MEDIA RELEASE
40th anniversary of Manitoba’s premier business event takes place on May 30, 2024
NOVEMBER 22, 2023
The Associates of the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba announced the 2024 International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award (IDEA) recipient, Gerry Price. The local philanthropist and business icon, with a global presence across five continents and a team of more than 4,500 employees, has helped catapult Price Industries and now the Price Group of Companies from $30 million in sales to more than $1 billion. He guided this prairie powerhouse via the Price Way, the company’s business model that is rooted in values such as growth, innovation and, fundamentally, service. Gerry holds a Bachelor of Science (1970) and Master of Science (1972) degrees in Mechanical Engineering and an Honorary Doctor of Laws (2017) from the University of Manitoba, as well as a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.
“It is an honour on the 40th anniversary of our event to present the 2024 International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award to Manitoba’s own Gerry Price,” says Arni Thorsteinson, Chair of the IDEA Committee and President of Shelter Canadian Properties Limited. “Bringing together excellence in both engineering and business, Gerry has transformed Winnipeg’s Price Industries Ltd. into a dominant global organization that continually pushes the boundaries of innovation. Gerry’s unwavering commitment to his team and community makes him an exemplary recipient of this award.”
The Price family has a longstanding connection to UM. In 2020, Gerry Price and his wife, Barb Price [BHE c/69, Cert Ed/70], generously donated $20 million to the Faculty of Engineering. The faculty now bears his name, and the investment will create additional faculty member positions, greatly enhancing the capacity of the undergraduate engineering program as well as its impact on students and our community. You can read more about the Price family’s generosity to UM here.
“UM is so grateful for all that Gerry Price and his family have done for our university and the community with his exceptional talents as an entrepreneur and engineer. It will be my pleasure to honour a local icon, who encapsulates all the competencies this university inspires: humanitarianism, creative problem-solving, communication and collaboration,” says Michael Benarroch, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Manitoba. “I look forward to celebrating and sharing his story with everyone at the gala in the spring.”
We are grateful to RBC for continuing as IDEA‘s Platinum Sponsor.
“There are icons in business and then there are those whose shoulders these icons stand upon. For both his entrepreneurial and generous spirit, Gerry Price is that person,” shares RBC Regional President Kim Ulmer. “We at RBC are returning once again to support IDEA because of the powerful role the Associates of the Asper School of Business play in honouring those who leave the deepest of footprints on the world around us.”
Founded as E.H. Price Limited in Winnipeg in 1949 by Ernest H. Price, the company was purchased by Gerry and Barb Price in 1986. In the years that followed, the company expanded its operations into the United States and beyond, became the number-one manufacturer of commercial HVAC products in North America and branched out into additional industries, including aluminum extrusion and glass manufacturing. The company is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024.
After Israel Asper, Gerry Price is the second person in UM’s history to be celebrated with the rare trifecta of an Honorary Degree, a Distinguished Alumni Award and the International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award.
The 2024 IDEA Dinner will take place on May 30, 2024, at the RBC Convention Centre.
For more information, please contact AnnaMaria Toppazzini, CEO, University of Manitoba Business School Foundation, Associates at the Asper School of Business, at: 204-981-4880, or email: ceo@associatesmb.ca