Thomas Armbruster

Business Development Manager, Calgary Economic Development

"[Tech is] attracting the people that make a city vibrant. It's attracting young people from across Canada and some of these other markets. They're bringing their families here. It's also attracting immigrants into the city. It's bringing people into the downtown core, taking good paying jobs, taking up office space.”

Thomas Armbruster is the Business Development Manager for Enterprise Technology at Calgary Economic Development, the city's primary economic growth agency. In his role, he focuses on foreign direct investment attraction and trade program development, working to bring international tech companies and talent to Calgary while supporting the growth of homegrown startups and scale-ups. Thomas tracks the health of the tech ecosystem through metrics like job creation, investment inflows, and the retention and scaling of locally founded companies. He sees Calgary's competitive advantages such as affordable talent, a strong quality of life, and a favorable tax environment as powerful draws for international companies looking to access North American markets from a Canadian base. Passionate about economic growth and innovation, Thomas brings strategic focus and on-the-ground knowledge of what it takes to build a tech city from the inside out. He views the current moment as an inflection point in Calgary's economic identity.