David Asper
David Asper is a business executive and Assistant Professor of Law, Robson Hall Law School at the University of Manitoba. A member of the Manitoba and Ontario Bar, he left the formal practice of law in 1992 after successfully serving as co-counsel in the David Milgaard wrongful conviction case and winning Mr. Milgaard's freedom before the Supreme Court of Canada. Asper earned a Master of Laws from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2007. He joined CanWest Global in 1992 and has served as a member of CanWest's corporate development and operations team on many domestic and international projects. In addition Asper oversees the Canwest corporate communications groups based in Winnipeg and Toronto, including its highly successful philanthropy and corporate citizenship programs. In 1997, he was appointed to CanWest's Board of Directors and has also served on several subsidiary Boards in Canada and abroad. From 2003 until 2009 Asper served as Chair of the National Post where he maintained corporate responsibility for business strategy development as well as overall editorial standards in the company's publishing division. In 2007 Asper became a founding investor in Canterbury Park Capital, a private equity firm, where he serves on the investment committee and as a Director of Allegro Media Group, an investee company. He is also Executive Chairman of Creswin Properties which is a private real estate investment company. A past Director and Chair of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Asper is also an Honourary member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre; Vice Chair of the Pan Am Clinic Foundation in Winnipeg; and recently retired after serving several years as a Trustee of St. Johns Ravenscourt School. Asper also served as co-Chair of the 2006 Grey Cup Festival in Winnipeg, for which he was recognized by Destination Winnipeg with an Award of Distinction, and was also honoured by the Canadian Football League with the Commissioner's Special Award. He is a member of the Chief Justice of Canada’s Advisory Board of the Canadian Judicial Council and was appointed by the Government of Ontario to the Governing Council of the University of Toronto where he served until his recent academic appointment at the University of Manitoba. Mr. Asper is also a member of the Dean's Advisory Board at the University of British Columbia Innocence Project. In July 2008 Asper was recognized with the Consumers Choice Award Businessman of the Year in Winnipeg. Also in September 2008, he received an Arbor Award from the University of Toronto recognizing his volunteer efforts toward promoting and improving the University experience. Asper is the founding Chair of The Daremax Foundation, which supports many local and national philanthropic projects. These include leadership giving to the United Way, the University of Manitoba Bison Football program and Asper has established a Centre for Constitutional Rights through a multi-million dollar gift to the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Married to Ruth with three children, Asper lives in Winnipeg.
[November 2009]