As a scrappy teenaged roughneck toiling 12-hour days on the oil rigs in the 1960s, Dave Werklund literally fought to survive.

And today, as the 59-year-old chief executive officer of CCS Income Trust, Werklund is still battling.

It's a new game now, and the Alberta farmboy from Valleyview may have the best view from his corner office in downtown Calgary - but it seems the man hasn't changed that much. His sleeves are still rolled up as he relishes the next challenge.

Werklund emerged from his humble beginnings in the oil and gas industry to become the architect of one of the oilpatch's most compelling success stories. Twenty-one years ago, Werklund invested $50,000 to start a fledgling oil-service company called Canadian Crude Separators. Today, as CCS Income Trust, it ranks as one of Canada's most respected oil-service companies. CCS is valued at about $2 billion and Werklund has a 30-per-cent stake in the company.

Dave Olecko, Business Edge
CCS Income Trust CEO Dave Werklund has come a long way in the oilpatch as his Ernst & Young Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Award attests.

Werklund's remarkable achievements were recently recognized when he was named an Ernst & Young Canadian entrepreneur of the year, but he remains as ambitious as ever in his vision to expand CCS into new markets.

1. What are your recollections of your farm upbringing at Valleyview?

"I certainly learned how to get things done and take on challenging tasks. As a boy, you did a man's work on the farm."

2. Why did you leave the farm?

"I think it was because of my independent nature. I felt that I would much sooner do it my own way. My father would've preferred that I stay on the farm. I left at a young age (17) and pursued work, primarily in the oil industry on the oil rigs."

3. What was your first job?

"My first job was on a construction site on Pyramid Mountain (in Jasper) where a microwave station was being built. I was the radio operator that gave the tramway operator the signal to move the loads up and down the mountainside. I was also the loader/operator there. From there, I went to work on the drilling rigs."

4. If someone had told you while you were working on the oil rigs that you would one day be CEO of a billion-dollar-plus company, what would you have said?

"I don't know. That was difficult to imagine at that time. At that age, I really didn't think about that a whole lot although I did have a very independent streak and a desire to achieve more than I was accomplishing working for someone else. Working on the rigs was quite emotionally challenging. There was a lot of abusive behaviour at that time and it was quite the norm. I just stayed out of those people's way as much as I could. It was a demand-and-control type of environment for the most part. I had drillers who treated me pretty good, but there were always some managers who had a fear-based management style which I don't ascribe to at all. Although I have high expectations of people who work around me and with me, I prefer to do it in a collaborative team spirit and in an empowering way so that people feel valued and respected. In those days (on the rigs), there wasn't a lot of coaching, you got teased a lot, you had games played on you a lot and you just learned to take it."

5. How did you respond to that type of work environment?

Dave Werklund

"Well, I had to fight back a few times, but I never did like it. I can remember a time when I finished work and found all the tires flat on my '55 Chevy. They were playing tricks on me. Well, after a 12-hour shift, you want to go home. You don't want to start changing tires on the side of a muddy road. But I attribute all those lessons of life to my success today, quite frankly. I don't have regrets at all. I've certainly had my challenges and failures. Although I haven't had a financial disaster in my career, I've had lots of life challenges."

6. What kind of life challenges?

"My first marriage was not really a healthy one and I stayed in that marriage for 19 years. Some years later, I got into another one that didn't work very well. I haven't had great success in my personal life.

I'm not married now, but I have a partner."

7. Where'd you get the idea to start Canadian Crude Separators (which later became CCS Income Trust) in 1984?

"When I worked at Shell (as a production operator), I learned how to handle the crude oil process, clean it to pipeline specifications and ship it on behalf of Shell. So I got the idea to set up a custom-treating facility and do that work for the oil companies. There wasn't anybody at that time that took the time and put the right kind of assets together to do it in a professional way with management control systems in place that were credible so the oil companies were comfortable they were going to get all their oil back. So we developed a system and the foundation of our business today was in earning the trust of producers to bring their oil emulsions to us for custom treating. We've taken that concept and expanded to other services such as water disposal, waste fluids, frac fluids, oil-spill material, tank bottom material and it just keeps on going. If there's an oil spill out there, we will get those volumes into our facilities, particularly if it's in our area. From there, we continued using our cashflow to acquire other companies and now we're spread out throughout British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan."

8.When you started the company in 1984, did you envision the phenomenal growth that you've seen?

"No. No. I could envision us continuing to build an organization as long as we had sound principles and values that we could build from to gain the trust not only with the customer base but also with the employee base. Our employees like their culture here and we're considered an employer of choice in the industry."

9. What's the key to attracting quality people and building a loyal and productive workforce?

"People need to feel valued. And, to achieve that, it has to be more than words. It has to be in our actions. We have to show them that they are our most valuable asset. Our people and their families come first and the company comes second. If we look after our people, our people will look after their company. This company, I'm proud to say, has created many, many millionaires, employees who have become very, very successful financially. It's not as much about me as it is about our company."

10. What's your view of the way the federal government, with its consultation process of the income trust, has eroded investor confidence in that sector? (Werklund was interviewed before Goodale dealt with some of the uncertainty over income trusts last week by promising to lower taxes on dividends.)

"Mr. Goodale (Finance Minister Ralph Goodale) has chosen to create a very difficult situation that in fact, I think, erodes the government's interests to the point that he shot himself in the foot. It has had a detrimental effect on a marketplace that has done so much for the nation. To turn around and create the uncertainty that he has created is shameful and totally not in the interests of the people of this country. I think the income-trust marketplace has given a great opportunity for those retirees who need more income to survive beyond their pensions."

11. What are you hearing from investors on this issue?

"It amazes me how many people have come up to me and said, 'Dave, those (monthly cash) distributions are my best income.' So the stress that Mr. Goodale has put on these seniors lives because of his naive and unclear message to the financial world is just atrocious. To say the least, that's the worst thing he could have done."

12. What's your strategy in growing CCS Income Trust?

"We have developed a business model that we can take essentially any place in the world. We are the largest company of this nature in the world today and so our goal is to expand it throughout the world beyond the borders of Canada (the only foreign operations today are in Peru). We see a lot of potential in the U.S., Mexican and Middle East markets. There are oilfields throughout the world that are in need of environmental services and there's a lot of pressure on these companies to change their practices. And we have demonstrated that we can actually add value to our customers."

13. Are looking to continue to grow your company through acquisitions (CCS recently made a conditional multimillion-dollar offer for the waste management services operations of Producers Oilfield Services)?

"We're always looking to expand through acquisitions and we continue to build new facilities in new market areas. We're building a new facility in Brooks right now and we're building another one in Spirit River. We've just completed one in Bonnyville."

14. What's your long-term outlook for the oil and gas industry?

"I like the outlook. We're going to have our ups and downs, but we have been around long enough so that we built that into our future plans."

15. What does the award as Canada's entrepreneur of the year mean to you?

"It's rewarding to be recognized for what we have accomplished with the tremendous people we have and it's a tribute to the dedication and commitment they have shown. I think it's more about our people than it is me. I represent the people in all of our divisions."

16. Based on your experience, what's your best advice for a young entrepreneur?

"Be honest, trustworthy and be good to other people. Winners never cheat."

17. Considering the rapid growth of your company, have you had the time to enjoy the fruits of your personal success?

"Absolutely. But I've had to work on keeping things balanced. I have to say it's been very rewarding. I have the good fortune of having many wonderful people around me and they take a lot of personal ownership in the company. They buy into the vision and our values in a way that makes me very, very proud."

18. How has your lifestyle changed as a result of the personal wealth that you've built?

"It's changed very little, actually. I can afford a nice home so I have one, and we have a nice place out at the lake. My car (a BMW) is seven or eight years old. I guess I really don't think that much about the money these days. We've worked hard and we've been without. My father was a fairly successful farmer, but farmers don't bask in very much wealth. Money can add to the quality of our lives, but I don't think it is something we should take for granted. On the other hand, I don't think we should waste it. We should be careful and respectful of it, and use it in a way that improves the quality of one's life, rather than the other way around.

And it's important to achieve a good balance by being generous and sharing. Money's just a tool to do the things we want. Money is really not just that terribly important. What's important is quality of life and the way we feel about ourselves and others around us."

19. Are you contemplating retiring or slowing down?

"No, I haven't been. I certainly have given that very little consideration.

I do believe we need to continue to build our management team and the bench strength throughout our organization. And that's a continuous process, of course, that is important to assure that there is a successor to me that maintains the sustainable future of our company."

20. What would you do if you retired tomorrow?

"I don't know what I'd do. There's things that I would find to do, but I don't know if I'd get the same enjoyment out of it. Looking back on everything, I don't have any regrets. I've had lots of learnings and lots of lessons and I'd like to think of them as stepping stones to the future."

Dave Werklund

* Title: President/CEO/chairman, CCS Income Trust.

* Born/raised/age: Valleyview/59

* Education: Grade 9.

* Career: Werklund has been CEO of CCS Income Trust since he founded the company in 1984 as Canadian Crude Separators. After starting his career as an oilfield worker and working as a production operator for Shell Canada, Werklund started his first company, Dave's Oilfield Services, in 1971 (it is now his private holding company). He also co-founded Concord Well Servicing, which is now a division of CCS Income Trust.

* Accolades: Werklund was recently named the Ernst & Young Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year for 2005 and will compete against entrepreneurs from 35 other countries for World Entrepreneur of the Year honours.

* Pastimes: Motorcycling, fishing, boating.

* Favourite Entrepreneurs: Jack Welch, Warren Buffett.

* Favourite Book: Good To Great, by Jim Collins.

CCS Income Trust

* Brass: Dave Werklund, president/CEO; Marshall McRae, chief financial officer.

* Profile: CCS operates as a royalty trust, providing energy and environmental waste management services to the oil and gas industry, primarily in Canada. It also has operations in the U.S. and Peru. Divisions include CCS Energy Services, CCS Energy Marketing, Concord Well Servicing and HAZCO.

* History: CCS started in 1984 as Canadian Crude Separators and converted to an income trust in 2002.

* Unit Price (TSX:CCR.UN): $33 (52-week range, $18.63-$36).

* Monthly Cash Distribution: 12 cents per unit.

* Website: www.ccsincometrust.com

* Head Office: # 2400, 530 8 Ave. S.W., Calgary, T2P 3S8.

* Phone/Fax: 403-233-7565/ 261-5612.

(Gyle Konotopetz can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)