Team Leadership

The CEBL welcome Winnipeg businessman and lawyer David Asper as the team’s owner. Asper’s extensive community involvement has been widely recognized. He is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his community service, was appointed as King’s Counsel by the Province of Manitoba in 2019, and received an Honourary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Manitoba. He is a past Chair of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Centreventure. In addition, he has provided lead gifts to establish the David & Ruth Asper Research Centre at the Pan Am Clinic Foundation in Winnipeg and the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights at the University of Toronto, which has supported many of Canada’s recent leading cases involving the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. David and his family have also made the largest private gift to the Canadian Olympic Foundation where his wife Ruth serves on the Board of Directors. He has been recognized with several community awards and is a proud member of the Winnipeg Football Club Hall of Fame.

Asper announced veteran Winnipeg events executive Jason Smith as the Sea Bears team president. Smith’s 25 years of leadership experience includes operations and sales management, event production, and business development. He has produced many of Winnipeg’s most prestigious events, including the 2014 Juno Awards, the 2015 Grey Cup Festival, the NHL Heritage Classic, the Canada Summer Games Festival, ManyFest, Boo at the Zoo, Manitoba 150, and the Winnipeg Jets Whiteout Street Parties. He also serves on several boards and executive committees that currently include positions with the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the United Way Winnipeg.