Chair post in Canada has a certain Ring to it.

As a golfer, Grant M. Ring confesses to be a "perpetual learner." As a financial executive in Canada, the incoming FEI Canada chair for 2008-9 has clearly learned how to make himself indispensable to the organization.

In nine years since joining the chapter in Regina, Saskatchewan, Ring has been a chapter director and president and rotated through a series of posts with the national organization, including Treasurer, Vice President of Operations and Vice Chair. He says he took a liking to the people and the organization, and realized that "becoming more involved in the leadership was rewarding and valuable."

"What got me going first was the conference in Vancouver [in 1999]--I met a lot of Americans, and they were very receptive," he said in a recent telephone interview. "These were people who were jogging in the morning, and they asked me if I would come and go jogging with them. The reception was very positive."

Now acting vice president and CFO of SaskPower--the major utility in the province--and CEO of its North-Point Energy Solutions subsidiary, Ring has risen through the ranks at SaskPower since joining as a fixed-asset accountant in 1990.

The $1.5 billion-revenue company is headquartered in Regina, and he's worked in the home office his entire career.

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Like many career financial executives, his trip to the CFO post has taken him through a series of progressive steps: from assistant controller to acting controller, treasurer, and a stint in 1999-2000 as manager of business and financial planning, where he was responsible for developing the company's five-year plan, financial forecasts and balanced scorecard. Prior to joining SaskPower, he was a cost accountant with Genstar Materials and a man-ager of plant accounting for Federal Pioneer Ltd., a maker of electrical supplies like switching gear.

NorthPoint Energy Solutions is an energy management and trading company with about C$130 million in sales that also generates C$300 million-C$400 million a year in internal volume to the parent company. While it has its own CFO, "We had to split the group off because in Canada, you can't have transmission and trading in the same legal entity," Ring notes.

Over the years, Ring also developed substantial expertise and interest in pension plans, and has presented at pension conferences across Canada. He has been a board member since 2003 and vice chair since 2004 of the Saskatchewan Public Employees Pension Board, and chairs the smaller SaskPower Superannuation Board, which he has sat on since 2001.

SaskPower itself has grown organically over the years, as the province has grown, buying out small municipal utilities along the way. It both produces and transmits power, drawing 60 percent from coal, 20 percent from hydropower and the rest from natural gas and wind farms, Ring says.

"There aren't a lot of people here in Saskatchewan, but it does have lot ofoil and gas, and we've got probably some of best potash and uranium deposits anywhere, as well as diamond and gold mining," Ring says.

Ring, who has a certified management accountant (CMA) designation and earned an executive MBA at Queen's University, has also been active in the CMA group's Society of Management Accountants. He's been a provincial conference chair, has worked on national marketing and is current a professional program mentor for the group.

He says his main goal as chair is to continue rollout of the FEIC strategic plan. This includes member services activities, knowledge-sharing, profile and branding, improving governance and "full implementation of the database."

One of the governance issues, he allows, is trying to deal with issues related to the relationship between the national and chapter organizations, to achieve better effectiveness. The Canadian database effort, which was segregated from the FEI U.S. database some time ago, is being augmented, and Ring says "we want to promote chapter services through the database."

Branding efforts are bearing real fruit, he says, with the publication ofsome research papers gaining the attention of the academic community. But, more clearly needs to be done to make people aware of FEIC and how it differs from other organizations.

"We found people who didn't know what FEI was. The ability to have a position on major issues, on budget or tax issues, was key," Ring says. "This was partly mixed in with service to members; we want like-minded people to share information. There are lots of things that tie together. We see great opportunities and some successes."

Referring to FEIC's continuing growth, he adds: "We were under-represented in terms of reaching lots of folks that could have been members that weren't even talked to. We got ourselves better organized, and now we've been talking to them. It may be that with the extra complications of the accounting environment, they sensed that they needed other resources."

Ring and his wife, Shana, are celebrating their fifth anniversary on July 5. They have a blended household, with his two daughters, Felicia, 19, and Samantha, 18; and her children Jessica, 16, Tyler, 14, and Sarah, 12.

"They're pretty good kids," Ringsays. "Not even siblings always get along; you need to develop a little more tolerance" when you mix families. "You have to work hard at problem-solving--my wife is involved in leadership and succession planning consulting. She has lots of training and skills, and we have definitely tried a lot of those things."

Ring grew up riding motorcycles on a farm outside Regina, and says he "got into it again six or seven years ago" and now does a fair amount of highway riding. Another big pursuit has been alpine skiing, which is notable for the fact that Regina, on the northern prairie, is 500 miles from the nearest major ski area. But Ring got involved as an adult with his children, and became a coach and race official for a number of years, ending in 2004.

Coming back to his role as chair, Ring declares that FEIC CEO Michael Conway is the person who speaks for the organization. "We're here to chair a board, not to change the direction of FEI Canada. Conway will be the focal point. It's not about me or the board, it's about Michael Conway. In that way, we see the mission of the organization evolving, not flipping back and forth depending on who is chairman."