05/30/2026
Jim Gray is speaking, and people are listening.
A mentor, a builder, a connector --and someone who’s spent decades turning ideas into action. From the early days of Alberta’s energy sector to helping launch organizations that support communities across Calgary, Jim’s impact shows up in more places than you might expect.
He’s been a university student and an oilpatch entrepreneur, and now he’s a philanthropist and a connector of people and ideas. And his fingerprints are on a surprising number of undertakings in Calgary --whether it was chairing the first Petroleum Show --now known as Global Energy Show Canada-- in 1966 to connect Albertans to the energy sector, serving as chairman of the Canada West Foundation, being a director of the Calgary Stampede, or as the impetus behind numerous local organizations, including Momentum, the Calgary Homeless Foundation, the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter, the Calgary Native Friendship Centre, Bow Valley Wildfire, and, of course, MindFuel.
The message he’s sharing is simple:
Don’t stop at identifying a problem.
Ask yourself —What am I going to do about it?
It’s a mindset that helped spark what would become MindFuel, rooted in a belief that access to science, technology, and opportunity should reach every community.
You can draw a straight line from that vision to today —youth innovators, ideas on display, and a room full of people asking what comes next.
If there’s one takeaway from Jim’s time on stage, it’s this:
Progress begins when someone decides to act. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing from our youth innovators today —ideas backed by action, and the willingness to take the first step toward something bigger.
We can’t wait to see where these teams go next.
