Charles Wayne Fischer (21 March 1950 – 17 June 2020) was the president and chief executive officer of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

-based Nexen Inc until December 2008. He previously headed a U.S.-Canada working group on clean energy within the Clean Energy Dialogue, formed during a summit between the Canadian Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

and U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

Career

Fischer has an extensive career in the Canadian

extractive industry Extractivism is the process of extracting natural resources from the Earth to sell on the world market. It exists in an economy that depends primarily on the extraction or removal of natural resources that are considered valuable for exportation w ...

. In the 1980s he worked for

TransCanada Pipelines TC PipeLines, LP () is a publicly traded master limited partnership. TC Energy owns 25.48% of the outstanding units and controls the general partner. TC PipeLines, LP manages and owns natural gas pipelines in the United States including 46.45% of ...

and Encor Energy Corporation Inc.. In 1994, he began work for Nexen as senior vice president, exploration and production, North America. He was appointed to the Nexen Board in 2000 and became president and CEO on June 1, 2001. He previously co-chaired the Alberta Climate Change Central board. In April 2009, the Canadian government named him as a head of one of three climate change working groups as part of the Clean Energy Dialogue with the United States. Several organizations have criticized this appointment, including the

Sierra Club of Canada Sierra Club Canada (SCC) is a Canadian environmental organization. Terry A. Simmons incorporated the Sierra Club BC in 1969, affiliating the local organization with the Sierra Club of the United States. Several members of the club were promine ...

. In December 2008, Fischer held over 500,000 common shares in Nexen, then valued at approximately C$9.5 million, and options on three million more shares. Fischer remained a registered lobbyist in Canada, in January 2009, in his capacity as the responsible officer for Nexen. Fischer is also a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the

Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta The 'Libin Cardiovascular Institute'' is an entity of Alberta Health Services and the University of Calgary. It connects all cardiovascular research, education and clinical care in Southern Alberta. The Institute coordinates the activities of o ...

. In 2019, he was appointed to

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

and, in July 2020, appointed posthumously to the

Alberta Order of Excellence The Alberta Order of Excellence (french: Ordre d'excellence de l'Alberta) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Alberta. Instituted in 1979 when Lieutenant Governor Frank C. Lynch-Staunton granted royal assent to the Alberta ...

Education

Fischer received a B.Sc. in chemical engineering (1971) and an MBA in finance (1982) from the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

. He also earned an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Calgary in 2004.

Death

Fischer died in Calgary, Alberta on June 17, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Charlie 1950 births 2020 deaths Businesspeople from Saskatchewan Canadian chief executives People from Saskatoon University of Calgary alumni Officers of the Order of Canada Members of the Alberta Order of Excellence