The name Krux Analytics carries weight in the mining and drilling industry. The woman behind it, Jody Conrad, carries just as much. Read More
Calgary CEO is making strides to provide data for mining companies in a male dominated industry
Calgary CEO is making strides to provide data for mining companies in a male dominated industry
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The name Krux Analytics carries weight in the mining and drilling industry. The woman behind it, Jody Conrad, carries just as much.
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Conrad is a wife, mom, CEO and much more. “I would say I’m successful at them all. Am I perfect at any of them? No. Jack of all trades at the three of them? Yes.
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“But that’s what you do as a businesswoman.”
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Conrad is the founder and CEO of the Calgary-based tech company.
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“Anyone in mining, if you say the word Krux, they know who we are,” she says.
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But she isn’t satisfied with her success. In her more than 20 years in the industry, Conrad always asks herself one thing: “How can we do better?”
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After realizing the mining and drilling industry wasn’t using software as effectively as the oil and gas sector, Conrad built her company to help those companies improve operations and understand their data using an easy-to-use dashboard.
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The system shows how daily work affects money, and how money decisions affect the work. It helps clients make smarter decisions based on facts.
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Mining and drilling are key industries in Alberta, and Conrad is boosting the provincial economy by making them more efficient.
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And what started in Calgary almost a decade ago is now helping mining companies around the world.
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“I told people a story years ago of how we’re going to get to instrumented rigs, we’re going to talk about all this machine data and we’re going to get to this amazing place,” said Conrad, but everyone doubted her.
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“Now they actually say, ‘We can see that.’ Now they can see the data they never knew existed.”
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Looking for a new challenge inspiration behind mining tech company
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Conrad’s success didn’t start in a boardroom. It started in her home, in the heart of Calgary.
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She got the idea of building her own company when she was an engineering technologist at Saxon Energy Services. But she didn’t work on the idea right away, as she stepped away from her career for a few years to focus on her family.
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“When I had my two boys, I was like, ‘Oh, I need another challenge,’ ” she says. She eventually went back to school to earn her MBA, writing her business case on Krux Analytics.
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While out with classmates one evening, Serge Gagnon, owner of Norex Drilling, suggested they work together.
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“We’re doing something similar, but we’re still relying on paper,” he told her.
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A few whiskeys later, they shook hands with Bon Jovi’s rock music playing in the background at a karaoke bar. Conrad left with a signed contract.