Jordan Blatz

BAA: Tell us about your undergraduate experience at the Alberta School of Business. What are your favourite memories?

The year I was admitted into the Alberta School of Business, I actually found out I got my spot as classes were starting that year and looking back on it, that was one of the most fortunate and transformative things that happened in my career. It’s hard to know where I’d be today if things had gone differently that week. Once I got in, I loved my experience there. I really enjoyed my cohort in my first year and the students and professors I met along the rest of the way. It’s almost 20 years ago already but one of my favourite memories was Business 201 as I’m sure it is for so many students that went there around the same time. The excel modelling of actual business problems and case studies were awesome!

BAA: What has your career journey since graduation been like?

After graduation, I was fortunate to get a position with Petro-Canada in their new graduate program, where they were looking to provide broad experiences to new grads that were interested in becoming future leaders in the organization. In my 12 years with Petro-Canada and then Suncor following the merger that happened in 2009, I had 8 different positions spanning sales, operations, and marketing and in all three of the business units in the company’s downstream business (retail, wholesale and lubricants). During that time, I moved from Edmonton to Calgary and back to Edmonton in 2006, to the Greater Toronto Area in 2008, back to Calgary in 2012 and back to the GTA one more time in 2014.

In 2017, Suncor’s Lubricants business was sold to HollyFrontier and I worked for them for a little over a year before joining Parkland Corporation in April 2018 (which involved a relocation back to Calgary). Parkland has been a great fit for me professionally and personally as an Alberta-based company. It’s a fast-paced company with a strong track record of growth in our industry and I’m really enjoying the ride so far.

BAA: Can you tell us about your current job and the type of work you do?

I’m currently the Vice President of Canada Supply, Trading and Wholesale for Parkland. The team I lead is responsible for the strategy and tactics we use to acquire all of the fuel (over 10 billion liters annually) Parkland needs to supply our sales channels across Canada. I love what I do and I personally think I have the best job in our company.

BAA: You were quite involved as a student, including serving as President of the Student's Union. How did your involvement in student clubs, as well as other experiences in and after school help you get to where you are today?

I lived in Lister Hall for 4 years and was progressively more involved in the Lister Hall Students’ Association each year from being a Floor Coordinator in my second year to the Vice President of Kelsey Hall in year three and the President of the LHSA in year four. After that, I ran successfully to become the President of the Students’ Union from 2004 to 2005. I would not be where I am today in my career without these tremendous experiences as a student leader. So much of the work we do in business-related fields is interacting with a diverse group of people, building relationships and leading teams on a daily basis. I often find myself leaning as heavily on the experiences and lessons I learned as a student leader as much as I do the subject matter I learned in courses I took.

BAA: You have recently created The Jordan and Laura Blatz Award for Community Excellence in Residence. What drove you to give back to the student body through this award?

Laura and I are very fortunate to be where we are at this point in our lives and it was important for us to give back to the U of A. Student leadership, especially in residence was such a formative part of our experience at the U of A and we wanted to find a way to encourage students to get involved in their residence and to help shape other’s university experiences the way others did for us when we were there.

BAA: Do you have any advice for new graduates just starting out in their career journeys?

Looking back, the best thing that happened in my career was getting an opportunity to join a rotational, new grad program. There is no shortcut to learning a business on the front lines, early in your career and to getting experience in different functions and business units. Don’t be afraid to move laterally within an organization because careers are not linear and a broad base of knowledge and experience across the business will serve you very well as you progress in your career and move up within the organizations you work in.