Class of 2004
David P. O’Brien is Chairman of the Board of EnCana Corporation, North America’s largest independent oil and gas company. He also serves on the Boards of Directors of several distinguished Canadian businesses, and has received many awards over the year. Beginning his career as a lawyer, O’Brien has a Bachelor of Economics from Loyola College (Montreal) and a Law Degree from McGill University.
O’Brien held various management positions at Petro-Canada from 1978-1989, eventually becoming Executive Vice-President. He was Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Pacific Limited from 1996 until 2001, when Canadian Pacific was broken up into five public companies. In 2002, EnCana Corporation was created as a result of O’Brien’s successful negotiation of a merger between PanCanadian Energy Corporation and Alberta Energy Company Ltd. He then became Chairman of the newly formed company in April 2002.
David has received honourary degrees from Bishop’s University and Mount Royal College in Calgary. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Calgary for six years, and was the recipient of their 2001 Distinguished Business Leader award given jointly with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
O’Brien is Chairman of the Royal Bank of Canada, and serves on Boards of Directors of TransCanada PipeLines Limited, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Molson Inc. and Inco Limited. His past positions also include Chairman of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and Chairman of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (formerly Business Council of National Issues).
David O’Brien is married with three children, and lives in Calgary, Alberta.
