A year after Holden, Enmax ready to name new CEO

One year after Enmax CEO Gary Holden was fired, the city owned-utility is expected to name a replacement.  

That person, expected to be named within weeks, will replace Gary Holden. He was terminated without cause a year ago following a CBC investigation that revealed he was paid $2.9 million in 2010, the company parties he hosted at his house featuring Tom Cochrane and The Tragically Hip’s Gordon Downie and the free trip to Monaco he accepted from an Enmax supplier.

The Enmax boss even made a Forbes Magazine's Top 10 list — for the fifth biggest CEO screw up of 2010. The magazine chose "paranoid-sounding Holden" for his choice to send out a company-wide email criticizing media coverage of his pay package and private house parties.

David Allwright, the associate dean of business at Mount Royal University, said the changes the company has made will be good for Holden's successor.

Changes include top salaries being rolled back 20 per cent, businessman Cliff Fryers leaving as Enmax's board chair, several new board members being appointed and city council giving the company some new marching orders.

'I don't know if the work is done yet, but I'm willing to give the new CEO an opportunity before I make any judgment on that.' — Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi

But Allwright said the jury is still out on whether Enmax has truly changed.

"The next controversy is the one where the real test comes as to whether or not they've managed to break from the past and have created a new image for themselves."

Nenshi confident in Enmax

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he's confident the next CEO will be able to focus on the business of the city-owned company — not past controversies that he says took up much of late 2010 and early 2011.

While things might be better at Enmax, Nenshi said he’s keeping an open mind about more changes.

"I don't know if the work is done yet, but I'm willing to give the new CEO an opportunity before I make any judgment on that."

There's been plenty of speculation about who that new CEO could be, but no comment from city council or Enmax.

Charles Ruigrok has led the company as its interim CEO since Holden's departure.

"We're looking for somebody that's going to be a strong leader for the organization and be able to continue to progress the key strategies that we've laid out for the organization as we look to the future — obviously the completion of Shepard," he said.

That's the $1.3 billion power plant that Enmax is building in southeast Calgary; a key part of Enmax's future, which was pushed by Holden.

Here is a timeline of the Enmax controversy:

• October 2010: A CBC investigation reveals Gary Holden’s compensation — among the highest paid heads of any publicly-owned company or government agency in Alberta — of $2.4 million in 2008, $2.7 million in 2009 and $2.9 million in 2010. It is also revealed Holden hosted company parties with rock stars (Tom Cochrane and The Tragically Hip’s Gordon Downie).
• November 2010: Holden emails a five-page memo to all Enmax employees defending his salary and the company parties at his house, and vows to hunt down the whistleblowers who alerted the media.
• December 2010: Forbes magazine lists Holden as one the of "biggest CEO screw-ups of 2010" for his email. Blue Rodeo is booked for the company Christmas party, but it's cancelled after Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi openly disapproves of the company money pegged for it.
• January 2011: Gary Holden announces his immediate departure as Enmax CEO after a trip to Monaco bought by an ENMAX supplier was made public.
• February 2011: Charles Ruigrok, already an Enmax board member, named interim CEO. Details on Holden's severance package emerges, shows Holden was terminated without cause and paid $5.4 million in combined severance and pension payments. 
• May 2011: Mayor Nenshi says corporation going in a new direction, top salaries rolled back by 20 per cent.
• January to February 2012: New CEO expected to be named.