Montufar-MacKay to chair chamber of commerce board

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This article was published 27/09/2023 (765 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Driving change isn’t new to Jeannette Montufar-MacKay.

She’s travelled the globe, speaking and consulting on transportation engineering.

Ten years ago, she trekked a 500-kilometre pilgrimage in Spain, raising money for a fund she created for underprivileged women wanting post-secondary education.

She’s sat on boards including Habitat for Humanity Manitoba, CentreVenture and the Transportation Association of Canada.

Next up: chairing the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce board.

“We’re ready to start working toward the next 150 years,” said Montufar-MacKay. “(We must) be the agents of the change that we want to see.”

The local chamber, which has more than 2,000 members, celebrated its 150th anniversary this year.

The next 20 years — never mind the next 150 — will see mass change, including from “disruptive technologies” and an aging demographic, Montufar-MacKay said.

In the meantime, she’s planning to focus her year-long tenure on laying the foundations for the ever-changing business sector’s future.

It includes emphasizing diversity initiatives in the workplace and lobbying for downtown revitalization.

“For our community and for our economy to continue to grow, the next 150 years will require an (improvement)… in the area of livability,” Montufar-MacKay said.

Housing challenges and violent crime downtown affect business, she noted. She built her own firm, Morr Transportation Consulting, and recognizes cash flow as “a huge issue for small businesses.”

“If people cannot walk in front of my business, I am not going to have a good and successful year,” she said. “If people cannot shop (because they’re financially strapped), I cannot have a successful year.”

However, if companies leave an area, jobs are also exiting, contributing to the problem — it’s circular, Montufar-MacKay, 52, explained.

She intends to “do as much as I can” to contribute to downtown revitalization, she said.

That includes relationship building, creating a future-looking framework and performance measures, she said.

She’s been a member of the chamber’s board since 2019. The organization has a “significant impact” in helping businesses, which is why she joined, she added.

“She really does see problems from a solutions lens, a lens that says, ‘Every challenge is fixable, we just need to design the right solution,’” said Loren Remillard, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s president.

Montufar-MacKay has a PhD in transportation and highway engineering. She was a civil engineering professor at the University of Manitoba before leaving to grow her firm.

She’s the epitome of what Remillard believes will be the makeup of Winnipeg’s business community over the next 150 years — “operating locally, but with a global expertise (and) doing work around the world from Winnipeg.”

“She’s truly just a dynamic force in our community,” he said.

Montufar-MacKay has received the YMCA/YWCA Women of Distinction Award in leadership and management. In 2014, she was named one of Ace Burpee’s 100 most fascinating Manitobans.

She’ll assume the role of the chamber’s 130th chairperson on Oct. 5, at the chamber’s annual general meeting at the Radisson Hotel downtown.

Kevin Selch, Little Brown Jug Brewing Company’s founder, will be the chamber’s 2024-25 board chair.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com