Showing up every day to make a difference

This June over 500 athletes, coaches, supporters, and spectators will attend Special Olympics Manitoba’s Summer Games, an event that takes place once every four years and easily one of the highlights of CEO Rachel Wheatley’s work.

“It’s the most rewarding experience not only to see the community rallying around our athletes, but also to see the participants’ athleticism, their camaraderie, and the respect that they have for each other,” says Wheatley [BComm (Hons)/09, MBA/14].

Wheatley, who holds a BComm and MBA from the Asper School of Business, has served as CEO of Special Olympics Manitoba for over two years. Her leadership journey began with a desire to make an impact, a drive that inspired both her volunteerism and her pursuit of a business degree.

She started volunteering as a softball coach for Special Olympics during her undergraduate studies and years before she would earn a top leadership role at the organization. As a volunteer, Wheatley witnessed what Special Olympics does for athletes, families, volunteers, and the entire community. “We’re about sport and about so much more than that,” she says.

“What has always struck me about Special Olympics is how it brings people together.”

Wheatley stayed with the organization as a volunteer throughout her career. In addition to volunteer coaching, she also served as Event Director and a National Board Member for Motionball Winnipeg (a nonprofit in support of Special Olympics), and Chair of the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee and Board Treasurer for Special Olympics Manitoba.

She explains how this decades-long progression with Special Olympics Manitoba has culminated in her role as CEO today.

“My role touches on all elements of the business management and organizational structure, of course, but what it really comes down to is understanding where we are and where we need to be—making sure that our team understands the vision of the organization and is continuously motivated and inspired to get us to that vision,” she says.

From her days as a softball coach, to her success in directing Motionball events and serving the board, Wheatley has been part of so many of the moments that contribute to this vision. She’s seen athletes and coaches take years of hard work into competition, showing up for the home crowd in Summer and Winter Games and excelling in national and international events; she’s seen families cheering on their loved ones and community members feeling the excitement of sport; and in 2023, she saw the organization recognized provincially, attending the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba to mark the 10-year anniversary of Special Olympics Awareness Week.

She is passionate about the impact the organization continues to have in Manitoba, and as CEO has seen how every win, every practice, every cheer, and every event contribute to the big picture.

“At Special Olympics Manitoba, our vision it to foster empowerment, inclusion, and achievement through sport,” she says. “It’s incredibly rewarding to be part of an organization where people are so dedicated to the mission and show up every day to make a difference in our community.”

Advancing leadership and impact, building community

Before becoming CEO and while working at Manitoba Hydro, Wheatley had a sense that she would return to school, ever an advocate for continuous learning and ever motivated by her own drive to show up and make a difference in the community.

The Asper MBA felt like the right fit, she explains, because of its ties to the Winnipeg business community, the flexibility it offered while she balanced full-time work, the network of diverse business professionals to study alongside, and the leadership education she could sense her career would soon need to leverage.

Today she recognizes fellow Asper alumni in leadership roles across the province, not just because she remembers them from classes, but because she can place that shared commitment to community, a hallmark of the Asper School of Business.

“We all feel this responsibility to make our province, our city, a better place and grow our organizations and make a big impact,” she says.

Confidence to lead and community connections define Wheatley’s leadership journey. What she has learned, through her Asper experience and her career so far, is that confidence is less a mindset and more a mode of action.

“You have to keep growing and learning and applying those lessons in order to build that confidence. The MBA gives you that opportunity,” she says.

Two years in, Wheatley herself is confident in Special Olympics Manitoba’s vision—for Manitoba, for athletes with disabilities, for an inclusive community—and her role in driving this vision forward.

It’s about sport; it’s also about the confidence and connections inclusive, informed leadership in action can cultivate for any community.

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Business leadership drives community forward especially in the not-for-profit sector. With one of the most flexible and adaptable programs in Canada, the Asper MBA program is designed to help students build their leadership skills in any field. Turn your passion into impact today and transform your career with an Asper MBA.

Emily Wilson