Age: 39
If you’re looking for a quick way to drop a few pounds, Rob Duteau has the answer. Simply volunteer to organize the hottest ticket during the annual Calgary Stampede – The Stampede Roundup, once known as the O&Y party.
Duteau is the guy responsible for putting together the annual outdoor music festival and bringing names like Billy Idol, INXS and Dwight Yoakam to Calgary. Over the past five years, the event has raised more than $500,000 for The Rotary Club of Calgary.
“I lose about 10 pounds during every show,” laughs the vice-president of Arcturus Realty Corporation – a major sponsor of the Roundup. “I’m just running around backstage making sure everyone goes on stage.”
And Duteau knows a thing or two about managing big things.
He currently oversees a real estate management portfolio in Western Canada in excess of 6.5-million square feet. He has also helped double the company’s regional portfolio in the past year. While his job description hardly includes organizing one of the city’s biggest Stampede parties, Duteau admits it was his idea to turn the music festival into a bigger shindig.
“Somebody a while back – who happened to be me – said, ‘Why don’t we, as a company, just throw one big party?’ ” he explains.
And the rest, as they say, is history. But this energetic Calgarian hardly minds promoting concerts. “I absolutely love live music,” he says, jumping out of his office chair to run next door to show off some event posters. And when he isn’t busy ensuring the likes of Billy Idol have their specified amount of Fiji water, Duteau is restoring classic muscle cars, renovating a heritage house, playing hockey or soccer and preparing for the birth of his first child.
Maybe his weight-loss secret is actually much simpler: Don’t allow yourself time to eat.
COMMUNITY WORK
Chairman, Stampede Roundup
Member, Building Owners and Managers Association of Calgary
Member, National Association of Industrial and Office Properties
Member, International Council of Shopping Centres