Celebrating civic leadership
CivicAction gathered more than 200 established and rising leaders from across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) to celebrate the civic leadership in the region and Metronext, putting the spotlight on the next generation of civic leaders.
CivicAction offers programming, including CivicAction’s ELN — now more than 900 members strong — and DiverseCity Fellows — the “Civic MBA” — which each year provides 100 hours of intensive leadership training to 25 to 28 rising stars. The program has graduated more than 130 individuals who continue to take action on regional issues.
The inaugural CivicAction Lifetime Achievement Award for Civic Leadership was given to the former mayor of Toronto and long-serving board member, the Hon. David Crombie. The award recognizes a history of civic engagement and commitment to make the GTHA a better place to live and work.
CivicAction also presented its inaugural Emerging Leader Award to Andrew Graham, who has been part of CivicAction’s Emerging Leaders Network since 2008. Mr. Graham is the cofounder of Toronto Homecoming, an ELN-incubated initiative that attracts and retains top talent in Canada, and co-founder of Borrowell, an online consumer lending startup that provides affordable loans to Canadians with good credit.
“Our city’s most important asset is its people, and we are proud to champion initiatives like MetroNext that bring together those individuals [who] are helping to create stronger, more sustainable communities,” said Joe Natale, chief executive of Telus Corp.
In addition to Mr. Natale, bright lights lending their support included Toronto Mayor John Tory; Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie; Hon. Tracy MacCharles, Ontario minister of children and youth services and minister responsible for women’s issues; Hon. Kellie Leitch, federal minister of labour and minister of status of women; Peter Sloly, deputy chief, Toronto Police Service; Rod Phillips, CEO, CivicAction; Courtney Pratt, chairman, Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions; and Ken Tanenbaum, vice-chairman, Kilmer Group.
The work of CivicAction would not be possible without their partners. MetroNext supporters include Telus, lead corporate sponsor and event host; IBM Corp. and Toronto Life.