Untapped potential, healthy workplace cultures and serial entrepreneurship

Kyle Romaniuk will share his lessons and insights as a serial entrepreneur when he steps on stage at the University of Calgary for the Hunter Hub’s flagship TC Energy Ingenuity Speaker Series, next week.

On Oct. 29, Romaniuk will speak about his entrepreneurial journey in his talk, titled “ESCAPE THE QUICKSAND: Follow The Refraction Pathway to Scalable Growth.” 

Romaniuk will dive into his trademark, proprietary system called The Refraction Pathway and how emerging entrepreneurs can use his approach to build healthy, high-performing workplace cultures. 

This session is perfect for executives and emerging leaders who know their people have untapped potential, but struggle to unlock it amid day-to-day demands.

Creating the right environment for entrepreneurial success

For Romaniuk, entrepreneurship has always been part of life. Growing up in Winnipeg, he remembers watching his father run his own business.

His first taste of entrepreneurship came early. “In Grade 7, I launched a T-shirt company,” Romaniuk says. “I started hand-painting shirts and sold them on commission at a local store in Winnipeg.” 

After studying design, Romaniuk went on to build a three-decade career in marketing leadership. Over time, he discovered his passion for helping organizations create sustainable success — a passion that led him to develop The Refraction Pathway, a system that streamlines operations and helps leaders build strong, scalable workplace cultures. 

Resilience has been a defining theme in Romaniuk’s life. After surviving childhood cancer, he developed an optimistic outlook that shaped his early entrepreneurial journey.

“Coming out of that, I felt optimistic about life. I always thought, ‘everything will work out,’” he says. “But what’s changed for me in the last five years is understanding that things don’t just work out on their own. You have to plant seeds, create opportunities, be ready to strike and build a system to increase those chances.”

That realization inspired both The Refraction Pathway and his book, EMBARK. 

Writing EMBARK and launching FRAKXION

Romaniuk describes EMBARK as the culmination of everything he’s learned over his years as a creative entrepreneur. Through his company, FRAKXION, he helps organizations implement The Refraction Pathway to strengthen culture, clarify brand purpose and drive growth.

“This is a system that’s usable, repeatable and scalable,” he explains.

Before launching FRAKXION, Romaniuk led a marketing agency where he and his team worked closely with clients to uncover their goals and vision through collaborative workshops. “We developed about 60 tools we used to help clients think strategically,” he says. “We realized we were more interested in the thinking behind the execution than the execution itself.”

That insight led to a major pivot. “Instead of being an agency that does the work for clients, we became a firm that works with them,” Romaniuk says. “It allows us to build the internal capacity of teams by operating as a fractional CMO — a bridge between marketing teams and CEOs. Since, we've built up a full fractional C-suite.”

Through this model, FRAKXION helps organizations of all sizes create the right environment for success. “This fractional role can be integrated into any department or organization, whether it’s a small business or a large enterprise,” says Romaniuk. 

Romaniuk and his team have worked with diverse organizations, from nimble startups to international brands like Red Bull, Scotiabank and GoodLife Fitness. His innovative work has earned countless awards and recognition, including WIRED Magazine’s Top 100 list, while his leadership extends across various board roles from business organizations to charitable foundations. 

Register for the event now

Throughout the year, the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial thinking hosts inspiring entrepreneurs on campus. In bringing innovative thinkers and doers to campus, the Speaker Series gives the UCalgary community a chance to hear their insights and experiences, sparking conversations about entrepreneurial thinking, innovation and more. The Speaker Series is made possible thanks to the generous support of TC Energy.

Join the Hunter Hub community to hear how Romaniuk is using creative entrepreneurship to shape a better world — and to explore how your own ideas can do the same. 

The Speaker Series is open to the whole UCalgary community. 

Event Details

Date: Oct. 29, 2025

Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Location: Hunter Student Commons, 4th Floor

Register now and be among the first 100 attendees to receive a free copy of Romaniuk's book, EMBARK.