UNBC grad goes from logger to law student to law professor

Murray Sholty (UNBC MBA 2010) and his wife, Gabriela Sholty (UNBC MBA 2012) are looking forward to the UNBC Business Dinner - Celebrating 20 Years of MBA this weekend in Prince George.

It was the University of Northern British Columbia's MBA program that helped him go from logger to law student to law professor, says Murray Sholty, explaining that it allowed him to develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills to advance in higher education and business.

Sholty, a Hagwilget Village member, and former longtime resident of Fort Fraser, recently received a cross-appointment as a tenure-track assistant teaching professor to the Faculty of Law and the Bob Gaglardi School of Business and Economics at Thompson Rivers University (“TRU”).

He recently attended the 10th-year reunion for the inaugural TRU Law Class of 2014 May 17-19, and says this important law school milestone would not have been possible without first attending the UNBC MBA Program.  

After attaining his juris doctor in 2014, he continued to pursue higher education in law, obtaining his Master of Laws (specializing in Business Law) in 2019 and Master of Laws (specializing in Energy and Infrastructure) in 2021 from Osgoode Hall Law School.

He now teaches in the areas of First Nations Governance and Economic Development, First Nations Business and Taxation, Environmental Law, and co-coaches the Kawaskimhon National Aboriginal Moot team.  

Prior to going back to school, he worked in the natural resource sector, first as a tree planter, then running his own silviculture crews, and eventually owning and managing a timber harvesting company in northern B.C.

Since graduating from TRU Law, he has been able to combine his experience and education by founding SV Management Services Ltd., a consulting firm focused on working with First Nations. Much of his current consulting work has been concentrated around First Nations governance, economic development, business, and taxation issues. 

Murray noted that the MBA program program emphasized both the hard skills and soft skills that are required in business, but also that are require in general management in different organizations (i.e., government, not-for-profit, First Nations, etc.). Examples of hard skills, can include evaluating financial statements, creating strategies, marketing research, establishing key performance indicators, etc. Soft skills can include leadership, management, project management, strategic thinking, etc.

Sholty has been active in Kamloops, serving as a board of director for the Kamloops Hospice Association and was the TRU Law chair for the Kawaskimhon National Aboriginal Moot 2024. In addition, he has been recently appointed to the board of the International Inter-tribal Trade and Investment Organization, and the TRU Qelmúcw Affairs Committee.