Premier’s Awards recognizes the tremendous contribution Ontario’s college graduates make to the success of the province and beyond. The awards were established in 1992 to mark the 25th anniversary of Ontario’s colleges.
Presented annually, awards are given in the following seven categories: Apprenticeship, Business, Community Services, Creative Arts and Design, Health Sciences, Recent Graduate, and Technology.
Visit www.co-awards.org to learn more.
Conestoga's Premier's Awards recipients
Jehan Salim
Award category: Community Services (2023)
Program: Bachelor of Applied Technology - Architecture - Project and Facility Management
Graduating year: 2013
Jehan Salim has put her college degree to work on the international stage, using her project and facilities management expertise to lead post-conflict rebuilding efforts and operate the largest refugee camp in the world. She oversaw the reconstruction of Mosul University and 12,000 homes in Iraq; built a 400-bed COVID isolation clinic at Jordan's Za'atari refugee camp; assured the safety of 100 staff and key border assets during Russia's invasion of Ukraine; and led the rehabilitation of 250 homes in Syria. From Iraq to Afghanistan, Jehan has prioritized giving marginalized women income, experience and a voice.
Jennifer Green
Award category: Apprenticeship (2022)
Program: Industrial Mechanic Millwright Apprenticeship
Graduating year: 2008
Jennifer Green is breaking gender barriers and bridging Canada’s skills gap. As the only woman in her Industrial Mechanic Millwright program, she has cleared the path for thousands of women in the skilled trades through advocacy, mentorship and by sharing her opinions and experiences at events and in articles, radio programs and podcasts. She launched Skills Ontario’s first virtual conference for women and reimagined Canada’s largest skills trades competition as a virtual contest with live video feeds from competitors’ kitchens, garages and backyards. Jennifer is one of WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women and a Universal Women’s Network Woman of Inspiration.
Massi and Meti Basiri
Award category: Business (2021)
Program: Fitness & Health Promotion (Massi); Business - Marketing (Meti)
Graduating year: 2014
Massi and Meti Basiri are on a mission to educate the world. In 2015, the twin brothers co-founded ApplyBoard, now the world’s largest online platform for international student recruitment and one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Canada. They have helped more than 200,000 students study at 1,500 educational institutions across North America, the United Kingdom and Australia, including 21 Ontario colleges. They’ve raised C$600 million in venture capital funding on a C$4 billion valuation, making ApplyBoard Canada’s only second “edtech unicorn” company. In 2019, Forbes named Meti and Massi to three different Top 30 Under 30 lists.
Clarice Ward
Award category: Apprenticeship (2019)
Program: General Carpenter Apprenticeship; Women in Skilled Trades Pre-Apprenticeship
Graduating year: 2011, 2007
Clarice Ward is a national advocate for diversity and inclusion in apprenticeship training. As an assistant project manager of specialty contracts at Melloul-Blamey Construction Inc., she is the first woman to transition from tradesperson (general carpenter) to construction management in Melloul-Blamey’s 37-year history, and one of the only tradeswomen to serve on the board of directors of the Canadian Association of Women in Construction. A speaker, mentor and champion of women in apprenticeships, she has influenced thousands of women to consider skilled trade opportunities. Ward was awarded a 60th Anniversary Gender Equity Fellowship by the University of Waterloo in 2019.
Kevin King
Award category: Health Sciences (2019)
Program: Ambulance and Emergency Care
Graduating year: 1995
Medical simulation has been the driving focus in every step of Kevin King’s career as a paramedic, sales leader and entrepreneur. Inspired to act after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he created the first mobile simulation program for paramedics in eastern Canada and founded a national alliance for simulation specialists and educators. In 2010, he was recognized by the prime minister of Canada for his emergency services leadership during the G8 summit. In 2018, King founded ECHO Healthcare, featuring a world-first approach to simulation service and support that earned the company global recognition and profitability after just one year.
William Werth
Award category: Recent graduate (2019)
Program: Software Engineering Technology
Graduating year: 2017
The chief technology officer at James. E. Wagner Cultivation (JWC), William Werth is using technology to revolutionize the cannabis industry. A former Canadian combat engineer who was awarded the Sacrifice Medal and competed in the 2017 Invictus Games, he designed JWC’s GrowthSTORM Management software, a custom technology for tracking cannabis cultivation from seed to harvest. He also led the refinement of JWC’s patent-pending aeroponic growing platform and helped to pioneer its unique business licensing model. Werth’s innovations were a catalyst for a $1.2-million energy-saving grant in 2018 and the company’s 2018 debut on the TSX-V at a market cap of $100 million.
Allie Libertini
Award category: Recent graduate (2018)
Program: Community Integration through Cooperative Education
Graduating year: 2017
Even among the outstanding graduates of a unique program for students with learning challenges and exceptionalities, Allie Libertini stands out. A world-leading Nordic skier, she represented Canada at the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games, earning two silver medals. An advocate of healthy living, she volunteers at a community kitchen and works as an assistant server and member of the food prep team at a restaurant. She was instrumental in recruiting young women to her gym’s first inclusive women program and she is a valued ambassador of her college and program, winning the Alumni of Distinction Award in 2017.
Don Gosen
Award category: Apprenticeship (2018)
Program: Electrical Apprentice; Air and Water Resources Technology
Graduating year: 1980; 1974
Don Gosen is the Ontario apprenticeship program’s biggest champion. A college-trained electrical apprentice, he sponsored more than 70 apprentices throughout his four decades in business before ceding Gosen Electric Limited to three of his former trainees. Today, as director of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, Gosen works to strengthen the apprenticeship system by bridging communication and fostering collaborations between the government, union and non-union organizations, and employers and apprentices. He is an electrical apprenticeship instructor at his alma mater and recipient of the 2007 Minister’s Award for Apprenticeship Training.
Marianne Walker
Award category: Health Sciences (2015)
Program: Nursing
Graduating year: 1977
Marianne Walker is changing the future of health care in Ontario. In leadership roles spanning more than 30 years, including her current role as president and CEO of Guelph General Hospital, Walker has worked to refocus health care on the patient. She has led several region-wide and provincewide initiatives that have dramatically improved patient outcomes after stroke, and her elder care strategy is recognized as one of the best practice models provincewide. As a surveyor with Accreditation Canada, Walker is helping to improve health care quality and patient safety across the country and internationally, in countries such as Brazil and Ecuador.
Tahani Aburaneh
Award category: Business (2013)
Program: Business Administration – Management Studies
Graduating year: 1987
Tahani Aburaneh, a real estate entrepreneur, bestselling author and public speaker, moved to Canada from a refugee camp in Jordan at the age of 15 and is now one of the country’s leading experts in real estate development and investment. She is the founder of five companies and recently launched a training and certification program for realtors across Canada.
Chameli Naraine
Award category: Business (2012)
Program: Materials Management and Operations
Graduating year: 1983
Chameli Naraine’s 27-year career as a business leader working for Fortune 500 companies around the world culminated in June 2011 with her appointment as president and CEO of Symcor, one of Canada’s leading financial processing services providers. She is also the founder of Naraine Global Fund, a philanthropic organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and children globally.
2023 nominees
Apprenticeship nominee - Mark Duchesne
Electrician Construction and Maintenance, 1986
From paint shop electrician to CEO, Mark's career has spanned four decades across five vehicle manufacturers and seven countries. The newly appointed CEO of Sweden's Northvolt ETT, he is a creative problem solver who operationalized Toyota's first Lexus paint shop in North America; drove a Tesla manufacturing line from zero to target in eight months and at five per cent of new facility cost; and designed, built and launched Nikola’s zero-emissions truck plant in less than a year. A skilled trade innovator and champion, Mark is revitalizing manufacturing workplace culture using the problem-solving skills he learned during his college apprenticeship.
Business nominee - George Vezza
Business Admin Marketing, 1983
George Vezza’s rise through the ranks of food service giant Nestlé started with the top Canadian sales award a year after his college graduation. Over the next four decades, he reinvented Nestlé’s sales and marketing in 35 countries, reviving underperforming markets, injecting sales leaders into decision-making roles and helping Nestlé Europe surpass pre-COVID sales numbers. George’s greatest legacy is the launch of Nestlé’s digital customer relation platform – the first-in-the world, now adopted by the entire global team. He is a champion of next-generation leaders through the Nestlé Professional Toque d’Or hospitality competition and a mentor to hundreds of young professionals.
Community Services nominee - Jehan Salim
Bachelor of Applied Technology - Architecture - Project and Facility Management, 2013
Jehan Salim has put her college degree to work on the international stage, using her project and facilities management expertise to lead post-conflict rebuilding efforts and operate the largest refugee camp in the world. She oversaw the reconstruction of Mosul University and 12,000 homes in Iraq; built a 400-bed COVID isolation clinic at Jordan’s Za’atari refugee camp; assured the safety of 100 staff and key border assets during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and led the rehabilitation of 250 homes in Syria. From Iraq to Afghanistan, Jehan has prioritized giving marginalized women income, experience and a voice.
Creative Arts & Design nominee - Angela Onuora
Broadcast Performance & Digital Media, 2019
Angela Onuora is a women’s champion for equity and the founder and chief creative officer of This Naija Girl Studios. A first-generation Canadian immigrant from Nigeria, she attended college to gain the training, network and confidence to tell African and women’s stories through the lens of her new Canadian reality. Her award-winning documentary film, “Operation Lights Out,” was created as a result of her college projects. She used the campus Venture Lab to jumpstart Studio D-20, a women-in-filmmaking collective, and The RISE Class, a social enterprise for aspiring filmmakers. Angela’s creative work is being showcased and recognized around the world.
Health Sciences nominee - Laurie Lafleur
Computer Programmer Analyst - Co-op, 2002
In Canada’s growing medical technology ecosystem, Laurie Lafleur is an evangelist for digital transformation. She has built a career by enabling healthcare innovators to commercialize their ideas and providers to adopt new innovations. Laurier has helped 40+ med-tech start-ups secure millions of dollars in investor funding and 15 Canadian, U.S. and European hospital systems drive digital transformation resulting in improved quality, efficiency and scalability. As a Conestoga College professor and founder of a med-tech program she designed and delivers for the National Institutes of Health Informatics Canada, Laurie is educating the next generation of healthcare innovators and providers.
Recent Graduate nominee - Bohdana Tyshchenko
IT Innovation & Design, 2021
An advocate for women in STEM and refugees from her home country of Ukraine, Bohdana Tyshchenko uses her lived experience, expertise and connections to transform lives and workplaces. She developed the “Hire Ukraine” and charity mentorship programs that have helped more than 20 Ukrainian IT professionals secure employment and support the Ukrainian cause. Using the skills she learned at college, Bohdana designed an app that has been downloaded 28,000 times and another used to manage 2,000+ annual applications to Canadian school boards. She also developed and led workplace teambuilding and staff onboarding programs while mentoring 20 aspiring female designers.
Technology nominee - Brett McQueen
Mechanical Technician – Tool & Die Maker, 2008
Quality Assurance, 2008
Industrial Engineering – Basic, 2009
Brett McQueen is challenging the manufacturing status quo and improving lives and our planet. As the North American Director of innovation for Linamar Corporation and head of its Innovation Hub (iHub), Brett has initiated partnerships with three promising, high-tech startups and leveraged Linamar’s manufacturing expertise and global supply chain networks to commercialize world-leading technologies in power electronics, water conservation and electric vehicles. Brett credits his innovative thinking and adaptability to skills gained across three college programs – a cross-training model he duplicates to mentor the next generation of innovators.
