Living the passion of professional sports, and communications.

Over the course of a communications and public relations career in sports spanning 30 years, Dave Haggith has enjoyed the opportunity to help manage some of the biggest events in sports and work with legends such as Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, and Vince Carter.

As Senior Vice President of Communications for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), Dave oversees communications and media relations for one of the world’s premier sports and entertainment organizations. Among its franchises, MLSE owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, and Toronto Argonauts.

Following his graduation from KCSS, Dave attended Brock University before pursuing the public relations program at Humber College. It was during his time in this program that Toronto was awarded an NBA expansion franchise which led to the opportunity for Dave to join the team in its earliest days as a communications intern.

Dave officially joined the Raptors’ media relations team full time in 1995 as the organization introduced the NBA to Canada and the team prepared for its inaugural season. He served in media and community relations roles during the team’s first five seasons, earning the organization’s first ‘Employee of the Year’ award in 1998. He then left the Raptors to represent NBA star Vince Carter, managing Carter’s media, charitable, and endorsement interests.

Following two seasons overseeing communications with the Toronto Argonauts, Dave joined IMG, which at the time was the world’s largest sports and entertainment management agency. There, for nearly a decade, he directed media strategy for the company’s renowned golf division, lending his expertise to many of the game’s biggest stars.

Dave returned to MLSE in 2013 to lead the company’s communications and public relations strategy ahead of one of the most successful eras in the company’s history — an eight-year period resulting in six championships, including the Raptors’ historic NBA title in 2019. In 2020 he earned MLSE’s ‘Coach of the Year’ award in recognition of his superlative organizational leadership.

A King City native, Dave’s love of sports, particularly football, was nurtured at KCSS. Dave was a member of four consecutive KCSS York Region Championship football teams. He credits the coaches of those teams, Ed Serjeantson, Tom Ellison, Rob Wright, Mike Mallory, and Mike Chvalevich, who, along with his parents, for having had a defining influence on him during those formative years.

Dave now resides in Aurora with his wife, Koriena, and sons, Christian and Luke. He remains grateful to the people, both teachers and classmates, who made his five years at KCSS such an important and memorable time in his life.

Dave highlights the importance of teamwork as a key to any success in work and life.

He encourages all young people he meets, and particularly students enrolled in future classes at KCSS, to embrace a team-oriented mentality in their future pursuits. To quote the iconic Michael Jordan, “Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships.”

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