Greater Moncton Celebrates Top Businesses At Annual Awards
MONCTON – The Accor Global Reservation Centre team erupted in cheers when the company was announced as People’s Choice Award recipient at this year’s Business Excellence Awards.
The 34th edition of the event hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Moncton recognized 10 of the areas’ businesses at Casino New Brunswick Wednesday.
“Thank you to the people – our family, friends, business partner and 240,000 colleagues worldwide who helped us in achieving this award,” said Allison Lang, general manager of the company in Moncton.
Accor Global Reservation Centre also won the award for the Community Service category.
Small and new businesses made a strong showing at the event, winning five of the categories of the night.
Sequoia Downtown and Dieppe won the environmental excellence award and CAVOK Brewing Co. won the emerging business award.
Sequioa owner Danielle Gauvin thanked the public “for shopping small and shopping local.”
CAVOK co-owner Serge Nadeau also thanked the public for their support.
“We’re a local product and it’s the local community that encourages us,” he said.
Cannabis producer Organigram, which has grown from a few employees to more than 750 in the past five years, won the innovation award.
Jeff Purcell, Senior VP of operational services, thanked the mayors of the tri-community and the province for their support towards the cannabis industry. He said being a pioneer in a new industry, not just in Canada but globally, makes innovation central to Organigram’s growth and operations.
“Every single day we wake up and have to figure out a multitude of problems. There isn’t one day or one meeting that we don’t say, ‘wow, that’s new, how do we figure it out?’ So innovation is and has been in our DNA from the beginning,” he said.
Crowne Plaza in downtown Moncton won under the category Excellence in Business, while Institut Figurra won under the same category for small- and medium-sized businesses.
The winners, which came from a list of 32 finalists, were chosen by a panel of judges including Rolande Thibodeau from Exit Realty, Steve Lund of Deloitte, Michelle Duffie of Lounsbury Group, Scott Beck of Becktek, and Stephane Richard.
All companies nominated for one of the awards of the night were also put in the list for the People’s Choice Award. The public cast nearly 3,000 votes online before October 11.
More than 450 people attended the awards, making it the largest attendance in the event’s history.
“This room is filled with such great examples of business achievement. From large organizations like Organigram, RBC, Medavie and Accor, to smaller companies that you may not have heard of before or you don’t know much about, like Sequioa or MOVI – Yoga, Dance and Fitness,” said chamber CEO John Wishart.
Other award recipients were:
- Non-Profit Organization of the Year: New Brunswick Youth Orchestra
- Young Entrepreneur: MOVI – Yoga, Dance and Fitness
- Inclusive Hiring: Casino New Brunswick
- Healthy Workplace: Delta Beauséjour by Marriott
Arrow Windows Doors & More, Gauvin Construction, Jones Insurance Service Ltd., and Moncton Industrial Development were also inducted into the Milestone Club. Sponsored by Medavie Blue Cross, the club was created last year to recognize businesses that have been chamber members for over 50 years.
RBC Wealth Management was the presenting sponsor of the event, with individual award categories sponsored by BDC, Brainworks, Liberty Utilities, the Greater Moncton Roméo-LeBlanc International Airport, the municipalities of Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview, the New Brunswick Community College, Opportunities New Brunswick, Scotiabank and Wilson Insurance.