Brent Hesje: An “Essential” partner

Published on June 13, 2025

2025 Honorary Bachelor of Business Administration

Brent Hesje smiles when he looks around at the Productivity and Innovation Centre (PIC), the latest addition to NAIT’s Main Campus. He appears proud – but also mildly bewildered. It’s like he can’t quite believe that he played a part in the building’s existence.

From 2017 to 2019, Hesje served on an advisory committee for PIC, which opened in 2018 and now hosts most of NAIT’s applied research.

But the building, which Hesje hasn’t spent much time in since, isn’t the only product of his leadership at the polytechnic. Before supporting the effort to build PIC, Hesje served as the chair and as member of the Board of Governors, and helped lead “Essential,” NAIT’s largest comprehensive fundraising campaign to date.

A major result of that was the Feltham Centre, opened in 2016 and often referred to as the heart of NAIT. It’s visible from PIC’s third-floor balcony and home to some 5,000 students daily.

That is, Hesje had a significant hand in the creation of what now accounts for more than a quarter of the total square footage of NAIT’s current Main Campus. Underlying that expansion and development was the same philosophy he brought to his role as CEO of Fountain Tire, where he’s now executive chair.

“I've spent a life on partnerships,” Hesje says, recipient of an Honorary Bachelor of Business Administration. For him, relationships are the only real path to progress – the truth of which may be evident in the evolution he helped foster at NAIT.

Putting NAIT first

Hesje joined NAIT’s board in 2008 after being invited to lunch by the president and board chair of the day. Their suggestion to get involved surprised Hesje, prairie-born-and-raised and modest by nature.

As a member of the board at the same time, Ray Pisani (Honorary Degree ’13, Management ’84) watched Hesje move into the role of chair.

“What impressed me the most is that his demeanour never changed,” says Pisani, who’d later assume Hesje’s position leading the board. “Brent is a very down-to-earth person with a common-sense approach. And he’s humble – he always put NAIT and others at the forefront.”

That opportunity to join as board member appealled to Hesje’s practical side; a connection was clear. At that time roughly three years into what would be nearly two decades as Fountain Tire’s CEO, Hesje knew much of the company’s technical skill came from the polytechnic.

Soon, he also realized that connection went beyond their mechanic shops.

“We noticed … a theme among the folks within our corporate office that could work through and lead projects. They went to NAIT.”

To build on that, Fountain Tire and the polytechnic tailored a project management program to suit the organization's needs. “It was a huge part of transforming our company,” says Hesje. Using a 50-50 partnership model originating with the company’s founding brothers in the mid-1950s, the business was working to franchise beyond Alberta’s borders. Today, there are 165 stores from B.C. to Ontario.

“[NAIT] was so much a part of our strategy as we moved beyond Western Canada,” says Hesje.

But the benefits of the relationship were mutual. When Hesje became NAIT’s board chair in 2013, the polytechnic was working to better demonstrate its alignment with the needs of the province. It was work in which Hesje excelled, being a veteran marketer from not just Fountain Tire but Procter & Gamble before that.

And, of course, NAIT was looking to grow, a project in which Hesje’s knack for partnerships would prove invaluable.

Essential to NAIT

In late 2014, the polytechnic announced “Essential,” a campaign that aimed to raise $100 million to support students, applied research and campus development.

“We surprised the whole business community when we launched,” recalls Hesje. “It was a tricky time to be asking for money.”

Back then, the price of oil was beginning a descent so steep that the commodity would be nearly worthless by early 2020.

He believes it was the idea of NAIT being “essential” to Alberta’s growth that ultimately saw the campaign not only reach its goal but surpass it by more than $25 million. (Hesje and his family would contribute to the effort financially as well). It was a value proposition he and then-president and CEO Dr. Glenn Feltham confidently brought to potential donors and industry partners.

“You have to know that you're better off with a partner,” says Hesje, reflecting on his perspective on both life and business. More to the point, he adds, you have to “really want your partner to succeed.” If they do, “that means you will, too.”

Hesje (who also earned the honour of Distinguished Friend of the Institute in 2021) sees those relationships playing out at the polytechnic to this day.

PIC, for example, is home to the polytechnic’s Applied Research department, where NAIT experts partner with industry members to solve problems in a variety of fields that enrich the provincial economy.

For Hesje, the building represents a pairing that underpins progress and prosperity. It stands for what he might have hoped to achieve when he joined the board almost two decades ago.

“You take the insights and wisdom from NAIT, and the intuition that comes from businesses, and you bring those together in the spirit of learning, and great things can happen,” he says.