One of the region’s entrepreneurial success stories is going to be adding to his curricula vitae with a new and challenging assignment for the coming year. Dave Krysko has just accepted the role of entrepreneur-in-residence at Okanagan College.
Krysko was one of the founders of Club Penguin, an Okanagan success story that attracted the attention of Walt Disney Company and which now employs hundreds of people.
Krysko’s role as entrepreneur-in-residence will be to offer occasional guest lectures, provide one-on-one and group mentoring and generally encourage students with his story as an entrepreneur.
“I’m really looking forward to this,” said Krysko, whose CV includes musician, marketing, running his own agency, and developing Club Penguin with two partners, Lane Merrifield and Lance Priebe.
“This is an opportunity to share expertise and insights that have been developed through my career, and a chance to rub elbows with and learn from the leaders of tomorrow. I’ve been very impressed by the quality of students and graduates coming out of the college’s business program and am excited to be part of it.”
Krysko will be replacing Raghwa Ghopal as the entrepreneur-in-residence.
Others who have fulfilled that role included Mel Kotler, founder and owner of Fabricland, Bill Redmond, founder of HRI, Ed Hall, founder of Regency Retirement Resorts and partner in Canadian Adult Communities and Doug Manning, founder and former president of Bridges.
“We have indeed been fortunate to have such distinguished individuals provide another facet of the educational experience to our students,” said Barry McGillivray, the associate dean of the college’s School of Business.
“Dave is yet another example of the value we place on the connection we have to the communities we serve.”
Krysko worked with Club Penguin for three years after the Disney purchase, leaving in 2010 as senior vice-president to start Davara Enterprises, which he characterizes as an agency focused on developing a wide range of culture-making enterprises.
He is also a longtime philanthropist supporting humanitarian work in Canada, Mexico and Romania.
With his wife Donara, he co-founded the Karis Support Society focused on helping women struggling with addictions as well as the Krysko Family Foundation, and with his Club Penguin partners, the New Horizon Foundation: a charitable organization committed to improving the lives of children and families around the world.
