Backgrounder: 2014 Victoria Leadership Awards

The following provides biographical details for the winners in each of eight categories:

LEADERSHIP VICTORIA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (previously announced) — Mickey and Donna Hajas

The tireless husband and wife team of Mickey and Donna Hajash has always led by example—building a successful family and career has gone hand in hand with a passionate commitment to community service and generous philanthropy. The couple have contributed innumerable volunteer hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund university scholarships and charities such as the United Way of Greater Victoria for over three decades.

Mickey Hajash, a former oil executive and CFL player, immigrated to Canada with his family from Hungary when he was 5 years old. The family first settled in Estevan, Saskatchewan, living in a tarpaper shack during the grim years of the Great Depression. A few years later the family settled on a farm in Brooks, Alberta. At school, Mickey's natural athleticism led him to excel on the sports field.

He played for the University of Alberta Golden Bears and served as team captain. He was also named best male athlete in his final year of school. After graduating in 1947 with a degree in Mining Engineering, Mickey played for the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL and even featured in the 1949 Grey Cup match, which Calgary lost to Montreal.

Mickey went on to work as an executive with Imperial Oil. His career took him around the world with postings in Iraq, United Arab Emirates, New York, Houston, Singapore, Kuala Lampur, and the UK. He worked on the cutting edge of oilfield exploration technology as a geophysicist, and made significant contributions to the discovery of major oil and gas fields in Western Canada, the Middle and Far East, and the North Sea.

Mickey and Donna retired to Victoria in 1986 and ever since have volunteered with the United Way of Greater Victoria, donating over $500,000 and serving on board and volunteer leader committees. In 1990, with $517,000 of their own money, Mickey and his wife established the Donna and Mickey Hajash Foundation which funds post secondary scholarships and charities. On average 11 scholarships of $2,500 are granted annually in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Mickey, the former track star, was attaché to the poorly-equipped Sierra Leone team. He rallied support to provide the team with uniforms and running shoes.

In Victoria, at the age of 88, Mickey can still be found working with and donating to the many charities he holds dear—by selling car raffle tickets for Rotary Victoria, canvassing door to door for the Heart & Stroke Foundation, supporting the Mustard Seed Food Bank, signing letters and visiting donors for United Way and connecting isolated friends and seniors. He was also the driving force behind the creation of a 52-unit housing project for the needy.

In 2009, Mickey received the National Philanthropy Day Vancouver Island, Spirit of Generosity Award. In 2011, at the United Way national conference in Calgary, Mickey was honoured with the Andre Mailhot Award, United Way of Canada's highest honour. In 2012, Mickey was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AWARD (two recipients) — Hélène Cazes and Donna Greschner

Dr. Hélène Cazes, a specialist of humanism, teaches at the University of Victoria. She is an associate professor at the Department of French, the Faculty coordinator of the Humanities Diploma Program (offered with Continuing Studies as an alternative curriculum) and the director of the Program of Medieval Studies. Her research asks such questions as “What is a legacy? How do legacies make communities?” An active member and a founder of inclusive research groups (Early Childhood, History of Medicine, Book Collections), she also works with the library building free programs, exhibitions, and open access publications.

Donna Greschner, former Dean, Faculty of Law, has linked the University and the community for greater public benefit in many ways. She has worked tirelessly to expand the Faculty’s clinical programs, in which law students help impecunious citizens. She was instrumental in having the downtown poverty law clinic co-locate with Victoria’s new Justice Access Centre. She has created and improved connections between the profession and the University, such as revitalizing the Practitioner in Residence program. She speaks effectively for the University in many legal organizations in Victoria and beyond, and is a strong advocate in the community on issues about access to justice.

ROTARY COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AWARD (two recipients) — Gordy Dodd and Cindy Moyer

Gordie Dodd was born in India in 1945 and came to Canada in 1967. In 1977, he opened a small furniture store which he grew into a small empire, now employing 40 full-time staff in Victoria and Nanaimo. Gordie has been honored many times over for his business acumen, his humanitarian efforts and community leadership. Greater Victorians young and old came to love Gordie through his inspired television commercials. Gordie used his own unique persona to play the Hulk, a maharaja Bollywood-style, Spiderman, Tarzan, Aladdin and many others. In 1998 Gordie began a holiday tradition - he paid for and served Thanksgiving dinner to homeless and marginalized populations in our community. The annual tradition continues today. Gordie later added a Christmas dinner and Thanksgiving dinner to serve the city's poorest people. In all, over 2,000 are served each year.
Cindy Moyer is the Executive Director of the Coast Collective Arts Centre, an enterprising cultural non-profit where she combines her 30 years of experience on the business side of the arts, education and sustainable living with her passion for community leadership. She has a reputation for building win/win relationships in her professional life and through her work over the years with a wide variety of not-for-profit organizations. Cindy is currently the President of the West Shore Arts Council, a community organization embarked upon a quest to see a performing arts centre built on the growing West Shore.

VANCITY YOUTH AWARD — Sarah Rose Robert

Sarah Rose Robert is interested in how we can come together from different backgrounds to create meaningful interactions for community benefit. She has been living in Victoria for one and a half years. Prior to moving to BC she completed a Masters of Strategic Leadership toward Sustainability in Sweden. Sarah Rose is co-organizer of The Places Project, which is a series of collaborative activities designed to recognize and strengthen the public spaces of Greater Victoria while building community. She is currently working as Community Development Coordinator at Oaklands Community Centre, and also as a Working Group Facilitator for Synergy Sustainability Institute.

LEADERSHIP VICTORIA ALUMNI AWARD — Yasmin Rampuri

Yasmin Rampuri is passionate about leadership. She is the fearless leader of nearly 250 volunteers at Saanich Peninsula Hospital and has managed volunteers for several different organizations for almost 15 years. Though she has actively volunteered throughout her life, it was during and after the Leadership Victoria program that she began to get involved with leadership in her community in earnest. Since then, she has taken on executive roles in organizations such as: the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club; the Emerging Leaders Network; the Leadership Victoria Alumni Committee; and is in her third year of a Director position with the James Bay Community Project Board. She is an active member of her professional body, the Administrators of Volunteer Resources of BC, helping to plan their 2013 provincial conference and their 2014 Learn and Lead/AGM. She lives in Sidney with her husband, his dog and her cat in a home they are nearly finished renovating.

UNITED WAY OF GREATER VICTORIA AWARD FOR COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIP — Kelly Greenwell

Kelly Greenwell started working at Quadra Village Community Centre in June 2011 and became the agency’s third Executive Director since 1975 in November of 2011. He is a registered Social worker who has worked in the social services field since 1993 in both Victoria and Vancouver. Kelly has a background that includes community development, youth, family, addictions, adoptions and child welfare experience. His previous roles have included Executive Director, Project Coordinator, Counsellor and Social Worker. Kelly is passionate about facilitating opportunities for individuals, families and communities to overcome barriers and fulfill their vision for themselves and their neighbourhoods.

ROYAL ROADS UNIVERSITY LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE THROUGH COACHING AND MENTORING AWARD — Tammy Dewar

Tammy Dewar is an innovator, facilitator, change agent and a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation (ICF). She blends her Ph.D. in adult learning with a down to earth approach to help leaders realize their potential and bring about positive change in their organizations. She co-founded the local chapter of the Canadian Society of Training and Development and a new initiative, Once-a-quarter, which gives time to local non- profits. She is Vice-President of the local chapter of ICF and has been an associate faculty member with Royal Roads University since 1997 where she has coached hundreds of learners to embrace their leadership potential and transform their organizations.

VICTORIA FOUNDATION COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AWARD — The Cridge Centre for the Family

The Cridge Centre for the Family is a place where people can find hope and direction when they are the most vulnerable and in need; a community of caring individuals who believe there’s more to social services than providing programs — because love is the bottom line.Working in a number of locations in Greater Victoria, services include child care for children from all walks of life, supportive housing for families in economic or relationship crisis, services for women and children who have been impacted by relationship violence, respite care services for children with disabilities along with respitality support for their parents, a residence and other services for survivors of Brain Injury, as well as Seniors’ Assisted Living Housing. The Cridge Centre has a rich history, a dynamic present and an exciting future.