Mark Chipman

Mark Chipman is the principal owner and chairman of the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. He is also chairman of True North Sports & Entertainment, which operates the Jets and their home arena, the MTS Centre.

A Winnipeg native, Chipman was an honor student at the University of North Dakota, graduating with a degree in economics. He later obtained a law degree from the same institution. After working as a lawyer in Florida, he returned to his hometown in 1988 and joined Birchwood Automotive Group, a group of Winnipeg car dealerships founded by his father. Since 2001, he has been president of Birchwood's parent company, the Megill-Stephenson Company.^[1]

In 1996, Chipman led a group that bought the International Hockey League's Minnesota Moose and moved them to Winnipeg as the Manitoba Moose. Chipman became team president, and shepherded the franchise's move to the American Hockey League in 2001. Also in 2001, Chipman formed True North Sports & Entertainment as the Moose's parent company. He also spearheaded the construction of the MTS Centre, which opened in 2004 as the Moose's home arena.^[2][3]

His real goal, however, was to bring the NHL back to Winnipeg in order to fill the void left by the original Jets team's departure in 1996. As early as 2009, Chipman and True North were reported to be in talks to buy the troubled Atlanta Thrashers and move them to Winnipeg.^[4] In May 2011, Chipman and True North announced they would be buying the Thrashers and moving them to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 NHL season, to play in the MTS Centre. At the 2011 NHL Draft held in St. Paul, Minnesota; Chipman revealed the franchise's new name just before making its first-round pick. He turned the mike over to general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, "who will make our first pick ... on behalf of the Winnipeg Jets."^[5] The Moose were moved to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador as the St. John's IceCaps, and became the Jets' top farm team.

Chipman also serves on the board of the Hockey Canada Foundation. He is married to Patti; they have three daughters.

References

1. ^ Hockey Canada Foundation Board of Directors
2. ^ "Winnipeg Jets deal: the investors who made it happen". CBC.ca. 2011-05-31. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/05/31/f-jets-investors-bios.html. Retrieved 2011-06-09. 
3. ^ "Chipman's plight to return the NHL to Winnipeg". Rogers Sportsnet. 2011-05-31. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2011/05/31/chipman_winnipeg/. Retrieved 2011-06-09. 
4. ^ Ken Wiebe, SUN Media (2009-10-04). "Thrashers to Winnipeg?". canoe.ca. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Atlanta/2009/10/04/11298236-sun.html. Retrieved 2010-12-13. 
5. ^ Lagace, Marc. The Jets will fly again. The Manitoban, 2011-07-22.

External links

• Jets profile