Bruce Saville (businessman)
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Bruce Saville | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 5, 1944 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | October 13, 2025 (aged 80) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder and chairman emeritus of Saville Systems PLC, shareholder of the Edmonton Oilers |
| Spouse | Cathy King[1] |
Bruce Saville (December 5, 1944 – October 13, 2025) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who lived in Edmonton, Alberta.[2] He was a shareholder of the Edmonton Oilers before the Edmonton Investors Group was sold.[3]
Early career
Saville started working in the Sales and Service division of Goodyear in Ontario. He was required to create 10-page summary reports using a manual calculator and data from a 4-foot thick computer printout generated monthly. Saville sought to computerize this process. He brought the idea of computerization to Goodyear's IT department; they replied they were too busy.[4]
At Saville's next hockey game, he approached a hockey team member who was a systems analyst. At the following hockey game, his teammate came with five volumes of Cobol programming manuals.[4]
Saville read the manuals, then developed a system which he took to the Goodyear IT department, which ran it and worked. This was Saville's first entry into the computer industry. He then proceeded to work as a systems analyst at Goodyear and then Canada Systems Group.[4] In 1974, Saville was hired at Northern Telephone as Manager of Computer Programming.[4]
Saville Systems
In Edmonton in 1982, he established BASA which provided billing solutions to telecommunication companies. The company grew with the industry and customers included AT&T, Sprint, Unitel, Deutsche Telekom, and Nippon Telecom. The company eventually attained 1,700 employees.[4]
In October 1999, the company was bought by ADC Telecommunication. ADC was eventually bought by Intec Telecom Systems of Great Britain.[4]