#165: W.Brett Wilson (Prairie Merchant Corp) - The Early Days: A Few Lessons from the Entrepreneurial Journey at FirstEnergy
Greetings, and welcome back to the podcast.
This episode, we are joined by W.Brett Wilson - CEO & Chairman of Prairie Merchant Corp - a private merchant bank which finances key personal investments in five major areas - energy, agriculture, real estate, entertainment and sport.
Prior to founding Prairie Merchant Corp, Mr. Brett Wilson co-founded investment banking advisory firm, Wilson Mackie & Co., in 1991, and in 1993, co-founded FirstEnergy Capital Corp. in Calgary, Alberta with Rick Grafton, Jim Davidson, and N. Murray Edwards.
Mr. Brett Wilson was a season 3, 4 & 5 panelist on CBC Television's Dragons' Den.
He has written regularly on entrepreneurship for publications including Oilweek, Alberta Venture and the National Post, and in 2012, he published the book titled Redefining Success: Still Making Mistakes.
His sports interests include ownership in the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League.
Mr. Brett Wilson has supported hundreds of charities including, The Southern Alberta Institute of Urology, the David Foster Foundation, Right to Play & the Wilson Centre for Domestic Abuse Studies at the Calgary Counseling Centre.
Mr. Brett Wilson obtained a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Calgary.
In 2010, Mr. Brett Wilson received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Royal Roads University. In 2011, he was awarded the Order of Canada and subsequently received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2012.
Among other things, we discussed the early days at FirstEnergy, and a few of the lessons learned from the entrepreneurial journey.
Enjoy.