[Ottawa] April 22, 2016: The Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa Business Journal are pleased to announce the 2016 Forty Under 40 recipients, one of Ottawa’s most prestigious business awards recognizing accomplished and rising business leaders under the age of 40.

The Forty Under 40 award has become the symbol of leadership, innovation, business acumen and community involvement in Ottawa, all of which enhances and validates our current and future business leaders.

The 2016 awards yet again saw an impressive number of people engaged in the nomination process. More than 260 applications were submitted, making the selection process even more gruelling for a panel of seven independent judges.

This year’s recipients come from varied backgrounds ranging from craft brewing to aerospace, representing the diverse nature of the local business landscape.

“It’s great to see the recipients hailing from different industries and backgrounds” says Chamber President and CEO Ian Faris. “These young business leaders exemplify the enormous amount of talent we have in this city. Their pioneering nature and visionary thinking will generate economic benefits in the years ahead as we strive to become the centre of talent attraction and innovation.”

I’ve judged the award for 17 years. I found this year to be a mountain of work” said Michael Curran, Publisher of the Ottawa Business Journal. “The number of recipients and, generally speaking, the across-the-board quality made it very difficult to pre-screen applicants. As evidence of that, we passed along more than 100 finalists to be judged by our seven-person committee. That’s never happened before.”

The new recipients will get together in late May at the Telfer Executive MBA facility for an afternoon of introductions and sharing.

On June 16, the recipients will be celebrated at a gala at the Hilton Lac-Leamy. The Forty Under 40 awards are co-hosted by the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa Business Journal. A special edition of the Ottawa Business Journal will feature the 2016 recipients.

Twitter users are encouraged to tweet their congratulations to the group using #OTT40.

2016 Ottawa Forty Under 40 Recipients 

Maria Artuso – Royal Bank of Canada

Carey Assaf – Kardish Health Food Centres

Chris Bailey – Unlimi- Tech Software Inc

Summer Baird – The Hintonburg Public House

James Baker – Gowling WLG

Katrina Barclay – Malenka Originals’

Jason Bellefleur – Bellefleur Physiotherapy

Alex Benay – Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation

Frank Bouchard – Wipebook

Catherine Clark – Catherine Clark Communications Inc.

Jeff Clarke – Inflector Environment Services

Elliott Gauthier – Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Joe Hajjar – MDS Aero Support Corporation

Chris Harder – Spartan Bioscience Inc.

Nadine Hogan – Wheelhouse Cycle

Graeme Hussey – Cahdco & CCOC

Richard Isaac – RealDecoy Inc.

Vicki Iverson – Iversoft Solutions

Mischa Kaplan – Rainbow Foods

Farhad Khan – Grype Solutions Inc.

Safeena Kherani – ENT MDs (Safeena Kherani Medicine Professional Corporation)

Ben Lalonde – Orleans Autopro

Domenic Madonna – D- Squared Group of Companies / D- Squared Construction Limited

John Mathers – Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group

Jonathan Milne – Invest Ottawa

Alex Monk – Dominion City Brewing Company

Jonathon Moody – Versature

Nicolas Moyer – Humanitarian Coalition

Shane Parrish – Farnam Street Media Inc.

Melissa Reeves – Linebox Studio

Billy Rogers – Escape Manor

Chad Saikaley – GGFL, Chartered Professional Accountants

Jeff Saikaley – Caza Saikaley LLP

Mark Savenkoff – Carleton University

Andy Scott – Scott Coulson Scott

Karen Sparks – Wesley Clover Parks

Fayez Thawer – Tasico Hospitality

Rob Villeneuve – Rebel

Graeme Webster – KOBLE Commercial Real Estate Inc.

Alan Wehbe – UTG Digital Media

Click here to reserve your seat for the Forty Under 40 gala on June 16

Categories: Business, Leadership

Tags: Forty Under 40 Awards, Ottawa Business Awards, Ottawa Forty Under 40