Brent Charleton

Canadian businessman and basketball player

Brent Charleton, CFA, (born 11 April 1982) is a Canadian businessman and former basketball player who currently serves as the President and chief executive officer for an industrial technology company called EnWave Corporation. After graduating from Simon Fraser University in 2005, Charleton was a professional basketball player for three consecutive years, competing in both the New Zealand National Basketball League and Australian National Basketball League.

Brent Charleton was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. He is the oldest of three, having two younger sisters. His father has the New Zealand nationality, while his mother is Canadian. After graduating from Carson Graham High School in 2000, Charleton attended Simon Fraser University, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Major in Criminology. While attending Simon Fraser University, he was President of the Student Athlete Council and Captain of the university's Varsity Men's Basketball Team. He passed the school's all time scoring record set by Jay Triano Triano set the record over four seasons while Charleton's mark was set over five.

At Simon Fraser University Charleton contacted the only New Zealand basketball team that also played in the Australian National Basketball League, the New Zealand Breakers. This led to a tryout in China, where the New Zealand Breakers were touring. Following that tour, Charleton was asked to play for the North Harbour Heat in the National Basketball League (NBL) – the New Zealand basketball league. He played for the North Harbour Heat in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Also in 2005, Charleton made his New Zealand national team debut for the Tall Blacks. As his father is a New Zealander, he qualified to play for the country. After 2006, he played a season for the Otago Nuggets, a New Zealand basketball team based in Dunedin in the south of New Zealand. Finally, he played three seasons for the New Zealand Breakers back in Auckland. Despite the successes in the NBL, Charleton decided to return to Canada in 2008 to focus on his education and business career.

Between September 2008 and May 2010, Charleton was a student of the Marketing Management Diploma program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), where he focused on Entrepreneurship. This led to Charleton being hired at EnWave Corporation as a marketing coordinator in March 2010, and he became CEO of the company in 2018.

Charleton is a volunteer mentor for the well known business education program Junior Achievement, where he mentors high school students on how to start and structure a business. In addition, he has volunteered as an assistant basketball coach at Carson Graham Secondary School. He is married and has one daughter.