Bruce Saville (born December 5, 1944) is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who currently lives in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta. He is former

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

of the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

before the

Edmonton Investors Group The Edmonton Investors Group Limited Partnership (EIGLP) was the limited partnership that owned the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League and the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League. With more than thirty individual shareholders ...

was sold.

Career

Early career

Saville started his career working in the Sales and Service division of Goodyear in Ontario. As part of his job, he was required to create 10-page summary reports using a manual calculator and data from a 4-foot thick computer printout generated each month. Saville sought to computerize this process. He brought the idea of computerization to Goodyear's IT department; they replied they were too busy. At Saville's next hockey game he then approached a member of his hockey team who was a

systems analyst A systems analyst, also known as business technology analyst, is an information technology (IT) professional who specializes in analyzing, designing and implementing information systems. Systems analysts assess the suitability of information syst ...

. At the following hockey game, his teammate came with five volumes of

Cobol COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily us ...

programming manuals. Saville read the manuals, then developed a system which he took to the Goodyear IT department, who ran it and it worked. This was Saville's first entry into the computer industry. He then proceeded to work as a systems analyst at Goodyear and then Canada Systems Group. In 1974, Saville was hired at

Northern Telephone NorthernTel LP (formerly Northern Telephone Limited or NTL) is a telephone company in Ontario, Canada. NorthernTel began in April 1905 in New Liskeard, Ontario, as the Temiskaming Telephone Company. It grew by buying other regional telephone prov ...

as Manager of Computer Programming.

Saville Systems

In Edmonton in 1982, he established

BASA Basa may refer to: Agreements * Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement, between National Aviation Authority regulators People * Basa (surname) * Bassa people (Cameroon), also spelled Basa, an ethnic group * Basa, leader and namesake of the Basing ...

which provided billing solutions to telecommunication companies. The company grew with the industry and customers included

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

, Sprint, Unitel,

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

, and Nippon Telecom. The company eventually attained 1,700 employees. In October 1999, the company was bought by ADC Telecommunication. ADC was eventually bought by Intec Telecom Systems of Great Britain.

After Saville Systems

With the money from the sale, Saville established the Saville Interest Group. He is president. From 1998 to 2008 he was one of three senior investors in the

. During this time he also billeted a Czech Oilers player. On April 5, 2010, it was announced that Saville would join the board of Serenic Corporation.

Philanthropy

Before selling Saville Systems, Saville decided to hire a president to reduce his work load. At around the same time, Saville received a

questionnaire A questionnaire is a research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, ...

in the mail from the Inner City Agencies Foundation. He was then invited to his first meeting where he was then appointed board chair. He is also a board member of

Stollery Children's Hospital The Stollery Children's Hospital is a 218 bed children's hospital that opened in October 2001. It is a "hospital within a hospital," being situated within the University of Alberta Hospital and co-located with Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute i ...

, Noujaim Institute,

Brentwood College Brentwood College School is a co-educational boarding school.Thomson, Ashley and Sylvie Lafortune.'' Handbook of Canadian Boarding Schools''. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1999. Brentwood is located on Vancouver Island in Mill Bay, British Columbia, C ...

since 2003, and previous board member of NAIT, and Governor of the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. It was during this time that Saville also made multiple donations to the university which helped fund the

Saville Community Sports Centre The Saville Community Sports Centre is a sports facility run by the University of Alberta's Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, where it is located in Edmonton, Alberta. It features a curling rink, tennis courts and a gymnasium. Opened ...

. He is also Chairman of the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation.

Personal life

Saville has been an avid ice hockey fan and player all his life. As a player he is a goalie. He currently lives in Edmonton in a house valued at more than $7 million.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saville, Bruce 1944 births Living people Businesspeople from Edmonton Canadian philanthropists Edmonton Oilers executives