William Brett Wilson (born July 1, 1957) is a Canadian investment banker, businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was a season 3, 4 & 5 panellist on CBC Television's ''

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...

''. He has attracted widespread attention and media coverage for his controversial public statements, particularly on social media.

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 The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

with an MBA in entrepreneurship and began work as an investment banker with McLeod Young Weir Limited (now Scotia Capital). Wilson co-founded an investment banking advisory firm, Wilson Mackie & Co., in 1991, and in 1993, co-founded FirstEnergy Capital Corp. in Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

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 The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. 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 The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

''. 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. Wilson was also the largest shareholder and chairman of Forent Energy which filed for bankruptcy in 2017 following an unsuccessful amalgamation attempt.

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 Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

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 Walter John Natynczyk, ( ; born October 29, 1957) is a Canadian public servant and retired Canadian Army general who has served as Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs from 2014 to 2021. He was the President of the Canadian Space Agency fro ...

, Defence Minister

Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and has served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General (2013–2015), Minister of National Defence (2007� ...

, hockey player

Guy Lafleur Guy Damien Lafleur (September 20, 1951 – April 22, 2022), nicknamed "the Flower" and "Le Démon Blond", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was the first player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 50 goals in six c ...

and actor

Paul Gross Paul Michael Gross OC (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, director, writer, producer, and musician born in Calgary, Alberta. Gross is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the popular Canadian television series ''Due So ...

and has hosted events to support military members and their families.

Controversies

Remarks regarding Calgary mayoral election

On June 3, 2020, Wilson made tweets accusing Calgary mayor

Naheed Nenshi Naheed Kurban Nenshi (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian politician who was the 36th mayor of Calgary, Alberta. He was elected in the 2010 municipal election with 39% of the vote, and is the first Muslim mayor of a large North American city. ...

of "playing the race card" to win the 2017 election. Mayor Nenshi called the "hateful" tweet an example of "casual racism". In response to the tweet, actor and comic Andrew Phung made a call to Calgary non-profits to stop taking donations from Wilson. Phung stated he would not emcee or host events for organizations working with Wilson. The Royal Roads University of British Columbia, which had previously issued an honorary degree to Wilson, put forward a statement that they were "deeply disturbed" by Wilson's comments which were "inconsistent with RRU's values and the president's recent statements on anti-racism" and references to Wilson on the university's website were taken down. The

(which are part owned by Wilson) also issued a statement against the "race card" comment made by Wilson, stating "The Nashville Predators stand against racism and discrimination in all forms. W. Brett Wilson is one of many investors in the Nashville Predators Ownership Group, and his views, comments and social media posts do not reflect or represent the views of the organization or the National Hockey League." The reaction prompted Wilson to "apologize without reservation".

Hang protestors for treason

In 2018, Wilson produced a series of tweets describing anti-pipeline activists as "slimy bastards," calling for them to be hanged for "treason". CBC Calgary decided against using Wilson as a future commentator because of these comments.

Petition for removal from the Order of Canada Advisory Council

In May 2018, Wilson suggested that money be raised to pay B.C. NDP MLAs to cross the floor and bring down B.C.'s minority government, which resulted in a petition that he be removed from the Order of Canada advisory council "for his continued un-democratic and un-civil comments inciting violence against Canadians and undermining democratic institutions in our country."

Personal

Wilson was born in

North Battleford North Battleford is a city in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the seventh largest city in the province and is directly across the North Saskatchewan River from the Town of Battleford. Together, the two communities are known as "The Batt ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

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

Selected awards

* Canada's Top 40 under 40 - Caldwell Partners (1997) * Top 20 Deal Makers in Canada - Globe & Mail (1999) * Top 10 list of M&A specialists in Canada - Globe & Mail - (2000) * Management Alumni Excellence (MAX) Award, University of Calgary, Haskayne School of Business (2003) * International Legacy of Honour, Young Presidents Organization - recognizing the global YPO leader who best exemplifies commitment to excellence in business, community orientation and the ideals of YPO (2004) * Spirit of Giving Award - Association of Fundraising Professionals (2005) * University of Calgary Top 40 Alumni (2006–2007) * Calgary's Person of the Year - Avenue Magazine (2007) * University of Saskatchewan Alumni Award of Achievement (2007) * University of Saskatchewan Top 100 Alumni (2007) * Distinguished Lecturer, CJ Mackenzie Banquet, University of Saskatchewan College of Engineering (2008) * Business Person of the Year - Alberta Venture Magazine (2008) * Nation Builder Award - Canadian Youth Business Foundation (2009) * Honorary Doctor of Laws, Royal Roads University (2010) * One of Calgary's Top 10 New Mavericks (2010) * City of Calgary Signature Award – for bringing significant recognition to Calgary (2010) * Appointment to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

(2011) * Saskatchewan Order of Merit (2012) * Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) * Olds College Centennial Honorary Degree Recipient (2013) * SAIT, Honorary Degree Recipient, Bachelor of Science (2015) * University of Saskatchewan, Honorary Degree Recipient, Doctor of Laws (2015) * Bob Edwards Award (2015) * Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame, Inductee (2016) * Oil and Gas Council, Lifetime Achievement Award (2016)

References

External links

*
Official Twitter account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, W. Brett 1957 births Living people Businesspeople from Saskatchewan Businesspeople in the oil industry Canadian civil engineers Canadian financiers Canadian investment bankers Canadian investors Canadian philanthropists Canadian real estate businesspeople Canadian venture capitalists Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit Participants in Canadian reality television series People from North Battleford University of Calgary alumni University of Saskatchewan alumni