Brandon Fugal was born and raised in Pleasant Grove, Utah.[1] His parents are Jill Boren Fugal and Daniel Boyd Fugal. His father, Daniel Fugal (1948-2021), was an Air Force veteran and local community leader and construction company owner.[4][5]
Fugal graduated from Pleasant Grove High School in 1991.[6][7] While in high school he was a self-admitted business geek and had mail-order subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek.[8] After high school, from 1992 to 1994, he served on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.[7] Accompanying him as a fellow missionary was his childhood friend Bryant Arnold, who would later become chief of security at Skinwalker Ranch and cast member, along with Fugal, on the cable and streaming series The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.[9] While on the mission Fugal in his spare time completed his first real estate transaction.[7]
Fugal attended Utah Valley University in 1994 on a leadership scholarship but subsequently left to continue pursuing his real estate career.[10][11] Fugal credits his education at the university with giving him the foundation needed to achieve a successful real estate and business career.[10] He donated $5 million for the construction of a major new facility at the university that became "The Brandon D. Fugal Gateway Building," which opened on December 1, 2021.[10] The building houses the university's administrative offices, including the offices of president and vice-presidents, board conference room, classrooms, and student welcome center.[12]
Fugal began his real estate activities part time while on a religious mission in Hawaii for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and continued after returning to Utah. In an interview he recalled, "I returned home from my mission and jumped right back into the commercial real estate business and never looked back."[16][11]
He co-founded Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors in Utah in 1998 at age 25.[17] It was acquired by Colliers International Group in 2018 and Fugal became chairman of Colliers International Utah, also known as Colliers Intermountain and Colliers Utah.[17][16][3]
Fugal has repeatedly been the recipient of the "Utah Office Broker of the Year" award at the annual CCIM Utah Excellence Awards.[18][19][20][21]
In 2016 he won the "EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award" for the Utah region in the category of Residential and Commercial Services.[22][23] He was featured on the July 2016 cover of Utah Business magazine in connection with the honor.[24][25]
In 2023 he won the "Titan Award" bestowed by the South Valley Chamber of Commerce, Salt Lake County, Utah.[25]
In Hawaii, he is part of Pomaika'i Partners and the effort to create an agricultural and land preservation destination called Laukiha'a Farms Community.[16]
Fugal and his real estate company in the 1990s advised the then young genealogy company Ancestry.com in its search for an expanded operating location and found them their current large headquarters building in Lehi, Utah.[27]
Skinwalker Ranch
Fugal purchased the 512-acre property known as Skinwalker Ranch in 2016 from Robert Bigelow.[28][29] Fugal described the acquisition in the following way: "It is the most unusual real estate play that I’ve ever had involvement in and it’s ended up becoming a very intriguing science project as well."[9]
The ranch is the principal shooting location for the hour-long cable and streaming series The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch and a partial location for its sister series Beyond Skinwalker Ranch. The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is one of History Channel's top-rated series.[30] Fugal is one of the stars of both series and has executive producer credit.[3]
Fugal has said in interviews that months after purchasing the ranch he along with others while on a visit witnessed what he described as a "silver gray disk like object" or "flying saucer" above the mesa on the property.[31][32]
Fugal travels to the ranch in a 40-minute flight in a black Airbus H130 helicopter that is seen frequently on the show being used in aerial experiments piloted by his brother Cameron Fugal. Brandon Fugal is part owner of the helicopter along with his brothers, who operate an aviation business from a leased private hanger at Provo Airport.[31][33]
Personal life
Fugal's first wife was Lacey Anne Fugal, with whom he has four children.[1] He reportedly has seven children today.[34] Years after his first marriage ended in divorce, he married Kristen McCarty in late September 2021.[26][1] Besides her being active in philanthropy and advocacy, Kristen Fugal is the Legal Affairs Director at the Fugal-owned company Adamantium Real Estate. Like her husband, she is an alumnus of Pleasant Grove High School and Utah Valley University.[34]
Brandon Fugal has three brothers, Cameron, Matthew, and Patrick.[1][4]
↑ @BrandonFugal (March 26, 2023). "April 3..." (Tweet) – via Twitter. (Fugal responding in a thread to when his birthday is; in other tweets he thanks people who wish him happy birthday on April 3)
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