Ross Grieve, President and CEO of PCL Construction since 1997, is the 2005 University of Alberta School of Business Canadian Business Leader Award (CBLA) recipient. “Good business is all about hiring the best people and earning their commitment and loyalty,” says Grieve.

From humble beginnings in Winnipeg in 1906, PCL has become the largest general contracting organization in Canada and among the largest in the United States with annual billings of approximately $3 billion (Cdn). 

Grieve started with the company in 1969, and was one of the original twenty-four employees to purchase shares in the company when PCL adopted an employee-ownership model in the late 1970’s. PCL is still 100 percent employee owned with approximately 1,500 salaried employees holding shares in the company. “I’ve been very lucky,” says Grieve. “I was fortunate to join a company on the verge of great growth and expansion.”

Grieve also became an integral part of a corporate culture that earned respect in whatever community it operated in. “The people who built PCL were held in high regard, well respected in the community, involved in industry associations and gave back to the industry,” remarks Grieve. “I learned that from the old timers and shared their pride in their work and in the company. PCL operates on principles of common sense and good practice. It is a company with great corporate values; it is very principled and operates with integrity. Our operations are unequivocally above board."

“This business is all about teamwork, planning and implementing. We leave behind some unbelievable physical accomplishments.”  Each project, large or small, is the culmination of the teamwork of the hundreds of people behind it. It is the personal accomplishments of each of those people and “an executive team that is second to none,” that Grieve credits for the success of the company.

Ross Grieve sits on the Board of Governors at the University of Alberta, and is a past director for the Banff Centre among many numerous community commitments. “Ross Grieve has been an integral part of the success of a company that is known internationally for its ethics, its commitment to quality and for its commitment to its people,” says School of Business Dean, Mike Percy. “These are the essential business values that are the backbone of Canada’s business reputation internationally. These are the business values that have been part of our core curriculum for almost ninety years, and that will drive the next century of successful Canadian business forward.”

The award will be presented to Mr. Grieve on March the 23^rd at the School’s annual signature event held at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton. The University of Alberta School of Business and its Business Advisory Council has   presented the Canadian Business Leader Award annually since 1982 to Canadians whose leadership distinguishes them as men and women worthy of recognition.  Recipients are leaders, entrepreneurs and pioneers of progress in the business world.