Douglas H. Mitchell, former member of the National Hockey League Board of Directors and commissioner of the Canadian Football League, will be the keynote speaker at the 2004 CoSIDA Kickoff Luncheon.
Mitchell is currently the national co-chairman and Calgary regional managing partner of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Canada’s second largest law firm. He will also serve on a panel discussion about crisis management following Monday’s Kickoff Luncheon.
The Calgary native first attended Colorado College on a hockey scholarship. While attending the Colorado Springs school he also played football before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in
business administration.
Mitchell then enrolled in law school at the University of British Columbia, graduating with an LL.B. While at UBC he also played football, then went on to play for the British Columbia Lions of the CFL.
The keynote speaker started his law career with the firm of Howard, Mackie. In 1984 he took a five-year leave of absence from the firm to accept an appointment as Commissioner of the CFL, returning to his firm in 1989.
Before his stint with the CFL, Mitchell served four years, 1980-84, as alternate governor and a member of the board of governors for the NHL.
In 1999 Mitchell undertook a leadership role in completing a national merger of five law firms in Canada, resulting in the new firm Borden Ladner Gervais, which now employees more than 700 lawyers.
This year’s CoSIDA workshop will be held at the Telus Convention Center in Calgary, a downtown development Mitchell has championed. In 1996 he served as chair of the Calgary Convention Center feasibility committee, which led to construction of the Telus CC.
Mitchell’s involvement over the years in numerous public companies and community organizations has been recognized often, including:
The Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), the national governing body of university sport in Canada, named its football semifinal game the Mitchell Bowl in honor of the former member of the CFL player;
Mitchell is a member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and served nine years as the radio color commentator for the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders;
Recipient of the national Lester Pearson Award in 1996 as the outstanding alumni of the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union;
In 1991, he was the driving force behind the creation of the Howard, Mackie Awards which celebrate the CIS Male and Female Athletes of the Year, respectively;
Appointed by the Province of Alberta in 1994 as chair of the Professional Sports Policy Committee to undertake a review of government involvement in professional sport;
Served on the board of directors for the 2001 World Track and Field Games in Edmonton; Mitchell has held several prestigious titles, including past chairman of Young Lawyers Conference of Canada and past member of the National Executive, Canadian Bar Association;
In addition, he is a past chairman of the Alberta Economic Development Authority and past president of The Calgary Chamber of Commerce;
The Kickoff Luncheon will be held from Noon-1:50 p.m., Monday, June 28 in the Hyatt Regency Imperial Ballroom.