Premier's Awards 2013
Do you know of a candidate for the Premier's Awards?
If so, please submit this nominee information form.
The Premier's Awards is an annual provincial awards program created by the government to recognize the important economic and social contribution college graduates make to Ontario. Award nominees receive a bronze medal and direct a five thousand dollar bursary to the college of their choice.
There are 6 categories and one graduate may be nominated in each category:
- Applied Arts: Creative Arts and Design
- Applied Arts: Community Services
- Business
- Health Sciences
- Technology
- New Graduate
George Brown College congratulates Roger Mooking for winning a 2012 Premier’s Award in the Creative Arts and Design category!
Roger Mooking 2001 graduate, Culinary Management
With three television shows running on
food networks around the world, an award-winning cookbook out and, until
recently, chef and co-owner of two Top 10 Toronto restaurants, Roger
Mooking is one of Canada's premier chefs. Born in Trinidad, a third
generational chef and restaurateur, Mooking was a Juno award winning
musician before returning to his first love of cooking. After
graduating from George Brown, he became a successful chef-restaurateur
with acclaimed Toronto restaurants Kultura and Nyood. Now focusing on
his TV career, Mooking is the host of Everyday Exotic, Heat Seekers and Man Fire Food. He continues to make music and is working on his second solo CD.
2012 Nominees
Category – Technology
Bruno Giancola 1987 graduate, Construction and Engineering Technology
As Vice-President of Project Management for one of Canada's leading high-rise condominium developers, Bruno Giancola is helping to reshape the Toronto skyline. Responsible for all aspects of a construction project, Giancola has built more than 20 low-rise and high-rise residential buildings over the past dozen years and is currently planning one 75 storeys high. He has managed several innovative projects including a unique partnership with the Toronto District School Board and construction of the new Toronto Ronald McDonald House–the world's largest. Tridel volunteered its management services to the project, helping to save millions of dollars and complete it on time and under budget.
Category – Business
Dan MacKenzie 1997 graduate, Sport and Event Marketing
As Vice-President and General Manager of NBA Canada, Dan MacKenzie is helping to grow the sport of basketball in Canada. Under his leadership, NBA Canada experienced double digit growth over the past several years and MacKenzie has been instrumental in extending NBA broadcasting and launching events like 3on3 basketball tournaments that have significantly raised the profile of the NBA in Canada. MacKenzie left a career in teaching to follow his passion for marketing and sports, joining NBA Canada as an intern upon graduation from George Brown in 1997. MacKenzie was also Senior Marketing Manager at TSN and Project Lead with NBA Europe in Spain and France.
Category – Community Services
Sigrid Geddes 2007 graduate, Community Worker
Sigrid Geddes is the owner of Sigrid Natural Skin Care, a line of natural skin care products she makes by hand in her workshop-studio in the Ottawa Valley and sells in stores and online to customers in California, Italy and Sweden. Many of the plants used in her products are ones Geddes grows herself or harvests from the wild. Strongly community-minded, Geddes shares her skills and knowledge in workshops – many on a volunteer basis -- aimed at empowering and building confidence in a wide range of people, including those dealing with mental health issues, addiction, poverty or isolation.
Category – Health Sciences
Teresa Buchanan 2002 graduate, Health Information Management
Combining her college education in Health Information Management with degrees in science and law, Teresa Buchanan offers a unique set of skills in her work in the Ontario Ministry of Health, translating complex health data information in a way that policy-makers can understand. She works on the team developing a strategy to reform health care funding and was involved in the launch of the Resource for Indicator Standards online catalogue for health care researchers. Working in health data resources at Sunnybrook Hospital during the SARS crisis, Buchanan helped develop a standardized form to ensure quality emergency care by physicians working outside their normal area of expertise.
Category – Recent Graduate
Theresa Schrader 2011 graduate, Social Service Worker
Theresa Schrader is the founder and director of the Ve'ahavta Street Academy for homeless and marginalized people in Toronto. The program reflects Schrader's passionate belief that education is the way off the street, out of poverty and into a life of meaning and Schrader herself is a brilliant example of that. Six years ago, she was homeless, addicted to crack and heartbroken that two children had been taken from her. Today, she is a college graduate, a successful social worker and the proud mother of a five-year-old son. In addition to the street academy, Schrader inspires others through media interviews, speaking engagements and volunteer activities.