Graham Ure
Director of Operations – East Tank Farm, Suncor
CLASS OF 2022
, AGE 41
, 19 YEAR RESIDENT
Graham Ure is the Director of Operations – East Tank Farm with Suncor. Having lived in Fort McMurray for 19 years, he has ingrained himself in the community through his roles on various boards, and by volunteering his time.
Graham recently chatted with YMM about some of the most rewarding aspects of his life, and more.
YMM: What is the most rewarding part of your career?
GU: Leading and engaging people. In my role, I get the opportunity to learn about a diverse set of people, helping them develop and excel.
YMM: What is the best advice that you ever received?
GU: Be intentional and don’t waste an opportunity. Every interaction or thing a person does is an opportunity to impact a broader outcome. By being intentional in these interactions, you can significantly cut down the effort to achieve an outcome. Sometimes the desired outcome is just to relax and have fun, but being intentional about that means consciously not letting life’s many distractions take away from that experience.
YMM: What is the worst advice that you ever received?
GU: “Always look at the glass as half full.” Optimism has its place, but sometimes the glass is oversized or is leaking. Being too optimistic can lead to overlooking signs of a bigger problem that needs to be addressed.
YMM: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
GU: Some of my proudest professional moments are seeing people that I have mentored succeed. As a leader, it is a fantastic feeling when someone comes back years later to thank you for advice or time spent with them and can articulate how it helped them.
YMM: How have your priorities changed in the last 10 years?
GU: My priorities have shifted considerably in the last 10 years with the addition of two children in that time. Ten years ago, my now wife and I were engaged, travelling the world, focused solely on our careers and enjoying life. Now we have two wonderful little boys that occupy our free time and very heavily influence vacation locations. Priorities have naturally shifted from “me” to family and future in that time.
YMM: What is one challenge you’d like to tackle in 2023?
GU: A couple of challenges I want to take on in 2023 is expanding the good work we have done in our area at work to other parts of the business. The other is firmly establishing the policy committee for the Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce to help increase its influence and advocacy success not only in the region but provincially and nationally.
