Do you have the talent, vision and determination to make Manitoba a better place to live?

Three women at the Asper School of Business certainly do.

Each received a nomination for this year’s YMCA-YWCA Winnipeg Women of Distinction Award, given to women who enrich our community and inspire us with their creativity, compassion and dedication.

CAREGIVER

Dr. Chau Pham, an Asper MBA student, was honoured with the Woman of Distinction Award for Volunteerism, Advocacy and Community Enhancement.

The award recognized her tireless work with Canadians Helping Kids in Vietnam, an organization she founded in 1995 to build schools, provide clinical services and train medical personnel in Vietnam.

Pham’s personal journey is as inspiring as her work. At age five, she fled Vietnam and spent the next year and a half in a refugee camp before arriving in Winnipeg. She says she knew from her first days in Winnipeg that she wanted to give back to Canada as well as the country of her birth. Her commitment to caring for others later led her to work as an emergency room physician at Health Sciences Centre and St. Boniface Hospital.

She received the award on May 2, 2012, at the Gala Awards Dinner hosted by the Winnipeg YMCA-YWCA.

TRAILBLAZER

Dr. Usha Mittoo, a professor in the Department of Accounting & Finance, was nominated for a Woman of Distinction Award in the Education, Training & Mentorship category.

Mittoo began work as the University of Manitoba’s first female finance professor in 1988, and was the first woman appointed as the Bank of Montreal Professor of Finance in 2000.

As the first female Associate Dean at the Asper School of Business, she was instrumental in getting the School its AACSB accreditation. She helped raise the number of women holding tenure at the Department of Accounting and Finance from 10 to 40 per cent.

LEADER

Jaysa Nachitgall, a fourth year Commerce student, was nominated for a Woman of Distinction Award in the Young Women of Distinction category.

In 2011-2012, Nachtigall was President of the Commerce Students’ Association (CSA), one of the largest business school councils in North America. She led the CSA to one of its most successful years by rewriting outdated bylaws, overhauling the association’s organizational structure, and increasing student engagement.

She has volunteered for organizations as diverse as the CNIB and the Ryerson Family Centre. This year she slept outdoors to raise funds for the Five Days for the Homeless campaign, and served as a career mentor assistant, helping other students make positive career decisions by matching them with mentors in their field of interest.

We celebrate and salute our distinguished women in the Asper community!