Harrie Vredenburg

Harrie Vredenburg
Years active	1952–present

Harrie Vredenburg (born 1952) is Professor of Strategy at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business and is the Suncor Energy Chair in Competitive Strategy and Sustainable Development, a research chair affiliated with the University's Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy. He also holds an appointment as an International Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Said Business School: In 2010 he co-founded and as of July assumed the position of Academic Director of the new Haskayne/IHS CERA Global Energy Executive MBA, a program targeted to the global energy industry with classroom sessions in Calgary, Houston, London and the Middle East. He has authored or co-authored more than 40 scholarly journal articles, including important papers in Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. A leading authority on corporate strategy, governance, innovation and the management of environmental issues in energy and resource industries, Vredenburg's work is recognized in academic circles, corporations, governments and non-profits.

A popular teacher, he lectures in MBA, Executive MBA, MSc, doctoral, executive director, and directors programs. He is also a non-executive director of the TSX-listed energy and technology company Petrobank Energy and Resources (TSX:PBG), where he is a member of the audit and compensation committees, and serves on the boards of several non-profits. He holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors as a certified corporate director. He is married to Dr Jennifer Maguire, a dentist with a private practice, Calgary Fine Dentistry. They have three children.

Early life

Vredenburg was born in the Netherlands and moved to Canada as a youth when his father, an avionics technologist, took a position with American defense contractor Litton Systems in Toronto. He received a BA (Honours) in history from the University of Toronto in 1975 and an MBA in international business and finance, with Dean's list distinction, from McMaster University in 1979. After working in financial services marketing at American Express in Toronto he completed a PhD in strategic management from the University of Western Ontario in 1986.

Career

Before joining the University of Calgary in 1989, Vredenburg was a professor at McGill University (1984–1989). He was also a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia (1993–1994) and at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University (2003). He was founding director of the Haskayne School of Business’ International Resource Industries and Sustainability Centre, affiliated with the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, from 1994–2007 and was co-founder and academic chair of the Quito, Ecuador based interdisciplinary MSc program in energy and environment (now sustainable energy development) for Latin America and the Caribbean from 1996–2006. He consults to industry and government and has served on government expert panels dealing with energy and regulation.