In this biography, Dave Werklund tells how he grew up on a farm, left school in Grade 9, and then built a multi-billion-dollar business in Alberta to clean up oil waste and pollution. As an environmentalist working in the oil business, Werklund argues that Alberta has among the most stringent environmental standards anywhere in the oil world. Yet like everyone in the Alberta oil business, Werklund has faced disaster. His came in the form of financial ruin when he lost control of his oil services company and watched it plummet into bankruptcy, wiping out half of his billion-dollar net worth. Yet Werklund rebounded, both in business and as a philanthropist. This is the story of the man who embodies the spirit of entrepreneurialism in Calgary.

Dave Werklund's profile page

DAVID WERKLUND has been a farmer, an oilman, an entrepreneur, a CEO, and a philanthropist. Born in 1945, he grew up on a farm in Alberta and worked his way through the ups and downs of the Alberta oil business to found Canadian Crude Separators (CCS), which developed the most stringent environmental practices in the oil field services world. In 2012, CCS and its twelve related divisions came together under the name Tervita Corporation.

In 2006, Werklund created the Werklund Foundation, a family-run philanthropic organization whose mission is to “transform communities by inspiring youth to achieve their full potential.” One of its key initiatives helps teens in Calgary to develop their self-confidence, motivation, and resilience. One of Werklund's many endowments went to the University of Calgary's Faculty of Education in 2013. It was the largest donation ever given to an education faculty in Canada, and in recognition of his generosity, the faculty was renamed as the Werklund School of Education. Olds College was the next significant recipient, bringing a focus of world-class technologies to the agricultural industry with the Werklund School of Agriculture Technology.