If there’s anything that Brian Boulanger has learned from his many years of volunteer work it is that you get back more than you give.
“It’s reciprocal,” says Mr. Boulanger, senior vice-president of Calgary-based ARC Financial Corp., a private investment management company that operates in the energy sector.
The Calgary native first became involved with the United Way of Calgary and Area in 2005. He served as chair of the agency’s board in 2008 and continues to sit as a member of the board. He also chairs its strategy development and volunteer engagement committees and he sits on its investment committee.
“I have certainly grown as a person and as a businessman from my involvement with the United Way,” he says. “I’ve met and worked with people I wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s also taught me how to collaborate. ... It made me a better person, a better negotiator, all of those things.”
Mr. Boulanger completed a degree in business administration at the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business in 1997. He moved back to Calgary after graduating and that same year he was hired at ARC as an investment analyst. In less than a decade he moved up to his current position of senior vice-president.
Mr. Boulanger, who is a certified financial analyst, credits ARC president Lauchlan Currie for nurturing his interest in philanthropy. He says he initially became involved with the United Way to find out more about the agencies it supports and ended up staying. “They have exceptional people,” he says. “I like the way they invest their donor capital and the way they steward it.”
Perhaps it appeals to his business sense, he adds. “It’s quite a sophisticated way that they invest in the community.”
The father of four young children, Mr. Boulanger also spends much of his time encouraging others to get involved in volunteer work. “There’s a lot of interest in people my age that want to volunteer but just don’t know how to do it,” he says. “I also think there’s a belief that you need to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to play a meaningful leadership role. It’s just not the case.”
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