006 until the Harper government fell this October this.
But the MP for Sturgeon River-Parkland achieved a new kind of power when she was chosen as interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, which makes her, in turn, the leader of the opposition in the House of Commons.
After years of deferring to Harper’s authority, Ambrose shocked many people, including some in her own party, by forcefully disavowing some of the CPC’s most divisive policies and pledging a new, less nasty, kind of politics.
As interim leader, she’s undercut some of her own potential power, by counting herself out of the real leader’s race. But as the Conservatives struggle to rebuild, Ambrose will do much to shape the party’s future, while striving to hold the new Trudeau government to account.
Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman.
7. Sarah Hoffman, health minister
Health portfolio a mammoth challenge
The health ministry is always a power portfolio in the Alberta cabinet, but rookie health minister Sarah Hoffman has even more influence than usual, as one of Premier Rachel Notley’s chief lieutenants.
The media-savvy former chair of the Edmonton public school board was one of Notley’s star candidates. As a result, the unflappable Hoffman was handed one of the government’s most difficult briefs.
Since then, she’s had to shoulder responsibility for such tough decisions as cancelling a $3 billion laboratory services contract for Edmonton, banning menthol cigarettes, and re-establishing the Alberta Health Services board. Next up? Contract negotiations with the prickly Alberta Medical Association — and figuring out what to do with the aging Misericordia and Royal Alexandra Hospitals.
Health has a reputation as a career-killing portfolio. So far, Hoffman has sidestepped the landmines. Her biggest challenge now will be managing union and public expectations, while trying to contain costs.
Edmonton City Councillor Mike Nickel .
8. Mike Nickel, city councillor
Conservative councillor finds his voice and influence
City councillor Mike Nickel may not build consensus through backroom schmoozing and arm-twisting, but he’s still been getting his way during this term on council.
He’s less abrasive than he was during his previous stint from 2004 to 2007, but he’s more effective. He’s succeeding by having his fingers on the pulse of right-of-centre Edmontonians and by speaking up for them in a reasonable but forceful manner.
For example, when Mayor Don Iveson and the rest of city council kept backing city manager Simon Farbrother even as a handful of major city projects turned out to be fiascos, it was Nickel alone who spoke up in public, saying that Farbrother’s performance needed a review.
When the mayor and council looked ready to go ahead with a 4.9-ish per cent tax increase for 2016, Nickel kept speaking out for a more fiscally conservative approach. His message is again winning the day.
That’s power and influence.
ATB Financial president and chief executive officer Dave Mowat.
9. Dave Mowat, banker
Risky royalty role boosts financial czar’s profile
As president and CEO of ATB Financial, Dave Mowat wields a banker’s considerable clout and cachet.
As chairman of the province’s royalty review panel — by appointment of Premier Rachel Notley — you can dial the power and influence meter up several notches.
This is the body whose job it is to ensure Albertans get their fair share of the wealth from the province’s oil and gas resources. A similar panel struck formed by former premier Ed Stelmach didn’t turn out so well. The panel’s recommendations not only did not gain traction, they were reversed in the end.
So, the reward of earning this important appointment comes with considerable risk.
Mowat, an Albertan born and raised, knows the, ah, drill.
“I have a strong sense of how important this is, not only for Albertans, but for our country, to get it right,” the 60-year-old Mowat told a gathering of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in late June. “It’s a daunting challenge, but I also think it’s a great opportunity to help people from around Alberta understand such an important issue.”
Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid.
10. Connor McDavid, athlete
All eyes turn to Oilers great hope
“Are you there, Connor?”
He’s here, all right. That fractured left clavicle? A blip on the radar, in the larger scheme of things.
So important has his arrival with the Oilers been that the 18-year-old rookie from Newmarket, Ont., the top pick in the 2015 NHL draft, already has cracked the top 10 on the Journal’s annual Power 30 list.
Those ubiquitous TV advertisements in which retired Oilers superstar Mark Messier is seen texting the youngster, sending digital photos of the province’s stunning vistas, represent a passing of the torch from the glory gang of the 1980s to the club’s hoped-for return to excellence this decade.
On the ice, McDavid has come as advertised: fast, wondrously skilled, team-oriented. Off the ice, his arrival signals intense, widespread exposure — for the Oilers, for the Ice District, for Edmonton.
Already this season, a crew from 60 Minutes, CBS’s flagship current affairs show, has produced a McDavid feature. The Toronto Globe and Mail assigned a reporter to follow McDavid all season long.
Sports Illustrated has a major feature planned, as does ESPN. A reporter from Montreal’s influential French-language newspaper La Presse, wrote a piece called L’effet McDavid (the McDavid Effect), when the Canadiens were in town recently.
Edmonton has only begun to feel the McDavid effect.
Bob Nicholson, Oilers Entertainment Group chief executive officer and vice-chairman.
11. Bob Nicholson, Oilers CEO
Broad mandate allows executive to shake up organization
Oilers owner Daryl Katz hired longtime Hockey Canada CEO Bob Nicholson in June 2014 to be his top operations man with the Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG), the billionaire’s sports and entertainment company.
When the NHL club continued sliding sideways during the 2014-15 season, Katz re-calibrated Nicholson’s purview. That far broader mandate, including oversight of the Oilers hockey operations, was formalized in April 2015, when Katz named Nicholson chief executive officer of OEG.
Since then, Nicholson, 62, has reshaped the Oilers front office, installing general manager Peter Chiarelli, who, in turn, hired head coach Todd McLellan. At Nicholson’s direction, the scouting function was reconfigured.
Nicholson also set about creating the organizational chart for the sports and entertainment side. By the time Rogers Place opens next Fall, Nicholson will have added 1,000 employees to OEG’s staff.
“As of today, everyone in the organization reports to myself,” Nicholson said last April.
If the job description seems vast, Nicholson came prepared for the role, having been president and CEO of Hockey Canada for the last 16 years.
Alberta Minister of Economic Development and Trade Deron Bilous.
12. Deron Bilous, cabinet minister
City MLA given responsibility to kick-start economy
In a troubled economic time when the Alberta government is desperate to create jobs, Deron Bilous has been handed that weighty task.
Just a few months after being named municipal affairs minister he was abruptly promoted to the newly created portfolio of Economic Development and Trade.
It’s his job to help businesses attract investment, develop new products and reach new markets.
Lori Sigurdson might be minister of jobs, skills and training but it’s Bilous’s responsibility to help create those jobs.
He was born and raised in Edmonton and graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree in education and taught at Edmonton’s Inner City High School.
Bilous, 45, was first elected as the MLA for Edmonton-Beverley-Clareview in 2012 by a razor-thin margin. In 2015, he won the riding with 74 per cent of the vote.
He is seen as a close confidant and adviser to the premier — and one of the NDP’s rising stars.
Alberta Education Minister David Eggen.
13. David Eggen, cabinet minister
Education minister takes on tough issues
An outside observer might not expect an education and culture minister to be a power player. But since assuming his post this May, David Eggen has surprised a lot of people with his willingness to play hardball politics — and to play it well.
When the Edmonton Catholic school board went off the rails this fall, with a very public display of dysfunction, Eggen lost no time in knocking heads together, and making not-so-veiled threats to dissolve the board if trustees couldn’t get their acts together. He’s also been as tough as any fiscal conservative in his attitudes toward alleged overspending by a government-subsidized group like the Alberta School Boards Association.
Yet Eggen has walked a fine line well. He hasn’t swung the hammer. Yet. He’s just held it above people’s heads. It’s been a quiet show of power that’s shown the educational establishment who intends to be boss.
Janet Riopel, president of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce.
14. Janet Riopel, business advocate
Chamber CEO offers firm voice for business
Janet Riopel has long been a familiar force in the city’s business community, most recently as the Edmonton general manager of Walton Development, and before that, as one of the public faces of the Katz Group and its downtown arena project.
But since becoming president and CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce 11 months ago, Riopel has assumed a new kind of prominence, as the thoughtful voice of Edmonton’s business community.
Her measured but pointed responses to the NDP hikes to minimum wages and the NDP budget have made her one of the most important and credible critics of the provincial government. Her kind but extremely firm analyses have been far more effective than mere angry ranting would have been.
Riopel has given the city’s business sector strong public leadership in a critical economic time — and increased her influence with the Notley government at the same time.
Andrew Leach, the Enbridge Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Alberta and province’s climate change adviser.
15. Andrew Leach, environmental economist
Strategist charts Alberta’s new climate change course
You might have never heard of Andrew Leach but he will likely have a profound impact on your life.
Leach, 40, has a full time job as the Enbridge Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Alberta, but it’s his moonlighting gig that has the big impact on the future of Alberta. Leach was asked by Premier Rachel Notley in June to lead an expert panel to draw up the new climate change strategy for the province which was unveiled on November 22.
Notley picked Leach not only for his academic credentials but also because he has a reputation as something of an honest broker — being neither an apologist for the oilsands nor a tree-hugging environmentalist.
Leach spent almost six months on his crucial task, one that’s integral to Alberta rebuilding its environmental reputation, and one that, is perhaps key to the province being able to build more pipelines and expand the oilsands industry.
A graduate of the University of Guelph with a PhD from Queen’s University, Leach moved to Edmonton in 2006 to become an influential voice of reason on the oilsands file.
When he speaks, the government listens. Is there a better definition of power?
Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.
16. Guy Smith, labour leader
Perennial outsider comes inside, but only so far
As leader since 2009 of Alberta’s largest public sector union — the 80,000-strong Alberta Union of Provincial Employees — Smith is a fixture in provincial politics.
When the ground shifted in May’s election, Smith, 53, felt Alberta finally had a government that respected the work his members did, whether they be jail guards, school janitors, clerical workers or health care providers.
One day after Smith was re-elected to his fourth term as president in October, Premier Rachel Notley addressed AUPE’s convention with a clear message of support.
“We need the public sector,” Notley told them. “We need you. So let me be clear — you have the respect of this government.”
The good news for Notley is that the government won’t be heading into direct contract talks with AUPE members until 2017. The awkward news is that 38,000 AUPE members are in negotiations with Alberta Health Services, the government-controlled agency that runs our health care system.
Smith says his first priority is what’s best for his members. He insists he’ll get tough in contract talks if necessary. This from a union leader who has a track record of going eyeball-to-eyeball with previous governments, and making them blink.
When Notley says she “needs” the AUPE, she is speaking not only for Albertans but for herself. If she needs the AUPE politically, she needs to keep Guy Smith onside.
Vitor Marciano, senior adviser and press secretary to Wildrose leader Brian Jean.
17. Vitor Marciano, political operative
Power behind the scenes thrives in Wildrose patch
His business cards identify him as the “senior adviser and press secretary to the leader of the official Opposition.”
Unofficially, he is the Energizer bunny of the Wildrose Party. He just keeps going and going … much like the Wildrose itself.
That the Wildrose managed to resurrect itself after last December’s mass floor crossing to the Progressive Conservative government is testament to the grit and determination of the conservative movement behind the party. And that is in no small part due to Marciano who, after being laid off last December as part of a cost-cutting move, was brought back for May’s provincial election.
A graduate of the University of Alberta and a lifelong political junkie, Marciano’s political skills are evident in the fact that, although he was press secretary, adviser, confidant and strategist to what turned out to be the disastrous leadership of Danielle Smith, he returned as chief cook and bottle washer to the new leader, Brian Jean.
Marciano, 46, was instrumental in the Wildrose comeback campaign. He’s busy these days advising Jean behind the scenes while publicly spinning journalists like so many juggler’s plates.
Dust any official opposition news release, speech or policy platform for fingerprints and you’ll find evidence of Marciano’s influence.
To the Wildrose, Marciano has proven himself to be irreplaceable and invaluable.
To Alberta politics, Marciano has proven himself to be a trick candle — impossible to extinguish.
Brad Ferguson, President and CEO of Edmonton Economic Development Corporation.
18. Brad Ferguson
City champion takes on all comers
Brad Ferguson is one of Edmonton’s champions. The 46-year-old head of Edmonton Economic Development Corp. has his eyes on the prize of a better, more prosperous Edmonton and uses his speeches, blog and Twitter account to push his agenda.
For example, when controversy erupted over the intolerance of some Catholic school trustees in regards to LBGTQ students, he tweeted out: “Not sure I’d feel safe as an LBGTQ kid in Alberta. Encourage @davideggenAB to do some board interventions.”
Earlier, in late August, he blasted the NDP for inaction on bringing in a budget, creating economic uncertainty. “We’re playing politics and waiting for a federal election before taking care of our own? That’s certainly not the culture that’s made us successful.”
Ferguson, a longtime business consultant who took over the EEDC in 2012, doesn’t just challenge the NDP. When the PCs were in power, he used his bully pulpit at EEDC to push for more economic diversification and a greener, more competitive energy industry.
Edmonton publisher and philanthropist Ruth Kelly.
19. Ruth Kelly, publisher and CEO
Opinion leader stretches beyond the printed page
As the publisher and editor-in-chief of two of Alberta’s most influential business magazines, Alberta Venture and Alberta Oil, Ruth Kelly has spent a career documenting the stories of Edmonton and Alberta’s most powerful people.
But over the years, the CEO of Venture Publishing has become a mover and shaker herself. She is one of Mayor Don Iveson’s business roundtable advisers. She’s the chair of Epcor’s Community Essential Council, which oversees Epcor’s philanthropic efforts. She’s an adviser to the University of Alberta’s School of Business. She’s a former chair of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. And this year, for the second time, she’s chairing the Capital Region United Way campaign.
Kelly’s power isn’t just in the titles she holds or the titles she publishes. It comes as much from her force of personality, her political moxie, and the respect she commands as a key Edmonton opinion leader: fiscally conservative but socially progressive.
Developer John Day.
20. John Day, developer
Creative preservationist breathes life into city’s heart
John Day isn’t merely another local developer. The Edmonton-born lawyer has a deep affection for the city, and the projects he undertakes reflects that sentiment.
With downtown Edmonton in the midst of an unprecedented $5 billion building boom, many projects are larger and pricier than Day’s new $250 million, 29-storey Kelly-Ramsey Building, which straddles the block between 101 Street and Rice Howard Way, north of Jasper Avenue.
But few will have its transformative impact.
By replacing the decrepit, fire-ravaged Kelly Ramsey Block with a sparkling new office/hotel tower, while retaining the four-storey facades of the historic buildings that once graced the site, Day has found an ingenious way to blend old and new in a respectful, tasteful way.
This is hardly the first time Day has come up with a creative way to preserve architectural history. When a fire destroyed three buildings on Whyte Avenue and 104th Street in 2003, Day replaced the structures with a stylish three-storey retail building that featured period facades.
Day also renovated the Garneau Theatre district on 109th Street, south of the High Level Bridge, and the former Cecil Hotel at Jasper Avenue and 104th Street.
Day is also an owner-partner and managing director of Mountain Park Lodges, Marmot Basin Ski Resort and the Jasper Tramway, and serves as chair of MacEwan University’s board of governors.
Kevin Uebelein, chief executive officer of Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo) .
21. Kevin Uebelein, investment fund CEO
AIMCo’s boss guides province’s $84 billion fund
Kevin Uebelein is set to wrap up his first year as CEO of Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo), the province’s powerful $84 billion pension and endowment fund manager.
As such, the affable St. Louis native is a new addition to the Journal’s Power 30 rankings.
Uebelein, a seasoned investment pro whose travels have taken him from Tokyo to London to New Jersey to Boston, left a senior post with an arm of U.S. giant Fidelity Investments to assume the top job at AIMCo, where he succeeded the retiring Leo de Bever.
De Bever had guided AIMCo since it was formed in 2008, delivering steady returns. He also cultivated a high media profile. Uebelein, perhaps because he’s still new to the job, has thus far avoided the spotlight. But that may change soon.
NDP Finance Minister Joe Ceci has directed AIMCo to invest three per cent of the assets of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund — or about $540 million — in “growth-oriented” Alberta companies.
That marks a big departure from the previous Tory government’s hands-off approach to AIMCo, and it may cause Uebelein a few headaches, as he seeks to maintain AIMCo’s solid returns while investing in riskier assets close to home.
Stantec chief executive officer Bob Gomes.
22. Bob Gomes, engineering exec
CEO leads Stantec through the economic doldrums
Like most Alberta companies, Stantec — the Edmonton-based engineering and professional services consulting giant — has been whacked by the downturn in the oilpatch, as its flatlining share price attests.
That’s a key reason — along with the stunning NDP election win in May — why Stantec CEO Bob Gomes slid to the 22nd spot in our Power 30 rankings this year, down from 5th a year ago.
But Gomes, an Edmonton-born, U of A civil engineering grad who assumed the company’s top job during the Great Recession, has shown a knack for adjusting to shifting economic conditions by focusing Stantec’s considerable horsepower on sectors and regions that are growing.
The payoff? Through the first nine months of 2015, despite the woes in the oilpatch, Stantec posted increases in both net earnings and revenues, led by its large buildings and infrastructure division.
If history is any guide, by the time Stantec moves into its new 62-storey downtown head office tower in 2018, it will have resumed its superior long-term growth trajectory.
Gomes, an unassuming guy with a razor-sharp business mind, is clearly one of Edmonton’s most respected power brokers.
Len Rhodes, Edmonton Eskimos president and chief executive officer.
23. Len Rhodes, Eskimos CEO
Football executive embraced city from the start
When the Eskimos wooed Len Rhodes from his brand management executive post with Reebok-CCM Hockey in 2011 to be their CEO and president, the state of the CFL franchise was trending toward shambolic.
Was a Montrealer the right man to re-dedicate the CFL franchise to its vaunted “Eskimo Way?” The fact the Eskimos board of directors announced last May it had extended Rhodes’ contract through December 2019 demonstrates that any concerns about the fit have been swept aside.
His position as a member of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce board of directors illustrates how Rhodes has become a respected part of the community the Eskimos serve in so many ways.
“He embraced this city,” said John Moquin, chairman of the Eskimos board of directors. “He threw himself at it with vigour.
“He attends in the hundreds of events every year, and he did that right from minute one. He became an Edmontonian very quickly.”
Rhodes promoted Ed Hervey to general manager in December 2012 and empowered the former star receiver to reconstruct what had become a dysfunctional operation. Hervey has taken the team from a work-in-progress to a dominant first-place club.
On Rhodes’ watch, the Eskimos reported a profit of $3.5 million in 2014, and the team has led the CFL in attendance the past two seasons.
“He has done a great job of staying out of Ed’s way and letting him run the football team, but make no bones about it, Len’s the boss,” Moquin said.
Former federal Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan.
24. Anne McLellan, veteran politician
Party insider basks in Liberal return to power
It took almost 10 years on the outside, but federal Liberal power broker Anne McLellan stuck with it and has now seen her party return to power and also win a small handful of key Alberta seats.
McLellan continues to be a force both in national politics and local initiatives.
She’s best known for bucking the Liberals’ historic unpopularity in Alberta to serve four terms (1993-2006) as an Edmonton Liberal MP.
She was appointed deputy prime minister in the governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, and was minister of many key portfolios. Born in a small farming community in Nova Scotia, McLellan began teaching law at the U of A in 1980 and served as acting dean before going to Ottawa.
In 2006, McLellan joined influential law firm Bennett Jones as a senior adviser and her experience and strategic counsel has landed her on many corporate boards, including Agrium, Cameco and the Edmonton Regional Airport Authority.
But it’s her work for local institutions such as the Royal Alexandra Hospital foundation, the TELUS Edmonton Community Board, the Edmonton Community Foundation and many other community initiatives over the years that keeps her on this list.
This year she was named chancellor of Dalhousie University but is still based in Edmonton.
Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht.
25. Rod Knecht, police chief
Chief presses forward with his ‘safest city’ agenda
Things are tough in the oil business, which means business is brisk in the precincts of crime.
Edmonton police Chief Rod Knecht not only educated reporters and the public about that inverse relationship this fall, he produced graphs and charts to buttress his argument.
Not surprisingly, Knecht submitted a request to City Council for 80 more officers. Fulfilling that request will also be a function, indirectly, of the sagging fortunes of the oil business, budgets being budgets.
Knecht’s vision for the Edmonton Police Service continues to be making “Edmonton the safest major city in Canada,” he has said. Championing the need for a larger police force — on the basis that clearance rates for crime improve as staffing levels increase — is central to Knecht’s ability to deliver on that vision.
Tough as the current economic climate is, Knecht has said he believes his goals are achievable within the term of his contract, which runs through Oct. 31, 2018.
David Wiun, city auditor.
26. David Wiun, city auditor
Sometimes just doing your job is enough
Yes, David Wiun is just doing his job as city auditor, but he’s doing it in such a way that he is shaking up the city.
When Wiun digs into a problem in a civic program — and there’s been no shortage of major ones in recent years — he gets to the bottom of it and helps city council take action by presenting his findings in clear, fair but uncompromising terms.
Wiun, a lifelong Edmontonian, became the city’s auditor in 2001. He has come to prominence with a recent string of headline-making and none-too-pleased reports on everything from the transportation department’s failure to inform council on the coming traffic jams associated with the Metro LRT line to the photo radar cost fiasco, which saw the city’s decision to take over its photo radar program from a private company cost $47 million more than expected.
Most recently several city employees lost their jobs following Wiun’s report on a fishy deal for concrete-crushing services.
Linda Hughes, Alberta Health Services board chairwoman.
27. Linda Hughes, community leader
Former Journal publisher tackles tough health services file
After then-health minister Fred Horne summarily fired the last Alberta Health Services board, people wondered who on earth would ever want the challenge of the job. So it was a coup for the Notley government this fall to announce that the new AHS board would be headed by respected Edmonton community leader Linda Hughes.
Hughes began her career as a reporter, eventually becoming the first woman to serve as publisher of a major Canadian newspaper, The Edmonton Journal. But since leaving journalism, she’s served as Chancellor of the University of Alberta, as a member of the Edmonton Homeless Commission, as well as on the boards of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation and the Edmonton Community Foundation.
In 2014, the PC government appointed her to the Premier’s Advisory Committee on the Alberta Public Service. Now, she shoulders the difficult task of restoring public confidence in the governance of Alberta’s health-care system.
Rakesh and Raj Dhunna.
28. Raj and Rakesh Dhunna, developers
Faith in the city drives developers to new heights
Raj Dhunna and his father, family patriarch Rakesh Dhunna, continue to play starring roles in reshaping downtown Edmonton through their family-owned firm, Regency Developments.
Although Alberta’s economic malaise has slowed the pace of new projects, the Dhunnas are still a force.
Just a decade ago, the city core was filled with dreary surface parking lots and empty storefronts. But the Dhunnas saw potential. In 2008, during the darkest depths of a recession, Regency broke ground on the 22-storey Quest Tower, a stylish condo project on 104th Avenue near MacEwan University.
Regency then launched The Pearl in 2012 — a soaring 36-storey tribute to highrise luxury living, on Jasper Avenue at 119th Avenue, overlooking the river valley.
With the splashy downtown arena set to open in October and dozens of major condo, office, and hotel projects springing up nearby, it’s now obvious the Dhunnas were well ahead of the curve. But they’re far from finished.
At the east end of Jasper Avenue, Regency’s 700-unit Edgewater Village complex is nearly finished, transforming a drab inner-city neighbourhood that was in dire need of a makeover.
“At Regency, we’re bullish on the future of Edmonton,” Raj Dhunna once told the Journal. We could all take a lesson from their story.
Darren Durstling, president and chief executive officer of WAM Development Group.
29. Darren Durstling, developer
Executive soon will tower over city core
Darren Durstling may not be as familiar to Edmontonians as some of the other heavy hitters on this list.
But make no mistake. He is one of this city’s most influential movers and shakers.
As CEO of WAM Development Group, one of Edmonton’s busiest commercial, residential and industrial developers, Durstling, a 17-year company veteran, is playing a central role in the revitalization of Edmonton’s downtown.
WAM and its high-profile joint venture partner, Katz Group, are co-developing Edmonton’s Ice District — formerly known as the Edmonton Arena District — and the fruits of their efforts have been nothing short of spectacular.
While the massive new $605 million Rogers Place arena complex remains on track to open its doors when the Oilers open their 2015-2016 NHL season in October, dozens of nearby projects are also springing to life.
The long list includes a $300-million, 27-storey office tower that will house city employees; a $500-million, 62-storey office and condo tower that will serve as Stantec’s new home; and a 50-storey tower that will house high-end condos as well as a posh, 26-storey Delta luxury hotel.
In all, an estimated $4.8 worth of new construction is expected to transform Edmonton’s once-dreary downtown by 2020. By then, we’re guessing everyone will have heard of Darren Durstling.
Paul Douglas, PCL Construction chief executive officer.
30. Paul Douglas, construction CEO
PCL keeps building its business and reputation
Paul Douglas is embarking on his seventh and final year as CEO of century-old PCL Construction, Canada’s largest general contractor and one of the top players in North America.
Dave Filipchuk, who oversees PCL’s Canadian and Australian operations, has been tapped to succeed Douglas next November, becoming the seventh CEO in PCL’s storied history. Douglas’s pending departure is the key reason he sits at 30th spot in this year’s Power 30 rankings, down from 13th a year ago.
Still, Douglas remains very much in charge, and his plate is as full as ever. The $8 billion company’s long list of active projects includes Edmonton’s new $480 million Rogers Place arena, which is slated to open its doors next October.
PCL is also shepherding the $278 million Mosaic Stadium project in Regina and Triple Five Corp.’s massive 4.8-million-square-foot American Dream mega-mall and entertainment complex in New Jersey’s Meadowlands.
A year ago, Douglas vowed to grow PCL into a $10-billion-a-year company by 2017, when his term as executive chairman expires. That would be quite a legacy for a charismatic leader who took over the top job amid the wreckage of the deepest economic downturn since the 1930s.