For 15 years, the Top 40 under 40 program has shone a spotlight on young, natural born leaders who have — in remarkably high numbers — gone on to brilliant careers in business, non-profit work, education and science. The program has recognized 600 recipients with the awards, which are becoming a rite of passage for the upwardly mobile.
“If you look at the majority, they are all running something,” says Ron Charles, a partner at Caldwell Partners International, founders and managers of the program. “They are real ‘glass-half-full’ people. They are unrelenting, very creative, smart in many ways — not just one. They are very, very good with people.
“And if they weren’t natural born leaders, then they’ve done a lot of things in life and acquired the skills and community service to hone their leadership skills.”
The following alumni offer their insight on leadership, and bring us up to date on where they are now that they’re over 40. They have either made it to the top of their game or have just landed the ultimate career-making position.
Elizabeth Cannon, president-elect of the University of Calgary
Elizabeth Cannon has a long history of encouraging women to follow her path in an engineering career, and she’s in the right city to do it. “Calgary is the capital of engineering,” she says.
Ms. Cannon has gone from engineering professor to dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the university, and she is stepping into the president’s chair on July 1. She’ll oversee a school that receives research funding of $262-million, has a student population of 29,000 and staff of more than 3,000. It’s been a steady trajectory since she got the Top 40 Under 40 award in 1998. As the first female president of the university, she’s now a role model.
“Today 24 per cent of our undergraduate engineering students are women — the highest number of the major universities in the country,” she says.
Leadership, she says, is about creating a strong vision for the future and inspiring others, but it’s also about the execution and accountability that goes along with it. As well, she says, it’s not about your own vision, but about aligning yourself with the vision of the organization.
As dean of the engineering school, she saw a responsibility to create corporate and community leaders. When the school was given a $24-million gift in 2005 that was matched by the province, her mandate was put to the test. She had to come up with a program that would make sense to the community that was supporting it.
“In a jurisdiction that has the second highest number of corporate headquarters in the country, it made sense that we trained engineering leaders and invested in them as future leaders.”
Russ Girling, chief operating officer, TransCanada Corp.
In the 12 years since he won the Top 40 Under 40, Russ Girling has been a key player behind Canada’s biggest gas pipeline company.
He was recently appointed TransCanada’s new chief executive officer, and he’ll preside over the company’s expansion as it transports Alberta oil sands crude to U.S. refineries. Alongside outgoing CEO Hal Kvisle, who is retiring, Mr. Girling has tackled corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, investor relations and restructuring that included a $4-billion debt reduction program.
It seems that Mr. Girling has held every top position within TransCanada, including chief financial officer and executive vice-president of corporate development from 1999 to 2006. He was also president of TransCanada gas services, and he is comfortable in a managing role.
