Mulaire named managing director of World Trade Centre Association

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This article was published 30/09/2022 (1113 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mariette Mulaire, who was the founding CEO of World Trade Centre Winnipeg and ran it for 10 years, has been named managing director of the World Trade Centre Association, the New York-based global organization’s headquarters.

Mulaire will fly to New York for one week a month as she works at streamlining the organization’s management team and work on a new strategic plan.

The World Trade Centre Association has 314 members around the world who pay a licence fee of US$300,000 and annual dues of US$12,500.

“I am thrilled to be expanding my role as an advisory board director and strategic adviser,” she said. “I’ll continue to operate from my base in Winnipeg. I will now assume the role of managing director on behalf of the WTC Association board.”

That’s not bad for a girl from St. Pierre-Jolys.

When she resigned from the Winnipeg WTC, Mulaire was the vice-chair of the global association’s board.

The organization’s longtime chair, Boston real estate developer, John Drew, said the WTC did not want to lose Mulaire’s input on the board and so they hired her as a consultant, back in April.

Drew said she did a great job at membership development but they wanted to bring the management team closer together and work on things like improving its communications strategy.

“She has been a very resourceful board member for many years,” Drew told the Free Press. “Then the more I looked at my situation and where we wanted to go and what we needed to do get there, we realized we could use her help to manage the organization.”

The association operates with a small staff in New York with regional representatives located around the world.

Mulaire said after her time on the board and after a few months working for the board she had become very familiar with the operations.

“The WTC just celebrated 50 years and now the question is what do the next 50 years look like,” she said. “After three months it was evident that they needed someone to take a bigger role in operations and in the direction and help for the board.”

Among other things the organization needs to protect and maybe review the brand. (The tragic terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre towers in New York City on 9/11, has presented obvious challenges for the brand.)

Mulaire said there is plenty of growth in the organization especially in places like southeast Asia and Africa.

Both she and Drew agreed it also has to review the way it communicates both to members and to the public at large.

Although the Winnipeg location does not feature a branded building, as is the case with many WTCs around the world, the organization does tout its abilities to stimulate trade and investment opportunities for commercial property developers, economic development agencies, and international businesses looking to connect globally.

Mulaire said right now they are working on a business plan for 2022-23.

“I am there as someone who has led a World Trade Centre from the beginning, for 10 years and I have experience in trade working directly with businesses, which is another plus because I understand the members,” she said. “And I was a vice-chair of the board so I understand the membership at large. So I am not a stranger to the organization.”

She has an agreement to stay on for a year as the organizations managing director.

“After that we will see,” she said.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca