Indigenous Business Education Partners’ inaugural director reflects on decades of service and impact

In 1994, in what would soon be named the Asper School of Business, Wanda Wuttunee was approached by former dean William Mackness and then-associate dean Jerry Gray. The previous year, assistant professor Beth Rubin and instructor Jonas Sammons had put together a funding proposal for a pilot project.

The faculty of management had secured a year of funding for a project to support Indigenous students coming into the business school. Mackness and Gray wanted Wuttunee to lead it.

Wuttunee, who had been working in the emerging field of Indigenous economic development, was a faculty member in the department of Native studies at UM (today, called the department of Indigenous studies), and immediately saw the value and the boldness of the idea.

Doing what hadn’t been done

“A business education is lovely to have no matter what your career is. It was really cool that I could have this opportunity to support students in considering business, which can bring so many career opportunities and directions,” says Wuttunee.

“But the fact that Dr. Mackness and Dr. Grey had that vision back then was amazing to me, because it just wasn’t something that was being done.”

Wuttunee refers here not just to the concept of holistic support for Indigenous students pursuing business, but also to Indigenous economic development broadly. While she cites a small, passionate community of scholars and leaders pursuing this work, the idea that would become Indigenous Business Education Partners (IBEP) was ahead of the curve in the 1990s.

The program, first named Aboriginal Business Education Program (ABEP), launched with Wuttunee at the helm and program coordinator Roxane Shuttleworth managing day-to-day student services.

Moving between various corners of the Drake Centre—open study areas and small offices to the dedicated IBEP student lounge today—a program that predates the naming of the School itself had started in earnest: feting four graduates at its first dedicated graduation ceremony, building connections with faculty members and garnering the support of Manitoba’s business community.

Opening the door wider

While Wuttunee emphasizes that the very fact that the faculty had a program like this was remarkable, she also shares her pride in how they ran and structured the program.

“A personal milestone for me, when I think back on my time as program director, is that there wasn’t a double standard. We opened the door wider, but once students were in, they put in the work and completed their bachelor of commerce with honours,” she says.

“They earned it,” she says, referencing IBEP alumni over the years. “Blood, sweat, and tears like everybody else.”

Wuttunee believed in the value of IBEP and the BComm degree itself, insistent that a support program shouldn’t change the value of the degree but should instead make that value more accessible to those who face barriers.

This approach opened the door wider for students and the School, as the program then took on the name Aboriginal Business Education Partners, emphasizing the connections it was creating between students, academics, and faculties at UM.

The program partnered with the Engineering Access Program (ENGAP) to support students with the pre-management math requirements, a connection that is going strong today.

“When we went from Aboriginal Business Education Program to Partners, it really captured a wonderful dynamic for students and for me as director. More faculty members stepped up and asked how they could get involved,” she says.

Pounding the pavement

In 2004, ten years into the program’s run, funding started to dry up, barely covering staff salaries at the time. Wuttunee knew that to keep the program going, they would need to tap into the support of the business community.

Thus came the Excellence in Aboriginal Business Leadership Awards (EABLA), an event that would honour incredible business entrepreneurs while raising funds to support programming, which had by that point expanded to include dedicated scholarships.

Two decades later, the Visionary Indigenous Business Excellence (VIBE) Awards ceremony is still IBEP’s most important annual fundraising event. Funds from the event come from corporate sponsors, who first got on board thanks to Wuttunee’s conviction that organizations would benefit from supporting the program.

“The corporate sponsorships came from me going out and pounding the pavement, selling our program—people got it. These organizations could see the market and its potential, and I could explain how investing in the success of Indigenous students—graduates who might come work for them one day—made a lot of sense.

“They were investing not in future employees—accountants, marketers, auditors—but in the possibility of Indigenous students seeing business as a career,” she says.

Investing in possibility

For Wuttunee–whose career is marked with more firsts and milestones than many, including being named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in 2011 by Women’s Executive Network–being part of a program that has encouraged nearly 200 Indigenous students to see business as a potential career path stands out among her many achievements.

“When I look at lists of our graduates and where they have ended up, it is so awesome. There are alumni in careers that have impacted the corporate world and their own communities. There are role models, incredible journeys and great stories,” she says.

“That is amazing to me because many of these alumni started as students who didn’t see business as an opportunity, but here they are today, contributing something wonderful.”

Today IBEP alumni and students lead in sectors across the province.

MBA alum Kathleen BlueSky currently serves as CEO of Treaty One Development Corporation; BComm alum Fabian Sanderson is CEO of First Peoples Economic Growth Fund; BComm alum Ashley Richard was recently appointed as director of Indigenous Entrepreneurship at United College (University of Waterloo); and BComm student Matthew Carriere balances studies with his role on the board of directors of the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce.

Doing what hasn’t been done yet

Wuttunee served as director of IBEP for 20 years, stepping back from the role in 2014 before beginning a well-earned retirement from UM in 2021.  

“It was not an easy walk, but with my faith to see me through, it was a most gratifying part of my career,” she says.

“After 20 years, it was not a hard decision to lay down those responsibilities because the program was solid, my staff had a strong vision, and I knew that I was not irreplaceable.”

Peter Pomart [MBA/18] took over as the next director, starting a curious, but not entirely surprising, tradition of Asper School of Business and IBEP alumni returning to the program that served them, with Zach Unrau [BComm(Hons)17] and Riley Proulx [BComm(Hons)/19] each serving as director since.

Reflecting on IBEP’s 30^th anniversary, Wuttunee returns to what made that first meeting, that original funding proposal, so remarkable.

“The anniversary is a chance to celebrate that original vision and approach of simply trying something and seeing what might happen. It’s a celebration of the trailblazing that the Asper School of Business did with this. It’s an opportunity to understand the incredible role that the School played—because IBEP could have faded away; it could have died, and we wouldn’t be celebrating.

“It needed everyone to come together, key players along the way who saw that value and were bold in their support. I hope that part of IBEP’s legacy going forward can continue to be thinking beyond the status quo.”

IBEP began with people who dared to think beyond the status quo. It was sustained by the dedication of passionate individuals who saw the value, and knew how to show the value, of investing in the success of Indigenous students. It has created connections, community and impact that extend far beyond classrooms and degrees.

Wanda Wuttunee may not have been irreplaceable as director, but the story of IBEP would not be what it is without her.

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For 30 years, Indigenous Business Education Partners at the Asper School of Business has offered a welcoming community to First Nations, Metis and Inuit students exploring leadership potential in the world of business. IBEP members can receive tutoring, mentoring, financial aid and more. Learn more.

Emily Wilson