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The Small Town Boy Makes It Big: Wilson Finds His Own Brand of Success

Article Overview: Realizing that engineering was not really what he wanted to be doing, Wilson went back to school, this time to pursue his MBA at the University of Calgary. He graduated in 1985 and began to work as an investment banker with McLeod Young Weir (now ScotiaMcLeod). There, he was told to "sit down and shut up" in order to learn from those who had come before him.

The Small Town Boy Makes It Big: Wilson Finds His Own Brand of Success

Realizing that engineering was not really what he wanted to be doing, Wilson went back to school, this time to pursue his MBA at the University of Calgary. He graduated in 1985 and began to work as an investment banker with McLeod Young Weir (now ScotiaMcLeod). There, he was told to "sit down and shut up" in order to learn from those who had come before him.

After six years of valuable training and networking, Wilson decided to found his own energy-focused investment banking advisory firm, Wilson Mackie Co., alongside partner Jamie Mackie. Two years later, he and three other partners formed FirstEnergy Capital, a Canadian brokerage firm to provide investment services to the country's oil and gas sector. Together, thanks to their shared network of contacts to start from, the partners were able to take on new and significant clients at a fast rate. The company served as an advisor to the Alberta Energy Company and PanCanadian merger, creating EnCana Corporation. "We also financed Pacalta Resources Ltd. and eventually helped to sell the company for $1 billion," says Wilson.

FirstEnergy also implemented a unique strategy of using charitable causes as a networking tool, even putting charity under the company's marketing budget. Today, FirstEnergy has become the industry's leading investment bank, handling over $150 billion worth of mergers, acquisitions and asset sales throughout its lifespan.

Wilson's life took a turn for the worse in 2001, when he both finalized his divorce, and received news that he had advanced prostate cancer. He scaled back his work with FirstEnergy and devoted himself to treatment of radiation therapy. Despite making a full recovery, Wilson retired from FirstEnergy in 2007, keeping his role as Chairman until December 2008. Today, Wilson divides his time between his charitable causes, and the Prairie Merchant Corporation (PMC), his wholly owned private merchant bank. Through PMC, Wilson has invested in everything from the Derby County Football Club, to minor league baseball, to the Canadian Tenors, and country singer Beverley Mahood. He likes to call these his "fun" projects.

He also remains active in several charities, most notably the fight against prostate cancer. He once donated $5 million to found the Southern Alberta Institute of Urology at Rockyview General Hospital, and threw the West's biggest 50th birthday party for himself and 12 of his colleagues, which raised over $3 million for prostate cancer in one night.

Despite slowing down to spend more time with his three children, Wilson also remains active on the CBC's hit television show, Dragon's Den. Here, he has become known as the "nice" dragon, for showing empathy with those entrepreneurs who come to the Den to pitch their entrepreneurial ideas in the hopes of securing capital.

Wilson is the first to admit that his personal life took a backseat to his career during the early years of FirstEnergy, and his family paid the price. But today, Wilson has a new set of priorities, and is now spending his time ensuring that the money he worked tirelessly to earn will be put to good use.

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Article Tags: 1 billion, advisory firm, alberta energy company, brokerage firm, encana, firstenergy, gas sector, investment banker, investment banking, investment services, mackie, mba, mcleod, merger, oil and gas, own energy, partner jamie, six years, university of calgary, weir



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