A message from the Publisher of Northern Ontario Business.

• Author: Mills, Patricia
• Position: Editorial

There have been few professional achievements over the years that have brought me as much pleasure, and as much pride, as the annual Influential Women of Northern Ontario Awards program.

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Launched at a time when women were really just starting to influence policy, economic development and business, the program's primary mandate was to seek out, profile and honour women in Northern Ontario who contributed to economic growth and development in our region.

We were looking for women who were innovators, entrepreneurs, involved citizens and positive role models, and we have not been disappointed with the results of our mission.

Over the last 10 years, the IW program has attracted hundreds of quality nominations from across this vast region and we have honoured incredible women leaders. Their stories of success have been shared through the pages of our souvenir magazines and with literally hundreds and hundreds of delegates who have attended the IW luncheons since their launch.

It seemed only fitting that on our 10th Anniversary we would introduce a special award to honour the Woman of the Decade, in addition to the 2007 IW winners.

What a very difficult job it must have been for this year's judges--two from the northeast and two from the northwest--to only select one of the incredible nominations we received, to arrive at their independent decision on who should receive this special honour.

But after adding up their scores, Louise Paquette is the strongest advocate of Northern-Ontario. She has championed many initiatives...