About Us

About the Business Forum

Going into its 18th year, the Business Forum provides an exclusive opportunity to engage with a remarkable group of business leaders and speakers on topics that are current and international in scope. Established in 2003 by a committee of dedicated and influential individuals with a passion for Canadian sport, this event is now one of the premier business forums in Canada.  It is a unique weekend for key influencers to build relationships and exchange ideas in conjunction with the Lake Louise Alpine Ski World Cup hosting the first men’s World  Cup downhill and super-G races of the season. This is the only World Cup outside of Europe to join the ranks of the famous Club 5 Ski Classics.

Purpose

To invite and host business leaders who are offered the opportunity to engage in thought provoking and frank discussions on a carefully chosen topic both important and timely to current events.

The Business Forum provides a stage for business and relationship development and through this avenue Alpine Canada (ACA) is the direct benefactor. The Business Forum drives an awareness of Alpine Canada (ACA).

The Benefit

Alpine Canada is the governing body for alpine ski racing in Canada.  With the support of valued corporate partners along with the Government of Canada, Own The Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee, Alpine Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic world championship and World Cup medallists to stimulate visibility, inspiration and growth in the ski community.

Please visit www.alpinecanada.org for further information.

Chairman & Moderator:

Perry Spitznagel
Vice Chair, Bennett Jones LLP

Perry Spitznagel is Vice Chair of Bennett Jones, a former longstanding Managing Partner of the Calgary office and a senior corporate lawyer with extensive national and cross-border experience in a broad range of matters. Perry has acted for clients in some of the largest transactions in Canada, including many of Canada’s and North America’s largest national and cross-border financings and mergers.

He has been recognized by Financial Post Magazine as one of the 25 most influential people in corporate Canada. He is also recognized by Chambers Global, the Legal Media Group, Best Lawyers in Canada, the IFLR 1000 and The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leading lawyer in his areas of expertise.

Perry is the Chair of WinSport which manages the legacy assets and programs of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Samara Centre for Democracy, a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening Canada’s democracy. He is a past member of the Alberta Securities Commission Advisory Committee, a past Co-Chair of the Pipestone Securities Law Conference and a past director of Alpine Canada, the governing body for alpine ski racing in Canada.

A former international ski racer, Perry remains active in skiing.

Perry is a graduate of McGill University, BA (Economics), 1979, with great distinction, and Osgoode Hall Law School, LLB, 1982.

He is a frequent speaker and has chaired national and international conferences on a variety of topics. Perry speaks French and German.

Committee:

John Cassels
Principal, The CFO Centre

John is currently a Principal with The CFO Centre which is Canadaís leading provider of part time CFO services. The CFO Centre is a global organization with highly skilled individuals providing financial expertise and guidance to small and medium sized public and private corporations.

Prior to this position he spent 33 years in the Canadian and US oil and gas sector serving as a senior officer and director with nine publicly traded junior oil and gas companies with particular emphasis on finance and the public markets.

John was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bishopís University in Quebec and moved to Calgary in 1972 where he became a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young (then Clarkson Gordon).

As a volunteer in ski racing, John served on the board of the Alberta Alpine Ski Association from 1984 to 1990, volunteered at the 1988 Calgary OWG at the alpine venue at Nakiska and became Race Chairman of the Lake Louise World Cup ROC in 1994.

John is now Chairman of the Board of Directors of Winterstart Events Ltd., the company responsible for the Audi FIS Ski World Cup at Lake Louise.

Wayne Henuset
President, Paradise Spirits Inc.

Wayne Henuset epitomizes the entrepreneurial spirit that permeates Alberta’s strong economy.

Mr. Henuset is an astute investor and powerful business entrepreneur, he has been in the beverage alcohol industry for the past 25 years and has built Willow Park Wines & Spirits to become one of the most successful private retail liquor stores in North America.  Today, Mr. Henuset is building a world class spirit production company for global distribution.

For more than three decades Mr. Henuset’s focus was in the oil and gas industry when his entrepreneurial spirit saw him diversify his business endeavors. In 1985 Mr. Henuset established Conquest Developments, a land development company building commercial and residential projects both in Florida and Alberta. In 1994, he opened Willow Park Wines & Spirits, which has become the largest privately owned retail liquor store in Canada, garnering world attention. In 1998, Mr. Henuset opened Kelowna Chrysler Dodge Jeep car dealership in Kelowna, BC followed up by Saturn of Kelowna in 2002 and Kelowna BMW in 2005.

In 2005, Mr. Henuset co-founded Energy Alberta Corp. to spearhead the building of safe and responsible civilian nuclear energy facilities in Alberta.  Mr. Henuset was instrumental in establishing nuclear energy as a viable energy source in fossil-rich Alberta and later forming a partnership with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.

In 2008, Mr. Henuset founded Paradise Petroleums Inc., a junior oil and gas company based out of his hometown in Virden, Manitoba.

Wayne Henuset is also extremely passionate about his philanthropic endeavors. In 2001, he established the Vintage Fund, an endowment fund operated by the Calgary Foundation. The Vintage Fund was created to support local charities. Wayne Henuset previously sat on the board of directors for Calgary Health Trust, Junior Achievement and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and was the founding member of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Calgary a new concentration at the Haskayne School of Business.

Wes Jardine
Managing Director and Head of Diversified Industries and Oilfield Services, ATB Financial

Wes Jardine is the Managing Director and Head of Diversified Industries and Oilfield Services with ATB Business Banking. He is responsible for the strategy, direction and leadership of ATB’s market presence in the commercial space across Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer. Under his leadership, a team of industry specialists and financial service experts utilize a relationship-centric model to transform how mid-market businesses operating throughout Alberta are served.

Wes has 14 years of commercial and corporate banking experience with ATB, where his relationship-first approach has provided industry-leading advisory services to many of ATB’s choice clients across the Exploration and Production, Oilfield Services, Midstream and Diversified industries. Prior to banking, Wes’ background was in software engineering, where he worked as a developer, project lead and account manager for a global realtime IT company servicing the pipeline, utility and transportation sectors.

Wes earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Engineering from the University of Calgary. He attended and graduated from the Haskayne School of Business’ Masters of Business Administration program with honors distinction.

When outside of the office, Wes is an active volunteer in the community. He sits on the finance committee of CUPS Calgary, a charitable organization that provides education, healthcare, and various other resources to at-risk Calgarians. Wes is also the Vice-President for the Southwest Cougars Hockey Association and head coaches both of his children’s minor hockey teams in the Southwest Cougars and Girls Hockey Calgary minor hockey associations.

Marc Joiner
Partner, Deloitte

A partner and 28-year veteran of Deloitte, Marc is a marketplace partner with Deloitte in Calgary. He is a partner focused on relationships providing value-added services to his clients to solve problems or leverage opportunities. Marc has become a trusted advisor to Alberta’s senior executives and owners with his deep industry experience, ability and willingness to connect people in the business community and his no-nonsense, straight-talk approach to addressing problems.

Marc has extensive experience coaching chief financial officers (CFOs) and their finance teams on improving their effectiveness and efficiency resulting in more strategic and enhanced value to the rest of their organizations. Marc leads Deloitte’s Alberta CFO Program focusing on helping large Alberta public and private company CFOs build relationships among themselves.

Marc is married to Lesley with four children. He is an avid skier, downhill and backcountry, and road cyclist. Marc has always been a very active volunteer and currently is on the board of the United Way Calgary and Area.

Peggy Perry
President, Willow Park Wines & Spirits

Peggy Perry is the President of Willow Park Wines & Spirits, the largest privately-owned liquor store in Canada. Peggy has been the company’s principal wine buyer and marketing director since its founding in 1994. In August 2020, she was awarded the title of Market Leader by New York based, Market Watch magazine, a first for a Canadian beverage retailer.

A native of Prince Edward Island, Peggy received her formal education, degrees in both business and education, at the University of PEI, but her palate was honed in France. She first discovered her love of wine while studying French at the University of Strasbourg. She began working in the wine business in Alberta in 1985 and later spent time working in the French regions of Bordeaux and Champagne. She started working with the Henuset family at Willow Park Wines & Spirits when they purchased the business from the Alberta Liquor Control Commission in March 1994.

Peggy has been the driving force behind Willow Park Wines & Spirits’ 25 years of philanthropic focus which has raised more than $5 million dollars for local charities. She developed a unique wine tasting event curriculum as the single wine educator that became the most comprehensive educational wine, beer and spirits offer in the industry.

Her drive to share her love of wine resulted in the creation of Corkscrew Media in 1999. This company went on to produce over 500 TV shows on wine, beer and spirits, which have aired on 54 networks worldwide. She has written numerous articles for wine and spirit publications.

In 2007, Peggy launched the “Travel with the Trusted Expert” program. In the past 13 years, she and her team have hosted over 2,000 wine, beer and spirit loving customers in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Chile, Argentina, South America, Canada, California and South Africa.

A more recent passion for Peggy has been the development of Willow Park Wines & Spirit’s e-commerce division. Peggy has led her team to recognize the importance of this platform, significantly increasing both customer base and overall profits.

Peggy’s best advice? “Every wine has it’s time, but great wines are great all the time!”

Bob Thompson
President and CEO, Brownstone Asset Management

Bob is President and CEO of Brownstone Asset Management, a Calgary based investment management firm he founded in 2003. At Brownstone Bob directs corporate strategy, governance, is a lead portfolio manager with the firm, and participates on the Brownstone Investment Committee. The firm conducts independent research and develops portfolios for investors across Canada, with investments spanning multiple sectors in both the Canadian and U.S. markets. Previously, Bob was Vice-President and Portfolio Manager at Bissett Investment Management for eight years, prior to the company’s sale to Franklin Templeton Inc.

Bob has held senior roles in project development and investor relations with a major publicly traded oil and gas corporation developing investments in Canada, the U.S. and worldwide. He is on the organizing Committee of the Lake Louise World Cup Business Forum, bringing executives worldwide together to share economic views each year at a summit held at Lake Louise Alberta.

Bob was President and Chairman of the Board of the Calgary Stampede over 2013 – 2014. He led the community through the “Hell or High Water” flood year. He has served on the Board of Directors since 1997 serving in a variety of capacities including participation on numerous strategic Board committees. Bob is extensively involved in the execution of the Calgary Stampede strategic plan which includes business development activities associated with a significant planned park expansion. Bob was instrumental in the acquisition of the 6000 acre OH ranch for the Calgary Stampede.

Bob currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Calgary Stampede Foundation. The organization has an independent Board of Directors consisting of successful community citizens, and works towards the advancement of youth programs at the Calgary Stampede.

Bob earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University in 1982, a Masters of Business Administration from European University, Geneva Switzerland in 1989, and the Canadian Investment Manager designation in 1997. Bob earned the Institute of Corporate Director (ICD) designation in 2011, and received the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal for recognition of outstanding community service.