Local business leaders awarded for excellence
Several outstanding Windsor-essex business leaders enjoyed a moment in the spotlight Wednesday night as either winners or nominees at the 32nd annual Business Excellence Awards.
The prestigious event hosted by the Windsor-essex Regional Chamber of Commerce at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts honoured winners in nine individual categories during “secret reveal” announcements, along with three other winners previously announced earlier this year.
The three awards previously announced included Renee Daudlin-iacobelli of Insight Advantage, who received the ATHENA Leadership Award, Lisa and Brian Schwab, who were recipients of the Believe Windsor-essex Award, and Keith White of Freeds as winner of the inaugural Business Ambassador Award.
“I'm honoured, it's not something I ever would have expected,” Daudlin-iacobelli said. “It means to me that everything I have done has been recognized unexpectedly. It's acknowledgment for the years and years of work toward the community. “It's very humbling. I'm honoured to be considered among some of the other women who previously won this award. These are people I don't feel on the same level with. They are inspiring women who have achieved a level of leadership I've always admired. I'm surprised to be considered at that same level.”
The long-standing annual business award event, presented by the Windsor Star, has remained important for honouring the many business leaders throughout the Windsor-essex region who have offered so much to the local community in many different ways, said chamber CEO Rakesh Naidu.
“It is a recognition of the immense effort of starting a business and the creativity, innovation and effort it takes in making it successful. Among the awards, there is one for innovation, best new company, large business, small business. Each of these winners are business leaders who have put their heart and soul into things that help make our community a better place.”
Among this year's award winners are David Burman, of Mister HQ Group, as entrepreneur of the year, and CHARGE Lab of the University of Windsor, for innovation.
The large company of the year is HGS Limited, while the small company of the year (less than 25 employees) is Cedar Valley Selections.
New company of the year is Health Holistic Wellness Centre, while the award for Pillars of the Community went to Women's Enterprise Skills Training (WEST) of Windsor.
This year's professional of the year is lawyer Daniel Topp of Topp Law, while the tourism and hospitality award went to Urban Field House.
The young professional of the year award went to Lauryn Lefrancois of Lola's Round Table.
The nominees for each category were selected among hundreds of applications and a “rigorous” process that includes prominent judges from the local area in each category, Naidu said.
“For these business leaders to have a light shine on what they do, it can be a very sweet moment because you are receiving this recognition from your own community,” he said.
“It can mean lot to each of the winners — something they can cherish for the rest of their time in business.”