Northern Ontario Business Awards.

• Position: CELEBRATING TWENTY ONE YEARS OF EXCELLENCE

Timmins | Ontario

The City with a Heart of Gold

Brimming over with a buoyant crowd of nearly 450, the Timmins Days Inn played host to the 21st annual Northern Ontario Business Awards on October 18, 2007.

Northern leaders of all stripes, including business, industry and politics, were in attendance to witness 10 of the region's brightest stars receive recognition for their efforts.

With a tireless spirit and 32 years' worth of business savvy, Sudbury's own Peter Dal Bianco was named as the Entrepreneur of the Year for his ongoing success with his self-titled Bianco's Audiotronic in the face of big-box competition.

The meteoric rise from penny stock to powerhouse and a continued commitment to growth has earned Sudbury's FNX Mining Company Inc. the Company of the Year Award (51+ employees).

Also included in the Company of the Year category were two family-run firms.

The Walther family oversees Thunder Bay's CRK Fasteners, which won the Company of the Year Award (16-50 employees). Meanwhile, Timmins' Haasen clan tends to Haasen Farms Ltd., one of the few dairy farms left in the Cochrane district, and winner of the Company of the Year Award (1-15 employees).

The theme of successful family ownership continued with the United Supply Group of Companies, which was given the Judges' Choice Award.

For its willingness to work against the grain, the First Nations Business Award of Excellence went to Five Nations Energy Inc., Ontario's only Aboriginally-owned and operated energy transmission corporation.

As a Sudbury dentist who's expanded into four other ventures, including mineral exploration and trucking, Dr. David Morris was given the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

With as much focus on community support as on its training and recycling business, North Bay's Rebuilt Resources walked away with the Entrepreneurial Community of the Year Award.

The Innovation Award went to Rezplast Manufacturing Ltd. for its newly-designed portable Mining Toilet and Polar Climate safety shower.

Having written a passionate discourse on the virtues of volunteerism, Carleton University freshman and Sudbury resident Regan Christine Thompson was this year's Union Gas Student Essay Scholarship winner.

2007 NOBA Award Winners

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

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Presenter Gilles Lefebvre, Director of Finance, Dumas Contracting

WINNER | Peter Dal Bianco, Owner/President, Bianco's Audiotronics

FIRST NATIONS BUSINESS AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

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