For Immediate Release
Glenn Cooke, Cooke Aquaculture Inc. CEO, named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2007 for the Atlantic Region
Fish Farming Leader Takes Home Prestigious Business Award
(Halifax, Sept. 19, 2007)—At a gala awards presentation this evening, Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Aquaculture Inc., was the recipient of the Atlantic region Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2007 award. Mr. Cooke was also named Turnaround Entrepreneur Of The Year at the banquet and ceremony in Halifax.
“For more than 20 years, Mr. Cooke has shown that a relentless vision and entrepreneurial spirit can achieve great things,” said Joyce Hoeven, director of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards Program for the Atlantic region. “His passion for the industry has grown the small family business into the largest fully integrated and independent salmon farming company in North America.”
Mr. Cooke takes an aggressive and passionate approach to fish health, environmental stewardship, acquisition opportunities and business performance. At a time when other companies in the sector suffered significant losses, Cooke Aquaculture Inc. continued to show profits and maintain a solid track record on both fish health and environmental management. With operations in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Maine, Cooke Aquaculture has more than 1,300 employees.
For his hard work and leadership, Mr. Cooke has received the a number of awards and accolades, including: Entrepreneur Of The Year for the Atlantic region (1998); one of Atlantic Canada’s Top 50 CEOs (2006); Person of the Year by Intrafish (2006 and 2007); and one of the 50 Best Managed Companies in Canada (2006).
A strong supporter of regional and national associations, Mr. Cooke served as president of the New Brunswick Salmon Growers Association for two consecutive terms. He has taken a leadership role in restructuring the New Brunswick industry by lobbying for a dramatic move to a Three Bay Management System to protect areas of the Bay of Fundy from the risk of cross-contamination. Mr. Cooke recognized the difficulties this move posed for other local farmers and assisted their transition by sub-leasing sites or contract growing fish on an interim basis.
As the Atlantic Entrepreneur Of The Year, Mr. Cooke will compete with top entrepreneurs from the Pacific, Prairies, Ontario and Québec regions for the honour of Canada’s Entrepreneur Of The Year, to be announced November 1, 2007, in Ottawa. In June 2008, Canada’s Entrepreneur Of The Year will move to the world stage to vie with more than 40 country recipients for the title of Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year. Canada’s own Guy Laliberté from Cirque du Soleil was the recipient of the 2007 World Entrepreneur Of The Year award.
The business category recipients for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2007 Atlantic region awards are:
Business-to-Business Products & Services
Terry CurleyMonaghan Farms Ltd. (Processing potato grower, dealer and exporter)
Kensington, PE
Business-to-Consumer Products & Services
Richard CalderCharm Diamond Centres (Retail jewellery chain)
Dartmouth, NS
www.charmdiamondcentres.com
Emerging Entrepreneur
Jonathan BrettMedicLINK Systems Ltd. (Software solutions developer for medical professionals)
St. John's, NL
www.eyesistant.com
Hospitality
Robert RisleyRCR Hospitality Group (Owns and operates restaurants, banquet facilities and a hotel)
Halifax, NS
www.rcr.ca
Manufacturing
Jerry ByrneD. F. Barnes Group of Companies (Service provider to the oil and gas industry)
St. John's, NL
www.dfbarnes.com
Services
Peter Rent, Donald BelliveauNeill and Gunter (Design, engineering and consulting firm)
Dartmouth, NS; Fredericton, NB
www.neillandgunter.com
Turnaround Entrepreneur
Glenn CookeCooke Aquaculture (Fish farming company)
Blacks Harbour, NB
www.cookeaqua.com
Halifax native Graham Dennis, Canada’s longest-serving publisher, received the coveted Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2007 Atlantic Lifetime Achievement Award this evening. After his almost 54-year reign as publisher of The Halifax Herald Limited, Dennis was truly deserving of such an honour.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year awards honour entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in areas such as risk taking, company development, innovation and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Submissions are reviewed by an independent judging panel comprising several notable Canadian business leaders and past award recipients. The members of the Atlantic region panel for 2007 were: Kenneth Losier, Vice President, Assumption Life; Wade MacLauchlan, President and Vice Chancellor, University of Prince Edward Island; Karen Oldfield, President and CEO, Halifax Port Authority; Laura Quartermain, Vice President Finance, Canadian International Capital Inc.; Bruce Towler, First Vice President, CIBC Wood Gundy; Wayne Trask, Chairman, Cambridge Estates Group of Companies.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year Program was founded by Ernst & Young to celebrate great entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in areas such as company development, financial performance and risk taking. The program is nationally sponsored by Global Television Network, National Post, La Presse, RDI, Roynat Capital and SAP. As well, the Atlantic region sponsor is Progress magazine.
To learn more, visit www.eoy.ca.
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