Leonard Asper is the former CEO of Canwest Global Communications Corp., a post he held for over 10 years, as well as other executive positions in the Company before that, going back to 1991. Canwest was Canada’s largest media company, owning 13 daily newspapers in most major cities including the National Post, and 20 television channels including the national Global Television Network and 18 cable/satellite channels such as Food Network, Home & Garden TV, History Network, Slice, National Geographic, BBC Canada, and Movietime. Canwest also operated one of the largest digital portals in the country, Canada.com. Internationally, Canwest controlled and operated television networks in Australia (Network 10), New Zealand (TV3 and TV4), Ireland (TV3) and Chile (La Red), 4 radio networks in Turkey, as well as Eye Corp., an out of home signage company operating in the US and several countries in Australasia. Canwest became a publicly traded Company in 1991 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and for approximately 10 years was also listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. Asper is also one of the founders of Canterbury Park Capital, a private equity fund, and holds a significant interest in Creswin Properties, a developer, operator and manager of shopping malls in the US and Canada.
A graduate of Brandeis University and the University of Toronto Law School, he is also a member of the Ontario Bar. He was included in Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 as well as being named CEO of the year by Playback, a media industry publication.
Leonard also serves on the Board of the Manitoba Business Council, as well as the Board of Trustees of Brandeis University, where he founded the Asper School for Entrepreneurship at the International Business School of Brandeis. He is a Trustee of the Asper Foundation, the founder of the Joshua Foundation and a member of the Board of Governors of the Saul and Claribel Simkin Center, a seniors’ housing complex in Winnipeg. Mr. Asper also served for 5 years on the Board of the University of Winnipeg Foundation and holds an honorary Doctorate in Laws from that institution.
