Showcasing support: Ignite Award event to honour True North chair Chipman

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This article was published 16/09/2024 (386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In addition to a quality education, incoming students of the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba also get some perks: including an invitation to the annual Ignite Award dinner.

On Wednesday night, at the RBC Convention Centre in downtown Winnipeg, the third annual gala will honour its 2024 Ignite Award recipient: Mark Chipman, executive chairman of the board of True North Sports and Entertainment Ltd.

Matthew Thomson, chair of the dinner organizing committee and a board member of the Young Associates of the Asper School, said the event is primarily a way to welcome new students to the Manitoba business community.

Sponsors of the event — most of whom are members of the Associates or Young Associates (organizations that support the Asper School) — pay for tickets of more than 300 new students who will be attending.

The event is sold out, with about 850 people expected to attend.

“It’s a chance to show the students what it’s all about. It really demonstrates the support that’s out there and that they will be able to take advantage of throughout their time at the school,” said Thomson, a business manager at the NFI Group.

“It also puts some faces to names for the students and allows them to make some initial connections.”

Chipman, the Winnipeg Jets representative on the NHL’s board of governors, is obviously well-known because of that position. What might be less well-known to some of the new students is the substantial community work Chipman is involved in.

He established the True North Youth Foundation in 1996, and founded Gonzaga Middle School in 2016. Chipman also led the creation of the Downtown Community Safety Partnership in 2020.

True North’s real estate division is currently involved in a project to acquire Portage Place shopping centre and undertake a massive redevelopment of the property to include affordable housing and a 12-story health-care centre.

One of True North’s partners in that project is the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, which itself is in the process of redeveloping the former Bay flagship store on Portage Avenue.

The two projects will dramatically reimagine a section of downtown Winnipeg.

Chipman follows Ash Modha, co-founder and CEO of Mondetta Clothing, and Dayna Spiring, former CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg, as the Ignite Award recipient.

“The idea is to honour a local recipient who is a thought leader, who’s connected to the community and the business school. Someone who really exemplifies leadership through the work they have done. Someone who gives back. Someone who has achieved outstanding things,” said Thomson.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca