ROSS GLEN: BUSINESSMAN & PHILANTHROPIST

Ross Glen knows about doing business like, well, nobody's business.

For half a century, RGO Office Products has been providing equipment for Calgarians, and Glen has made sure the product is a worthy one.

“And having the service to back it up,” he added emphatically. "Service is really important. I have a service background so we want to do it right the first time and, if we don't, I want to get it fixed as quick as we can. I think our company does that. We're all on the same wavelength there. There's nothing that drives customers away faster than bad service.”

Thanks to that longevity and attention to detail, Glen was in 2016 inducted into the Calgary Business Hall of Fame, along with three other titans. In an understated way, he talked about how much it meant to him.

“It was a good honour,” said Glen, one of this city's major philanthropists along with his wife, Shirley. "Calgary has always been our town. I'm a local guy, we started RGO 50 years ago and we've done a lot of good things for the city. But we've always been interested in supporting health and education and theatre, those are our big focuses.

“I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't expect it. I was in pretty illustrious company, wasn't I?”

Glen was inducted alongside the late Ron Southern, Cal Wenzel and Mac Van Wielingen.

RGO began with three people in 1966 and has grown to a staff of 270 employees in Calgary, Edmonton and Canmore.

Glen attended Sunalta Elementary as a child and moved on to Western High School. These deep local roots are instrumental in where his donations go today.

“Anything pertaining to Calgary, like Heritage Park, the zoo, Stampede,” he said.

“We grew up here; that's what makes the city tick. We do our share to make things better for people and I think that's important.”