{"id":98839,"date":"2025-01-27T12:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T17:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=98839"},"modified":"2025-01-27T17:29:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T22:29:42","slug":"brock-grad-named-among-worlds-top-business-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/01\/brock-grad-named-among-worlds-top-business-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock grad named among world\u2019s top business leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Sparaga (BBA \u201993) is creating meaningful change in the world \u2014 and his efforts are being recognized by the global business community.<\/p>\n

The Co-founder and Managing Operating Partner of Red Jar Energy Partners is one of 24 business grads from around the world named to AACSB International\u2019s 2025 Class of Influential Leaders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) is the longest-serving accrediting body for business schools, accrediting less than six per cent of the world\u2019s business schools. Its 10th annual initiative highlights innovative problem-solvers who have used their entrepreneurial skills to achieve their business goals while fostering economic growth in their communities, generating new value for existing organizations and leveraging creative thinking to solve societal challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cJason\u2019s work demonstrates how business schools can fuel solution-minded leaders to create new business ventures and solve complex challenges,\u201d said Lily Bi, AACSB President and CEO. \u201cThrough entrepreneurial approaches and visionary thinking, Jason is creating meaningful change in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

After finishing his Honours Bachelor of Business Administration at Brock, Sparaga went on to earn a professional accounting designation. Today, he has more than 30 years of experience as a skilled dealmaker and entrepreneur who specializes in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic leadership and planning.<\/p>\n

His entrepreneurial career has been defined by his ability to identify and take advantage of market gaps in traditional industries and create value through innovative business models and creative deal structures.<\/p>\n

As co-founder of Red Jar Energy Partners, he leads an experienced team focused on developing bespoke energy infrastructure projects. The company prides itself on its role as tenacious change agent, leveraging creative thinking to ask “what if?” and “why not?” to challenge the status quo. This approach has positioned Red Jar as a leader in addressing the growing challenge of meeting increasing demand in the energy sector, which in turn supports broader community growth and economic development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m honoured to receive this acknowledgement,\u201d Sparaga said. \u201cThroughout my career I\u2019ve had the philosophy that you can do well in life and business while at the same time doing good for the world and this award recognizes the value of achieving both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to Red Jar, Sparaga founded the boutique investment and merchant bank Spara Capital Partners, through which he facilitated transactions valued in excess of $1 billion, and was the Co-Founder and CEO of Spark Power, which he and his partners grew from four people and no revenue in 2010 to more than 1,300 team members and $275 million in revenue primarily through a series of strategic acquisitions across North America.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are incredibly proud that Jason is being recognized alongside this impressive global cohort,\u201d said Goodman Dean Barry Wright. \u201cThroughout his entrepreneurial career, Jason has exemplified excellence, determination and true\u00a0commitment to innovation.\u00a0We are honoured\u00a0to celebrate this\u00a0AACSB\u00a0recognition with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sparaga has stayed actively involved with Goodman, giving back his time and expertise while also acting as a mentor to student leaders. In 2016, Sparaga was honoured<\/a> with Goodman\u2019s Distinguished Graduate award and was inducted into the School\u2019s Beta Gamma Sigma honour society\u2019s chapter. He is also a member of Goodman\u2019s Senior Alumni Council and has previously served on the Dean\u2019s Advisory Council.<\/p>\n

Amid all of his career accolades, Sparaga is particularly proud of his charitable work focused on autism and on youth in underserved and economically challenged communities. He is Chair and President of Unity for Autism, a lead sponsor of Racing with Autism and a Board Member of 13th Round Fight for Life.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing from a low-income environment and smaller university, I always considered myself an underdog and I\u2019ve positioned my mindset that way,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully this honour and all of the things I\u2019ve been able to achieve in business inspires others to use their underdog status to capitalize as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jason Sparaga (BBA \u201993) is creating meaningful change in the world \u2014 and his efforts are being recognized by the global business community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":98843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,39,7484,3319,1],"tags":[7829,13425,13424,3333,2852,594,1641],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98839"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98849,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98839\/revisions\/98849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}