W. Brett Wilson


William Brett Wilson, is a Canadian investment banker, businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was a season 3, 4 & 5 panellist on CBC Television's Dragons' Den. Wilson was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.

Career

Wilson graduated with degree in Civil Engineering and worked for Imperial Oil for three years in the oilfields of Western Canada. In 1985 he graduated from the University of Calgary with an MBA in entrepreneurship and began work as an investment banker with McLeod Young Weir Limited. Wilson co-founded an investment banking advisory firm, Wilson Mackie & Co., in 1991, and in 1993, co-founded FirstEnergy Capital Corp. in Calgary, AB with Rick Grafton, Jim Davidson and N. Murray Edwards. FirstEnergy is a Canadian stock brokerage firm that provides investment-banking services to global participants in the energy sector. Wilson retired as Chairman of FirstEnergy in 2008.
His sports interests include ownership in the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League.
After announcing his departure from Dragons' Den in early 2011, he participated in his own entrepreneurship-themed series, Risky Business. He has written regularly on entrepreneurship for the Oilweek, Alberta Venture and the National Post. In 2012, he published Redefining Success: Still Making Mistakes through Penguin Books. He regularly speaks to student and business audiences about the importance of marketing, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy and believes these subjects should be core curriculum.

Philanthropy

Wilson has claimed that he sees corporate social responsibility not as an obligation, but as an opportunity, and believing that strategic philanthropy can create major social and economic benefits. He has shaved his head to support Kids' Cancer Care, and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to support Alzheimer's research. He has for many years made annual trips with Youth with a Mission to Mexico to build homes for the poor. He has chronicled his philanthropic perspectives in a series of articles written for Alberta Venture magazine.
Specific events hosted by Wilson have supported prostate cancer, David Foster Foundation Right to Play, Little Warriors, Boomer's Legacy, 777 Run for Sight and Dare to Care and the Veterans' Food Bank. He is active on funding research into the issue of domestic abuse and has funded the Wilson Centre for Domestic Abuse Studies at the Calgary Counselling Centre. He also supports the sport of volleyball through the Rally Pointe volleyball centre in Calgary, Alberta. He is a strong mental health advocate and supporter of programs which help with the treatment of eating disorders.
He travelled to Afghanistan to visit front-line Canadian troops with General Walter Natynczyk, Defence Minister Peter MacKay, hockey player Guy Lafleur and actor Paul Gross and has hosted events to support military members and their families.

Personal

Wilson was married to his engineering classmate from 1981 to 2001. Together they have three adult children.

Selected awards