The CCCA presented its annual awards at the 2018 CCCA National Conference and ICW Summit, held April 29-May 1 in Toronto. Here are this year’s award winners:
Robert V.A. Jones Award
Former CCCA Chair Grant Borbridge, Q.C., is the winner of this year’s R.V.A. Jones Award. Grant is Vice-President, Legal, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of MEG Energy in Calgary. Among his many other accomplishments, Mr. Borbridge was helpful in getting the Business Leadership Program for In-House Counsel off the ground. There are now more than 150 Certified In-House Counsel in Canada.
Named for the CCCA’s founding Executive Director, the R.V.A. Jones Award is given to a regular member of the CCCA whose career exemplifies the highest standards of service, conduct and professionalism.
Learn more about the award.
Community Builder Award
Salimah Walji-Shivji is the winner of the Community Builder Awared. She is the Vice-President Client and Community Engagement and General Counsel at AgeCare, a Calgary-based organization dedicated to creating communities for seniors, and is also an instructor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary.
The Community Builder Award recognizes pro bono, community, or corporate social responsibility efforts by CCCA members. Ms. Walji-Shivji is being celebrated for the work she does in her professional role as well her mentorship of newer lawyers, and also for her outstanding contributions to the greater community through volunteering.
Learn more about the award.
Professional Contribution Award
Fernando Garcia, General Counsel, Government Affairs and Corporate Secretary with Nissan Canada, is the winner of this year’s Professional Contribution Award, which recognizes an individual or group who raises the profile of the CCCA in the professional community.
Mr. Garcia has participated extensively in CCCA events as a speaker and mentor, promoting the benefits of membership in a variety of ways. He is also known for embracing social media and using it to inspire, educate and inform the next generation of lawyers about the in-house profession and the CCCA.
Learn more about the award.
Special Contribution Award
The creator and founder of the CCCA Mentoring Program is the winner of this year’s CCCA Special Contribution Award, which recognizes an individual who has made an extraordinary, one-time contribution to further the objectives of the CCCA.
Barry Michael Fisher, inspired by a peer-to-peer program for in-house counsel that he’d encountered in Australia, worked throughout 2007-08 to structure and implement the CCCA program, which 10 years later has matched hundreds of pairs of in-house counsel, providing countless CCCA members with career advice, safe spaces and unique learning opportunities.
Learn more about this award.
Up and Comer Award
The Up and Comer Award recognizes an in-house counsel member with less than 15 years call to the Bar, who has had strong participation at any level within the profession and especially within both the CCCA and the organization they serve.
This year’s Up and Comer Award went to Daniel Holden, who was just 32 and had been with the company for 18 months when he was promoted to the position of Vice-President, General Counsel & Secretary at Nestlé Canada. He earned the promotion by developing processes to streamline legal operations and get ahead of evolving issues like social media crises. He has led a number of efficiency-focused initiatives such as the development of a legal knowledge management database and a company-wide compliance training package.
Learn more about this award.
Innovation Award
Lynne Charbonneau, Deputy General Counsel of Retail Banking and Wealth Management at HSBC Bank in Vancouver is this year’s winner of the CCCA Innovation Award, which recognizes an individual or group who is doing things differently to create value on behalf of or for the benefit of a legal department or organization.
During a recent, ambitious transformation at the bank that involved multiple departments, Ms. Charbonneau designed a matrix connecting proposed customer experiences with appropriate guidance around the legal, regulatory and risk environment. Her creative thinking, combined with practical business sense, resulted in an innovative tool that can be used by others in future projects.
Learn more about this award.