Cross & Crescent

John Windwick’s (Alberta 1986) day job is spent performing his duties as the managing director for personal and business financial services at ATB Financial in Edmonton, Alberta.

Another Alberta Success

Brian Ferguson (Alberta 1980) serves as the executive vice-president and chief financial officer for EnCana Corp. (TSX & NYSE: ECA) in Calgary, Alberta.

With an enterprise value of approximately $60 billion, EnCana is a leading North American unconventional natural gas and integrated oilsands company. EnCana is among the largest holders of oil and gas resource lands in onshore North America and natural gas represents over 80 percent of production.

Ferguson is a member of the EnCana’s senior management team and is responsible for comptrollers, legal and corporate secretarial, treasury and tax, financial compliance and risk management.

He originally joined EnCana predecessor, Alberta Energy Company (AEC), in 1984, and upon the merger of AEC and PanCanadian, Ferguson became responsible for EnCana’s corporate development group, providing business development and communications advice on the company’s major transactions and events.

Ferguson earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with distinction, from the University of Alberta in 1980, and received his chartered accountant designation in 1983.

In addition, he completed the University of Western Ontario’s Executive Management program in 1993. Prior to joining AEC, he worked at an international accounting firm for four years.

Ferguson is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and is currently serving on the CICA’s Risk Management and Governance Board. Previously he served a two-year term on CICA’s Innovation Council.

One of his primary extracurricular jobs is serving as the commissioner of the annual Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR), which was held November 7-11, 2007, at Northlands Park in Edmonton, Alberta.Windwick is the fourth CFR commissioner in the event’s 34-year history, and this is his second year to be in charge.

CFR is produced by Northlands in cooperation with the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. CFR’s $1.15 million purse and more than 95,000 in total audience make it one of the largest indoor rodeo events in the world.

“The rodeo has a really great economic impact,” Windwick says. “Edmonton and area businesses share in the resulting economic activity boom. In fact, many businesses, including hotels, restaurants, western bars and store merchants, consider November their most lucrative month of the year.”

This indoor championship event is the Canadian version of a similar U.S. indoor event, the National Finals Rodeo, which will be held on December 6-15, 2007, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Discovering Lambda Chi

Windwick grew up around horses in Western Canada and rural living was all he knew and loved. Although he did not have any interest in competing in rodeos, he did have a dream of playing professional hockey, which ultimately delayed his decision to enroll at the University of Alberta.

However, a short time later, he decided it was probably best to begin his studies at Alberta, and two of his best friends, Paul Samycia (Alberta 1989) and Ray Bartman (Alberta 1989), helped convince him to join Lambda Chi Alpha.

“It was the best thing I’d ever done,” Windwick says. “The Fraternity immediately fit with my values, and I appreciated the values of the Fraternity. I made many lifelong friends.”

After joining Lambda Chi, Windwick went on to hold many chapter offices, including serving as chapter president. In his years following graduation, he also served on the chapter’s Housing Corporation, was the chapter adviser, and was named 2007 alumnus of the year.

True Brothers

To this day, Samycia and Bartman remain lifelong friends and they are proud to see Windwick’s success and achievements.

Samycia, a former chapter president, says Windwick’s likable personality and leadership abilities always ensured there were many “buddies” around to help with whatever was needed.

“Knowing Johnny created many more friendships through association with him, and many of those friendships made by his introductions are as strong today as the relationship I have with him,” Samycia says. “I think it was because of his skills as a leader and his ability to be an exceptional role model…he fit the role of ‘big brother’ and was a person that all aspirants would look up to.”

Bartman, who served as chapter treasurer, remembers most what a positive impact Windwick had on the entire Greek system at Alberta, in addition to the Lambda Chi chapter. This ability to befriend others helped create an extensive networking system that remains strong today.

“Johnny has a very active personal life, and has a list of friends too long to count,” Bartman says. “Many of these people ended up throughout the fraternity system and Johnny maintained his friendships.”

Spreading the Message

Unlike Americans, Windwick says Canadians do not always grow up thinking about joining a fraternity, because many parents did not participate in the Greek system.

“We struggle during rush to get people aware of who we are, and what we stand for,” he says. “Once in, they never regret their choice. The Greek system isn’t top of mind in Canada, but they are making strides every year. As we continue we are seeing legacies going through, which is a great thing.”

In particular, one of Windwick’s ongoing missions is to tell as many people as possible about the tremendous benefits of joining a fraternity like Lambda Chi.

“We do what we can from a Canadian perspective,” he says. “We want the brothers in the United States to know that we are doing our part to spread the good word about Lambda Chi.