Debra S. Jonasson-Young, MBA, Inducted into the Worldwide Who's Who Registry

    WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA, June 26, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Debra S. Jonasson-Young, MBA, has been recognized by Worldwide Who's Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in her career.

Ms. Jonasson-Young is a strategic and visionary leader who has consistently excelled in creating a consumer-centric culture while optimizing company profits over her 25-year career and has been active in the Winnipeg business community for over thirty years. Debra started her career as a part-time student with Eaton's and worked her way up through the ranks with many notable firsts, including the first woman to be appointed to the position of Store Manager in Winnipeg, the only woman to manage a major market flagship store, and one of only two women to be appointed to the position of Regional General Manager within Eaton's.

Debra left Eaton's in 1998 and enrolled in the full-time MBA program at the Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba. Upon graduation with her MBA in general management with an international business focus, she commenced her career with Videon CableSystems assuming the position of Vice-President and General Manager for the Manitoba North Western Ontario Region until Videon was acquired by Shaw Cable in 2001.

Following her time at Videon, Debra became Vice-President of Shopper's Optical where she was responsible for the strategic direction and operation of the national chain's 75 locations across Canada as well as the merchandising, supply chain, distribution and advertising functions within the organization.

Most recently, Debra was Vice-President of Dufresne Furniture and Appliances, responsible for the strategic direction, marketing, merchandising and operations of the retail division. In addition, Debra was responsible for a wholesale alliance with the North West Company to provide furniture and appliance solutions to 150 northern stores across northern Canada as well as the Dufresne Retail Solutions Group, a buying group supplying retail solutions to over 80 independent furniture retailers across Canada.

Throughout her career, Debra has demonstrated bench strength in consumer behavior and marketing, with clear business development insight. She is highly skilled at attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional talent and is committed to the bottom line. She is a results-driven and decisive problem solver with acumen in improving processes to boost productivity and profitability as well as an adept financial manager with extensive experience in planning and managing capital projects. Debra's additional strengths, which are varied and extensive, include general management, sales & service, marketing & branding, multi & distributed-site operations management, ROI optimization, human resource management, strategic & long-range planning, execution, and business re-engineering.

Debra is Past-Chair and currently sits on the board of the Associates of the IH Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba, a group of 250 senior business leaders in support of the business school. She is Chair of the Women of Winnipeg and sits on the board of Value Partners investment firm. She was a Governor of the Manitoba Museum for nine years and sat on the Board of Manitoba Hydro. As well, Debra served as Past-Chair for the Winnipeg Downtown Business Improvement Zone, sat on the board of Tourism Winnipeg and acted in an advisory role to the University of Manitoba, Continuing Education Division as well as the Red River College, Business Administration program. In the mid to late 90's, she served as a Board Member of CentrePlan and Urban Shared Services.

About Worldwide Who's Who
With over 500,000 members representing every major industry, Worldwide Who's Who is a powerful networking resource that enables professionals to outshine their competition, in part through effective branding and marketing. Worldwide Who's Who employs similar public relations techniques to those utilized by Fortune 500 companies, making them cost-effective for members who seek to take advantage of its career enhancement and business advancement services.

Worldwide Who's Who membership provides individuals with a valuable third-party endorsement of their accomplishments, and gives them the tools needed to brand themselves and their businesses effectively. In addition to publishing biographies in print and electronic form, it offers an online networking platform where members can establish new professional relationships.

For more information, please visit http://www.worldwidewhoswho.com.

Contact:
Ellen Campbell
Director, Media Relations
[email protected]

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