Award Recipients: 2020
Every year, Algonquin College celebrates the incredible achievements of its alumni through the Alumni of Distinction Awards. These awards honour the extraordinary contributions our graduates make to the community while achieving career success.
Here are the 2020 recipients:
Alumnus of the Year:
Ian Millar
Equestrian (Retired)
Business Administration – Class of 1968
Ian Millar is among the most honoured champions in his field. He competed as a rider in 10 Olympic Games, breaking the world record for most Olympic appearances across all sports in 2012. He won a silver Olympic medal in Beijing in 2008, and also earned nine medals in as many appearances at the Pan American Games. He is a Member of the Order of Canada, and has been inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, the Jump Canada Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
Apprenticeship: Shaun Barr
Chair, Algonquin College Construction Trades and Building Systems and Perth Campus
Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technician – Class of 1993
Shaun Barr is no slouch at communicating the merits of the trades and in motivating others to discover their potential as a career. He has spent over a decade at Algonquin College teaching the trades, helping develop new courses and labs alongside his faculty team, and ensuring students graduate fully prepared for the professional life ahead of them. In 2019, he was elected to the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum’s Board of Directors for a four-year term.
Business: Heidi Hauver
Photo by Mark Holleron, Ottawa Business Journal
Vice President, Talent and HR, Leadership and Culture Mentor, Invest Ottawa
Applied Management – Class of 2005
Human Resources Management – Class of 2007
Heidi Hauver is a compelling advocate for the complex discipline that HR is today. She has spent her career partnering with innovative companies to provide executive leadership in human resources, mentorship and coaching, all part of transformational HR. Today, Hauver is with Invest Ottawa and can look back with justifiable pride on a consistent record of success. Hauver has won a number of awards, including the inaugural 2018 Leadership Agency Award for Woman of Distinction, a 2017 Top HR Professional, a 2012 Ottawa Business Journal Forty Under 40 Award and a 2012 CATA Information Technology Strategic HR Leadership Award.
Changing Lives: Leslee Brown
Addiction Therapist, Addiction Services of Eastern Ontario
Recreation and Leadership – Class of 1981
Leslee Brown has been giving back, professionally and personally, ever since she graduated from Algonquin College’s Recreation and Leadership program in 1981. In her first job, she counselled men at the Cornwall Jail who had been convicted of crimes while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. That led Brown to pursue a career in addictions, a relatively new field in the 1980s. Since then, she has established a career that has earned her a stellar reputation as an addiction therapist with the Cornwall Community Hospital.
Community Services: Michael Nolan
Chief, Paramedic Service and Director, Emergency Services, County of Renfrew
Ambulance and Emergency Care Paramedic – Class of 1991
Michael Nolan has been taking care of others since he graduated from Algonquin College’s Ambulance and Emergency Care Paramedic program in 1991. His career has sent him far afield, professionally and personally, earned him recognition, and allowed to him contribute to the profession through his leadership, advocacy, and the application of innovative technology. Fifteen years ago, Nolan became Chief of the Paramedic Service for the County of Renfrew and has continually pushed the boundary of what paramedicine offers, moving beyond the traditional response-based 911 service to one that provides diverse services throughout the community.
Creative Arts & Design: Véronique Rivest
Owner, SOIF Bar à Vin 
Sommelier, Air Canada
Sommelier – Class of 1996
Véronique Rivest not only came second in the World’s Best Sommelier Competition in Tokyo in 2013, she was the first woman in history to do so. She also had a second place finish in the Best Sommelier of the Americas in 2009, and a top 12 ranking at the World’s Best Sommelier in 2010. In 2014, she opened SOIF Bar à Vin, which was named among the 10 best restaurants in Canada. After a six-month selection process involving wine professionals across the country, in 2017 she was named Air Canada’s official sommelier, tasked with selecting wines for airline’s business class customers.
Health Sciences: Paula Doering
Senior VP, Clinical Programs, Chief Nursing Executive and Allied Health Professionals, Bruyère
Practical Nursing – Class of 1982
Paula Doering describes her career in health care as “a privilege.” It has allowed her to work with great teams of professionals, locally and provincially. There are always new and interesting challenges and the coronavirus pandemic is possibly the greatest one of all, she notes – but none of it has lessened her passion, dedication and commitment. Over the course of her 37-year career, Paula has held more than 18 different positions, directed innumerable hospital programs and has come to understand the hospital setting in all its complexities.
Recent Graduate: Lexi Savoy
Scriptwriter
Scriptwriting – Class of 2015
Since graduating from the Algonquin College Scriptwriting Program, Lexi Savoy has written scripts that placed in a several international competitions. Most notably, her pilot ‘Who Killed Heather McAdams?’ was the 2018 Sir Peter Ustinov Award winner at the International Emmy Awards. Savoy is currently pitching production companies such as Netflix and HBO.
Rena Bowen Volunteer of the Year: Nazira Tareen
Early Childhood Educator (Retired)
Early Childhood Education – Class of 1973
At 81, Tareen can look back on an exceptional record of action. Among the major organizations she has worked for are the Kidney Foundation, the Museum of Civilization, the Brownies and Girl Guides of Canada, and Ottawa Carleton Immigrant Services. She has been an invited speaker on Islam at many churches, schools, universities, the National Press Club, and on TV and radio.
She has been a member of the Spiritual Care Advisory Committee at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital, Elisabeth Bruyere Hospital and a spiritual volunteer.
Technology: Luc Levesque
VP Growth, Shopify
Computer Engineering Technology – Class of 1995
That enjoyment of adventure and challenge has been characteristic of Luc Levesque’s career. One of the most successful Canadian technology executives in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area, Levesque has worked for a number of big names, including TripAdvisor, Facebook, and has most recently joined Ottawa-based online commerce giant Shopify. His skill as an entrepreneur has not gone unnoticed. He’s been the subject of articles in the New York Times, Business Insider, and the Globe and Mail. He’s also been awarded the International Executive of the Year Award by Invest Ottawa, while the Ottawa Business Journal presented him with a Forty Under 40 Award.
Alumni Employer of the Year: The Ottawa Hospital
With more than 1,100 beds and a workforce composed of about 16,000 people, The Ottawa Hospital is a hive of activity at any hour of the day. Add the multi-campus teaching hospital’s complement of about 5,000 learners, and the size and complexity of an institution with a $1.2 billion annual budget becomes obvious.