LuAn Mitchell-Halter

As entrepreneur, corporate executive, author, motivational speaker, philanthropist and mother, LuAn Mitchell-Halter has lived a life of wide experience, harsh reality and repeated triumph. Mitchell-Halter has reached the pinnacle of business success being named Canadas Number One Female Entrepreneur for three successive years by Chatelaine and Profit Magazines. On the international stage, she has been honored annually since 2001 by the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World. McGill University of Montreal has named MitchellHalter as the 2003 recipient of the McGill Management Achievement Award for excellence of achievement in business and community service.

Mitchell-Halters business experience began with her own salon, spa and modeling school and included
as Chair of the Board of Directors - shepherding Mitchells Gourmet Foods from the brink of bankruptcy to one of Canadas most successful value-added food processors.

Mitchell-Halter's life is a story of struggle and survival. From the country kid who was taunted as "Elly May" at her high school, to the confident mother of three young children who rose to command one of Canada's largest food processing companies, she has always triumphed, although she has also endured much.
She grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1984, she represented the City of Saskatoon in the Miss Canada Pageant.

Fred Mitchell was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis just before he and LuAn were married in August, 1986. After nearly dying of the disease, he survived a rare heart and double lung transplant in 1990. But their troubles were just beginning: a battle for the family business erupted and Fred and LuAn were forced out. They sold their home to continue the fight, eventually winning back control of Mitchell's Gourmet Foods.
To keep abreast of mega-mergers in the grocery business, massive expansion of Mitchells was required. Fred and LuAn developed an aggressive plan to finance the expansion by taking the company public. Just before the company was to be listed on the stock exchange, during a routine medical checkup, Fred Mitchell died in October, 1998.

Assuming LuAn didn't have the will to run the meatpacking business, the corporate vultures began to circle. LuAn had other ideas: she rallied her board members, her shareholders, her employees and her customers and, ultimately, she drove the vultures away. Husband Fred had a blueprint for their family business, and she intended to implement it.

She orchestrated a strategic partnership with Schneider's Corporation that facilitated a $44 million expansion and creation of hundreds of new jobs. In late 2002 LuAn sold her interest in the company to Schneiders Corporation.

Mitchell-Halter released her first book, Paper Doll: Lessons Learned From A Life Lived In The Headlines, on February 1, 2004. Drawing on her vast array of life experiences, Mitchell-Halter shares her strategies of meeting with and overcoming adversity - turning tragedy into triumph. She has learned how to achieve her dreams and live a fulfilled and happy life. She will share with you her secrets about surviving - and succeeding - in a hectic and often unpredictable world.

Children's literacy and environmental awareness are among Mitchell-Halters many interests. She has written several children's stories and visited many schools to give readings. From 1990 to 1994, she served as an advisor to "Kids for Saving Earth, North America." She also holds a patent on "Save The Planet," an environmental board game she invented.

Mitchell-Halter is an active community volunteer, having served on the Board of Directors of several charitable organizations, including the United Way, YWCA and Junior Achievement. Mitchell-Halter is President and CEO of Save The Planet Holdings and led Mitchells Gourmet Foods from 1998 to 2003 as Chair of the Board. She serves on several outside boards including The Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World, Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government Womens Leadership Board and the University of Saskatchewans Institute of Agricultural, Rural and Environmental Health. Mitchell-Halter is in constant demand as a motivational speaker and she has appeared on the internationally-acclaimed Hour of Power television broadcast as featured guest of Rev. Robert Schuller. Mitchell-Halter believes a unified, happy family is life's greatest achievement. She remarried and with her husband Dr. Reese Halter and their three children, travels between their dream homes in Banff, Alberta, and Palm Springs, California.