Colleges Ontario

(Toronto, Nov. 28) – Cookbook author and media personality Bonnie Stern is one of six recipients of this year’s Premier’s Awards for outstanding Ontario college graduates.

Stern, a graduate of culinary management at George Brown College, is the owner of the Bonnie Stern School of Cooking and Cookware Shop in Toronto. She is a bestselling author of cookbooks, has hosted two national television shows, appears regularly on radio and TV, and writes a weekly newspaper column.

The Premier’s Awards recipients were officially announced today. Stern was the recipient in the creative arts category.

The awards recognize outstanding college graduates who have excelled in six categories: creative arts, technology, health sciences, business, community services and recent graduate. The recipients will receive their awards at a gala celebration dinner in London on Feb. 11.

“College graduates are the backbone of our economy and our communities,” said Barbara Taylor, the chair of the colleges’ committee of presidents. “We are proud of the contribution college graduates make in Ontario and beyond, and are particularly proud to have such a distinguished list of Premier’s Awards recipients this year.”

Chosen by a panel of business and community leaders from among 90 nominees, the other recipients this year are:

Peter Rowntree (Technology), of Canadore College. A senior investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Rowntree has investigated some of Canada’s major air disasters, including the highly publicized Swissair 111 tragedy off the coast of Peggy’s Cove.

Abdul Abdulrahman (Health Sciences), of Algonquin College. Abdulrahman is the resident anaesthesiologist at the University of Toronto. Immigrating to Canada nearly a decade ago from Somalia, Abdulrahman was a driving force behind the establishment of the ACE IT program at Algonquin College, which helps foreign-trained health care professionals transition to the workforce.

Elio Pacheco (Business), of George Brown College. Pacheco is the president and general manager of Evian North America. Promoted to the top job in January 2007, Pacheco turned around Evian’s sagging fortunes in just a few months, launching an aggressive marketing strategy and communicating the company’s long-standing environmental responsibility, producing a six per cent increase in sales.

Kay Blair (Community Services), of Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. Blair is executive director of Community Microskills Development Centre, a non-profit community agency. Blair oversees a range of services that provide shelter, training and jobs for women, immigrants, and young people. She consults for governments, educational institutions and social agencies about racism and violence against women.

Christopher Rowland (Recent Graduate), of Centennial College. Rowland is the founder and CEO of Equitrans Global Logistics. Under Rowland’s leadership, the revenue produced by this Toronto-based freight-forwarding company grew 907 per cent in the three years since inception, and is ranked tenth in Profit magazine’s top emerging growth companies in Canada for 2007. Equitrans was called upon by the US government to help distribute temporary housing throughout the Gulf region after the devastation of hurricane Katrina.

Each year, about 40,000 graduates from Ontario’s 24 colleges enter the workforce. About one-third of Ontario’s workforce – 2.1 million workers – has a college credential, the largest group in the province’s labour force.

Ontario colleges serve about 200 communities throughout the province, delivering a wide range of career-focused education and training programs to more than 200,000 full-time and 250,000 part-time students.

-30-

For more information, contact:

Darrell Neufeld
Senior Communications Officer
416 596-0744, ext. 242
neufeld@collegesontario.org