Jim Bertram’s path to founding one of Alberta’s largest midstream energy companies started far from any boardroom, on outdoor rinks and ball diamonds in a small Saskatchewan village. By the time the Southern Alberta Business Hall of Fame inducted him in 2025, that same competitive drive had built Keyera Corp into a Canadian midstream leader worth billions. It is the kind of origin story that Alberta’s energy sector has produced again and again, small-town grit translated into corporate discipline, though few have translated it into a company worth as much as Keyera.
From Piapot Rinks to the University of Calgary
Bertram was born in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, on March 28, 1956, the fourth of five children, and spent his early years in the small village of Piapot, where he played baseball in the summer and hockey in the winter. At sixteen he left home to play junior hockey, an experience he credits with teaching him hard work, teamwork, and leadership. That background, learning to absorb setbacks on the ice and get back to work the next shift, shows up again and again in how Bertram describes his approach to business. In 1977 he enrolled at the University of Calgary, where he played hockey and earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree. After five months playing professional hockey in Germany, he returned to Calgary to begin his career in the oil and gas industry, working his way through progressively senior roles at Aquitaine, Canterra, Poco, Amerada Hess, and Gulf Canada.
Founding Keyera Corp
Keyera emerged out of Gulf Canada in 2003, built around gas processing and midstream assets in Central Alberta, Edmonton, and Fort Saskatchewan, and employing about 300 people at the time. Bertram served as the company’s founding President and CEO, and Keyera went public that year with a market capitalization of $500 million. Spinning a company like Keyera out of a major integrated player like Gulf Canada was not a guaranteed success; it required Bertram and his early team to prove that a standalone midstream business, focused purely on gathering, processing, and moving natural gas liquids, could outperform being just one division inside a larger company. The market has since validated that bet many times over. The company grew quickly by consistently delivering value to producer customers and shareholders, and it has since become a Canadian midstream leader with a market capitalization of $10 billion and more than 1,500 employees. Bertram remains the company’s Board Chair today, and he also serves on the boards of Methanex Corporation and Emera Inc., following earlier board positions with several small exploration and production companies. Across more than 45 years in the energy sector, he has built deep experience in midstream, marketing, upstream, and corporate governance work.
A Company Culture Built Around Giving Back
Under Bertram’s leadership, Keyera became a strong supporter of STARS Air Ambulance, recognizing its role in keeping rural communities and industry workers safe, along with the United Way, a partnership that continues today through high levels of employee involvement. That kind of institutional generosity, sustained over more than two decades, tends to outlast any single leader, but Bertram’s fingerprints on Keyera’s giving culture remain evident in how consistently the company has shown up for both rural Alberta and its own workforce. Bertram is married to his wife, Cindy, and has two adult children, Dan and Allie, along with five grandchildren. His career has taken him to six continents, and by his own account, he continues to enjoy the journey and the people he has met along the way.
Bertram’s full laureate biography is available on the Southern Alberta Business Hall of Fame website, where he was honoured as part of the 2025 class for his role in building one of Alberta’s defining energy companies.
What does it take for a company to grow from 300 employees and a $500 million market cap into a $10 billion Canadian energy leader in just over two decades?
