University of British Columbia Athletics

While completing a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Urban Land Economics & Finance at UBC in 1977, Peter Bull was also a valued member of the Varsity Men’s Rugby team. He also served on the AMS council as a student representative during the time the aquatic centre was being built. Peter has built an extremely successful and impressive career in commercial real estate and over the past decade, he has become heavily involved in the growth and development of the UBC Rugby Program.

After establishing an athletic scholarship in the names of the then head coaches of the football and rugby programs, Peter was instrumental in initiating an incredibly effective fundraising campaign by leveraging his connections in the business community and amongst other alumni to garner support for the men’s rugby program. This included the construction of the $2.5 million Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre, which was completed in 2013.

He followed this up with the proposal of another fundraising initiative to refurbish the strength and conditioning centre in the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Through personal donations and recruiting other alumni for support, Peter enabled the UBC Athletics to create a state-of-the-art space for varsity athlete training.

After elevating the UBC Men’s Rugby Program to arguably the best North American Rugby program , Peter has, in recent years, turned his attention to the UBC Women’s Rugby program. Peter advocated for hiring a full-time Women’s Rugby Coach at UBC and was instrumental in making the first ever endowment for women’s rugby – the Maria Gallo Women’s Rugby Endowment – possible. He also established the Lousie Cowin Endowment for Women’s Rugby and is determined to do for the Women’s Rugby program at UBC what was done for the men’s.

Peter thinks big, makes his time and resources available to UBC and is seeking engagement on higher levels to further his vision to help UBC secure more transformational gifts. Ultimately, he believes in undertaking projects that instill pride, not just fulfill utility, and backs this up with his actions. Without his leadership, the tremendous success of the rugby program at UBC would not be possible. Peter has proven to be a visionary for student engagement and for how athletics can play a more vital role on campus.