Michael Hungerford

Michael Hungerford is a Partner at Hungerford Properties, the Vancouver-based, Indigenous-owned family real estate firm he co-leads with his father, George W. Hungerford (an Olympic gold medalist and Order of Canada recipient), and his brother, Andrew Hungerford. The firm has more than 50 years of history and over C$1.6B in assets under management and development across industrial, self-storage, residential, office and retail properties in Western Canada. Michael has more than 20 years of experience in real estate investment, management and development.

His career began unconventionally: at age 21 he bought a one-way ticket to China, betting on its economic rise, and helped establish a joint venture between a state-owned telecom company and a global telecom firm. In 1996 he left China to pursue an MBA at Stanford University. Before returning to real estate, he was part of the leadership team that grew and took public eGain Communications (NASDAQ: EGAN) in 1999. In 2003 he returned to Vancouver to enter the real estate business with his father, forming Hungerford Properties.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Political Science from Queen's University and an MBA from Stanford University, and carries a Managing Broker License from the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA). He is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) and was named one of Business in Vancouver's Top 40 Under 40 in 2009. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Council for Indigenous Business and of the Mississaugas of the Credit (First Nation) Business Corporation.

Michael is a member of the Gwich'in First Nation through his mother and is of British settler descent through his father. This heritage anchors the firm's newest venture, Seven Generations Capital — a platform bridging institutional capital and Indigenous land partnerships — which he and Andrew launched to integrate Indigenous values (environmental stewardship, cultural identity, collective ownership) with institutional-grade real estate investment.

• Real estate, not startups: Invests in and develops physical real estate — industrial, self-storage, residential, mixed-use, office and retail — primarily across Western Canada and major Canadian urban centres.
• Indigenous land development is the central thesis: Through Seven Generations Capital, targets the C$350B+ market for developments on Indigenous and adjacent lands, "bridging the gap between institutional capital and Indigenous land partnerships."
• Institutional execution with values alignment: "Our decades of experience in diversified real estate have prepared us to execute this strategy at the highest institutional level." The fund targets market-rate returns with emphasis on capital protection and risk mitigation via jurisdictional and legal advantages.
• Project profile: Workforce and market-rate housing, mixed-use developments, and light industrial projects; the Growth Fund aims to capitalize 10–15 projects (thousands of housing units).
• Stated philosophy: "We are focused on regenerating rather than extracting… inclusion rather than exclusion… relational rather than transactional." Michael also frames the firm's ethos as "an intrinsic link between profit and service."
• Partnership model: Favors 50/50 equity partnerships with First Nation economic development corporations, with strong local/Indigenous procurement.