Alum of the month: Peddie growing engagement and giving back through Alumni Advisory Council role

Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – When he graduated in 2014, Matthew Peddie never set out to become the first-ever athletics representative on the MacEwan University Alumni Advisory Council. 

The former Griffins men's hockey player initially signed up on the MacEwan Men's Hockey Alumni board to help stay connected to the organization that provided a great university experience for him from 2010-14.

"I definitely didn't see myself in this role (when I graduated)," he said. "It's a big commitment, but I see a real opportunity with the growth of the school to develop engaged alumni groups that can play an important role. My role has really developed since I got involved."

Today, he serves at the president of the Griffins Men's Hockey Alumni Board, is the athletics representative on the MacEwan Alumni Advisory Council and is part of a group leading the development of an athletics alumni group integrated across all teams.

"With the hockey alumni, Matt Rube put a ton of time and effort in and did a great job setting the framework, and I took over from him to keep pushing forward," said Peddie. "I jumped at the opportunity to be on the university alumni advisory council because I not only saw the benefits that playing for the hockey team gave me in life but school as a whole and wanted to be involved."

Peddie sees an opportunity for the newly-created athletics alumni group to grow engagement and the relationship amongst alumni and current Griffins student-athletes.

"I had a great experience both on the hockey team and at MacEwan," he said. "I wanted to continue to be a part of that and stay connected after graduation but also to be a part of the growing community that is MacEwan and providing support for students to continue to have great opportunities."

When some leaders of the Griffins hockey alumni group moved on, Peddie picked up the mantle and kept it rolling. Among other initiatives, they continue to organize golf tournaments to raise money for the Griffins men's hockey team and work towards increased alumni engagement.

So, he was a natural choice for the athletics representative role when the MacEwan University Alumni Advisory Council was formed last year. 

"I just see MacEwan as a great place to go to school," explained Peddie, who graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting. "I think the small class sizes and the opportunities I had at MacEwan both through hockey and school pushed me to be more involved. It ended up helping me in the long term to where I am today."

Matthew Peddie played 84 games over four seasons with the MacEwan Griffins from 2010-14 (photos supplied).

"I tie it back to MacEwan where I initially was more focused on hockey, I wasn't as comfortable presenting, I didn't push to be involved for the most part and didn't necessarily know what the future held for me," he added. "The small class sizes and the necessary requirements to be involved in group settings, giving presentations and overall being more engaged in classes … I think that all factored into longer term opportunities post-University that I didn't maybe recognize at the time."

After graduation, Peddie landed a job with a mid-size public accounting firm. He added a Masters of Professional Accounting from the University of Saskatchewan, which led to his Chartered Professional Accounting designation.

All of that prepared him for his current role with Ernst & Young (EY) Corporate Finance in the Strategy and Transactions practice where he continued with his education, completing a Chartered Business Valuation designation.

"In my first accounting position, I had great mentors and was given the opportunity to learn a lot and try a lot of different types of work," he explained. "The work doing valuations and cash flow analysis sparked my interest. I wanted to do more and focus on it in my career.

"I made the jump to a position with EY Corporate Finance. The practice I'm in works closely with business owners and C-Suite individuals in a strategic advisory role. We advise in the full process of selling businesses generally in the $5M to $100M+ range, assisting companies that wish to grow through acquisitions or capital raises, and working in a debt advisory capacity to assist in re-working companies' capital structure when necessary."

It's a role that he didn't anticipate being in while a student, but he explained the accounting degree at MacEwan opened a lot of doors. 

"Once you're an accountant, there are numerous opportunities across different industries that you can choose."

Peddie, a product of the CAC Edmonton Canadians in his youth, played junior hockey in Wyoming for the Yellowstone Quake before evaluating his post-secondary options. He was given an opportunity to join the Griffins midway through the 2010-11 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference season.

"I was in between teams," he explained. "I had been traded a few times and had come home for Christmas but had a couple of teams in the States I was talking to. I went out for a couple of skates (with the Griffins) over Christmas and they offered me a spot.

"It was a great opportunity to be able to stay home and play for a local university."

Peddie started with a team languishing at the bottom of the standings, but partway through his career under the new leadership of head coach Bram Stephen, the program began to show signs of transforming into the powerhouse it would become.

"I started when the team was struggling a little bit more," he said. "Bram took over played a big role in building a winning culture. I played for him until I was done and was able to be a part of that process. It was awesome to see him take them to a championship after I left."

In the moments after the Griffins won the first of three-straight ACAC championships in 2017 at NAIT Arena, Stephen was quick to give credit to the alumni who came before and laid the groundwork for the success the program was finally realizing.

The coach, who is now with the Alberta Junior Hockey League's Spruce Grove Saints, said that night: "There's a lot of alumni that played early on when we first came on board the last five years that we preached selflessness and they were a part of today, even though they're not going to be on the trophy. (There have been) a lot of good people in the last five years that helped build the culture that got to today."

Matthew Peddie (centre back) and the 2012 Griffins under head coach Bram Stephen were part of the group that laid the foundation for the program's future success - three-straight ACAC Championships from 2017-19 (photo supplied).

Peddie, who played in 84 career games with the Griffins, is one of those individuals. And he hasn't missed any of the Griffins' championship wins (also in 2018 and 2019) – sitting in the stands as the team now coached by Michael Ringrose erupted in celebration each time.

"Early on after I graduated, I knew a lot of players on the team, so I felt connected in a way even though I wasn't playing," he said. "We saw the group turn the corner towards a winning culture under Bram and continuing in the same direction under Mike. It's really great to see."

Now, the next chapter for the program: a move into the Canada West conference. And Peddie aims to continue to provide the opportunity for alumni to stay connected with the team.

"We're still trying to build the group," he said of an initiative he credits Stephen with starting. "It wasn't an existing alumni group and over a few years we've been able to get more engagement from some of the older players, especially driven by Matt Rube and Chris Boyle, who initially played a major role in pushing it forward. Now, a lot of it really does come from more recent players, especially the guys who have been on successful teams, and we're trying to continue to build that engagement."

Stronger alumni engagement remains a goal across all Griffins teams. To help achieve that, representatives from every sport have been selected to form an Athletics Alumni Council, chaired by Peddie. This is allowing the opportunity to connect that group with the larger MacEwan Alumni Advisory Council. 

"We're just starting the Athletics Alumni Council with representation from each team, so it's going to be a year of making all the teams aware of what the other teams are doing and having the teams reach out to their alumni," noted Peddie. "This should build athletics alumni engagement with the eventual goal of holding more events and having more alumni attending games to really grow athletics alumni and athletics as a whole."