AfterTMU — Dakota Whyte
Dakota Whyte
MBA ’22, Executive Director PS43 Foundation
Why did you choose the TRSM MBA program at TMU?
It was always a desire of mine to continue my higher education journey and complete an MBA. Throughout the search process for the right program, TMU stood out very early on. The innovative curriculum, diverse body of students, and experienced faculty appealed to me. As a sports industry professional, the sports business focus was a differentiator that solidified my attendance. Additionally, completing the MBA locally in Toronto was very important to me. Completing the MBA part-time while still working full-time was required to succeed on my journey. The TRSM MBA program fulfilled all the requirements I needed to feel confident to pursue the MBA journey.
What skills or experiences gained at TMU have helped you most in your career thus far?
The top skills that have helped me most on my career journey following the MBA program have been strategic thinking and planning, data analysis, and building professional networks. The experience that was most useful and applicable to my career now was the MBA consulting capstone, which grounded me in teamwork and collaboration, innovative problem solving, and adaptability.
Dakota Whyte and a group of youth pose alongside Pascal Siakam for a group shot at a Right to Play event.
What do you consider the best part of your job? What is the most challenging?
As the Executive Director of the PS43 Foundation, the best part of my job is the beneficiaries. Working towards finding solutions to advancing education for marginalized youth is one of the most fulfilling aspects of my career because everyone should have access to equitable learning. The most challenging part of my job is fulfilling those needs fast enough.
What attributes/qualities do you feel are required to be successful in your field of work?
There are many extremely important attributes and qualities that I feel are required to be successful in sports philanthropy. To name a few, empathy, humility, ethical judgement, and integrity are key. Strategic thinking, innovation, and creativity are necessary for solving complex problems, while collaboration and long-term vision also play an important role in resilience within the field.
Your career has had an interesting evolution, from professional basketball player to working for one of the sports’ best-loved basketball brands (Nike) to now being the executive director of PS43 Foundation, former Toronto Raptor Pascal Siakam’s not-for-profit. Can you tell us a bit about how you got there?
I was fortunate to land the opportunity with the PS43 Foundation by working closely with Ralph Lean, one of my mentors and a current professor at TMU. While working on a philanthropic project, he had been mentoring me and encouraged me to consider the role with the foundation. From there, the rest was history, and I am extremely grateful.
Dakota speaks on a panel for a Nike event.
You’ve managed to combine your passions with your career. When you reflect on that, what do you think helped you do that?
As cliché as this may sound, I believe that staying true to myself is how I built a career rooted in my passions. In a less cliché manner, I think that leveraging every aspect of my life/sports experience and using that as my strength and sophisticated expertise was a huge contributing factor to my ability to build my career path.
Among your career accomplishments, which one stands out as your personal favourite?
As an athlete, my favourite career accomplishment is participating in the first-ever Youth Olympics and becoming a Youth Olympian. As a working professional, it would be winning the “Win As A Team” Maxim Award twice in the same year at Nike, which really reflects all of the tremendous work accomplished with my teammates.
If you could start all over again, would you change your career path in any way?
I would not change anything at all. I am a firm believer that you are predestined to do exactly what you set out to do ☺.
