Current directorships
His board work today spans energy regulation, port infrastructure, Indigenous opportunity and urban land development. At the Alberta Energy Regulator he chairs the Board Governance Committee and sits as a voting member of the Board Audit and Finance Committee.
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Provincial
Alberta Energy Regulator
Board Director · Chair, Board Governance Committee · Member, Board Audit and Finance CommitteeAlberta’s single regulator for oil, gas, oil sands and coal development, responsible for the full life cycle of energy projects from application through closure and reclamation.
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Federal
Prince Rupert Port Authority
Director · Appointed by the Minister of TransportDirector, appointed by the federal Minister of Transport, as the port enters what its CEO calls the most significant phase of development in its history.
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Provincial
Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation
Board Member · Crown corporationBrings the experience of more than fifty Indigenous relationships developed across western Canada, including seventeen First Nations joint ventures at Horizon North.
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Municipal
Calgary Municipal Land Corporation
Board Member · City of CalgaryDraws on construction and governance committee experience, and on more than three decades in Calgary, in the city’s land development corporation.
Other current roles
- Rick Hansen FoundationBoard Member
- Business Council of British ColumbiaBoard of Governors
- Hokanson CapitalBoard Member
- Young Presidents’ OrganizationMember
Selected past directorships
- Horizon North LogisticsChairman, 2012–2014
- ZCL Compositesfrom 2002
- Stuart Olson Inc.
- Cleantek Industries
- Raise Production
- Essential Energy Services
Committee experience
- Audit
- HR and compensation
- Health, safety and environment
- Sustainability
- Construction
- Corporate governance
Investor first, then operator
Seventeen years in Alberta energy private equity, then fourteen as chief executive of three Alberta companies: a turnaround, a transformation through a downturn and a wildfire, and a sale.
- 2021 – 2024
Velocity Truck Centres Canada
President and CEO · formerly First Truck CentresLed the largest group of Daimler Truck dealerships in western Canada, twelve locations across British Columbia and Alberta. Under his leadership the company was acquired by Velocity Vehicle Group, announced November 1, 2023, a decision he framed around aligned core values, a team-first philosophy, and the resources to better serve customers and employees. He remains Past President.
- 2014 – 2020
Horizon North Logistics Inc.
President and CEO, 2014–2020 · Senior Vice President, 2014 · Chairman, 2012–2014 · Director from 2007 · TSX-listedJoined the board in 2007, became Chairman in 2012, moved into the executive team as Senior Vice President in early 2014 and took the chief executive role that November. Converted a decentralized holding company into one organization with a common mission, vision and values, with safety and diversity as core principles. Led the company through the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire and the 2020 merger with Dexterra, then served as co-CEO and President, Modular Solutions, through the initial integration.
- Ran roughly 10,000 workforce accommodation rooms across western Canada and Alaska.
- Built modular permanent construction, with projects in Revelstoke, Vancouver and Fort McMurray, and acquired Karoleena Inc.
- Seventeen First Nations joint ventures; about 12 per cent of 1,100 employees of First Nations descent.
- Evacuated seven of eight camps around Fort McMurray in 2016 while maintaining world-class safety.
- Moved sales from relationships to technical analysis of reserve profiles and production data.
- 2010 – 2012
ZCL Composites Inc.
President and CEO · Director from 2002 · TSX-listed, EdmontonA director of the Edmonton-based, TSX-listed fibreglass tank manufacturer since 2002, he stepped in as President and CEO on October 1, 2010, succeeding Venence Côté. He led the company from near-bankruptcy back to strong profitability, investing $1.5 million of his own money in the business, and concluded the mandate in August 2012.
- 2005 – 2010
Northern Plains Capital Corporation
Co-founder and Managing Director · Preceded by Peters & Co. Limited, 2004–2005Co-founded and ran an energy-focused private equity firm, after a year in institutional equity sales at Peters & Co. Over seventeen years in Alberta-based private equity he played a key role in sourcing, investing in and growing more than sixty oil and gas, energy service and energy industrial companies, an apprenticeship in capital allocation and company building that he’d draw on later as an operator.
- 1991 – 2004
ARC Financial Corporation
Senior Vice President, 1998–2004 · Financial Analyst, 1991–1997 · RBC Capital Markets, Equity Research Analyst, 1997–1998Joined ARC Financial as a financial analyst in 1991, two years after moving to Calgary, and returned in 1998 as Senior Vice President after a year as an equity research analyst at RBC Capital Markets. Twelve years at the firm over two stints; he credits ARC as the foundation of his career. It was on the investing side that he formed a lasting view: producers and service companies needed a better way of dealing with each other.
Background
- Based
- Calgary, Alberta
- Designations
- ICD.D, CFA
- Education
- MBA, Ivey Business School (Ivey Scholar); HBA, Wilfrid Laurier University
- Committees
- Audit, HR and compensation, HSE, sustainability, construction, governance
Rod Graham is a Calgary-based corporate director and former chief executive whose career has moved from energy private equity to running Alberta companies, and now to board service in energy regulation, port infrastructure and Indigenous economic opportunity.
Born in Oakville, Ontario, and raised in Waterloo and Thunder Bay, he moved to Calgary in 1989 and has built his career in western Canada since. He has spent more than three decades in and around the energy sector, first as an investor and then as an operator, and has contributed to twenty-two corporate and not-for-profit boards. He’s an advocate for pairing numeracy with literacy, and for taking courses well outside one’s own field.
How he works
Lean process, safety as a first principle, Indigenous partnership built as operating relationships, and an owner’s view of capital. The same four themes run through every mandate he has held, and through how he sees a board’s job.
“I fell in love with the concept of lean manufacturing and process.”
Business in Calgary
“For 25 years I have wanted to change the way energy service companies and exploration companies deal with each other.”
Business in Calgary
“A lot of people talk about having a First Nations file, but we live it.”
Business in Calgary
“We reward our people for continuously finding ways to save costs.”
The Globe and Mail
Process before heroics
An Ivey exchange term in Japan introduced him to lean manufacturing. He’s applied it since, hiring from outside energy: a former Lexus quality manager, a Honda plant executive.
Safety as core principle
At Horizon North, safety and diversity were written into the company’s core principles. When the 2016 wildfire forced seven of eight Fort McMurray camps to evacuate, the safety record held.
Partnership in practice
More than fifty Indigenous relationships developed or overseen across western Canada. At Horizon North: seventeen First Nations joint ventures, and roughly twelve per cent of employees of First Nations descent.
An owner’s perspective
At ZCL he put $1.5 million of his own money into the turnaround. As a director he brings the same owner’s view to capital allocation and cost discipline.
Designations and education
Institute of Corporate Directors
Corporate director designation.
CFA Institute
Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.
Ivey Business School, Western University
Ivey Scholar; exchange term in Japan.
Wilfrid Laurier University
Honours Business Administration, 1990.
Get in touch
Rod welcomes enquiries about board and advisory roles. LinkedIn is the most direct way to reach him. His official profiles with the Alberta Energy Regulator, the Government of Alberta and the Prince Rupert Port Authority are linked below.
- LinkedIn
Connect on LinkedIn
Messages and connection requests are welcome.
ca.linkedin.com - AER
Alberta Energy Regulator
Board of Directors profile.
aer.ca - Alberta
Government of Alberta
Public agency appointment biography.
public-agency-list.alberta.ca - PRPA
Prince Rupert Port Authority
Board of Directors profile.
rupertport.com