Outstanding Business Achievement Awards Recipients Announced

The Saint John Board of Trade has announced the recipients of its 2012 Outstanding Business Achievement Awards. At its 28th awards dinner, Hemmings House Pictures was honoured with the award for Emerging Enterprise, and Master Promotions accepted the Entrepreneurial Achievement Award. In the Business Excellence category, the award went to Innovatia Inc.

In the Emerging Enterprise category, Hemmings House Pictures took top honours. Hemmings House Pictures was established after a previous partnership Greg Hemmings had with two others was dissolved in 2007. That year Greg joined Andrew Tidby and Dreamstreet Pictures to produce a TV show called Planet Luxury for which he invested heavily in production and post-production gear. Along with his many years experience in the film industry, he now had equipment plus an experienced crew, enabling him to start a new corporate video and commercial production company. Hemmings House has since produced numerous world-class television series and documentaries, and works closely with many of the regions top advertising agencies to serve the Atlantic Canadian corporate video and commercial markets.

Each of the ten full time staff and regular contractors has a support backup, so there is always at least one person who knows the job of the other, making for maximum redundancy and efficiency. The team is motivated by the ability to work in an environment that is more of a lifestyle than a career. As a service-based company that is successful because of the team’s talent and likability, personal relationship development with current and prospective clients is vital.

Greg considers himself an ‘adventure’ entrepreneur whose passion is the creative arts. He takes risks for high levels of adventure, and writes a weekly travel and adventure column in the Telegraph Journal. An active member of the Saint John community, the company supports many charitable and civic initiatives with free or deeply discounted services.

Hemmings House has become known in the marketplace for highly creative videos and photography. Clients hire them to tell their brand stories to customers around the globe. In the next five years the company plans to expand its export of original content, as well as service customers on both sides of the border.

Wendell Howes began Master Promotions in 1973 with one show in Saint John organized from a makeshift office in his basement. Expansion began in the Maritimes and, as the successes grew, creating shows across the country seemed to be the logical next step. With many International trade show companies scaling back or leaving Canada, Master Promotions has shown continuous annual growth through new show creation as well as the purchase of a number of highly respected shows in the Maritimes, Ontario and BC. Master Promotions now owns about 40 Trade and Consumer shows across Canada, managed by its 28 employees from offices on both coasts.

The company’s unique approach to event development, and provision of a seamless exhibiting experience for clients, stands out among the competition and has earned Master Promotions a reputation for producing high quality, focused and very successful events.

The company is continually on the leading edge of new developments in the trade show industry. Its unique Trade Show and Conference Registration software, developed by the in-house IT department, is used for registration at all of their trade shows and is contracted out to other industry events as well. Their new electronic sales brochures cuts down on paper waste, and engaging customers and visitors via social networking is an excellent tool to gauge satisfaction with an event and to generate excitement and sales activities.

Wendell's hands-on approach and unique ability to foresee opportunities has contributed to the company’s ability to expand nationally from its head office in Saint John. Master Promotions currently owns and manages Canada's largest trade shows in the forestry, heavy construction equipment, commercial fishing, trucking and logistics and agriculture. As founder and president, Wendell has built the company from a small organization to one of Canada's most recognized names in the trade show industry.

Innovatia is a Knowledge Management firm with a focus on the ICT and Energy industries. Founded in 2000, Innovatia’s 400 plus professionals deliver top quality solutions to their clients across North America and globally. Innovatia delivers knowledge management services in three areas: Learning Solutions, Documentation, and Technical Support. These solutions span the entire solution set from custom design and development through to delivery and support. Procedure Accelerator, a web-enabled software platform designed for the Oil and Gas and Chemical Processing industries, is also currently being marketed throughout North and South America.

Since Roxanne Fairweather and Dave Grebenc acquired the business in 2009, the Innovatia team has significantly grown the business. Today, they are successfully delivering large-scale projects to
some of the world’s leading global Technology and Oil and Gas organizations. The impact of this growth has been significant within Saint John and New Brunswick, both in the creation of skilled jobs and the subsequent revenue generation for local suppliers. Both the Saint John based employees and those throughout New Brunswick have a broad multi-level skill base that is rich in industry experience and knowledge management expertise.

In addition to their day-to-day business, the Innovatia team gives back to the community. Focusing their efforts on children and literacy, Innovatia continues to be a PALS partner promoting literacy at Hazen-White St. Francis School. Recently, this has included the transformation of the school library, a yearly book drive to stock the shelves, and the PenPALS program, pairing students with employees at Innovatia.

Innovatia’s commitment to client satisfaction and quality, their multi-level, extensive skill base and their broad and deep industry experience is why their clients continue to turn to them to transform their products and end-user experience.

This year’s recipient of the “Young Entrepreneur” award is Dave Wolpin, owner of Kredl’s, Wolpin Enterprises and Dave’s Produce Packs. This award recognizes young business leaders (30 years and under) just beginning to make their mark.

The Board of Trade presented this evening for the tenth year “The Big Heart” Award. The recipient of this award is Romero House Soup Kitchen.

Also this evening, Board of Trade Chair, Larry Hachey presented Credit Counselling Services of Atlantic Canada with the Chair’s Award. This marks the nineteenth year in which a deserving individual or organization has been selected by the Board’s Chairperson for their achievements within, and contributions to, the community.