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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4326554_web1_260618-Evan-Andrew-0009.jpg\")
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Sport Manitoba\u2019s new president and CEO Evan Andrew will focus on helping members grow their sports in a safe and inclusive way.<\/p>\n
With the Games in the rear-view mirror, Andrew was hired as Sport Manitoba\u2019s new director of marketing. He worked his way up to become director of business operations before recently earning the ultimate promotion: Sport Manitoba president and CEO.<\/p>\n
His predecessor, Janet McMahon, recently retired after five years at the helm.<\/p>\n
Andrew\u2019s hiring was announced publicly early Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still seems a little bit like a dream,\u201d said Andrew.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very proud to be in this position, and I think I have worked hard in my career to get opportunities for advancement. I definitely still probably have a little bit of imposter syndrome. Sometimes I\u2019m like \u2018Is this real? Am I the right person for this?\u2019 But it\u2019s gratifying to know that other people believe in me enough to give me this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew grew up in Morden and initially aspired to become a sports journalist. He attended Ryerson University \u2014 now Toronto Metropolitan University \u2014 where he earned a degree in radio and television arts while also playing on the school\u2019s hockey team for a year as a walk-on. It was around that time when he got his professional start at Rogers Sportsnet when it first launched.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a broadcast associate which basically meant that you got assigned to watch a couple of games, and they said \u2018Your pack is gonna be 30 or 45 seconds\u2019 so you pick out five or six highlights, and you write a little script, and then someone like Jamie Campbell might actually read what you wrote during Sportsnet Central,\u201d said Andrew.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like \u2018I can\u2019t believe they\u2019re paying me to watch sports.\u2019 I\u2019d be doing this without them paying me.\u201d<\/p>\n
After returning to his home province in 2009, he worked at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce in special events before moving on to Winnipeg Economic Development & Tourism as a sports and special events sales manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost the first day that I started, I came into this building (in 2013) and they started working on the 2017 Canada Games bid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I was around that table with the bid committee really quickly and we were successful with that bid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now in charge of the building, he knows the amateur sports scene faces challenges such as a lack of funding, volunteers and facilities \u2014 things that are not unique to Manitoba. But Andrew, who has three boys with his wife, Kathy, isn\u2019t planning a major overhaul by any stretch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many good people in our organization that care about their work a ton. And you know, we\u2019re non-profit\u2026 The fact that there\u2019s so many people that have been here for a long time, it speaks to the culture that has been built over years and years and years \u2014 and the passion that they have for delivering sport and helping sport in our province,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n
On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \u201cI don\u2019t want it to be like \u2018Oh, Evan is now this person in the corner office on the top of the building\u2019 when I\u2019d much rather just be a member of the team. Yeah, I have a leadership position, but I know that it takes a team to make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n For Andrew, the role is less about leading Manitoba\u2019s amateur sport system and more about supporting the organizations that power it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe provincial sports organizations are really the ones that deliver sports in our province\u2026 They do all the heavy lifting, and there are so many great executive directors and fantastic presidents and board members that work their butts off to make their sports happen.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Sport Manitoba\u2019s job is to support them and help them grow their sports in a safe and inclusive way. That would be our focus.\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/taylorallen<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Taylor Allen Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree\/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
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