Across the city, movers and shakers are establishing revolutionary pathways to make it better. Whether it’s modern leadership training programs, exciting medical research or recent grads creating systems of support, Calgary is seeing an innovative change for the better. Here, discover just some of the leaders in innovation spearheading the shift.
Transforming Business Culture and Performance
The Haskayne School of Business offers leadership programs with real-word impact.
Great leaders build successful companies, and with ongoing skill development, they sustain that success. The Executive and Professional Development (EPD) programs at the Haskayne School of Business offer ongoing development to anyone looking to hone their leadership skills.
As part of the non-credit professional development arm of the business school, Haskayne’s EPD meets leaders where they are. For individuals who want to take their professional development to the next level, EPD has open-enrolment programs — no prerequisites required — with short-format programs that include strategy, leadership, finance, negotiation, AI, innovation and more. The governance stream of EPD offers board-ready programming, designed to prepare leaders to shape oversight and long-term strategy. And for businesses ready to invest in their leaders, Haskayne’s custom programs are tailored to all company needs.
Tanya Verhulp, the director of Executive and Professional Development, recognizes that many organizations offer leadership development programs for companies, but what sets Haskayne apart is how it works with its clients to custom-create programs. Not to mention, the programs are backed by an accredited university institution.
“It’s the how that’s innovative,” she says. “We focus on the impact and return on investment, but the innovation is in the pieces that we build with organizations by tailoring programs together.”
Targeted outcomes
When organizations approach Haskayne for custom leadership development in their business, the process begins with a needs analysis. “We really want to understand the strengths of the organization, what challenges they’re facing and what’s currently happening. We work with them to understand their strategy and goals,” explains Loriel Anderson, learning and development programs manager.
From there, Haskayne designs and develops programs suited to individual business needs. EPD looks at big-picture themes, such as strategy execution and effective decision making. The programs also offer action learning projects that tackle real business challenges. This process creates cross-functional teams, mentors the learners and pushes projects forward, providing a significant return on investment for the organization.
“Leadership development is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a strategic move for an organization to invest in this way, given the world’s pace of change and complexity,” says Verhulp. “It gives learners a structured space to step back from day-to-day operations and think strategically about a bigger picture — how to create value, foster innovation and lead through uncertainty.”
Delivered results
Haskayne built EPD’s custom leadership development model around a simple but powerful principle: Education must move performance. The principle has proven successful in delivering real-world impact — EPD has seen participants go on and create millions of dollars in revenue thanks to strategies such as new asset utilization. One example of impact is Spartan Controls, an industrial automation company that has participated in EPD programming for six years.
Haskayne custom-developed the Emerging Leaders Program for Spartan, helping mentor and upskill more than 200 individuals across the company, with many receiving promotions and taking on additional leadership responsibilities with these new skills.
“Investing in your people is probably the biggest return on investment you can get,” says Anderson. “When you have leaders who understand strategy, execution and why they’re doing what they do — not just how to do it — the potential for impact is huge.”
To learn more about Haskayne EPD, visit haskayne.ucalgary.ca/epd
An Innovative Approach to Event Staffing
Premier Staffing Agency curates exceptional teams that elevate the event experience.
Well-executed events have the power to create lasting impact — whether through raising funds for charitable causes, strengthening brand awareness or delivering memorable guest experiences. While event planning often prioritizes logistics such as venue selection, entertainment and timelines, front-of-house staffing is often underestimated, despite its critical influence on the overall event experience.
Booke Nistor, CEO of Premier Staffing Agency, understands that these roles carry significant strategic value. Premier Staffing takes an innovative and highly intentional approach to staffing by aligning talent with each client’s marketing objectives, visual identity and operational needs. From trade shows that require charismatic, knowledgeable brand ambassadors to entertainment-driven events that need trained dancers, models or special talent, every staffing decision is made with purpose.
Interactions with front-of-house staff are often the first — and most memorable — human connection a guest or consumer has with a brand. With a roster of more than 1,800 experienced professionals, Premier Staffing carefully curates teams that help create those defining moments.
Since launching in 2017, Premier Staffing has strategically supported a wide range of events while witnessing a noticeable shift in how clients view staffing: no longer as simply a support function element, but as an essential component of event success.
“When you introduce structure, professionalism and intentional brand representation into an undervalued space, you don’t just improve events — you help redefine industry standards,” says Nistor.
Whether a client requires polished brand ambassadors, promotional models, hospitality staff or guest-facing support teams, Premier Staffing integrates logistics, presentation standards and structured training so that its staff operates as a seamless extension of the client’s brand.
Learn more at premierstaffinga.com
A Leading Destination for Innovation
Calgary’s new strategy positions the city as the innovation capital of Canada.
As the fastest-growing tech talent hub in North America, Calgary has seen increasing innovation across industries in recent years, creating a call for deeper, more coordinated collaboration between sectors.
“We need to work together, collaborate as a community, and make sure that we can identify new company formations, developments and opportunities that will strengthen our sectors as our city continues to grow,” says Brad Parry, president and CEO of Calgary Economic Development (CED). “That was the genesis of Calgary’s Innovation Strategy.”
Launched in April 2025, Calgary’s Innovation Strategy is a multi-step plan developed by CED to create a connected network of innovation support that drives investment and economic diversification. With all the pieces in place, the end goal is for Calgary to be Canada’s leading destination for innovation.
Advancing the strategy
A key tool pushing the plan forward is the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF), a City of Calgary-owned fund that makes strategic investments to grow and diversify our economy. For every dollar invested by OCIF, Calgary experiences a 12x return on funding committed.
“OCIF is creating an environment where innovation starts to take hold and growth materializes, and then we see more money coming in, more companies forming, more jobs created and more opportunities to grow in other sectors,” says Parry, who is also the CEO of OCIF.
Since the launch of the strategy, OCIF has made significant investments in organizations across industries, including ETC Foundation, a hub that unites startups, industry leaders and investors in the energy sector; the Xpand Commercialization Hub, an initiative that accelerates dual-use technologies for civilian and defence applications; AgSphere, a hub that connects and strengthens the agriculture ecosystem; and the Alberta Logistics Centre of Excellence, which boosts innovation in the transportation and logistics industry.
Defining nodes
These investments support the development of what CED calls nodes, which are dense concentrations of sector-specific innovation supports. For example, life sciences — which encompasses the discoveries of solutions in health care and technology, agriculture and food sciences — is a node that has recently seen success in Calgary, thanks in part to OCIF funding. CED aims to establish nodes that align with its right-to-win sectors, including aerospace, agriculture, creative industries, defence, energy, transportation and logistics, and quantum.
Having nodes streamlines venture capital funding processes and opportunities by offering a closer circle of well-aligned supports, including funders, operating spaces, academic institutions and innovation incubators. “The idea is to put like-minded companies with like-minded companies, and then, you see this collision of ideas and new companies start to form,” says Parry.
A look to the future
With the strategy in place and a shared direction and commitment, CED estimates successful implementation could generate 187,000 new jobs and contribute over $28 billion to the local economy by 2034, paving the road to becoming an internationally recognized innovation hub.
“It’s absolutely achievable given who we have in our community, the leaders we have and the amazing talent that is building new companies across all these sectors,” says Parry. “We had an opportunity to set this lofty goal and get everybody rallying around it and, ultimately, become the innovation capital of this country.”
Learn more about OCIF at opportunitycalgary.com. To learn more about the strategy, visit calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com
Scaling UP
Mount Royal University’s annual ScaleUP Week empowers founders and leaders of small and medium-sized businesses.
For many Canadian founders, the greatest challenge isn’t starting a company — it’s scaling one. The scale-up phase, often defined as sustaining annual employee growth of more than 20 per cent over three years, forces leaders to evolve quickly as teams expand and systems stretch, and strategies must continually adapt to keep pace with growth.
While startups can tap into the energy, fundraising and incubation initiatives available in their local ecosystem, scale-ups and growth-phase companies often see significantly less coordinated support. To address this gap, Mount Royal University’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship launched ScaleUP Week.
“There is a disproportionate number of startups compared to firms that successfully transition from small to mid-size or large-size, with only 0.1 per cent of small companies becoming mid-sized,” says Dr. Simon Raby, founder and executive director of ScaleUP Week. “I launched ScaleUP Week because Western Canada didn’t need another startup event — it needed a scale up movement.”
Empowering big futures
ScaleUP Week includes an annual summit and awards gala that brings together key players in the city’s business ecosystem: founders, CEOs, operators, investors, policy leaders and support organizations. Last year, ScaleUP Week saw 80+ expert speakers and 1,500 attendees, primarily welcoming growth-stage founders and CEOs of companies with existing traction that are now looking to scale.
Having recently been named the fastest-growing tech talent hub in North America, Calgary is home to a flourishing innovation and growth community. ScaleUP Week empowers companies to build big futures from Western Canada by positioning Calgary as a place where businesses are not only started, but are surrounded by fertile soil for scaling up.
“A scale-up journey is moving from ‘we can grow’ to ‘we can grow on purpose — again and again,’” says Raby.
ScaleUP Week offers big-picture keynotes alongside panels, roundtables and one-on-one advisory sessions. Some of these are structured around topics like scaling leadership and talent to build teams that operate beyond their founders, innovation and AI adoption, and market expansion. Two prominent themes are RevGen, which looks at the commercial engine — including revenue systems, sales architecture and go-to-market strategies — and ProfitGen, which focuses on productivity and operational leverage.
Recognizing the wins
Celebration is a vital component of building a movement; this is why ScaleUP Week’s grand finale is the ScaleUP Awards Gala, an evening spent celebrating the achievements of Western Canadian companies and their leaders. Presented at the gala are eight Pathway Awards, which highlight excellence achieved along specific pathways, such as sustainability, social impact and BIPOC-led, and the Main Awards, including Company and Entrepreneur of the Year.
“Recognition creates momentum, and momentum creates more companies that scale,” says Raby.
“Simon’s research into small and medium-sized enterprises has itself seen enormous growth, and ScaleUP Week is the kind of bold and innovative approach Mount Royal’s Bissett School of Business thrives on and the Calgary economy needs now more than ever,” adds Kelly Williams-Whitt, the dean of the Faculty of Business, Communication Studies and Aviation at Mount Royal University.
This year, ScaleUP Week will take place June 8 to 12, boasting a main program in Calgary, a Summit in Vancouver and regional events in Edmonton and Winnipeg. In 2026, the program’s keynotes, panels, roundtables and leadership gatherings will focus on mindset, scaling pathways, AI adoption and growth mechanics. “We’re seeing momentum, not just attendance,” says Raby. “When people come once, they tend to come back with their leadership team, their partners or their peers — because scaling up is a team sport.”
Avenue readers get a 10 per cent discount for Calgary Summit tickets with the code AVENUE. For more information and tickets, visit scaleupweek.ca
At the Forefront of Health-Care Innovation and Expansion
The Prostate Cancer Centre’s Innovation Suite brings next-generation bladder cancer trials to Alberta patients.
Advances in cancer treatment often begin in clinical trials, where researchers explore new therapies and approaches that could shape the future of care.
At the Prostate Cancer Centre (PCC), a new Innovation Suite helps expand those research opportunities and services for Alberta patients.
As a purpose-built research hub designed to support advanced studies, the Innovation Suite strengthens the centre’s ability to conduct procedure-based clinical trials and provide patients with access to emerging therapies through research.
That also means the Prostate Cancer Centre has broadened its research beyond prostate cancer, strengthening its broader genitourinary research program and opening the door to new areas of study.
“The Innovation Suite allows us to support more research studies as we move into new areas of urological disease, namely bladder cancer,” says Jeff Davison, Prostate Cancer Centre CEO.
More clinical trials
In 2025, the Prostate Cancer Centre supported 300 research patients across 24 prostate cancer clinical trials. Because the Innovation Suite allows for more complex and procedure-based studies, the PCC was able to begin enrollment in its first bladder cancer trial. That first study focuses on the effectiveness of EG-70, a type of gene therapy, in combating bladder tumours. Three bladder cancer studies are now open for enrollment, with another expected to launch this year.
“Bladder cancer treatment hasn’t really changed for decades,” says Dr. John Dushinski, CMO at the Prostate Cancer Centre. “Now, there are exciting new possibilities for treatment with a variety of agents that may improve survival and decrease recurrence and morbidity.”
More access to different treatments
Dushinski and his team build some of the research hub’s approaches from existing treatments, but they also explore entirely new options.
“Traditional treatment of non-invasive bladder cancer involves stimulating the body’s immune system to attack the cancer cells,” says Dushinski. “We are looking at novel ways of stimulating it, such as gene therapies and drug-eluting bladder implants.”
“This spaces ensure that we’re staying at the forefront of urologic innovation,” adds Davison, “and ultimately helping more patients and improving their experiences.”
Certain trials require additional standard treatments, which eligible patients within the research program can now receive at the Innovation Suite as part of their care. This includes procedures such as a cystoscopy or bladder instillation — both used in the surveillance and treatment of bladder cancer.
Dushinski says what excites him most about the Innovation Suite is that they can provide cancer patients with new treatments that may decrease recurrence and morbidity and increase survival.
While the PCC has begun research and treatments in the new Innovation Suite, the space still needs cabinets, paint and other small details to make it more welcoming for patients. The public can donate to help the space develop.
To learn more about the Innovation Suite and bladder cancer care, visit ProstateCancerCentre.ca
Supporting Innovative Care
Meet Declan Sander, a young entrepreneur who turned a bold idea into impactful support for Indigenous communities.
Declan Sander is on a mission to support the health of Indigenous communities. In Canada, more than 30 per cent of First Nations people face barriers to health care. For Sander, the University of Calgary’s Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking offered him the space to take bold ideas and transform them into actions that address that need. In 2023, with the help of Hunter Hub’s Launchpad, he co-founded Birchbark Health — a not-for-profit that turns volunteers into primary care ambassadors.
Fostering student entrepreneurship
Launchpad, a six-month program at Hunter Hub, guides students through every step of launching an early-stage tech venture. It also provides students with a small startup fund.
Sander joined Hunter Hub in his third year of university and was able to conduct discovery work and secure crucial seed funding for Birchbark. “It was a really good opportunity to flesh out the idea,” says Sander. “They helped us sit down with our ideas, see what systems were already in place and how we could work within them.”
Hunter Hub promotes entrepreneurial thinking, teaching students to identify problems and take initiative to create meaningful solutions, explains Guy Levesque, Hunter Hub’s executive director. “Birchbark Health is a great example of that mindset in action,” says Levesque. “Declan recognized a real gap in health care access for underserved Indigenous communities and took the initiative to build something that addresses that challenge directly.”
Evolving for community needs
During his fourth year at the Haskayne School of Business, Sander pitched Birchbark Health as a virtual telehealth platform through the Launchpad program. Using the problem-solving skills he learned at Haskayne, he has since pivoted from Birchbark’s original telehealth format to a boots-on-the-ground operation to address a more pressing need.
“We noticed that the biggest place that we could have an impact was directly in the communities,” says Sander. “We had a full software development team, but we realized that Lethbridge had one of the worst opioid crises in Alberta, and took a step back from the virtual health platform to actually work directly within our community.”
Birchbark now works with nearly a dozen Blackfoot community groups and not-for-profits in Lethbridge, having trained 300 people in naloxone administration and addiction and recovery education, and certifying 48 people in first aid.
The leadership team is small but mighty, composed of Sander, his brother Aidan and Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, the medical director of the Blood Tribe and assistant dean of Indigenous Health at the University of Calgary. Birchbank is also backed by a board of members, the majority of which are Indigenous.
“The most meaningful impact of the work of Birchbark is proving that something like this can be done in the face of many challenges, bringing together organizations who would not normally collaborate to help people in a most meaningful way, saving and improving lives,” says Tailfeathers.
Supporting innovation
An important aspect of Hunter Hub’s mission is to enable its entrepreneurial community to drive positive global change.
“If we want to build a more innovative and resilient future, we need to support the people who are willing to tackle complex problems and turn ideas into solutions,” says Levesque. “Students like Declan demonstrate what’s possible when young innovators are given the tools, mentorship and confidence to act on their ideas. By investing in them early, we’re not only supporting individual ventures; we’re helping build a generation of leaders who will create new opportunities and positive impact in their communities.”
To learn more about Hunter Hub and how it supports future changemakers, visit ucalgary.ca/hunter-hub
Developing Leaders and Unlocking High Performance
Discover how Calgary’s Leaders Circle has been instrumental in the development of local companies, including Earls Kitchen + Bar.
Mo Jessa says the key to building a successful company is growing the people within it. And, you can take his word for it — Jessa, the former president of Earls Kitchen + Bar, who retired in 2024 and now serves as President Emeritus, held various management positions at Earls for many years before ultimately leading the organization for over a decade. Under his guidance, Earls expanded to more than 70 restaurants across North America. The key to his success? A commitment to developing leaders internally.
When Jessa first stepped into senior operational leadership, he participated in a leadership program that he found transformational. He believed a similar approach could benefit the whole company. Soon after, he discovered The Leaders Circle, a Calgary-based leadership consultancy led by founder Brian Lanier, who brings deep expertise in leadership development and corporate training. The Leaders Circle offered something Earls needed: the ability to scale transformational leadership training across large groups. Jessa felt an instant partnership with Lanier and the program he offered.
“The breakthrough for Earls and me was that leaders are not born; they are made,” Jessa says. “The will, the motivation, how to work with resilience and even creativity, building trusting relationships and empowered teamwork — all of that can be taught, and that’s where The Leaders Circle came in. Its transformational learning broke open a whole new way of getting people trained to become master leaders.”
Small actions create big change
Earls’ management teams began participating in recurring leadership sessions through The Leaders Circle’s Being a Leader program, learning the skills and practices required to build lasting and trusting relationships across the organization. Frontline staff increasingly felt heard, supported and empowered to bring issues forward, knowing leaders were committing to working on solutions. Jessa began to see the culture shift.
“People start believing that they can bring concerns up and that we can solve problems together,” says Jessa. “The company started to grow differently. There’s a lot of momentum from small wins turning into big wins, and that momentum then just has a velocity of its own.”
An ongoing practice
As results continued to build, Earls maintained its partnership with The Leaders Circle over two years. “People think training is episodic, but when you want to be fit mentally or physically, would it work if you went to the gym once?” asks Jessa. “It’s a practice that needs to be maintained.”
Through consistent leadership development sessions, Earls strengthened a culture of learning, accountability and empowerment — an environment intentionally designed to elevate its people.
“Without an incredibly articulate, well-thought-out system, it limits your growth,” affirms Jessa. “And The Leaders Circle helped create the systems that took Earls to the next level.”
To learn more, visit leaderscircle.com
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