Executive Director
DAVID PENSATO
David is a place management professional with a background in public engagement, strategic planning, and brand strategy with a career spanning a wide range of client work in both the private and public sector. In his current role as the Executive Director of the Exchange District Business Improvement Zone in Winnipeg, he has been directly involved in advocating, leading, and creating a broad range of initiatives related to urban development. As an innovator, strategic planner, and branding expert, David’s eye for detail and ability to continually see the big picture (and beyond) compliment his love for the area, making him the ideal person to engage and interact with the Exchange’s many member businesses, residents, and visitors.
Manager of Operations and Strategic Initiatives
SANDY KLOWAK
As a long-time lover of the Exchange District’s significant cultural and heritage offerings, Sandy is pleased to lend her efforts to an organization committed to continually enhancing its vibrancy. Sandy is a Creative Communications grad, with a background in journalism and project coordination. Her diverse experience and skillset are well-suited for her role keeping things moving and bringing exciting projects and initiatives to life. After hours, she is a visual artist exploring the obscure and nearly lost historic craft of Victorian hairwork. Sandy has also made it her mission to explore every single rural museum Manitoba has to offer with her partner and daughter.
Marketing + Communications Coordinator
JESSIE SCHMIDTKE
No stranger to the Exchange, Jessie brings experience writing about many of the neighbourhood’s restaurants, shops and events from her time as editor for a local lifestyle magazine headquartered on Market Ave. She quickly realized her passion for connecting with the community and feels very lucky to be part of a team that believes in the Exchange District’s potential. She puts her degree in Rhetoric, Writing and Communications to good use promoting the neighbourhood’s distinct community spirit and bringing people together. When Jessie’s not sipping a beer at Nonsuch Brewery with friends, you’ll find her in Lake of the Woods lounging on the dock with a good book and her dogs.
Administrative Coordinator
ALEX WALLACE
A born and raised Londoner, Alex made the leap over the Atlantic to Winnipeg during summer 2020. She previously worked in Talent Acquisition for a prominent British clothing brand and is excited to find new ways to apply her HR experience alongside the team at the Exchange District BIZ. Learning about the varied aspects of this iconic neighbourhood through the work that the BIZ does has given Alex a deeper sense of connection to her adopted city, though she can’t wait to explore even more in a post-pandemic world.