Congratulations to Chris Rickett, recipient of the 2022 Local Government Program Society Award of Excellence.

Chris is currently the Director of Economic Growth, Culture and Entrepreneurship at the City of Markham. Having worked previously with MPAC and the City of Toronto, Chris was primarily nominated for his work expanding the Digital Main Street program to municipalities. The program, built around an online learning and training program, helps main street businesses grow and manage their business through the adoption of digital tools and technology. During the pandemic, Chris rapidly helped scale up the program across Toronto and then nationally, serving approximately 40,000 businesses.

In his role as the Senior Project Manager for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s Partners in Project Green, Chris helped improve business efficiency by unlocking business efficiency through unlocking environmental improvements for businesses.

In addition to his work, Chris was also a City Councillor in the City of Stratford. He received his Master of Public Administration from the Western University Local Government Program in 2007, where his research focused on the political economy of land-use change in the City of London.

Congratulations to Rob Adams, recipient of the 2021 Local Government Program Alumni Society Award of Excellence!

Rob is the CAO at the Town of Stouffville, and has held several leadership roles in the municipal sector, both politically and administratively. Rob's leadership in “Creating a Culture of Innovation" has enabled top-down directed innovation to become undirected bottom-up innovation. Rob's continuous improvement philosophy develops into a holistic part of the culture and a powerful force for change and transformation. A culture of innovation is a critical ingredient for the future success of municipal government, and Rob demonstrates this by always challenging staff to think outside the box and communicating to build trust, so his team feels empowered to take risks.

Rob is a unique CAO, having served 3 terms as Mayor of Orangeville and 4 terms as Warden of Dufferin County. Consequently, he understands and can effectively support and build consensus with both administrative and political parts of a municipal organization. In addition to championing a culture of innovation, Rob always dedicates his time and efforts to share his experiences and success stories in numerous speaking engagements and has mentored many local government program graduates.

Congratulations to Morgan Calvert recipient of the 2020 Local Government Program Alumni Society Award of Excellence!

Morgan is the Acting Township Manager/CAO of Adelaide-Metcalfe and Director of Special Projects and IT at Middlesex County. Morgan is also currently the Director of Ontario’s Municipal Information Systems Association (also known as MISA).

As the Director of MISA, Morgan has demonstrated innovation through his ongoing and thoughtful dedication to helping municipalities in Ontario handle the quick transition to electronic governance due to the pandemic. He was involved in leading a team of municipal professionals who worked with AMO and AMCTO to produce an Electronic Council Meetings Guide and has continued to help municipalities provide the same level of service known to residents before COVID-19. Morgan is a champion of rural-urban connectivity, both in the physical and technological sense. Morgan is also mentor to many new local government professionals, always seeing the potential in his peers and coworkers and inspiring others.

Congratulations to Cathy Saunders recipient of the 2019 Local Government Program Alumni Society Award of Excellence!

Cathy Saunders is the City Clerk at the City of London and was selected for the award for her exemplary leadership during the 2018 Municipal Election. As the first, and only, Ontario municipality to undertake a ranked ballot election in 2018, Cathy demonstrated superior collaboration and innovation to lead the organization through this monumental milestone project. Cathy’s leadership is recognized by all both at the City of London and in the municipal sector at large. Cathy is also a proud alumnus of the Local Government Masters of Public Administration program at Western.

Congratulations to Anthony Ierullo recipient of the 2018 Local Government Program Alumni Society Award of Excellence!

Anthony Ierullo is the Manager of Long Range and Strategic Planning. As a member of Aurora's management team, Anthony has long been a contributor to the planning of growth and economic development of the Town of Aurora. In 2017 alone he played a key role in multiple projects that moved Aurora forward in terms of innovation, citizen satisfaction, leadership and collaboration.

Congratulations to Geoff Hogan recipient of the 2017 Local Government Program Alumni Society Award of Excellence!

Geoff Hogan is the CEO of the South Western Integrated Fibre Technology initiative (SWIFT). SWIFT was initiated by the Western Ontario Warden’s Caucus and has since become the largest publicly funded regional broadband project in Canada.

He has extensive leadership experience in the public sector. He served as Grey County’s Director of IT for over 12 years. As the Director, Geoff created customer service standards, supported the development of Grey County’s open data initiative, and spearheaded the creation of the award winning Grey County Tourism Website.

Geoff was responsible for the Connected County project at Grey County and his leadership and championing for the Intelligent Community model lead to Grey County being recognized as a Top7 Intelligent Community by the Intelligent Community Forum in 2017

Geoff also served as President of Municipal Information Systems Association of Ontario (MISA) from 2011 to 2013, where he fostered inter-jurisdictional relationships with all MISA chapters.

Presentation of the Award of Excellence by John Hamman, President of the Local Government Program Alumni Society Executive, to Sandra Datars Bere, Managing Director of Housing, Social Services and Dearness Home at the City of London!

Congratulations to Sandra Datars Bere recipient of the 2016 Local Government Program Alumni Society Award of Excellence!

Media Release

Congratulations to City of Stratford Mayor, Dan Mathieson recipient of the 2015 Local Government Program Alumni Society Award of Excellence!