SASKATOON — The University of Saskatchewan (USask) has always held a special place in his heart for Keith Martell.
After all, it was not only the institution where he earned the commerce degree that helped him kickstart a successful career in the banking industry, it was also the place where he first met his wife Cathy, and later proudly watched three of his children and his mother follow in his footsteps and graduate with their own degrees. Forty years later, Martell is still giving back to the university, as he begins a new role as chair of USask’s Board of Governors.
“The university was very good for me and it’s definitely an institution that I feel I owe a lot to and I have tried to do as much as I can for over the years,” said Martell. “But this will be the one with the most impact.”
Martell officially began his appointment as USask’s board chair on Dec. 1 – following the completion of Shelley Brown’s term – after previously serving as vice-chair as well as on the audit and finance committee, the governance and executive committee, and the university’s endowment land trust board.
“We are grateful to have Mr. Martell take the leadership role as chair of the university’s Board of Governors,” said USask President Peter Stoicheff. “He has a track record of success as an influential innovator in the Canadian financial industry and in leading Indigenous community initiatives as the first president and CEO of the First Nations Bank of Canada. Mr. Martell has had a long association with the university that began by earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1985 and continues to this day. A distinguished member of USask’s alumni family, the university was proud to award Mr. Martell an Honorary Doctor of Laws in 2016.”
New chair of the USask Board of Governors Keith Martell is the former president and CEO of First Nations Bank of Canada. | Photo by Grant Romancia Photography
Topping Martell’s list of priorities in his new role will be leading the executive search for a new president when Stoicheff steps down at the end of 2025 following a decade of growth and advancement under his leadership.
“We will be choosing a new president, as everybody knows, and that is frankly the board’s most important role in the next while,” said Martell. “We definitely have big shoes to fill with the departure of Mr. Stoicheff coming up.”
In addition to his role in leading governance of the university, Martell said he is determined to help USask build on its growing reputation as an academic and research leader in the country and beyond.
“We need to continue to show that we are an important part of the U15 Group of research-intensive medical-doctoral universities, and one of the most important and significant institutions in Canada, and there’s an opportunity to continue to show that through things like VIDO and other areas where the university leads,” he said. “At the same time, the challenge is we are from Saskatchewan, and we often get underestimated in lots of things, business and academia. But sometimes being underestimated, undervalued or underappreciated is an opportunity for you to punch above your weight and I think the University of Saskatchewan regularly does that.”
A Chartered Professional Accountant, Certified Aboriginal Financial Manager and a member of Waterhen Lake First Nation, Martell is also proud to see his alma mater continue to be a national leader in Indigenization, reconciliation and decolonization.
“I think the university has been a leader in getting things done for Indigenous people to feel welcome,” he said. “The next step in Indigenization becomes more challenging and I think that is where the university is, at this point right now … I see my taking on the chair role as part of that Indigenization process in that Indigenous people should be represented at all levels at the university and we are starting to see that and that is very important.”
After graduating with his USask commerce degree in 1985, Martell went on to work for 10 years with KPMG chartered accounting firm before helping the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) establish the First Nations Bank of Canada (FNBC) in 1996, the only chartered bank with a headquarters in Saskatchewan. Martell served as president and chief executive officer of FNBC for 27 years before retiring in May of 2023, helping the innovative bank build more than a billion dollars in assets backed by more than 80 per cent Indigenous investors from across the country.
In addition to leading FNBC, Martell served as a board member with Nutrien, River Cree Enterprises GP, and the Future Generations Foundation, and after his retirement from FNBC was appointed to the board of TD Bank. In 2001, Martell was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in the Globe and Mail’s prestigious list of national leaders in business and society under the age of 40. Martell has also remained close to the university throughout his career, serving as a member of the Edwards Dean’s Advisory Council.
“The university is so important to the province and to the city and I am proud to be a part of moving forward,” said Martell, the eldest of four children raised by a single mother and the first in his family to earn a university degree.
Martell has also had a lifelong commitment to community as an active volunteer and fundraiser, including working with the Saskatoon Safe Streets Commission, with his wife Cathy also volunteering on the board of the Saskatoon Friendship Inn. Together, they donated $650,000 in 2022 to the new St. Frances Cree Bilingual School in Saskatoon, to establish the Bruno and Judile Martell First Nations Child and Family Wellness Centre (named in honour of Martell’s grandparents) as well as the school’s new māskīkīwi-mīcōwin kitchen and mamatāw-maskīkīya greenhouse.
As he begins his new position as chair of USask’s Board of Governors, Martell is proud to have the opportunity to serve in a new leadership role with his alma mater.
“You are always honoured when your peers are willing to have you lead them through a process like this,” he said. “I have been on a lot of boards of directors over my career, but universities are different than most of the boards that I have been on. Non-profit boards are a pretty straight-forward process, and corporate boards have a corporate agenda, but universities are educational institutions and the way that they do things is different. But the directors are there to govern and oversee and I am happy that my peers thought that I was capable of leading the group in doing that.”
— Submitted by USask Media Relations
