Hal Kvisle, President & CEO, TransCanada Corporation

Edmonton – Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta Dean Mike Percy and Business Advisory Council Chairman Guy Turcotte are pleased to announce that Mr. Hal Kvisle, President and CEO of TransCanada Corporation, has been selected as the 2009 Canadian Business Leader Award recipient. The Award will be presented to Mr. Kvisle at the 28^th Canadian Business Leader Award Dinner on March 4, 2009 in Edmonton.

“I am deeply honoured to receive the 2009 Canadian Business Leader Award,” said Mr. Kvisle. “I and my family have benefited greatly from our long association with the University of Alberta, and I’m proud to receive this distinguished award from the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta.”

Since Mr. Kvisle’s appointment as CEO in 2001, TransCanada has regrouped from a merger with NOVA and transformed itself from a well known and respected Canadian pipeline company to a leading North American energy infrastructure company that is rapidly and responsibly winning a dominant position in the North American market.

In the last eight years, TransCanada has invested $18 billion in its pipeline and energy businesses. Today, TransCanada oversees a North American natural gas pipeline network of almost 60,000 kilometres and is one of Canada's 20 biggest publicly-traded corporations, ranking in the top 500 publicly traded companies worldwide. Significant progress has been made on both the challenging Alaska Pipeline and Mackenzie Valley Pipeline; innovative growth strategies also include natural gas storage, power generation and the Keystone crude oil pipeline.

Under Mr. Kvisle's leadership, TransCanada has received numerous awards and honours as a financially sound, corporately responsible, and community-minded organization. In 2008, TransCanada was named to the Global 100 - The world's top 100 sustainable corporations for the second year in a row and to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the seventh consecutive year. Also in 2008, Mr. Kvisle was selected as Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year by the Caldwell Group.

In 2007, Mr. Kvisle joined the Nature Conservancy of Canada as a Board Member. In 2004, Mr. Kvisle was named Chair of the Board, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the first Canadian elected to this position. In 2003, TransCanada was recognized as one of Canada’s Most Respected Companies, a survey sponsored by KPMG and conducted by Ipsos-Reid. Satisfied customers and satisfied employees are also a much valued metric: since 2000, customer satisfaction has jumped from 84% to 97%; employee turnover is an enviable 4.4%, lower than most industry peers.

Mr. Kvisle served as Chair of the Mount Royal College Board of Governors from 2001 through 2007. During that period, Mount Royal made significant progress, becoming an undergraduate degree-granting institution with a strong focus on teaching excellence.

Recipients of the CBLA are leaders, entrepreneurs, and pioneers of progress in the business world recognized for their outstanding achievements and business acumen, and are selected by the 34-member international Business Advisory Council of the Alberta School of Business. Previous recipients include Tony Franceschini, Stantec, 2008; Dominic D'Alessandro, Manulife Financial Corporation; 2007; and Jim Pattison, the Jim Pattison Group, 2006.

Raised in the farming community of Innisfail in central Alberta, with an engineering degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton and an MBA from the University of Calgary, Mr. Kvisle is a consummate hard-working Albertan and proud Canadian. The Alberta School of Business looks forward to honouring and hearing from Mr. Kvisle, highly recognized for his remarkable leadership, vision and integrity, on March 4, 2009 in Edmonton.

For further information please contact:

Susan Robertson
Manager, Special Events and Donor Relations
University of Alberta
Alberta School of Business
780.492.2348
susan.robertson@ualberta.ca

Monica Wegner
Communications Strategist
University of Alberta
Alberta School of Business
780.492.7996
monica.wegner@ualberta.ca