U of W hunts for new leader after president removed

The University of Winnipeg has begun the search for a new leader after terminating its president.

The board of regents, the governing body in charge of operations at U of W, removed Todd Mondor following a meeting Monday night.

Mondor began what was supposed to be a five-year term on April 1, 2022.

“In the best interest of both parties, he vacated the role, officially, today,” board chair Michelle Pereira said in an interview Tuesday.

Pereira provided few specifics about the sudden exit, and would only confirm regents did not renew Mondor’s contract as president and vice-chancellor.

She said it is not uncommon for a leader of any kind to leave their job midway through a term if it has not been extended. Mondor’s inaugural term was slated to expire on June 30, 2027.

His salary was $332,861 in 2024, according to the university’s latest roundup of public sector compensation.

Pereira refused to say whether Mondor would receive severance pay.

Multiple sources confirmed his contract was cut short on the heels of a whistleblower complaint and related investigation into his office.

Pereira, who has been on the board since 2019, denied Mondor’s departure had anything to do with the investigation.

“It’s the most unexpected event of the year.”

“These two items are not related,” said Pereira, who was appointed board chair in August.

An employee alleging they had hard evidence of misconduct approached the Manitoba ombudsman at the end of April.

The ombudsman recently determined their six-page submission — which was obtained by the Free Press — required further investigation.

The complaint details concerns about employee turnover, lack of transparency about cost-cutting measures and rules that censor protests and other activities at U of W.

“It might be unusual to have a whistleblower complaint, but that may be more reflective of the person who filed it rather than the culture at the U of W,” Mondor said during a phone interview six months ago.

He unveiled a campuswide rebrand, including a five-year road map dubbed “Meeting the Moment,” this fall.

Mondor’s brief tenure at the helm of the university was marked by sweeping budgetary challenges after a drop in international student enrolment.

He also faced criticism in connection to an exodus of high-ranking staff members during the first 18 months of his term and a March 2024 cybersecurity attack that cancelled classes and shut down operations across the university.

The now-former leader did not respond to a request for comment made Tuesday morning.

“It’s the most unexpected event of the year,” said Peter Miller, classics professor and president of the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association, which represents about 600 academics.

“But it’s been a year of tumultuous events.”

Hours after the news broke internally, Miller said he was stopped in the hallway by colleagues who were just as shocked as he was. Students also approached him after receiving a mass email about the sudden leadership change.

In March 2020, days before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, then-U of W president Annette Trimbee announced she was moving to Edmonton that summer to lead another university.

While Trimbee’s mid-term departure was somewhat unusual, the school community was given ample notice and an explanation, Miller noted.

“But it’s been a year of tumultuous events.”

He said he has questions about the circumstances leading up to Mondor’s exit and the timeline for a leadership search.

The next president will join a campus that recently finalized a 2025-30 strategic plan with community members’ shared priorities.

While acknowledging Mondor led the project, Miller said “that vision is larger than any single person.”

The chair of the board of regents echoed those comments.

“We are focusing on our bold, new, five-year strategic plan and we thought it was time to refocus our leadership,” Pereira said.

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She said a search to find a temporary replacement is already underway. She estimated it would take one to two weeks to announce an interim leader.

Provost and vice-president, academic, Pavlina Radia will oversee operations in an acting capacity for the time being.

Mondor, who obtained his undergraduate degree from the U of W in 1987, graduated with honours. He spent more than two decades in various leadership roles at the University of Manitoba.

He was the 10th president and vice-chancellor of his alma mater.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter

Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.

Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.

Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.