Where opportunity leads

Leadership can take very different forms. This year’s Haskayne Alumni Awards recognize three University of Calgary graduates whose careers have taken them into investment, medicine, technology and entrepreneurship.

Danielle Gifford, Dr. Breanne Everett and Jill Angevine are being honoured this year for contributions to their professions and communities since attending the Haskayne School of Business.

Alumni Awards recipients

Danielle Gifford, MBA’20, Rising Star Award

Gifford’s career has taken her through some of the more uncertain corners of the technology sector. She has worked with startups, helped build venture programs and moved into artificial intelligence when the field was still taking shape.

That uncertainty is part of what drew her to the work.

"There’s a unique energy in building out the blank spaces of tech, taking an idea from zero to one when the playbook hasn't been written yet," says Gifford. "Having the agency and the right toolsets to navigate that ambiguity and actually build something from scratch with a team is what keeps me energized."

Once referred to as Calgary’s artificial intelligence “Khaleesi” (after the Game of Thrones character), Gifford is currently managing director of AI and advanced analytics at PwC Canada where she leads the strategic growth of the firm’s AI practice in Western Canada. 

Before joining PwC, she helped build and scale Canada's first Applied AI Lab at AltaML, a program that paired data science associates with industry clients to deliver proof-of-concept artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions. During her tenure, she expanded the lab's roster to include major partners such as Rogers, Intuit, Suncor and Health Canada, scaling the initiative to graduate more than 240 machine learning developers.

Gifford’s work has also focused on who gets access to venture capital. As executive director of Movement51, the sister organization to venture firm The51, she worked to democratize early stage investing for gender-diverse entrepreneurs.

During her time there, she helped secure $1.8 million in funding, activated $1.5 million in early stage capital and launched the national Founder's Lab — a first-of-its-kind incubator backed by $860,000 to demystify venture math and fundraising readiness.

Gifford is now channeling that operational background into academia, teaching UCalgary’s first AI in Business course for MBA students. Rather than relying on standard academic theory, her curriculum focuses on preparing future leaders to navigate technical disruption with hands on AI labs and daily directors dilemmas based on current events.

“The goal isn’t to wait for a playbook, but to give students the framework and confidence to build one,” she says.

“Disruption is inherently uncomfortable, but the competitive advantage always belongs to those who learn to operate in the gray and execute with conviction.”

Dr. Breanne Everett, MD’09, EMBA’13, Big Ideas Bold Leaders Award

Everett’s path to becoming an entrepreneur did not begin with a business plan. It began with patients.

While training as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Everett saw people living with diabetes lose their legs to wounds, losses that might have been prevented. This left her wondering whether there was a better way to intervene before the damage was done.

“I felt that we could build a technology that could do that,” says Everett. “We knew that we could fail. But we also knew that, if we succeeded, there was a huge opportunity for impact.”

Everett co-founded Calgary-based Orpyx Medical Technologies in 2010. Today, as CEO, she leads a team developing sensorized insoles and remote-monitoring technology to help prevent wounds and amputations in people with diabetes.

The system collects data on what is happening beneath the foot during everyday activity, including pressure, temperature and movement, and provides real-time feedback and ongoing monitoring.

Everett’s work has earned recognition well beyond the medical community. Her honours include the Governor General’s Innovation Award, Alberta Business Hall of Fame’s Southern Alberta Innovator Award, Alberta Women Entrepreneur Upsurge Entrepreneur Award and Calgary Award in Commerce.

She has also been named to Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 and Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, and was recognized by UCalgary as a Graduate of the Last Decade.

A Loran National Scholar, Everett remains active with the Loran Alumni Community, and has served on the Canadian Medical Association’s Joule Innovation Council and the Governor General Innovation Award Selections Committee.

“There’s a lot of meaning that comes from being able to apply your energy to an area that you’re passionate about,” she says. “And that’s what keeps me going.”

Jill Angevine, BComm’89, Management Alumni Excellence Award

When Angevine looks back at her career, there was no carefully plotted road map. Instead, she says it reflects a willingness to keep moving forward.

Today, Angevine is president and CEO of Brownstone Asset Management, a Durum company, where she leads corporate strategy, business development and portfolio management for the Calgary investment firm. 

Her path to that role has spanned more than 25 years in investment management. She began her career as an auditor at EY where she got an early look into Calgary's investment banking community. 

Several years later, she joined FirstEnergy Capital, spending 14 years with the firm and ultimately serving as vice-president and director of institutional research. She later moved into portfolio management roles with Matco Financial before taking the helm at Durum Brownstone.

But, road map?

“No, there definitely wasn’t a map. But there were certain principles that I followed,” says Angevine, CPA, CFA, ICD.D, who is a previous winner of the Calgary Influential Women in Business Award in the Professional Services category.

“I wanted to take on more responsibility, build relationships and keep learning. It’s being open to opportunity and having those principles that I feel has helped shape my path.”

That approach has taken her from research and capital markets into investment management and, ultimately, executive leadership. In 2021, she and her family made the decision to acquire Brownstone Asset Management. The business was later brought together with Durum Capital, creating one firm with private-capital and public-equity capabilities.

Outside the executive office, Angevine has taken on a range of governance roles in the energy, mining and animal-care sectors, including serving as a director of Tourmaline Oil, Ero Copper and Advantage Energy, as well as Grey Wolf Health. She also served on boards for the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund boards, The Fraser Institute, Nature Conservancy Board of Alberta and Strathcona Tweedsmuir School,

“I’ve always felt that if I’m going to be involved with something, I want to leave it better than I found it,” says Angevine.