Arlene Dickinson

Arlene Dickinson (born October 8, 1956) is a Canadian author, entrepreneur, television personality, and venture capitalist. She is CEO of Venture Communications and is represented by CBC Television as a self-made multi-millionaire. Dickinson joined the cast of the CBC business reality show Dragons' Den during its second season in 2007 and departed in the ninth season in 2015. She was selected to perform on the series after she won numerous awards including Calgary Business Owner of the Year, PROFIT magazine's Top 100 Women Business Owners, the Pinnacle Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence and Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100.

She is also an entrepreneur on another CBC business reality show, The Big Decision.

Personal life

Born in Germiston, South Africa and raised in Canada, she graduated from high school in Calgary, Alberta. She married at age 19 and had four children. She divorced at 31. Today, she is single and a grandmother of five.

Business

Dickinson joined Venture Communications in 1988, taking sole ownership in 1998. During her tenure, she has taken the company from a local firm into one of Canada's largest independent marketing and communications firms, with offices in Calgary and Toronto. She is considered to be one of Canada’s most powerful business leaders.