Jared Akman and Akman Construction and the Akman legacy are the 2025 Honourees of the Rady JCC Sports Dinner, at the RBC Convention Centre which wass sold out with 1200 people attending.
In 1912 Aaron Akman., Jared’s great grandfather founded A. Akman and Son Limited, the precursor to Akman Construction. “This was the same year that my grandfather Abraham (Lefty) Akman was born,” Jared explains. His great grandfather got his start by constructing homes in the North End of the City. "Lefty had his nickname because he was a left hand pitcher in baseball," Jared adds.
Lefty got involved in the company in 1942, and continued to develop and build homes and apartment buildings, including the four-story walk up that houses Akman Construction head offices at 346 Broadway
One of the places A. Akman and Son Ltd. built was the Rosh Pina synagogue in 1952.
Lefty’s three sons were all involved in the company by 1976. “Danny Akman ran the property management division. My dad Richie operated the construction division and Bob Akman was responsible for development,” Jared explains. The company developed, built and managed many notable Winnipeg buildings including Hampton Green and Park, 1800 Wellington, Blackwood Beverages, and Winnipeg Photo. The company also constructed a number of large – scale shopping centres in the 80’s including Garden City Square, as well as high-rise condominiums including 160 and 180 Tuxedo.
Lefty passed away in 1996 before the Asper Campus was completed in 1997. “ My dad Richie was responsible for the Campus build,” says Jared, who is now the company’s President.
Jared recalls he began working for the company at age 12 when he cleaned job site trailers. “I got to see the importance of having a clean trailer for the construction crew.” He then began working in the summers on job sites. “I worked on site at Red River College in the summer after high school.”
After graduating from Red River College in Civil Engineering and Technology in 2008, Jared started working in Akman Construction as a project manager.
When asked what was the secret to Akman Construction’s success, Jared responded that success was based on “Maintaining the same values as my great grandfather insisted upon: quality, integrity, trust and hard work.”
In addition to building the Asper Campus and Rosh Pina Synagogue, the Akman team also built the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre, and were responsible for the renovations at Chesed Shel Emes including a new south building and most recently the newly rebuilt beautiful Shaarey Zedek Synagogue.
Bob Freedman, former CEO of the Jewish Federation and a fundraising consultant, says “I worked with Richard Akman on the Campus and Chesed Shel Emes projects and Jared Akman on the Shaarey Zedek project. I remember when we started on the Campus project Richie told me what his father told him which was the same message his grandfather told his father. The message was very clear; 'When you work on a project in the community you have a special responsibility.' It is very clear that the Akman family continues to take that responsibility on any future projects that they might be involved in.”
When his father Richie passed away more recently, Jared became President of Akman Construction. Jared lives in River Heights in the split-level house that “my grandfather Lefty built in 1955.
”The house was out of our family for 30 years,” he notes. The story is that Jared was looking to buy a house and had looked at some 30 homes with his real estate agent and friend David Carr. Jared went to tell his father Ritchie about a house he was going to see. “When I gave my dad the address, my dad said ‘That’s the house your grandfather built and I grew up in. You should buy it’, and Jared did exactly that. ‘It was pretty be-shert,” he says.
Jared has been active in the Jewish community, as a canvasser for the CJA, as chair of the Jewish Federation’s Young Adult Division, and he is currently Vice President of the Asper Campus. He is married to Leanne Akman and they have two children Julie, age 7 and Hannah age 4.
According to the Rady JCC website, every single dollar from the Sports Dinner directly supports the Rady JCC, a not-for-profit community agency that is non-denominational and open to all. The Rady JCC provides recreational, cultural, social, and fitness programs for people of all age groups, intellectual and physical abilities, faiths, backgrounds, and sexualities, meeting the diverse needs of our greater Winnipeg community.
The Winnipeg Jewish Review would like to wish Jared Akman and Akman Construction a hearty Mazel Tov on being honoured and a Mazel Tov to the Rady JCC on a most successful sports dinner.
