5th Annual Event a Success

The Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce hosted its Business Excellence Awards Evening on Friday, April 20, 2007. Sponsored by CIBC, almost 500 people attended the event held at the Mississauga Grand Banquet Hall and Convention Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.

Chamber President John Marion greeted the large crowd as indicative of the ongoing success of the Chamber’s membership drive and encouraged all in attendance to refer businesses, professionals, individuals, non-profit organizations, and students to join the organization. “Building a strong network will facilitate the promotion of Croatian-Canadian business growth and ultimately benefit the entire community,” said Marion.

A number of political dignitaries and special guests took part in the festivities. Ms. Lynne Yelich, M.P. for Saskatchewan-Blackstrap brought greetings on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Mr. Borys Wrzesnewskyj, M.P. for Etobicoke Centre brought greetings on behalf of the Hon. Stephane Dion, Leader of the Opposition; Mr. Omar Alghabra, M.P. for Mississauga Erindale; Mr. Harinder Takhar, M.P.P. for Mississauga Centre brought greetings on behalf of Premier Dalton McGuinty; Mrs. Hazel McCallion, Mayor of the City of Mississauga; Mr. Bob Bratina, Councillor with the City of Hamilton; Mr. Frank Rukavina, candidate for the Conservative Party in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek; and Ms. Bonnie Crombie, candidate for the Federal Liberal Party in Mississauga Streetsville.

The Republic of Croatia was represented by Ms. Vesela Mrden-Korac, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Canada and her spouse Marko Korac; Mr. Mario Livaja, Consul General of the Republic of Croatia to Canada; Mrs. Branka Pazin, Counsellor with the Consulate of the Republic of Croatia to Canada; Mr. Slobodan Mikac, Managing Director of the Croatian Trade & Investment Promotion Agency; and Mr. Kristian Lesar, Project Manager with the Croatian Trade & Investment Promotion Agency.

As always, our spiritual leaders were present as Rev. Ivan Novak of Our Lady Queen of Croatia Parish in Toronto and Fra Stipe Pandzic from the Our Lady Queen of Peace Franciscan Centre in Norval attended as guests of the Chamber.  

It was the Chamber’s honour to have Ms. Jagoda Pike, Publisher of the Toronto Star, as the keynote speaker for the evening. She charmed dinner guests with her reminiscences about her family’s arrival from Sibenik, Croatia in the late 1960s and growing up as an immigrant child in Canada. Ms. Pike’s professional success and accomplishments were particularly inspiring as from her humble beginnings she now leads the largest daily newspaper in Canada. She was also the recipient of the Chamber’s Executive of the Year award.

The awards were established to formally recognize leadership, innovation, and business excellence within the Croatian-Canadian business community and nominations are open to Croats from across Canada. This year’s winners are as follows:

• The Small Business of the Year Award – POSITIVE LIVING PRODUCTIONS – Ms. Aida Memisevic, Mississauga

  The Medium Business of the Year Award – EUROTRADE IMPORT/EXPORT INC. – Mr. Eko Altic, Mississauga

  The Large Business of the Year Award – ITM CORPORATION – Mr. Thomas Vukovich, Toronto

  The Entrepreneur of the Year Award – MR. MIKE KOLAKOVIC, co-owner of Mr. Rooter, Toronto

  The Professional of the Year Award – DR. MLADEN SEIDL, Toronto

  The Executive of the Year Award – MS. JAGODA PIKE, Publisher, The Toronto Star, Toronto

  The Community Achievement Award – MR. GEORGE CHUVALO, Fight Against Drugs Foundation, Toronto

In addition to the business awards, the Chamber honoured the following with a Lifetime Community Service Award:

           Ms. Valentina Krcmar – Community activist and former editor/publisher of the Iskra publication

           Mr. Anton Cetin – World renown artist and community activist

           The Katarina Zrinska Croatian Women’s Society

A special philanthropic award was given to Mr. Janko Herak who recently donated $250,000 to the St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation. Mr. Herak’s generous gift will be used to develop an operating room that will support new, minimally invasive methods of surgery for urology procedures used to treat prostate cancer. 

All recipients expressed their sincere gratitude for the awards and George Chuvalo gave a particularly heartwarming speech. The son of Croatian immigrants who came to Canada in the 1920s, Mr. Chuvalo spoke proudly of his heritage and growing up in the community, his meteoric rise to the heights of the boxing world, and the personal tragedies his family has suffered as a result of substance abuse. He has since established the George Chuvalo Fight Against Drugs Foundation and travels the world speaking out against drug abuse. The professional triumphs and charitable endeavours of this national legend are truly an inspiration to all Canadians, and moreso the Croatian-Canadian community.

A new feature of the 2007 awards dinner was a silent auction of items donated by Davor Suker; Joso Spralja; Elena Spralja-Saldini; Leo Spralja; Gabrielle Horvath; Anton Cetin; Janko Herak; The Croatian Naïve Art Gallery and Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Baka Communications; and the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Fight Against Drugs Foundation on behalf of the Chamber.

In what has now become an event tradition, a live auction was held for two business class return airfares from Toronto to Zagreb graciously donated by MALEV Hungarian Airlines and a Colorado Avalanche hockey jersey autographed by NHL superstar Joe Sakic.

The Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce would like to acknowledge the sponsors of the

2007 Business Excellence Awards Evening

TITLE EVENT SPONSOR

                                                               OFFICIAL AIRLINE PARTNER

                                                                                         WINE SPONSOR

                                                                                  TABLE SPONSORS

                                                                                    STUDENT SPONSORS