Susan Thompson

Susan Ann Thompson OM was the 40th mayor of Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was born on 12 April 1947.[2] She was the first and first to date only woman to serve as mayor of Winnipeg, serving two terms from 1992 to 1998.[3][4]

Thompson graduated with a BA from the University of Winnipeg in 1971.[2] Thompson worked at Eaton's and Hudson's Bay Company in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Montreal.[2] Because of her father's decline in health, she came back to Winnipeg in 1980 and bought the family's business Birt Saddlery.[2] While running Birt Saddlery, she worked hard to promote women in business and became involved in Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce.[2]

Thompson's second term saw the 1997 Flood of the Century; she was instrumental in directing the fight against the raging river.[2] She choose not to seek a third term, but in 1999 she became Canada's Consul General in Minneapolis, United States - the first woman to have this position in its thirty years of existence.[2] In this role she steadfastly promoted Canadian business and political interests.[2] In 2003, she became first and founding president and CEO of the University of Winnipeg Foundation.[2] She remained in this position until 2011.[2]

In 2014, Thompson made local headlines after a 30-minute speech she gave to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. In it she outlined her ideas for the city's future which included a laser pyramid Portage and Main.[5]

In 2017, a building at the Winnipeg City Hall Campus was renamed the Susan A. Thompson Building after her.[6]

The City of Winnipeg Archives has the Susan Thompson Fonds including of textual records, photograph albums, framed memorabilia, and artifacts.[2]