ONTARIO HOME BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION PRESENTS 2012 ANNUAL AWARDS
September 26, 2012 Collingwood, Ontario. The Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) presented Paul Golini, Executive Vice President of Empire Communities with its 2012 OHBA Member of the Year Award at the association’s Annual Conference at Blue Mountain Conference Centre in Collingwood.
Golini was recognized for contributing countless hours of volunteer time in leading BILD (Building Industry and Development Association) following the unexpected, sudden death of BILD’s CEO and President Stephen Dupuis last year. “Paul demonstrated what true leadership is,” said OHBA President Leith Moore, who added, “He helped a grieving staff, fellow volunteers and our industry as a whole pull together to recommit and reconnect to ensure BILD, as well as OHBA remains strong, focused and successful.” Golini continues to serve as Chair of BILD and is a board member of OHBA.
The Waterloo Region Home Builders’ Association (WRHBA) was named 2012 Local Association of the Year. Notable among a list of outstanding achievements was WRHBA’s comprehensive government relations and advocacy efforts through nine liaison committees that meet regularly with municipal staff. The local is also very committed to encouraging youth to join the industry and supports various projects including a high school design competition, a renowned student-ambassador program and has nurtured a strong relationship with their local college and university. Highly committed to supporting the community where they build, WRHBA and its members have donated to dozens of charitable causes of the years and extended their generosity internationally when they sponsored one of the six houses built during OHBA’s Humanitarian Build in the Dominican Republic last year. “This is just the tip of the iceberg of what WRHBA does,” said Moore who noted, “They do so much more and they do it all so well.”
OHBA also awarded John Meinen of Pinnacle Quality Homes based in Stratford with the 2012 Rooftopper of the Year Award for his strong recruitment of new members. “John has travelled across the province, visiting local home builder associations to extoll the virtues of membership in OHBA and he has also worked diligently on the formation of a new local home builder associations bringing us to 30 locals, so he is most deserving of this honour,” said Moore. This is the second year running that Meinen has won the award.
A special recognition award was presented to James Bazely of Gregor Homes in Barrie, who organized last year’s OHBA Conference in the Dominican Republic that saw members and their families build 6 houses for very needy families in just four days. “That event was a culmination of James many years of service to OHBA on various fronts, including a successful year as OHBA President,” said Moore.
Dorothy Stewart of Enbridge Gas Distribution and Grace Doiron of RBC Royal Bank were honoured for their contributions to their local association, CHBA-Simcoe County who were hosts of this year’s conference. Darlene Fraser of Eastforest Homes received a special recognition award for her years of enthusiastic support of programming to promote professionalism in the field of sales and marketing.
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The Ontario Home Builders’ Association is the voice of the residential construction industry in Ontario representing 4,000 member companies organized into 30 local associations across the province. The industry contributes over $42 billion dollars to Ontario’s economy, employing more than 325,000 people across the province.