Few Hall of Fame resumes cover as much ground as Ken Stephenson’s. Over the course of his career he was an owner, CEO, or director, sometimes all three at once, of more than 30 companies spanning concrete, oil and gas, ranching, pipelines, mining, and medical imaging, and it was that range, paired with a lasting gift to Calgary’s cardiac care system, that earned him a place in the Southern Alberta Business Hall of Fame’s 2021 class. Stephenson’s career is a reminder that Alberta’s business history is not confined to a single sector, even for one person.
An Engineer Who Never Stopped Diversifying
Stephenson graduated in Civil Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and spent his career moving between industries rather than settling into one. His portfolio at various points included ready mix concrete, oil and gas exploration and production, processing, contract drilling, camp and catering services, real estate development, farming, automotive retail, a leading North American cattle breeding ranch, pipeline construction, heavy construction, manufacturing, mining, and leasing. Several of the companies he led were listed on the TSX and TSX Venture Exchange, a signal of how far his private ventures scaled over the decades. Where many entrepreneurs pick a lane and stay in it, Stephenson treated each new industry as another opportunity worth testing.
A Second Career in Cardiac Imaging
In the last decade of his career, Stephenson turned his attention to medicine, becoming Chairman and Co-Founder of Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc. Fifteen years before that, he had already been the lead sponsor behind the founding of the Stephenson Cardiac Imaging Centre, and he stayed involved as a mentor and fundraiser for the Centre throughout his life. The Centre grew into one of the world’s leading institutes for cardiac imaging research and training, ranking among the largest in North America by annual scan volume, a legacy that will keep serving Alberta patients well beyond his own career.
Business Interests to the End
Stephenson kept a hand in a wide range of corporate interests late into his career, including a majority stake in a Texas based steel railway tie manufacturer that was recently sold. He served as a director of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta and as Chairman of both Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc. and Chata Technologies Inc. He was named one of Calgary’s Top 7 Over 70 for his accomplishments after turning 70, proof that his most consequential work did not stop at a typical retirement age. As a member of the Mayflower Society, he traced his lineage to ancestral grandfather Edward Doty, who arrived on the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620, a personal detail that adds an unusual historical thread to an already varied life.
Why the Hall of Fame Recognized Him
Junior Achievement Southern Alberta’s Hall of Fame looks for laureates whose careers illustrate what sustained entrepreneurial risk taking can build, and Stephenson’s file, more than 30 companies deep and capped by a medical research legacy, made the case on its own. It is exactly the kind of multi industry story the organization likes to put in front of students who assume a business career has to follow one straight line. His full biography, including the complete list of industries and organizations he touched, is published by JA Southern Alberta at jasab.ca.
What kind of career takes a civil engineer from ready mix concrete to co-founding a world leading cardiac imaging company?
