Ion Aimers – Founder and Owner, The WORKS Gourmet Burger Bistro
Ion Aimers has combined his passion for food, his love of people, and respect for community, to create The WORKS & mold it into a very successful & award winning Ottawa chain of 6 restaurants. Voted "Restaurateur of the Year" in 2009, he continues to use The WORKS as a vehicle to support favored institutions & community groups like University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health, The Ottawa Food Bank, The Snowsuit Fund, United Way and numerous small neighborhood groups.
Michael Allen - President/CEO, United Way Ottawa
Michael Allen joined United Way Ottawa in March 1998. As President and CEO, he has directed a transformation of United Way from its traditional profile of fundraiser and allocator to that of community builder and investor. Michael sits on the Board of Directors at Crime Prevention Ottawa, Project S.T.E.P, on the Success By 6 Council, Council of the Mayor’s Integrated Drug and Addiction Strategy and is active as a volunteer in minor hockey, soccer and the public school system.
Tracy Arnett –Broker of record and owner, Tracy Arnett Realty Ltd.
Tracy’s expertise and knowledge of the Ottawa Real Estate Market and the downtown core neighbourhoods is invaluable when it comes to your real estate needs. Her hard work, helpful nature and desire to exceed client expectations have resulted in her being a recipient of many prestigious industry awards. She is former Chair of Fund Development for Osteoporosis Canada, Ottawa Chapter. She also volunteers weekly at The Hospice at May Court.
William Baker – Deputy Minister of Public Safety, Public Safety Canada
William Baker is Deputy Minister of Public Safety, Public Safety Canada. He is passionate about his community and lends his time as Chair of the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign (GCWCC) and is a member of United Way Ottawa’s Campaign Cabinet.
Meena Ballantyne – Assistant Deputy Minister, Health, Products and Food Branch, Health Canada
Meena Ballantyne joined the Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB) as the Associate Assistant Deputy Minister in April, 2007, and was appointed to the position of ADM, in November, 2007. Meena has extensive experience in policy development and program implementation through her past positions at the Privy Council Office and other federal departments, including Canadian Heritage, and Fisheries and Oceans. She was a volunteer on the Board of Directors of Ronald McDonald House for a number of years and is the GCWCC Champion at Health Canada for 2009.
Dr. Nalin Bhargava – Dentist & Member of United Way Ottawa’s Board of Directors
Since 2003, Nalin Bhargava had been a member of Ottawa’s Bytown Dental Study Club and has donated his time to many other Ottawa-area charities. Nalin’s community involvement includes member of the University of Ottawa Heart Institue 1991 telethon committee,, co-chairman of the Ottawa Dental Society-Ottawa Hospital 2001 fundraising gala and member of the Canadian Cancer Society’s 2005 Relay for Life organizing committee. For the past three years, he has been a member of the Bruyère Continuing Care Foundation Board. Since 2006, Nalin has chaired the Maharaja’s Ball, one of Ottawa’s newest and most popular charity events, which supports a range of community organizations.
Jason Burke – Director and CFO of IBM’s Analytics & Performance Management
IBM Software Corp
An Ottawa native, Jason is the Director and CFO of IBM’s Analytics & Performance Management segment (formerly Cognos). He joined Cognos eight years ago and quickly became a key member of the finance leadership team that secured Cognos’ continued position on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Following IBM’s acquisition of Cognos, Jason was named CFO and continued as a pivotal player on the corporation’s leadership and integration teams. Jason was recently named to Treasury and Risk Magazine’s Global Top 40 under 40.
Lisa Campbell – Acting Assistant Commissioner, Policy, Communications and Operations, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Lisa Campbell is co-chair of this year’s Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign. She has volunteered with the GCWCC for several years, and is also a board member of Centraide Outaouais. She is a graduate of both McGill University and Dalhousie University, with seventeen years experience in aboriginal and human rights law. Ms. Campbell publishes and teaches in the areas of technology and the law.
Candace Derickx – Co-owner, Best Tools for Schools
Candace Derickx is co-owner of Best Tools for Schools an Ottawa based company, that is the online solution for school supplies. Candace and her business partner Laurie St-Julien believe that philanthropy should be part of your business plan and a part of your life. Walking the walk, this year, they were sponsors for the first Community Action Day and helped 150 kids get much needed school supplies. Candace also sits on United Way Ottawa’s Education Committee, volunteers at her children’s school and blogs weekly under See Mummy Juggle for yummymummyclub.ca.
Lawrence Greenspon – Lawyer, Greenspon, Brown & Associates
Lawrence Greenspon is a human rights lawyer with Greenspon, Brown & Associates. He is a certified specialist in criminal and civil litigation. Mr. Greenspon’s 29-year legal career makes him one of Ottawa’s most prominent criminal defence lawyers, defender of constitutional rights and human rights advocates. A long-time United Way volunteer and 2008 Community Builder of the Year recipient, Lawrence uses his profile to raise awareness for the causes he cares about, like United Way.
Jeff Hunt – Owner/Governor, Ottawa 67’s
In 1998 Jeff became the owner of the Ottawa 67’s Hockey Club. In the spring of 1999 Jeff’s was awarded the Ontario Hockey League Executive of the Year Award. This was followed by the Canadian Hockey League Executive of the Year Award in June of 1999. An important role of the Ottawa 67's is to give back to the community which it does through initiatives such as the approximate 5,000 ticket donations per year for local fundraisers, 50/50 draws for charity at each game, Champions for Education, the Annual Jeff Hunt Golf Tournament and the Sebastien Savage fundraiser to name a few.
Max Keeping - Vice President News and News at 6 Anchor, CTV Ottawa
Max is CTV's Ottawa News beacon in the community, making more than 200 personal appearances annually on behalf of charities, service groups, neighbourhoods and schools. Max has received the Ontario Medal of Good Citizenship, a 2003 Gemini, the 2004 Ottawa United Way's Community Builder of the Year, and dozens of other awards. He has also helped raise more than $100-million for charities during his 36 years at CTV Ottawa.
Robert Lane – Co-founder, Overlay.TV
In 2007, Rob co-founded Overlay.TV to turn the vision of contextually relevant advertising into a reality for online content, basically to make video interactive and clickable. Today the company has a full video content management platform that enables this interactivity. Rob also spends time helping out a number of not-for-profit organization including 12for12k.org and United Way Ottawa.
Joanne Lefebvre – President and CEO, Regroupement des gens d’affaires (RGA) de la Capitale nationale
Under Joanne’s leadership, RGA has evolved into Canada’s preeminent Francophone-bilingual business groups with strong ties throughout Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec. She currently is a member of the Board of Directors for the Ottawa Convention Centre, Ottawa’s Saint Paul University and member of the Board of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Foundation. Joanne is Vice-President Ontario for the Forum francophone des affaires, comité national and a member of the Panel des régions, Société Radio Canada. A committed volunteer in her community, Joanne Lefebvre has shown leadership in her involvement with private schools, sports organizations, fundraising and has worked to enrich French language services in the Nation’s Capital.
Luc Levesque – Founder, TravelPod.com
Luc Levesque is a web entrepreneur from Ottawa who founded the Web’s first travel blogging platform in 1997, TravelPod.com. In 2008 Luc was a recipient of the Ottawa Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 award. Luc stays involved with the startup community by coaching young startups, presenting, hosting and attending startup events and blogging on StartupOttawa.com.
James McCracken – Director of Education & Secretary-Treasurer,
Ottawa Catholic School Board
Campaign Chair, United Way Ottawa
Mr. McCracken has been with the Ottawa Catholic School Board for 20 years in several capacities. In 2003, Mr. McCracken was appointed Director of Education & Secretary-Treasurer. He is an active member in the Ottawa community and education sector with many organizations including United Way Ottawa, Shepherds of Good Hope and the Catholic Education Foundation of Ottawa. Mr. McCracken is widely recognized for his organization and communication skills and continues to be approached as a keynote speaker for both national and international conferences.
Curt Millar – CEO
Zip.ca
Curt Millar, is the CEO of Zip.ca, Canada's leading online DVD rental. Curt's commitment to his business and team is as strong as his commitment to the community. He was the title sponsor for United Way's Youth Got Talent, sits on several community boards, and was among the Top Forty Under 40 2009. Curt completed his chartered accountancy at Deloitte.
Tuan Nguyen – President, Ottawahealth.com
Tuan Nguyen is a partner at Ottawakiosk.com and the president of Ottawahealth.com, Ottawa's online health directory. In addition to running his companies, he spends much of his time in the community and has raised over $1 million. He sits on several boards such as the Telus Communty Board and has received several recognitions including the United Way Community Buiilder Award, Top Forty Under 40, and Induction into the Order of the Good Bear at the CHEO Foundation. For over 10 years, He has been speaking to business students across the country on the importance of social responsibility.
Darren Nippard – Managing Director, Accenture
Darren Nippard is the Managing Director of Accenture’s Health and Public Service Client Service Group in Canada. Darren is responsible for serving Federal, Provincial and Municipal health and public service organizations across Consulting, Systems Integration and Technology, and Outsourcing business lines. Over his 22-year career, he has managed teams focused on government, manufacturing and financial services across Europe and North America. Darren is a member of Accenture’s North American Public Service leadership team and the Canadian executive team.
Larry O’Brien – Mayor, City of Ottawa
In November 2006, an overwhelming number of Ottawa voters elected Larry O’Brien. A newcomer to politics, Mayor O’Brien stated his commitment to run the city on a more business-like basis. Mayor O'Brien was co-chair of Saint Vincent Hospital’s capital campaign in 2004 that successfully achieved its goal of $7.5 million and in 2006 was awarded the United Way Community Builder of the Year award to recognize his work and passion to make Ottawa a better place to live, work and raise a family.
Jim Orban – Publisher, Ottawa Citizen
Jim Orban started his newspaper career in 1972. After holding various management and executive positions, he was appointed publisher of the Ottawa Citizen in 2003. For over 30 years, he has been an active member of his community, helping more than a dozen charitable organizations, including United Way Ottawa.
Bruce Raganold – Client Services Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Bruce Raganold is involved in servicing public and private companies in the Ottawa region, with a focus on various industries including the technology sector as well as owner managed businesses. Named one of the “Top 40 under 40” by the Ottawa Business Journal, Bruce has increased the profile of PwC throughout the business community, particularly in the technology sector. Bruce is also an active member of the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation Cabinet Committee, and is co-founder and a member of the National Capital Leadership Challenge organizing committee.
Michelle Scarborough
Vice President, Investment and Commercialization
Michelle Scarborough is an experienced entrepreneur with a track record of business achievement spanning more than 15 years. Currently Vice President, Investment and Commercialization at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation, she has been responsible for building a team of business leaders and seasoned investment professionals who help start up and emerging companies achieve global business success. She was recently honored as a 2008 Top 40 Under 40 Award Recipient and is a participant in The Leadership Forum Series at Ottawa University. Ms. Scarborough currently sits on the board of the National Angel Organization.
Akash Sinha – Founder and President, Dharma Developments
Akash Sinha is the Founder and President of Dharma Developments, which specializes in environmentally conscious residential and commercial real estate development projects. His impressive background in real estate makes him an expert in urban planning and development. Mr. Sinha has also founded organizations and programs to aid his community, including Urbana, an annual event to help raise awareness and funds to help the homeless population of Ottawa.
Michelle Valberg – Owner, Valberg Imaging
Michelle is an award-winning Canadian photographer who possesses a magical combination of artistic creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and community commitment with a diverse career and excellent reputation. She has also given her time and talents freely to raise countless dollars for various charities. Michelle is a board member of United Way Ottawa, CHEO, The Algonquin College Foundation and the Telus Community Foundation. Michelle was also the mastermind behind Project North which was designed to provide much-needed sports equipment to youth in the north. In three short weeks, the project far exceeded her expectations.
Ray Zahab - Ultra-marathon Runner, Philanthropist
Winner of some of the world’s most difficult and challenging ultra-distance foot races, Ray Zahab is motivated by challenge, distance and discovery. A captivating speaker, he applies the lessons he has learned from running across the Sahara Desert to everyday life in order to motivate people and help them face challenges in a positive manner. Through his adventures, Zahab raises awareness and funding for such causes as the Ryan’s Well Foundation and Spread The Net. He is a recipient of the 2007 ONExONE Difference Award — joining such notable honorees as Richard Gere and Chief Phil Fontaine.
