World Trade Centre’s new CEO no longer interim

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This article was published 23/12/2022 (1106 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Writing columns about hockey isn’t a prerequisite to leading a World Trade Centre.

And yet, here André Brin is.

“CEO of the World Trade Centre was not on my list when I was at university, that’s for sure,” said Brin, whom World Trade Centre Winnipeg officially announced as its chief executive Thursday.

Gone are the days of writing weekly sports articles for La Liberté and heading communications for the Edmonton Oilers. Instead, Brin is organizing resources for Manitoban businesses looking to expand beyond borders.

He’s been helming Winnipeg’s World Trade Centre branch since March. Still, the removal of the word “interim” came as a surprise, Brin said.

“It caught me off guard,” he said of the news, which came to him earlier this month. “It was obviously great… and flattering.”

As interim CEO, Brin had been reassessing the non-profit’s programming. Business has changed since COVID-19, and the World Trade Centre’s resources must match the current market, Brin said.

He’s been part of a collaboration with the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and CentrePort Canada to jointly move to an office near Portage and Main. He’s also taken the lead during a time of labour shortages and economic recovery.

“When you’re an interim CEO, you can’t act like an interim CEO,” Brin, 57, said. “You sort of have to take ownership of the position regardless of the title.”

The job isn’t his first in a leadership position.

As a fresh Université de Saint-Boniface graduate — armed with knowledge from French and political science courses — Brin did community development work for Manitoba’s francophone population.

He did some reporting for Radio-Canada. He’d written hockey columns for in university and grew to love the communications sector, he said.

“You learn how to ask questions,” Brin said. “You learn how to get yourself up to speed; you learn how to listen.”

Brin transitioned to corporate communications for Hockey Canada in 2005. Eleven years later, he began managing communications for the Edmonton Oilers.

“I’m glad I got to work in the private sector… because it’s a different feel,” Brin said. “You have an owner, you have that responsibility financially.”

The non-profits Brin worked at had their own financial needs, he added.

Switching back to a non-profit — World Trade Centre Winnipeg — was “a learning curve,” Brin said. He made the move last year, becoming the organization’s director of communications.

Mariette Mulaire, the centre’s former CEO, left for the World Trade Centre Association in New York earlier this year. She and Brin spoke “regularly” during the transition period, Brin said.

“I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose for a while there,” he said, adding having Mulaire and the centre’s board to “lean on and… bounce things off” was helpful.

Mulaire’s New York presence has increased Winnipeg’s recognition among the centre’s network, Brin said.

“André came highly recommended by the previous CEO,” said JP Perron, chair of World Trade Centre Winnipeg’s board. “We obviously were very thorough in our evaluation process and determined that Andre had more than met all of the criteria.”

Criteria for the new leader included growing the World Trade Centre and providing “good leadership and good governance,” Perron added.

Brin said his goals remain the same as a month ago — have more Manitoba companies access World Trade Centre services to start or expand their business.

The centre will “enhance services” next year, Brin said — that includes more workshops and webinars reflecting today’s market.

The roughly 15-person organization is scheduled to move downtown next year with CentrePort Canada and the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, who owns 50 per cent of the World Trade Centre licence.

“There’s a lot of great work that the World Trade Centre does that we want to be able to share with our members in a more co-ordinated fashion,” said Loren Remillard, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

The centre has trade advisers and a market research team.

“There’s many collaborations that we’ve been discussing with André and his team,” Remillard said. “(We) look forward to that stability and continuity that’s going to be pivotal for us to move forward on those plans.”

The two entities have announcements on the way, Remillard said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com