Manitoba's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 28
MANITOBA’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2026)
28
Magellan soars with training and community giving
R
on Drepaul’s first
job with Magellan
Aerospace, Winnipeg
was on the shop floor,
cleaning parts using a
vapour degreaser. It was 1988 and
he was 22 years old. Within half a
year, he moved up into an hourly
staff position. Today, 37 years later
and after progressing through
many different roles in different
departments and functions,
Drepaul is the general manager
for Magellan’s Winnipeg site.
Magellan Aerospace is a global
company that designs, engineers
and manufactures aeroengine
and aerostructure components for
the aerospace, space and military
markets. It has 3,200 employees
worldwide, with 600 in Winnipeg,
where company employees build
everything from complex aircraft
assemblies to satellite buses.
Bringing talented people
into the organization is
something we’re always
thinking about. We also
recognize that there’s
something powerful about
promoting from within.
— Ron Drepaul
General Manager
As Drepaul advanced through
the many steps of his career with
Magellan, he took advantage
of training opportunities, both
internal and external. For
instance, he obtained a certificate
of management, which he
completed with support from his
Employees at Magellan Aerospace, Winnipeg receive service recognition awards.
employer and which augmented
a Red River College Polytechnic
business certificate he already had
when he first joined.
Magellan highlights the
opportunities for people to get
training, including from external
institutions, Drepaul says. “We
also offer internal training,
whether it’s on-the-job training or
courses that people take internally.
In addition, we have some very
simple but powerful lunch-andlearn events where people learn
what other functions are doing.”
From a management
perspective, an important
rationale for providing training
is to develop and nourish the
talent pipeline, Drepaul says.
“Bringing talented people into the
organization is something we’re
always thinking about. We also
recognize that there’s something
powerful about promoting from
within.”
Drepaul acknowledges that his
experience of working for one
company throughout an entire
career is unusual today. “We’re
now dealing with a culture where
individuals are looking to move
to grow their careers,” he notes.
“By encouraging staff to try out
new roles or different functions
within the company, people have
a chance to experience job growth
without leaving Magellan.”
Drepaul also acknowledges
that for a major employer in
Winnipeg, it is important to give
back to the community. “We have
a lot available to us, in training
and moving forward in our career.
We’re blessed to have the jobs that
we have. Others don’t have that.”
Magellan’s focus on and
encouragement of community
involvement resonates with Dawn
Madden, program manager for
aerostructures. Soon after she
was hired in 2021, Madden joined
the company’s Social and Welfare
Committee. Her initial goal largely
was to connect with and get to
know her new colleagues. But
what she really got was a “good
sense of the real importance
of community involvement to
Magellan,” she says, adding
