Siksika Group of Companies (SGOC) CEO Randy Ambrosie invites Siksika to have a voice in the future of SGOC.
SGOC is releasing a survey to guide its future investment strategy. The survey is open to Nation members and will provide valuable input for the future of the Siksika Nation
“It asks some very interesting questions, but I very much would like the community to answer the survey, to respond to the survey, because I think it’ll help us; it’ll help me understand what the community wants the group of companies to be,” said Ambrosie.
SGOC is a Nation-owned business entity that manages Siksika Nation’s commercial investments and enterprises.
CEO Ambrosie played in the CFL for the Calgary Stampeders, Toronto Argonauts, and Edmonton Eskimos. After retiring from football, he worked in finance, taking on executive roles at AGF Funds Inc., HSBC, and Merrill Lynch Canada. He later became the CFL commissioner before retiring.
He was hired following an extensive recruiting process led by Richardson Executive Search. Following his appointment, he spent time with Chief Samuel Crowfoot, taking a tour of the Siksika Community
“I’ve received such a warm welcome,” Ambrosie said in his first three months as CEO.
Ambrosie took steps to learn about Siksika before his official interview, which Chief Crowfoot was also part of. It was fall when Ambrosie, fully in retirement mode, got a call from an executive recruiter.
“[They] asked me if they could send me this job spec for the CEO of the Siksika Group of Companies,” Ambrosie said.
Ambrosie was intrigued, so he did research, and after a few more phone calls, he was finally flown out to Calgary, where he met with the SGOC board and Chief Crowfoot.
“I’d say it was one of the most interesting interviews I’ve ever done in my career,” Ambrosie shared.
Ambrosie credited Chief Crowfoot and Councillor Romeo Crowchief for bringing him to the Siksika Nation.
Ambrosie describes his discussions with Chief Crowfoot as profound and inspiring: “He said, ‘Randy, don’t come here to run a business. Come here and help us build a Nation’”
Those words stuck with Ambrosie, even when reflecting on his past work as a player, as a teammate, as a CEO, as a leader.
“One of my bosses shared with me many, many years ago, you should always go into a job wanting to make it better when you’re done,” and Ambrosie, now playing for Team Siksika, intends to do that.
Ambrosie calls on Team Siksika to help shape SGOC’s mandate and strategies moving forward. The SGOC survey is currently out and will be available until Aug. 14.
“As somebody famously said, if you don’t know where you’re going, any path will do. Well, I’d very much like the community to help shape the destination they would like us to strive for,” said Ambrosie.
The survey is available by scanning the provided QR code. For the survey link, please visit SiksikaNation.com.
