Because You Need to Know – Neil Wagner

This podcast is part of the Because You Need to Know series from Pioneer Knowledge Services.

Neil Wagner graduated with a B.Comm in 1976 and an MBA in Finance from Concordia University in 1978, and went to work at Bell Canada in Ottawa, where he quickly applied his financial and quantitative skills to write the first financial plan for the Computer Communications Group of Bell. After 2 years, Neil was recruited by an old professor from Concordia to teach Finance at the University of Calgary and spent four years as a full-time faculty member at the university before switching back to business.

Neil made the switch from Finance to Technology in 1985 when he joined Keyword, an early technology startup funded by TransAlta Utilities. He quickly established himself as the leader of their Technology Advancement Centre, developing business relationships with military and commercial companies interested in custom application of Keyword technology. It was in this time frame that Neil gained early and powerful experience in Document Management Systems, and he extended that expertise after he left Keyword and continued to sell his expertise in this area.

Neil’s consulting experiences have led him to many substantial and successful engagements. He has been responsible for guiding the design and implementation of highly sophisticated and complex budgeting and consolidation systems at Wawa Food Markets in Pennsylvania, and Hancock Insurance in Boston. He has implemented document management / knowledge management, Engineering Information Systems and budgeting and consolidation systems in such diverse industries as Oil & Gas, Health Care, and others. Neil also enjoys leading IT groups, where he can help guide the organization through a re-focusing of efforts so that they become a serious and reliable service provider to the business.

In several of his engagements, Neil has been an award-winning designer of complex systems, recognized for his creativity and abilities to deliver complex programs on time and budget. In the Non-Profit world, Neil is a recognized ‘go-to resource’ in Calgary and has held several senior strategic engagements advising a variety of agencies on technology change and advancement!

As a believer in giving back to the community Neil is the Volunteer CIO for the Calgary Counselling Centre, a world leading not-for-profit counselling and educational institution, where he has guided the implementation and adoption of a highly sophisticated technological footprint designed to tightly support the organization’s business & research goals. Neil was also long-serving member of the Deans Advisory Committee for the Computing in Business program at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

Neil has been married to Robbie for 44 years. Robbie is the CEO of the Calgary Counselling Centre and a PhD graduate from the University of Calgary School of Social Work. Neil & Robbie have two sons – Steven, who is a PhD in History & Military Intelligence from Oxford University, currently teaching at Brunel University, and Daniel, who recently completed a PhD in Health Economics at University of Calgary.