Canadore announces three nominees for the 2011 Premier's Award

Canadore College
News Release

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Canadore College is pleased to announce its three nominees for the 2011 Premier's Awards for outstanding college graduates held in Toronto on November 28.

Meagan Brown (North Bay, Ont.) - Manager/Operator of Twiggs Coffee Roasters and graduate of Canadore's Business and Recreation and Leisure programs. Brown manages Twiggs' newest McKeown location, where approximately 1,000 transactions a day gross over $1 million in annual sales. She manages a staff of 25, coordinates all business operations, is primary Roast Master, and leads all new product development. She is also involved with various non-profit fundraisers, and supports high school and college students through co-op and mentoring activities. Her entrepreneurial drive, motivation and rapid success led to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Brown when, in June 2010, she was invited by the Business Development Bank of Canada to join 2 00 other young leaders from around the world at the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Summit in Toronto. Since she has been with Twiggs, the company has received a Northern Ontario Business Award of Excellence (2008) and the 2010 North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year honour.

Tom Hedican (North Bay, Ont.) - Founder of Coach4Food and Professional International Goaltending Consultant, and graduate of Canadore's Print Journalism Program. Hedican began as a sports writer with the London Free Press where he became one of the youngest senior editors at the age of 28. His love of hockey and wish to work with young athletes led him to leave journalism to establish a professional goaltending consultancy in Europe where he has coached more than a dozen NHL-drafted goalies. Hedican also founded Coach4Food, an annual fundraiser where his salary for coaching services for minor hockey teams is replaced by non-perishable food items benefiting food banks. In 2008, Tom spearheaded the NHL's New Jersey Devils' first-ever Coach4Food drive, which collected nearly 60 tons of donated food for the New Jersey State food bank and garnered public endorsement by rock legend Bruce Springsteen. Tom was recently awarded an Ontario Trillium grant to expand Coach4Food provincially to include anti-bullying and youth volunteerism campaigns.

Lou-Anne Robinson (North Bay, Ont.) - Purchasing and Administration Coordinator for Cirque du Soleil, and graduate of Canadore's Culinary Administration program. In 2007, Robinson joined the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil team for the production of Kooza where she was responsible for culinary and sports nutrition for all performers, cast and crew. She now holds a position on the development team in Montréal, Que. as the Purchasing and Administration Coordinator for OVO. During her travels, she is responsible for all contract negotiations and logistics for close to 350 live performances per year. Working on up to six performance cities at a time, Robinson sources all vendors and negotiates all contracts for everything from diesel to makeup, and from costumes for performers to plumbing supplies. On the road she coordinates a recycling and composting program to reduce the environmental impact at every locality the production visits, including providing donations of set materials to local initiatives like Habitat for Humanity.

The annual Premier's Awards honour the important social and economic contributions made by college graduates to the province and the world. Nominations are submitted by Ontario's 24 colleges and are presented in six categories, Business, Creative Arts and Design, Community Services, Health Sciences, Technology and Recent Graduate.

The winners will be celebrated at a gala event at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto on November 28. This year, there are more than 100 nominees and over 600 guests expected to attend.

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