Ivey MBA Graduates Making Big Wins in the World of Hockey
MBA graduates from the Ivey Business School at Western University Canada, alongside other business alumni from the university, are making big wins in the world of sports.
From the intense academic experience inside Ivey classrooms to international study trips and strong alumni networks, graduates of Ivey’s many business programs, including their MBA degree, are changing the game for hockey in Canada and across the world.
Not every MBA’s success in hockey is even relegated to work off the ice. For Dave Barrett, MBA ’04 and PhD ’14, who helped coach the Western Mustangs Women’s hockey team to a championship title in 2015, there are many similarities between coaching players on the ice and priming students for business success.
“Shaping the environment that they work in and what they think about themselves is a lot of what we do here at Ivey,” Barrett comments. “It’s creating that culture—you bring good hockey players in and you have to shape them into a unified force. It’s the same here, too.”
Other major players from Ivey are finding ways to connect their love of business with a passion for hockey. Karin Adams, HBA ’06 and MBA ’14, has allowed her passion to lead her to a career in the Total Rewards department of the Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment company. As Senior Director of the department, Adams is responsible for building a compelling employee value proposition for employees company-wide.
“As we continue to grow the breadth of our portfolio, it has different demands on the talent needs the organization has,” Adams says. “It changes where we need to be looking for talent and what we are doing in order to recruit and retain them.”
In addition to the MBA alumni, Ivey graduates of the HBA and MSc department can also be found making an impact in the world of hockey. Among them are John Chayka, the 28-year old General Manager of the Arizona Coyotes, HBA ’14, who was hailed as “one of the NHL’s 10 smartest off-ice hirings of the 2015 off-season,” and Dario Zulich, HBA ’86, who plans to use hockey to rebuild tourism and revitalize the community of Greater Sudbury.
About the Author
Alanna Shaffer
Staff Writer, covering MetroMBA's news beat for Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas.
