Downtown BIZ CEO to step down

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This article was published 04/07/2018 (2795 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After 14 years at the helm, Stefano Grande is leaving his post as chief executive officer of the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ to take over the senior position at the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba.

Grande will remain with the Downtown BIZ until September, during which time the board hopes it will be able to find his replacement through its own internal networks.

His tenure with the city’s major downtown business improvement zone coincided with a dramatic increase in activity in the city centre, including about $2 billion in development and an increase of about 5,000 residents.

“It has been quite a ride,” Grande said. “I am leaving on a high note. It is a great organization that has been built from a small team of a handful of people to a staff of almost 100. And I’ll be leaving to lead another great organization, the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba.”

The foundation has been operating with an acting president and CEO, Gary Rozak, since February, when former CEO Lawrence Prout left the position.

“We are very excited about the appointment,” said Tanya Williams, director of marketing and communications at the foundation. “We were looking for the best possible candidate — taking it nationally — to see who would be perfect fit for our organization. It is so wonderful for us to have Mr. Grande. And the fact that he is local… he knows our province better than anyone.”

The announcement of his departure coincides with the Downtown BIZ’s release of the findings and recommendations of a survey of more than 1,000 downtown business people on a new strategy for the Graham Mall.

Among other things, the report has already prompted the start of a rebranding and new marketing campaign for what will be officially called Graham Avenue. The nine-block stretch of the street from Vaughan to Main streets was reconfigured about 30 years ago to become a main transit corridor that restricts vehicular traffic from Fort to Carlton streets.

“The mall is almost 30 years old,” Grande said. “It’s time for a refresh. It’s getting tired. New banners are going up as we speak.”

That project is typical of the kind of things Grande helped initiate while running the main downtown advocacy group with an annual budget of a little more than $2.6 million. (Business improvement zones are funded by an annual levy paid by all businesses in the area equal to about 2.3 per cent of their assessed rental value.)

During his time in the position, the city and the province started development incentive programs such as tax increment financing, which have encouraged development like that which has taken place in the Sports Hospitality Entertainment District surrounding Bell MTS Place.

“When I was first brought on board with the Downtown BIZ, they gave me one very clear objective: to increase development,” Grande said. “But how does the BIZ do that? We’re not a development organization. The biggest thing we were able to accomplish was our ability to make downtown relevant for Winnipeggers and Manitobans… to see the worth and value and importance of our downtown. That has led to some transformational policies that has led to the growth we have seen.”

Diana Wiesenthal, chairwoman of the Downtown BIZ board and owner of Corporate People Responsibility Ltd., said the board and staff were sad about the news of Grande’s departure, but were happy for him.

“We knew we would have to share him one day for the greater good of Winnipeg,” she said. “We were just hoping it was not going to be so soon. But he will be leaving the organization in really good shape. He took a lot of time to bring on a lot of very talented people into the fold. So I think we are well-positioned to handle the transition.”

Grande will have to jump into the middle of a major project at the foundation — raising $3.5 million in funding for the Health Sciences Centre’s pediatric cardiology clinic, which is being relocated to the Winnipeg hospital’s new Diagnostic Centre of Excellence, next to the Children’s Hospital.

The foundation needs to raise about $8 million annually for the advancement of knowledge and care in the fields of child health research, which it does through activities such as the Children’s Miracle Network and the Children’s Hospital Book Market.

It is one of the only foundations in the country that also runs its own research facility, the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, which has an annual budget of $3.5 million.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca