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Chris Lorenc
President & CEO
A lawyer by background, Chris Lorenc has served as President & CEO of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA) since 1991, and President of the Western Canada Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction Association (WCR&HCA) since 1995.
Mr. Lorenc is employer representative (2023-2027) to the Board of Directors of the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba, a position he previously held from 2016-2019.
Mr. Lorenc has served since 2000 as member of the Manitoba Employers Council; is a founding member (2009) and past Chair (2016-2018) of the CentrePort Canada Board of Directors; founding Chair (since 2004) of the SAFE Roads Committee; founding member of the Manitoba Construction Sector Council (2001-2008) and returned to the Board in 2019. He served as employer representative on the Manitoba Labour Board 2008-2018 and was re-appointed in 2021. He is member of the Canadian Construction Association Civil National Advisory Council (Civil NAC) and Board member of the Civil Infrastructure Council Corporation (CICC) which advocates for sustained, predictable and incremental investment in Canada’s core infrastructure with a focus on growing the economy.
Mr. Lorenc served on Winnipeg City Council from 1983 until 1992. While on Council he was member of the Executive Policy Committee and chaired several of its Standing Committees, including Publics Works and Environment. He retired from elected office in 1992.
Since 1991, Mr. Lorenc has been active with the Canadian Construction Association (CCA). He has been a leading advocate championing the links between strategic investment in trade-enabling infrastructure and economic growth. His contributions at the national level were acknowledged with a public recognition presented to him by the CCA, the first time a chief operating officer has been so recognized.
In 2011, Mr. Lorenc chaired the Infrastructure Funding Council (IFC) Report for then Mayor Sam Katz and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM). It identified sustainable infrastructure funding models for municipalities. The report continues to influence and shape infrastructure funding policy discussion.
The Mayor’s Trade Council report he chaired (2007-08) for Mayor Katz is often cited as the genesis of CentrePort Canada. For this work, he was awarded in June 2009 the ‘Manitoba Service Excellence Partnership Award’ by the Government of Manitoba.
He was a member of the Winnipeg Football Club Board of Directors (2014-2020) and served as Corporate Secretary, member of its Executive Committee, Chair of its Community Relations Committee and member of its Governance and Nominations Committee; employer representative on the WCB Act Legislative Review Committees in 2005 and again in 2017; Chair of the WCB’s Prevention Committee (2017-2019); he chaired the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region Master Transportation Plan Implementation Task Force in 2015 resulting in a report Transportation Driving Growth (2016); in 2014 he initiated and was named chair of the CCA Aboriginal Engagement Best Practices Task Force, whose report Indigenous Engagement Guide is the first best-practices guide of its kind designed to assist the Canadian construction industry to meaningfully engage with Canada’s Indigenous communities. In 1998 and again in 2000 he chaired the Strategic Infrastructure Reinvestment Policy (SIRP) task forces which provided infrastructure investment guidance to the City of Winnipeg.
Mr. Lorenc has served on and/or chaired many civic and provincial policy task forces. He is often invited to speak to a variety of forums and to comment in media on broad public policy topics.
Mr. Lorenc has been married to Maria since 1981; they have three sons Marek (’84), Gregory (’86) and Michael (’88). He enjoys travelling, reading, boating, and spending time at the family cottage at Winnipeg Beach (’82).
