Richard Bartrem
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Calgary, Alberta
Former WestJet VP | Leadership & Workplace Culture | Branding and Marketing Expert
- Videos
- Expertise
- Media Interviews
- Articles
- Business Growth
- Customer Service & Experience
- Innovation & Creativity
- Brand Strategy & Storytelling
- Business Ethics & Values
- Business Leadership
- Public Relations & Media Training
- Consumer Behaviour
RICHARD BARTREM BIOGRAPHY
Richard Bartrem is a seasoned marketing and communications executive with more than 35 years of leadership and management experience. A native of Montréal, he is fluently bilingual in English and French.
His early career included work in consumer goods and television marketing, where he built expertise in consumer behavior, brand positioning and integrated market strategies. Richard Bartrem joined WestJet in 2005 as Director, Brand and Communications and advanced to Vice President, Communications, Brand and Community Investment, a role he held until his retirement in September 2022.
In this senior leadership position, he directed strategy across brand and product marketing, social media, public and media relations, internal communications, sponsorship, the WestJet store and community investment. He helped guide the airline’s reputation through a period of rapid growth, international expansion and industry disruption, balancing innovation with consistent operational delivery.
His leadership extended to the successful launch of WestJet Encore and WestJet Link, both central to regional and business growth strategies. Richard Bartrem also led the creation of Swoop, an ultra-low-cost carrier designed to reach new customer segments, and he supported the positioning of WestJet as a global competitor with the introduction of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
He was instrumental in leading high-profile campaigns, including the globally recognized WestJet Christmas Miracle. Under his direction, WestJet’s marketing earned more than two dozen national and international awards, including two Lions at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.
Community impact was a central focus during his tenure. He oversaw programs that distributed more than 100,000 flights to organizations supporting children’s health and wellness, and he aligned internal communications to reinforce culture, leadership visibility and employee engagement across the company.
Public speaking has also been an important part of his career. Richard Bartrem has delivered more than 100 keynote presentations on brand, communications and culture to business schools, professional associations, boards of directors and audiences across North America and Europe, sharing practical lessons in leadership, growth and resilience.
Following his corporate career, he became Brand and Communications Strategist at Brookline Public Relations in Calgary. In this role, he advises executives and organizations on positioning, crisis preparedness and reputation management, helping clients strengthen competitive positioning and achieve long-term growth through strategic brand leadership.
He is also President of 13 stories marketing communications, where he provides advisory and fractional leadership services to organizations undergoing transformation. Richard Bartrem works closely with executive teams to refine value propositions, accelerate decision making and translate strategy into measurable results.
In addition, he serves as Board Chair of Tourism Calgary, applying governance, brand expertise and stakeholder engagement to advance the city’s visitor economy. His leadership in this role contributes directly to economic development and community growth objectives.
His career demonstrates a combination of creativity, disciplined strategy and organizational leadership. Richard Bartrem is recognized for guiding businesses through growth, crisis and transition while maintaining a clear focus on reputation, customer trust and sustainable outcomes.
Richard Bartrem continues to influence business and communications through his advisory work, community leadership and speaking engagements. His legacy at WestJet remains a benchmark for how brand storytelling, communications strategy and executive leadership can drive growth, culture and lasting business success in Canada and around the world.
Richard Bartrem Topic Presentations
Richard Bartrem Calgary, Alberta, Canada delivers keynote presentations, workshops, fireside chats, moderated Q&A, and other presentation formats on a wide variety of topics. Each presentation is unique, customized and tailored for audiences, industries, conferences and event formats.
The Culture of You: How Personal Brand Shapes Team and Organization
The Brand Inside: Aligning Culture With Reputation and Results
Reputation Leadership: How Executives Shape Culture and Credibility
The Future of Leadership: Visibility, Culture, and Reputation
High-pressure Communications: Protecting Trust and Credibility When It Matters Most
The Customer Promise: Loyalty Through Alignment of People, Brand, and Service
Leading Through Change: Driving Culture and Performance in Times of Disruption
Storytelling With Impact: Building Brands That Inspire Trust and Growth
Richard Bartrem Speaking Testimonials
Richard Bartrem Speaker Topic Ideas
You May Also Like
Related Speakers
FAQ
How to book Richard Bartrem for an event?
Richard Bartrem keynote speaker is an expert presenter and has a wide range of experience speaking to a wide variety of audiences and organizations. Richard Bartrem delivers keynotes, workshops & training sessions. They may also host or emcee events. Hire Richard Bartrem from Calgary, Alberta for your event to inspire the audience to take action and make change in their work and their lives. Your workplace will benefit from our keynote speaker and their keynote talks and speeches will shift the mindsets or behaviours for the audience members in Canada.
Interested in booking Richard Bartrem for an event?
Are you looking to hire Richard Bartrem for your event? Richard Bartrem Calgary, Alberta is a dynamic and engaging speaker that offers audiences researched content paired with expertise and a dynamic speaking ability. Richard Bartrem is also a Canadian corporate consultant and coach and facilitates workshops and training sessions for a corporate audience. Richard Bartrem is an expert keynote presenter and speaks on wide variety of topics. Hiring a great speaker for your event is important and working with a thought leader like Richard Bartrem from Speakers Canada's roster will engage audiences into the content of the presentation to bring awareness and a fresh perspective for their approach to their work and their lives. Book Richard Bartrem to educate, motivate and activate the audience through an interactive and entertaining presentation at corporate meetings and gatherings.
Known as a popular key note speaker in Canada, Richard Bartrem creates life changing experiences for the participants with practical insights and strategic advice they can implement right after the session. Working with one of our leading expert speaker like Richard Bartrem from Calgary, Alberta offers organizations a fresh perspective to assist the people of the organization. No matter if it is a government, association, or business crowd, Richard Bartrem is a perfect speaker for your event. Through unique practical insights for trending topics and years experience speaking to different organizations, Richard Bartrem focuses on changing individuals to make better decisions at work and their lives. No matter if you are holding an in person or virtual event, having an influential speaker such as Richard Bartrem will engage, motivate, and activate the audience to make a change in their lives and inspire action for results to meet organizational goals. Your workforce will benefit from Richard Bartrem's presentations and speeches, with measurable results set to shift the people of the organization and core direction of the company. Book Richard Bartrem speaker for your annual general meeting, conference, summit, or convention in Canada.
How much does it cost to hire Richard Bartrem for a keynote presentation or virtual event?
Richard Bartrem is an expert professional key note speaker with a lot of experience speaking and delivering engaging talks to organizations and audiences in Canada. Each of Speaker Bureau Canada's talent have different ways to assess their fees, and Richard Bartrem speaker fee ranges depending on the size of the audience, event format (in person or virtual), event location, and if the organization booking them is a non profit, association, government department/government agency or business/corporation. The speakers we work with are flexible with their fees, and it is important for us to learn more about your event before we approach them, as it is our role to work for you, and to help you find a speaker within budget.
Please contact Speakers Bureau of Canada and provide us with your event details so that we can contact Richard Bartrem to check availability or confirm the pricing and associated costs to hire a great speaker like Richard Bartrem for your event. As Richard Bartrem's agent and as a Canadian top speaker bureau and talent agency for speakers, we are able to propose each event opportunity from each host organization's behalf to try to help you get in touch with Richard Bartrem and confirm them for your in person or online meeting/event. We can also provide and advise on the booking process and potentially negotiate their fee. Speakers Canada is a client focused speaker agency, and we work for you in finding good speakers for your team meetings and booking processes.
Richard Bartrem Disclaimer
Speakers Bureau Canada assists companies and event planning teams seeking to hire talent like Richard Bartrem for speaking engagements, virtual meetings, conference appearances, training sessions and workshops facilitations. Our Canadian speakers bureau does not claim to exclusively represent Richard Bartrem, however they are represented by Speakers Canada, and we work with them closely for their Canadian speaking opportunities and bookings. As Canada's top speaker bureau, we represent Canadian motivational keynote speakers and professional guest speakers that will be available on your upcoming events date and location that are withing the budget. Our talented bureau speaker booking agency can help find business speakers or celebrity speakers that aligns with each organization, audience, event theme and the topic themes you hope for the speaker to address in their presentation.
When SBC receives a request to book Richard Bartrem we provide you with their speaker fees, travel costs and check their schedules. We work closely with the host organization's event planning team and the speaker to handle the logistics and to relay or negotiate associated costs. Our talented team members then will work with our talent directly or their agent/manager/assistant to confirm the Canadian speaker fee and travel expenses, so that event planning teams can receive an official quote for the speaker appearing at the event. Speaker fees and travel costs vary per speaker and our role is to contact Richard Bartrem about your event, after we have connected with the event organizers to learn all the event details and/or conference program. Each booking request is unique since session durations and audience sizes can vary which may affect the speaker's fees. If you are looking to hire Richard Bartrem, we recommend filling out the booking request form so a booking agent from Speakers Bureau Canada can get in touch with our talent to help you coordinate with your team to engage the speaker for a successful event.











