2009 Winners

There was a tie in this category.

Monica Donahue
Vice-President, Human Resources, McCain Foods (Canada)

Monica Donahue´s broad HR experience spans a variety of industries and HR competences including recruitment, compensation and benefits, change management, and strategic human resources. As vice-president of HR for of McCain Foods, she developed and implemented a complete job evaluation system for all staff giving 16 disparate plants a coherent talent management structure and methodology. She also acts as mentor to MBA students in the Rotman MBA program.

Ken Lewis, CRHP
Manager, Employee Relations & Compensation
Hydro Ottawa

Ken Lewis has 29 years of experience in human resources with expertise in labour relations and workforce planning. As the manager of employee relations and compensation with Hydro Ottawa Ltd., he has been instrumental in two collective bargaining agreements with the union and played a key role in a joint cultural change program.

Nicholas Beynon, CHRP
Human Resources Consultant
LoyaltyOne Inc.

Since he started his career in 2005, Nicolas Beynon has been a results-focused strategic business partner. At Rona he was instrumental in thwarting a crippling pro-union unionization and then went on to help turnaround an unprofitable location. Now at Airmiles LoyaltyOne as a human resources services consultant, he has increased his head count to more than 1,000 employees and now services two major departments, Customer Care and Information Technology.

Foster Brown, CHRP
Vice-President, Human Resources
The Beer Store

Foster Brown has 35 years´ experience in human resources in the manufacturing, packaged goods and retail sectors. This Vice-President of HR at The Beer Store brought together the union, employees at more than 400 store locations, management, corporate partners and customers for a charitable initiative-the Beer Store's annual bottle drive-which raised $1,497,914 for leukemia and lymphoma research. Outside of its success as a fundraiser, Foster has made the event a valuable team-building exercise and customer relations opportunity.

Sarah Burghardt
Human Resources Manager
A.D. William Engineering Inc.

Sarah Burghardt, human resources manager, showed immense leadership in the face of extreme tragedy after A. D. Williams Engineering Inc. lost five of the seven members of its leadership team in two plane crashes. In the face of this adversity she hired a new leadership team and helped them transition then flourish in their new roles, and also provided emotional support to the company's current employees. Sarah currently leads the company's recruitment and retention initiatives, including development and maintenance of it's Career Path and corporate training programs.

Guilherme Dias
Director, Strategic Talent Management
Pitney Bowes

Some of Guilherme Dias´ accomplishments as Director of Strategic Talent Management for Pitney Bowes include building and executing a strategic talent management framework to build a leadership pipeline; receiving the prestigious 2008 Pitney Bowes Impact Award; and designing and executing an 18-month leadership development program.

Monica Belcourt, CHRP
Director, School of Human Resources Management
York University

Dr. Monica Belcourt is an author and editor of HR textbooks as well as a respected educator. Through her leadership at York University in roles such as the Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Graduate Program Director, Director for the Alliance of Human Resources Research, and now as Director of the School of Human Resource Management, she has shaped both the undergraduate and graduate programs to produce well-rounded graduates with both solid academic understanding of human resources and a level of practical experience that goes beyond current business-school curricula.

Award not presented for 2009 – be sure to submit your nominations for 2010

Award not presented for 2009 – be sure to submit your nominations for 2010