Our Team
Executive/Corporate Team

Dayna Spiring President & CEO
P: 1 204 954 1988
Contact Dayna
Economic Development Winnipeg Inc. (EDW) is the lead economic development agency for Winnipeg, encompassing EDW, YES! Winnipeg and Tourism Winnipeg. Dayna directs all aspects of the corporation’s activities. She provides leadership and strategic direction, collaborates with key stakeholders and is a driving force behind making Winnipeg a compelling choice for business and tourism. She also sits on the board of directors for Winpak Ltd., a Winnipeg-based plastic-packaging pioneer, and previously served on the board of Manitoba Hydro (a provincial Crown corporation).
As the former chief strategy officer and general counsel of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), Dayna was charged with leading a group of senior-level employees, financial advisors and lawyers in preparing the federally controlled entity for privatization, which sold for $550 million in 2015 (the CWB was valued at just $100 million in 2012). Dayna’s supplemental responsibilities during her 10-year tenure at the CWB also involved facilitating government and stakeholder relations during a period of intense public scrutiny and debate. As well, Dayna spearheaded all marketing and communications efforts at the CWB and served as its corporate secretary.
In addition to Dayna’s extensive professional experience, which includes five years as an associate at Aikins, MacAulay & Thorvaldson LLP in the early 2000s, she is a passionate Winnipegger with a drive to volunteer. She led the team that brought the Gold Medal Plates competition to Winnipeg. Currently the Chair of the Winnipeg Football Club’s board of directors, she is the first woman to have her name engraved on the coveted Grey Cup, after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers historic win in 2019. She is only the second woman to serve on the Canadian Football League’s board of governors.
Dayna earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Manitoba. Earlier, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree (honours) from the same institution, majoring in political science. In 2015, Dayna participated in the Directors Education Program within the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, obtaining the ICD.D designation.

Ryan Kuffner Vice President of Sales & Business Development
P: 1 204 954 1962
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Ryan directs all business development strategies for Economic Development Winnipeg. He also leads the YES! Winnipeg initiative to attract new business and works with local companies to facilitate their expansion, increase their market potential and grow their network.

Jason Travis Vice President of Business Intelligence & Marketing
P: 1 204 954 1982
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Jason is responsible for the development and execution of marketing plans and market intelligence strategies to support EDW’s efforts to attract new investment, skilled talent, job growth and new visitors to the city.

Natalie Thiesen Vice President of Tourism
P: 1 204 954 1978
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Natalie is responsible for managing the Business Development Managers, Sales Administrators and Client Service Manager in order to optimize overnight visitations across all markets. Natalie is also responsible for attracting business events through the U.S. meetings and conventions market as well as the economic sectors of Energy and Environment and Information Communication Technologies.

Kim Metcalfe Vice President of Finance & Corporate Affairs
P: 1 204 954 1980
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Kim's responsibilities incorporate all aspects of the day-to-day financial management duties of the corporation, as well as directing all finance-related administrative activities.

Ilona Niemczyk Director of Corporate Partnerships
P: 1 204 954 0992
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Ilona is responsible for developing and implementing the strategy and necessary activities to attract, retain and engage corporate partners to sustain funding to further the initiatives of Economic Development Winnipeg.

Travis Paskaruk Business Development Manager, Corporate Partnerships
P: 1 204 954 1966
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Travis is responsible for developing and stewarding sustainable corporate partnerships to further support the initiatives of Economic Development Winnipeg.

Tiffany Creaghe-Harder Executive Assistant to the President & CEO
P: 1 204 954 1998
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Tiffany assists Dayna with issues management including such aspects as scheduling, event planning, meeting management and communications-related tasks. She also serves as the primary liaison for EDW's board of directors and coordinates all board-related activities germane to the organization.

Naomi Wang Administrative Assistant
P: 1 204 954 1970
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Shannon Hamilton Administrative Assistant
P: 1 204 954 1985
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Shannon provides primary administrative support to the EDW Executive Team including calendar management and travel coordination. She also supports the Executive Assistant to the President & CEO in organizing office-wide projects and events.
Market Intelligence Team

Chris Ferris Senior Economist
P: 1 204 954 1987
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Chris conducts in-depth research and analysis on the Winnipeg regional economy to identify trends and key economic indicators. He delivers valuable information to our business community in the form of commentary, insights, forecasting and economic modeling.

Abigail Crisostomo Data Analyst
P: 1 204 954 0994
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Abigail is responsible for supporting the management of various data sets, developing reports and dashboards as well as troubleshooting data anomalies. She communicates insights that support business initiatives across the organization.

Kristy Halischak BI systems administrator
P: 1 204 954 1983
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YES! Winnipeg Team

Amanda Macdonald Director of Business Development
P: 1 204 954 1984
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Amanda leads the YES! Winnipeg’s Business Development team, and works with the team to proactively identify new prospects and advance each opportunity to a successful conclusion by supporting the team in understanding what assistance the client requires and engaging appropriate collaborators to deliver what the client needs.

Alberto Velasco-Acosta Director of Foreign Direct Investment
P: 1 204 954 1972
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Alberto leads YES! Winnipeg's Foreign Direct Investment team to proactively identify and attract new companies to Winnipeg. He develops strong relationships with global site selector consultants, provincial and federal partners to promote Winnipeg's strong value proposition. He also represents YES! Winnipeg on international business missions, facilitates and oversees all incoming international delegations.

Yvonne Kinley Director of Talent & Workforce Development
P: 1 204 954 0997
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Yvonne leads YES! Winnipeg’s Talent team, helping local companies and potential investors in the city to retain, attract, and develop the talent they need to help grow the economy.

Shyam Narayan Moorthi Talent & Workforce Development Manager
P: 1 204 954 1976
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Shyam serves as the primary contact for the YES! Winnipeg Talent team. He is responsible for implementing the strategy and necessary activities to attract, retain and develop talent. He works closely with Business Development, Foreign Direct Investment, Investor Relations and our partners to ensure business has access to deep talent pools.

Yelena Petrukhina Talent & Workforce Development Officer
P: 1 204 954 1975
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Yelena is responsible for YES! Winnipeg talent partnerships and initiatives. She works closely with EDW’s business development team, and YES! Winnipeg to ensure business has access to deep talent pools. Yelena is also responsible for leading the coordination of talent events and missions.

Wynne Au Workforce Skills Development Program Manager
P: 1 204 954 0995
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Wynne is responsible for the Workforce Skills Development Program creation, deliverables and outcomes.

William Findlater Business Development Manager
P: 1 204 954 1971
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Sectors: Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace, Energy & Environment
William proactively identifies new prospects within his sectors of responsibility and advances each prospect to a successful conclusion by understanding what assistance they require and engaging appropriate collaborators to deliver what the client needs.

Christine Perrin Business Development Manager, Foreign Direct Investment
P: 1 204 954 1973
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Christine proactively identifies potential foreign investors for Winnipeg. She leverages prospecting tools and marketing intelligence to create a strong business case for why potential investors should locate and grow in the Winnipeg region. At the same time, she is developing strong relationships with foreign-owned local businesses to encourage new investment.

Brenden Lawrence Business Development Manager
P: 1 204 954 1974
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Sectors: Life Sciences, Agribusiness, and Transportation & Distribution
Brenden proactively identifies new prospects in the life sciences, agribusiness, transportation & distribution sectors. He engages and collaborates with clients to better understand their specific needs and remove any barriers to their development and growth in Winnipeg.

Adam Vitt Business Development Manager
P: 1 204 954 0991
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Sectors: Technology & Financial Services

Jessie Rew Business Development Officer
P: 1 204 954 0993
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Sector: Creative Industries
Jessie proactively identifies new prospects in the Creative Industries sector. She engages and collaborates with clients to better understand their specific needs and remove any barriers to their development and growth in Winnipeg.

Dana Plett Business Development Coordinator
P: 1 204 954 0996
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Dana works closely with EDW's business development team, YES! Winnipeg to support local company retention, expansion and attraction of new investment to the city.

Veronica Fierro Business Development Coordinator, Foreign Direct Investment
P: 1 204 954 1994
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Veronica supports YES! Winnipeg's FDI team in the promotion of Winnipeg’s competitive advantages internationally. She develops relationships with foreign-owned businesses to generate investment and business opportunities for YES! Winnipeg. She also provides strong market intelligence tools for businesses to make informed decisions and coordinates site visits for international delegations.
Tourism Winnipeg Team

Annie Henry Business Development Manager
P: 1 204 954 1990
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Annie is responsible for attracting sports, special events and meetings and conventions to Winnipeg through the sport federations, unions, corporations as well as the key economic sectors of Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace and Creative Industries.

Sarah Robinson Business Development Manager
P: 1 204 954 1995
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Sarah is responsible for selling and promoting Winnipeg as the destination of choice for the travel trade market.

Lynnea Adrian Business Development Manager
P: 1 204 954 1992
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Lynnea is responsible for attracting business events to Winnipeg through national and international associations, third party meeting planners as well as the key economic sectors of Life Sciences.

Crystal Seman Sales Administrator
P: 1 204 954 1989
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Crystal is responsible for managing the customer relations management system, Simpleview, as well as supporting the sales activities of the Business Development Managers and expediting the bids and proposals in order to attract meetings, conventions, sports and special events to Winnipeg.

Brittany Cawson Project Manager
P: 1 204 954 1967
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Brittany is responsible for managing the two marketing and sales consortiums of the Team Winnipeg, Winnipeg Tour Connection and broader tourism stakeholders’ programs and initiatives.

Julie Perrett Event & Project Coordinator
P: 1 204 954 1996
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Julie provides support to the Tourism Winnipeg's Project Manager and Business Development Managers. She is responsible for administrative functions, maximizing sales activities, partner engagement and assisting with events that contribute to increasing the visitor economy.
Marketing & Branding Team

Tyler Walsh Director of Marketing
P: 1 204 954 1979
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Tyler is responsible for marketing as it relates to Economic Development Winnipeg. He executes strategic marketing plans to increase business investment and visitation to Winnipeg.

Eleanor Coopsammy Corporate Creative Communications Manager
P: 1 204 954 1961
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Eleanor manages the corporate communications activities specific to EDW. She executes a broad spectrum of deliverables based on strategic marketing & communications plans that span both digital and print formats. Eleanor is the primary point of contact for EDW-related media inquiries.

Gillian Chester Communications & Travel Media Manager
P: 1 204 954 1977
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Gillian is responsible for writing and editing tourism marketing communications, handling travel media requests, developing story ideas, and the travel media program.

Mike Green Social Media & Creative Communications Manager
P: 1 204 954 1993
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Mike is responsible for development and execution of Tourism Winnipeg's social media plan. He is also responsible for all creative online and offline writing for various marketing mediums.

Kelly Krebs Marketing & Communications Project Manager
P: 1 204 954 1963
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Kelly is responsible for managing the content of the Tourism Winnipeg publications and website, approving all partner entries in Simpleview, compiling earned media, responding to image requests and managing the internal image gallery and photo contest.

Maddy Reico Digital & Content Marketing Manager
P: 1 204 954 1968
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Maddy is responsible for curating and creating digital and video content to promote and tell the Winnipeg story.

Karen Allen Graphic Designer
P: 1 204 954 1964
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Karen is responsible for the graphic design of the sales and marketing initiatives and maintains the brand standards.

Danica Hidalgo Digital & Content Marketing Coordinator
P: 1 204 954 1965
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Danica is responsible for creating and distributing content on Economic Development Winnipeg’s digital properties and sharing Winnipeg stories to foster economic development for our city.

Abby Matheson Digital & Content Marketing Coordinator
P: 1 204 954 1960
Contact Abby
Abby is responsible for creating and distributing content on Economic Development Winnipeg’s digital properties and sharing Winnipeg stories to foster economic development for our city.