If you\u2019re in the entrepreneurial scene in Calgary, chances are you\u2019re familiar with the name \u201cHunter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derrick Hunter is the President of Bluesky Equities Ltd<\/a>., an investment management company with interests in real estate, energy, distilling and alternative strategies. Earlier this year, Derrick was named to Futurpreneur Canada\u2019s Board of Directors<\/a>. Nevertheless, he and his family have been championing entrepreneurship in Calgary for decades.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up in an entrepreneurial family,\u201d says Derrick. \u201cUnlike a lot of families where people tell their kids to go get a job with a big company, my parents always had the exact opposite point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n Derrick\u2019s educational background is in Geology \u2013 he has a Bachelor\u2019s degree in the subject from Queen\u2019s University. However, graduating during a recession meant he had a difficult experience finding a job.<\/p>\n \u201cThe market was rough, kind of like how it is today, so that led me to go back to school to expand my toolbox of skills,\u201d says Derrick.<\/p>\n So he went to the University of Calgary to get his MBA. Since then, he has founded or co-founded 14 companies including several exploration companies, two technology companies and a property management firm. He has also been an active member of the local angel investment community for the past ten years. Bluesky Equities is one of the most active angel investors in Southern Alberta, having invested in over two dozen local start-up businesses during that period.<\/p>\n However, Derrick is also invested in entrepreneurship in another way \u2013 through education. As a Trustee of his family\u2019s foundation, he helps facilitate impactful donations to innovative organizations and causes that demonstrate entrepreneurial thinking. To date, the Hunter Family Foundation has donated millions of dollars to charitable organizations in the Calgary region.<\/p>\n In the last few years, the foundation has turned its focus to supporting entrepreneurial education at the University of Calgary \u2013 Derrick\u2019s alma mater. While the university had an entrepreneurial stream when Derrick was a student, it was shut down in 2002.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had this situation where the University of Calgary was the only significant business school in the country that didn\u2019t teach entrepreneurship,\u201d says Derrick.<\/p>\n That all changed in 2013 when his family\u2019s foundation made a transformative gift to the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary to help it create the \u201cHunter Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n