It was the "year of the professional" at the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce's 6th annual Business Excellence Awards Evening held on Friday, April 18, 2008 at the Mississauga Grand Banquet and Convention Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. Five of the ten official awards recipients hailed from the professional sphere, further indicating the growing impact of these individuals within the Croatian-Canadian community.

"Due to the growing pool of professionals among this year's nominees, we awarded three individuals in the professional category and ended up with two more professionals being recognized in the community achievement category," said Chamber President John Marion. 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:

• Small Business of the Year            DYNAMIC IRON – Mr. Tom Mrsic, Toronto, ON

  Large Business of the Year           JITSU MANUFACTURING – Mr. Eddy Mudronja, Mississauga, ON

  Entrepreneur of the Year              MR. JOHN KOVACEVIC, Tampa Interiors, Mississauga, ON

  Professionals of the Year              DR. VLADIMIR VUKSAN, Toronto, ON

•                                                      DR. MLADEN VRANIC, Toronto, ON
•                                                      DR. ANA MARIJA JURICIC, Windsor, ON
• Executive of the Year                    MS. BARBARA MISETICH PALMEGIANI, Pure Med Spa, Toronto, ON

  Community Achievement Award    DR. VINKO GRUBISIC, Waterloo, ON

•                                                      DR. BRIAN KELEMEN, Stoney Creek, ON
•                                                      MRS. RAJKA KUPESIC, Mississauga, ON

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

           Croatian National Sports Club "Croatia Toronto"

           Queen of Peace Croatian Centre - Norval, ON

Those in attendance considered this to be the best awards dinner thus far. "We received many comments about last year's event and tried to incorporate these into the 2008 program. Each year, we try to offer something new for our guests," said dinner committee Chair and Chamber Board Member Joe Draganjac.

The keynote speaker for the evening was the Hon. Jason Kenney, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity), Government of Canada who spoke of the current administration's relations with Canada's ethnocultural communities. Of particular note regarding the Croatian-Canadian community, Mr. Kenney spoke of the government's recent announcement to remove the IMM 5559 Supplementary Form for Croatian Nationals Visiting Canada. After years of lobbying by the Croatian-Canadian community and following a meeting between government and Chamber representatives in December of 2007, the form's elimination was hailed by Mr. Kenney as an example of cooperation towards the realization of common interests and that he looked forward to continuing this relationship in the future.

A streamlined program facilitated increased networking among attendees and visits to the silent auction table, which included such prizes as artworks by Croatian-Canadian artists, travel packages, and jewelry to name a few. Highly sought after were two return airfares from Toronto to Zagreb donated Skyservice, official airline partner for the 2008 Business Excellence Awards.

Political dignitaries and special guests present included Ms. Lynne Yelich, M.P. for Saskatchewan-Blackstrap; Mr. Borys Wrzesnewskyj, M.P. for Etobicoke Centre; Mr. Omar Alghabra, M.P. for Mississauga Erindale; the Hon. Navdeep Bains, M.P. for Mississauga-Brampton South; the Hon. Peter Fonseca, Minister of Tourism, Government of Ontario and M.P.P. for Mississauga East-Cooksville; Her Worship Hazel McCallion, Mayor of the City of Mississauga; Mr. Bob Bratina, Councillor, Ward 2, City of Hamilton; and Ms. Eve Adams, Councillor, Ward 5, City of Mississauga. The Republic of Croatia was represented by Her Excellency Vesela Mrden-Korac, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Canada and Branka Pazin, Acting Consul General of the Republic of Croatia to Canada. 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.  

As a special addition to this year's awards, each recipient received a limited edition print by world renowned artist Anton Cetin, who graciously donated the works to commemorate his 40th anniversary as an artist in Canada.

The Chamber was pleased to have musical entertainment provided by Miss Jasmin Zdunic who sang the national anthems of Canada and Croatia, the choral group Koralji led by maestro Ed Mavrinac, and the Becar Tamburicans of Stoney Creek, Ontario.

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

2008 Business Excellence Awards Evening

                                                                            TITLE EVENT SPONSOR

                                                       OFFICIAL AIRLINE PARTNER

                                                                                     WINE SPONSOR

                                                                                  TABLE SPONSORS

LIKRO PRECISION      MADY DEVELOPMENT CORP.

                                           TAMPA INTERIOR SYSTEMS    

                       DR. MISLAV PAVELIC, Sherway Dental

                                                                             STUDENT SPONSORS

                   DR. MLADEN SEIDL