Mark Baker

A second-generation operator who grew up in his family's business on Prince Edward Island — his dad introduced two gas pumps to a tire shop in 1980, and by the mid-'90s Mark was running the gas station himself. He and his wife took over, tore the old site down and rebuilt it from the ground up in 2007, operated it for a decade, then leased it to a larger regional operator. That lease was his on-ramp to commercial real estate: he founded ACRE Development Corp. and for the last three years has run ground-up commercial development full time, securing premium locations and building out spaces for national and international brands across Atlantic Canada.

Born and raised on Prince Edward Island, surrounded by water on a small island, Mark grew up around small-fowl and waterfowl hunting — duck and Canada goose are big there — and has spent a lifetime fishing the river systems, ponds, and streams. PEI is the bluefin tuna capital of the world and home to a world-renowned shellfish and oyster fishery, and Mark talks about the striped bass and Atlantic salmon runs that have come on strong in the last decade. He's quick to say he's no longer much use with a tool belt on — his love is the planning, the hunt for the right property, and the long build, not the day-to-day operating grind.

Mark reframes how entrepreneurs should think about risk: it isn't recklessness and it isn't something to avoid — it's a vague word you make finite by immersing yourself in your niche until you can quantify it down to a number. He breaks down the three pillars of any real estate deal (capital, knowledge, and the ability to execute) and why the capital is the part you can always source if you own the other two. He's candid that the slow-and-steady, same-paycheck-forever path feels riskier to him than the occasional loss, and he draws a straight line from the 18-to-24-month patience of ground-up development to the patience of the outdoor hunt — the preparation is the part he loves most.