Kim Sturgess, CEO and Founder, Alberta WaterSMART

Alberta’s water resources are vital to our environment, our economy and our people. Kim Sturgess has turned her passion for water into a not for profit business, Alberta WaterSMART, which focuses on improving water management through better practices and technologies. Sturgess is a key driving force behind project and policy development supporting innovative new approaches to sustainable use and distribution of water across the province and nationally. She is also the current President of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, on the boards of several corporate and professional organizations, and a recipient of several awards, including the Queen’s University Alumni Achievement Award, the YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Science and Technology, Woman of Vision, and the Alberta Centennial Medal. Join her as she discusses her exceptional journey as environmental advocate, corporate leader, and woman of influence.

Highlights

• Take leadership, don’t wait for it. Inspire, empower lives, and believe you have the ability to change the world.
• Don’t mess with mother nature; it’s bigger than you.
• Recognize where you are comfortable and set yourself up for success there.
• Stand up for what you believe in even when others ignore or try to silence your voice.
• When faced with a challenge allow this adversity to reinforce the importance of partnerships between colleagues and friends. Rely on each other and use each other to get ahead.
• Be passionate about your job it makes it much easier to go to work every day.

BIO

Kim Sturgess is CEO and founder of Alberta WaterSMART, a not-for-profit organization committed to developing and improving the management of Alberta’s water resources. Kim is also President of Guigne Advanced Materials Ltd., a company that she co-founded in 2002, which develops wear resistant industrial products. From 2003 until 2005, Kim was the President and CEO of Pan Terra Industries Inc., a publicly traded Calgary based construction services company.

Kim was President and CEO of Revolve Magnetic Bearings Inc. until 2001. This company produces magnetic bearing products for high-speed industrial rotating equipment and was sold to SKF of Sweden in 2000. She was President and CEO of the precursor company Revolve Technologies Inc., which additionally produced dry gas seal products and services into the same markets. Kim led the spin out of Revolve from NOVA Corporation in 1992. Prior to founding Revolve, Kim was the Manager of the seal and bearing group at NOVA beginning in 1990.

Previously, Kim was a Vice President at Greyhound Lines of Canada. Upon completion of her M.B.A. in 1984, she spent four years at McKinsey and Company as a management consultant focussing on technology, energy and transportation projects. She began her career in 1977 at the National Energy Board as a gas pipelines engineer, and then spent five years at Esso Resources Canada Ltd. as a reservoir engineer and business analyst.

Kim has thirty years of experience serving on the boards of directors of a number of corporate and not-for-profit organizations all across Canada. She currently serves on the board of CCI Thermal Technologies Inc. in Edmonton, the Calgary Airport Authority in Calgary, the Pressure Pipe Inspection Company in Toronto, Alberta WaterSMART in Calgary, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Previously, Kim served on the boards of her employer companies, including Pan Terra Industries, and the Revolve companies. She has also served on the boards of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the National Research Council, the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta, the Alberta Water Council, Alberta Innovates: Energy and Environment Solutions, the Alberta Economic Development Authority, the Trustees of Queen’s University, Queen’s Centre for Enterprise Development, the International Women’s Forum, the Calgary Science Centre, and the Queen’s University Book Store. On these boards, she served in a number of leadership roles, including Board Chair, Executive Committee member, Finance Committee Chair, Infrastructure and Environment Committee Chair, and Treasurer.

Kim is a life member of the Queen’s University Council, and has served as a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, the World Presidents’ Organization, the International Women’s Forum, the Chairman’s Circle of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, the Advisory Board for the Institute for Aerospace Research, and the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation.

Kim was honoured with both the Distinguished Service Award and Alumni Achievement Award from Queen’s University, the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Science and Technology, and the Alberta Centennial Medal. In 2007 she was named as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and a Calgary Woman of Vision. She is a registered Professional Engineer and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Kim graduated from Queen’s University with a BSc. in Engineering Physics, from the University of Western Ontario with an M.B.A. with Distinction, and from the ICD Corporate Governance College Directors Education Program.