Wilbert (Bill) Hill Hopper, (March 14, 1933 – July 3, 2006) was a Canadian civil servant and business executive. He was the president, chief executive officer, and chairman of

Petro-Canada Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand subsidiary of Suncor Energy. Until 1991, it was a federal Crown corporation (a state-owned enterprise). In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders rece ...

, a Canadian oil and gas firm. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he received a Bachelor of Science in geology from the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario. In 1955, he joined

Imperial Oil Imperial Oil Limited (French: ''Compagnie Pétrolière Impériale Ltée'') is a Canadian petroleum company. It is Canada's second-biggest integrated oil company. It is majority owned by American oil company ExxonMobil with around 69.6 percent ...

and in 1973 he became assistant deputy minister of energy policy in the federal

Department of Energy, Mines and Resources The minister of energy and natural resources () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). In addition to NRCan, the minister oversees the federal government's natural resourc ...

. In 1975, he was involved in the formation of the

Crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

Petro-Canada was appointed president and CEO in 1976. In 1979, he became chairman and CEO and worked until 1993 when Petro-Canada was privatized. From 1983 to 1992, he was the Chairman of the Board of Westcoast Energy Inc. In 1985, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for his "encyclopaedic knowledge of energy and of the environment in which the industry operates has enabled him to skillfully guide the development of the company into a major component of this country's petroleum industry". He held honorary degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University and

Memorial University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and ...

. He died in July 2006.

References

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''Canoe Money'' "Former Petro-Canada CEO Wilbert Hopper dies in Ottawa after illness" 6 July 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopper, Wilbert 1933 births 2006 deaths American University alumni 20th-century Canadian civil servants Officers of the Order of Canada Businesspeople from Ottawa University of Western Ontario alumni