Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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The Regina Exhibition Association Ltd. is searching for a new CEO once again.
On Thursday, the organization announced that president and CEO Rick Bennett has left his role “for personal and family reasons.” Trent Fraser, who served as REAL’s acting president and CEO from April to June of this year, will take over on an interim basis until a new leader is hired.
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Bennett, a long-time executive with experience in hospitality, sports, tourism and venue operations, had only held the CEO role since June 16.
REAL CEO Rick Bennett announces a Foo Fighters concert at Mosaic Stadium. REAL said Bennett stepped down from the CEO role for personal and family reasons. (Abby Zieverink/980 CJME)
He replaced former CEO Tim Reid, who was removed from the position by the association’s board in January of 2024 following a disastrous tourism campaign dubbed “Experience Regina,” which was heavily criticized for using sexual humour in promoting the city.
The association said the search for Bennett’s replacement will begin in 2026.
Jaime Boldt, REAL board chair, thanked Bennett for his contributions and wished his family well.
She’s confident in Fraser’s leadership, but said it will be for a longer period this time around.
“It will give us an opportunity to push pause and reset, and with stability under Trent’s leadership in the organization,” she explained.
She thinks the transition will be seamless and that the public won’t see any difference
Bennett was only with the organization for a few months, but Boldt said she’s not concerned about how that looks. She said REAL is going to be able to keep its momentum.
“Many of the things that are being done are by the folks with the boots on the ground, and they’ll continue working and doing all the good stuff and keeping that momentum going,” Boldt said.
She said things like the Grey Cup and Foo Fighters events happen over months, and work had started before Bennett joined the organization.
“The team here at REAL will continue to do that good work to make sure that we’re providing quality stuff for the city of Regina,” she said.
“We are confident in Fraser’s ability to step right into the job and lead REAL over the next few months.”
Boldt said she wouldn’t comment further on the reasons for Bennett’s departure, citing confidentiality.
Bennett’s brief tenure at the helm of REAL appears to have been successful, as the organization recently announced two big events at Mosaic Stadium. Those include a performance by the Foo Fighters in September – the first concert at the stadium since 2019 – and the Grey Cup in 2027.
