Legacy Makers Hope to Inspire Future Chefs
“Changing lives one meal at a time.” So reads the first line of Sask Polytech alumnus Reg Campbell’s resume. Campbell is an award-winning Red Seal Interprovincial chef with 20 plus years’ experience managing food service quality and delivery for provincial government institutions. Since retiring in September 2020, he and husband Paul Ottmann have been thinking a lot about the future—what they want to do next and what legacy they want to leave. As a result, Reg and Paul have become Legacy Makers at Sask Polytech.
“We’ve made a legacy gift in our will for students who are passionate about food and excel academically in the Culinary Arts diploma program at Sask Polytech,” Reg says. “Not every family can afford to send their kids to post-secondary. We thought a legacy gift would be a great way to help someone fulfill their dreams of becoming a chef.”
“It just takes one person to plant the seed,” Paul adds, “then you hope that one day they will pay it forward.”
“The smallest gift can make the biggest impact” ~ Reg Campbell
Reg found his passion for cooking early in life. “I grew up on a mixed farm, there was always lots of work to be done, and lots of cooking. When I was in public school I helped my mom prepare meals to take to the field during planting and harvest. That’s where my passion started,” Reg says.
After high school he decided to enrol in what was then the commercial cooking program at Kelsey Institute, the predecessor to the Culinary Arts program at Sask Polytech’s Saskatoon campus.
“My time at Sask Polytech was probably one of the best years of my learning experience. It was a family-like environment where the instructors and staff cared enough about students to create a safe environment for everyone, and I hear it’s still like that,” Reg says. “I still keep in touch with some of my classmates—I’ve even hired some of them over the years.”
As graduation drew near, Reg was offered a job as a cook at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre.
Reg started part-time and before long found himself actually running the food service department. Over the course of a 37-year career, he moved on to supervisory and management roles at the Red Willow Centre and Community Training Centre in Saskatoon.
Paul grew up on a farm near Cambridge, Ontario. He earned a Business Administration Accounting diploma from Conestoga College. He spent the first 15 years of his career in various business roles with Imperial Tobacco before advancing his career into leadership roles. Since moving to Saskatoon in 2011, Paul has led digital and cultural strategic transformations for the public and private sector.
He is currently working with a potash logistics company while also completing his executive MBA through the University of Regina.
The future is full of possibilities for Reg and Paul, including a shared vision for a spiritual bed & breakfast experience focused on yoga, meditation, mediumship readings. Reiki, wholistic foods and more. It’s this same sense of possibility that they hope their legacy gift will support in tomorrow’s Culinary Arts students.
“I would encourage anyone thinking of leaving a gift in their will to Sask Polytech; Life is about experiences; we hope our gift will allow several people the opportunity to realize their dreams.’ ~ Paul Ottmann