The CEO of the Assiniboine Park Conservancy is moving on after 14 years at the helm.
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In 2008, Assiniboine Park was in trouble.
The zoo was teetering on the brink of closure. The Conservatory was nearing the end of its life. Every part of the park, it seemed, was in some form of disrepair. There was no Journey to Churchill, no promise of polar bears swimming overhead. The Leaf — the multi-functional horticultural attraction currently under construction — was a far-off dream.
‘I can’t wait till people are able to enjoy this building,’ Margaret Redmond says of the Leaf, set to open later this year. ‘I still gasp when I walk in that building — it is so beautiful, it is so inspiring.’
The herculean task of not just rehabilitating Assiniboine Park but transforming it into a financially viable hub to be enjoyed for generations to come was the driving force behind the creation of the Assiniboine Park Conservancy in 2008 — a not-for-profit organization working arms-length from the City of Winnipeg, responsible for day-to-day operations of the park and zoo and also ensuring its survival.
And Margaret Redmond, the founding president and CEO of the conservancy, was tasked with not only leading this brand-new organization in realizing that vision, but also winning over the hearts and minds of a community who didn’t always see that vision right away.
The Assiniboine Park that Redmond inherited is not the one she will leave behind. After 14 years, she will step down after the opening of The Leaf at the end of this year.
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https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ar...576534632.html
I have to take my hat off to Margaret Redmond, she did a great job of breathing life into what was a pretty moribund and neglected park.
I hope that whoever takes over can continue her work towards revitalizing Assiniboine Park, as there is still a lot of work left to do.