Martin: Brad, tell us a little bit about yourself and your involvement in the impact investing space in Calgary?

Brad: I’m a lawyer at Fasken in Calgary and as part of my role at the firm, I co-lead our emerging technologies and venture capital group for the Prairies region. Part of my job involves assisting start-up founders when they’re raising capital. It’s very complimentary to our work at LIYYC. I’ve always had an interest in social impact investing and have been doing some investing personally for a few years now, but at a really small scale.

Martin: What initially excited you about joining Local Investing YYC, and what continues to motivate your involvement in the cooperative?

Brad: As soon as I learned of the cooperative and what it was doing, I jumped at the opportunity to become both an investor, but also to volunteer. I was able to become a board director in 2023 which allowed me the opportunity to combine the skills I’ve developed in my day job with the work of the cooperative - raising capital and investing it back to the local community with impact at the core of the investment decision.

Martin: You currently serve on the Investment Committee at Local Investing YYC. Tell us more about your role and what’s involved.

Brad: As a member of the investment committee, part of my role involves being active in the community and identifying new investment opportunities. This aligns well with my professional work, where I regularly attend startup events, allowing me to wear both my Fasken hat and my Local Investing hat at gatherings across the city. In addition to sourcing opportunities, I am part of the team that conducts due diligence on shortlisted companies—those that have applied for funding or have been flagged by committee members. This process typically involves reviewing data rooms, analyzing financial information, and, in my case, occasionally examining legal documents. When the committee is enthusiastic about a potential investment, we prepare an investment memo and present it to the board for approval. If the board supports the opportunity, it is then brought forward to our members for a final vote.

Martin: To the Calgary businesses out there that might be seeking capital, what are you typically looking during the due diligence process?

Brad: We typically look for companies that create meaningful community impact while also delivering strong returns for our members. This impact can take many forms—for example, business models that reduce emissions or plastic waste, or those that generate social benefits such as job creation, services for underserved demographics, and greater diversity. We're also looking for founders that have that special ‘it’ factor. What I mean by that is that they're fully invested into their business. They're showing signs of resiliency and they're able to navigate the ups and downs that they inevitably face in the startup world and running a company trying to raise capital, trying to grow.

Martin: What excites you most about the future of Local Investing YYC?

Brad: From Local Investing YYC’s perspective, I’m really excited to see where the next phase of our evolution takes us. There’s a lot of institutional capital out there looking for organizations like ours to invest in, and I’m eager to see how we adapt and grow to attract that kind of support.

On a personal level, Calgary has been home since 2008. I’ve raised my family here, and I love this city—it’s constantly growing and changing. Even in just the four or five years that I’ve been working as a lawyer in the startup world, I’ve seen incredible year‑over‑year growth. I believe that momentum will continue, strengthening the ecosystem for decades to come. Over the next hundred years, I’m excited to play a part in that journey.

Martin: Tell us a fun fact about yourself that people might not know.

Brad: A bit of a quirky fact, but as a teenager and into my early twenties, I played competitive broomball. The small town in Saskatchewan where I grew up was a real hotbed for the sport, but I had the chance to travel across the country for tournaments which was a lot of fun. It’s definitely a niche sport—basically like hockey, but you play in shoes instead of skates, use a ball instead of a puck, and carry a stick with a rubber end instead of a broom. The rules are similar to hockey, but you’re running on the ice rather than skating.