Tina Jones, O.M.

Tina Jones is a highly successful entrepreneur, community builder and philanthropist. She is the owner of Jones & Company Wine Merchants and principal of Wine and Drinks College Manitoba (WDCM). Jones is also partner in The Rink Training Centre, and partner in Winnipeg’s Green Carrot Juice Company.

Jones’s life and work have centred in Manitoba, where her community service, innovation and accomplishments have been recognized with the Order of Manitoba, Manitoba’s highest honour (2020). She has been named by the Women’s Executive Network as one of Canada’s 100 most powerful women (2018); the Association of Fundraising Professionals Manitoba has named her Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year (2017); and the University of Manitoba honoured her with the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2018.

In all her endeavors she works in every way toward equity; she understands the immigrant experience, she mentors women starting out in business, she empowers women, and indeed everyone she encounters, to achieve great things, she works toward reform, she uses her power and influence to effect more change and she works tirelessly for what she believes is right.

Jones and her sister were the first women to hold a private wine store license in the province. Jones founded Wine and Drinks College Manitoba (WDCM), the partner school that has grown from the Jones & Company endeavor. WDCM is the first private wine-focused educational institution in Manitoba certified by the Canadian government and the first institution in Manitoba to offer courses and programs through or accredited by the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (London, UK), the Wine Scholar Guild (USA) and the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (affiliated with the Association de la Sommellierie Internationale, based in Paris, France).

As a builder of sports in Manitoba, Jones has made a remarkable contribution through The Rink to help build a first-of-its kind $25-million facility in south Winnipeg and to develop multi-faceted hockey programming opportunities as innovative as they are successful. While this suite of sports business developments is world-class and innovative in and of itself, the impact on women is immense. With her leadership, The Rink programming has also developed women’s and girls’ programming at the same time as the development of the men’s and boys’ programs.

As board member of the Health Sciences Centre Foundation since 2013 and chair since 2015, Jones is credited with fundraising more than $50 million in the last five years, including an exceptional $17.5 million in revenue in 2018-19.

In her business work, she applies social justice as part of what she does. In her community work, she is ready to apply hours of her own energy and significant contributions of her own money before asking others to do the same. She has changed the fabric of our province for the better in this community work, in her sports leadership, and in her innovative businesses and mentorship. The impact of her work will continue to be felt for a long time to come.