SASKATOONEXPRESS - December 26-31, 2016 - Page 1
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Volume 14, Issue 50, Week of December 26, 2016
Saskatoonʼs REAL Community Newspaper
Kent SmithWindsor: Never standing still
Kent Smith-Windsor, executive director of Saskatoon Chamber, is retiring after 21 years. (Photo by Sandy Hutchinson) Joanne Paulson Saskatoon Express ent Smith-Windsor admits that his family has some “trepidation” around his impending retirement from the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, after 21 years in the executive director’s role. “They know I spend a fair bit of time on work,” said Smith-Windsor in an understatement, during an interview. It remains to be seen whether he can actually, well, retire. It’s still a few months away, once the chamber board finds a replacement and Smith-Windsor helps that person get oriented. “I’m not looking past the finish line, other than I know I need to run through it. After that I have a vague idea that after that, I’m going to do my best to give myself as close to a year of dead air as I can. “That’ll be hard on me. But it’s important, JW122603 James
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in my view, to be able to get my head clear. I’ll likely be involved in things . . . I’m not sure. I’ll see how long I can hold out. “I’m excited about it, and they (his family) know it. So it’ll be OK.” As for the chamber, there’s no doubt he’ll be missed — he was everywhere. “Credit for the success of the chamber and our business community is largely due to the tireless commitment of Kent over many years,” said board chair Jason Yochim. “Rarely do you find an individual who is that dedicated and passionate for business. When I think of Kent, I think of a man who is respected locally and nationally for his integrity, business savvy, networking and unfathomable wisdom. “Kent understood how to efficiently manage his staff and get the most out of the chamber’s committees and directors. His presence at the board table and business functions will be missed for sure.”
Saskatoon changes during Smith-Windsor’s tenure Saskatoon has changed considerably, and perhaps even dramatically, since SmithWindsor began his 30-plus-year career at the helms of business organizations in Saskatoon. The city has nearly doubled in size, and there have been countless changes in policy, direction, and business-building initiatives. He started with the chamber during his university years. There was a group called the Pioneer Days Promotion Association, which was “an attempt to get Saskatoon doing something like Klondike Days in Edmonton,” and he was its manager. “Made lots of mistakes,” he said, looking back. “They were very forgiving, because a young rookie was starry-eyed and anxious. The interest and the skill were a gap. They gave me permission to try to get a little better each year.”
He moved on to work in retail and then commercial banking with the predecessor to Business Development Bank of Canada, during “a very difficult time when interest rates were very high and the economy was not strong, and you saw a full square in entrepreneurial courage.” That was followed by a 10-year term at The Partnership, the downtown business improvement district (now Downtown Saskatoon), where they were always asking the question of how to keep Saskatoon’s downtown — so distinctive from others — alive. “Animating the street level became the key priority, so (we) got involved in a bunch of the festivals . . . angle parking on Second Avenue . . . there were lots of things like that where the community gave us permission to try.” And it worked. “It’s not unusual for someone to come from elsewhere on a Tuesday night and see all the traffic downtown and ask, is there something going on? And we say ‘no, that’s kind of normal.’ And that’s not normal in 99 per cent of the cities in North America.” Upon arriving at the chamber, the first file on his desk was property tax reassessment: the business community was going to ask for a reduction, and that required some finesse. “The business community understood how to be an advocate rather than a fighter,” said Smith-Windsor. “A lot of entrepreneurs deal with the frustrations that are beyond their control with anger, and it’s legitimate, it’s real, it makes them human; but it doesn’t get you where you need to be. So how do you apply science to that, and persistence, and fair-minded advocacy that tries to find the mutual benefit around improving policy? “It was a significant growing up. I have to say yes, we brought effort, but the civic officials at the time including the elected ones were willing to listen to reason, because the traditional approach was just anger. And it wasn’t that the anger was wrong. It just didn’t get anywhere.” The chamber applied the same approach at the provincial government level on personal and corporate income taxes and property taxes, as well as potash and uranium royalties. “There was a time when a lot of our competitive advantage had been taxed away. If competitive advantage is taxed away, don’t be surprised if you don’t have any competitive advantages,” said Smith-Windsor. (Continued on page 13)
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4-8 pm Saturday, February 11th, 2017 at THE GLEN AT CROSSMOUNT
For more information or tickets go to www.theglenatcrossmount.ca/program/princessball
Proceeds go to The Children’s Hospital Foundation - N.I.C.U. Ward