Frontline Workers Receive Highest Accolade At Chamber Of Commerce Business Awards
MONCTON–Greater Moncton’s business person of the year for 2021 isn’t technically one person–it’s every frontline worker in the region.
That was the verdict from the 2021 Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton Business Excellence Awards.
A panel of chamber members, taking into account the leadership and perseverance of frontline workers through a second year of pandemic, dubbed their impact on the business community to be the greatest in 2021.
Chamber CEO John Wishart said the chamber only started giving out the Business Person of the Year award in 2020 but had to make an exception for an exceptional group.
“When the staff and board sat down this year and thought, who has really stood out in terms of achieving something, we kept coming back to the importance of all frontline workers, who soldiered on, despite pandemic restrictions and public health scares,” Wishart said.
“Those people really kept a lot of businesses going through thick and thin, so we thought there’s no better recipient than that group.”
Every week, for the next few months, Wishart said the chamber is going to visit frontline workers across Greater Moncton–truck drivers, taxi drivers, grocery store clerks, and public health nurses, to name a few–and present the award to them.
The chamber plans to commemorate each presentation with 52 photos that will go into a collage to hang in its boardroom as a reminder of the year and the impact frontline workers had on the business community.
Wishart said this year’s online-only event had “a lot of moving parts,” involving pre-recorded video, live appearances by sponsors, and people delivering awards to the winners.
Wishart said the event required two dedicated staff members to organize the logistics of running an event from multiple locations.
“Controlled chaos is what I’d describe it as,” quipped Wishart, who noted he spent most of the night behind the screen rather than in front of it.
Although Wishart was happy with this year’s event, he said something is lost when people can’t congratulate each other and celebrate in person in front of 456 people, like in 2019, the last time the chamber held a live event.
“It’s such a great night and it means a lot to be able to share a drink or slap someone on the back and congratulate them. As good as last night was, there’s still part of it missing and we look forward to returning to that,” he said.
This full list of this year’s Business Excellence Award winners includes:
- Young Entrepreneur Award – Five Bridges Bar & Grill (RMT Restaurant Group)
- Emerging Business Award – Reconnect Health Centre & Physiotherapy
- Milestone Club Award – Supremex, KPMG, Maritime Fire Places and A1 Chimney Sweepers, Architects 4 and Acadia Toyota.
- Environment Excellence Award – Pallet Depot
- Newcomer Entrepreneur Award – Sai Krishna Food Services Corporation
- Innovation Award – Reconnect Health Centre & Physiotherapy
- Non-Profit Organization of the Year Award – Crossroads for Women
- Inclusive Hiring Award – JD Irving Ltd.
- Workplace Culture Award – McInnes Cooper
- Excellence in Business Award – Shannex Inc.
- Excellence in Business Award (Small/Medium Enterprise) – Tire Shack Brewing
- People’s Choice Award –HS Empire, Tire Shack Brewing, Five Bridges Brewery, Accor and Crossroads for Women.