2021 TRENT UNIVERSITY ALUMNI AWARD RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED

Distinguished Alumni Award: Ken Hartwick ’81 (BA, Business Administration)

Since 2019, Ken Hartwick has been president & CEO of the Ontario Power Generation (OPG), one of the most diverse electricity generators in North America. 
 
He has played a strong leadership role since joining OPG in 2016. As CFO and SVP Finance, he led all operations under the finance portfolio, including strategy and risk management. He is an officer of the corporation and a member of the OPG Enterprise Leadership Team. Under Ken’s leadership, OPG launched Canada’s first utility green bond, expanded to the U.S. through the acquisition of Eagle Creek Renewable Energy LLC, and initiated an energy storage partnership. 
 
Ken joined OPG from Wellspring Financial Corporation, where he was CFO and Treasurer. He was also interim President and CEO at Atlantic Power Corporation, a generating company that does business in Canada and the U.S. For ten years prior, Ken was the President and CEO of Just Energy Corporation, a Canadian-based energy retailer. In addition, he held the position of CFO at Hydro One between 2001 and 2004. He also held senior positions at Cap Gemini and was a partner at the accounting firm Ernst & Young. 

Ken has been publicly celebrated for his work and leadership:
 
Under Ken’s leadership at OPG, in 2020, the company was the recipient of the Canadian Electricity Association’s Sustainability Award for their strong commitment to external collaboration and partnerships with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and other stakeholders. 
 
Also under his leadership, OPG revived the 2019 Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Award for creating carbon-free power, with a diverse generation portfolio that is ranked among the cleanest in the world. 

In 2017, he was admitted as a Fellow into the Chartered Professional Accountant Association.

In 2002, Ken was honoured as one of the Top Forty Under 40 business and community leaders in Ontario. 

Ken’s volunteer record is also noteworthy:
  
He was Chair of Trent University’s $50M Campaign - Unleash the Potential – the most ambitious and successful campaign in Trent’s history, raising over a record $56.8 million for student support, innovative research and teaching. 
 
He is also a former member of the Trent Board of Governors serving on several committees.  

Community involvement remains an important aspect of Ken’s personal life. From the Milton Hockey Association to his local parish, Ken keeps busy helping others. He believes that volunteerism is an integral part of life and is reflected in how you treat others. 

Distinguished Alumni Award: Anita Erskine ’99 (BA, Cultural Studies)

Anita Erskine is ranked one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Africa, one of the Top 100 Most Inspirational Women in Ghana, and one of the most inspirational Ghanaian public figures. Wearing a host of hats, Anita is a strategic communications specialist, broadcast journalist, television producer and host. This diversity has cemented her reputation as one of the most versatile communication professionals from West Africa. 

Since 2003, she has been Managing Director of Anita Erskine Media, Africa, with a mission to enhance change and support the creation of socioeconomic opportunities for Africans everywhere. This multi-faceted consultancy uniquely blends audio/visual content, motivational events, business and entrepreneurship training sessions, interactive social media programs, specialized and specific public relations projects and brand partnerships, all in the hopes of driving an ultimate agenda of empowering people, showcasing products, and marketing services of African origin, both on the continent and in the diaspora.

Since 2009, Anita has worked as a professional compere & moderator.  Her versatility, wit and infectious positive attitude give her a gift for reaching her audience on an emotional level. 

Since 2015, she has been host and executive producer of Sheroes Of Our Time, a multi-facetted global platform that showcases and celebrates strong and unique women around the world. On television, Sheroes is currently in its 5th season, broadcasting to over 20 million homes across the continent of Africa and around the world.

Since 2012, she has been host and executive producer of Making of a Mogul, focussing on African entrepreneurship.

In 2020, Ms. Erskine joined the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative as both host and advisor. She’s also lent her voice and personality to numerous social impact projects due to her unwavering belief in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals’ mantra of not leaving anyone behind.

Anita’s work and leadership have been recognized through numerous awards and honours. She was named a 2020 Power Influencer in Ghana, one of the 2020 top 100 influential women in in Africa, one of the 2020 Most Influential People in Ghana, the 2017 Radio Host of the Year, 2015 TV Hostess of the year (City People Awards, Nigeria), and 2014 TV Female Entertainment Host of the Year (Radio & TV Personality Awards).

Spirit of Trent Award: Rachel Stoparczyk ’91 (BA, English)

In her position of Volunteer Coordinator at the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre, a long-term care facility for seniors and Veterans who served in the Canadian Military, Rachel Stoparczyk’s interactions with residents, staff, and visitors are both professional and sincere, and her enthusiasm for volunteerism shine through. 

One of her long-time volunteers has found Rachel to be “knowledgeable, innovative and sensitive to the needs of others.” She is a community role model. 

Prior to joining Perley Rideau, Rachel served as coordinator of volunteer resources and quality at the Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre, and Manager of Recruitment & Referral Services at Volunteer Ottawa. Rachel has coordinated and trained teams of hundreds of volunteers to serve community needs, improving the quality of life for thousands of people. 

Beyond her day job, Rachel has an extensive volunteer history, including leading the editorial team on the executive board of the Canadian Journal of Volunteer Resources Management, a publication that guides the profession of volunteer engagement in Canada. She has also given thousands of hours to numerous organizations including the HR Council for the Non-profit Sector, Ottawa Administrators of Volunteer Resources, Professional Administrators of Volunteer Resources – Ontario (PAVR-O), the Distress Centre of Ottawa & Region, the Ottawa-Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, Citizen Advocacy and Big Sisters. 

Rachel is often recognized for her hard work and care for community. One highlight of this recognition came with her being named the co-recipient of the Community Leader Award at the 2014 Celebration of People Awards recognizing the achievements and innovations of individuals, businesses and organizations in the National Capital Region who promote accessibility, inclusion, and full community participation by people with disabilities. 

Rachel remains a role model, both within and beyond her profession, for living a life of service and selflessness. Her character has shaped her into an empathetic and perceptive leader. She has the ability to harness the collective energy of diverse groups of people in order to build community wherever she is. She is emotionally astute and attuned to a variety of group dynamics, and has superior communication skills allowing her to gracefully navigate challenging situations or emotionally charged conversations. 

Through her daily activities, Rachel embodies Trent’s goal “to make valued and socially responsible contributions to our local communities.” As Trent “commits to building an inclusive intellectual and social community that values the collaboration of all of its individual members,” Rachel does similar: through her tireless work to benefit the lives of others, she inspires thousands to do the same. 

Spirit of Trent Award: Tracy Milne ’02

Tracy is the operations manager for the Trent Central Student Association. She started with the TCSA in 2004, in her second year of studies, as a part time benefits receptionist. Upon graduating she was promoted to benefits administrator and then finally operations manager. 

Tracy uses this current position to continually improve the lives and opportunities of Trent students. Her commitment to serving students is a vocation for her rather than a job, going far beyond regular work hours in order to help students with immediate need – particularly in getting funds to students as soon as possible to help with their emergency situations.

Some of the benefits that Tracy has helped secure for students include:

Enhanced funding for special assistance with health and dental costs not covered by regular student benefits.

Enhanced funding for a benefits plan to support dependents: including eye exams that are not covered by OHIP or the existing student plan; social work or psychotherapist visits that exceed the $500 yearly cap; assistive devices for dependents with learning disabilities; and dental coverage.  

Enhanced mental health support for students, expanding coverage beyond psychotherapists to include access to social workers, who are often less expensive and more readily available to students. She also worked with StudentVIP and Wellness to bring the student assistance IM Well app to campus. 

Working with TD Bank on the Grocery Assistance Program (GAP), Tracy helped allow for e-transfers, deposits, and bill payments to take place remotely, rather than in person. She now has a deposit machine on her kitchen table. Over the course of the summer of 2021 (April to September), she distributed over $9K in grocery assistance funds for nearly 140 students via e-transfer. In the autumn term she distributed $14K.  

Working with TCSA president Ann-Majella McKelvie, she helped create The Pandemic Emergency Relief Fund. Tracy developed funding by identifying budget lines that were not being utilized due to the pandemic. The fund distributed nearly $90K in over 1000 e-transfers.  

Tracy has been recognized for her efforts through the creation of the TCSA Milne Award for Exceptional Service: The TCSA named her the first recipient. 

She has also been honoured with the Team Innovation Award, which recognizes a team, unit, or department at Trent University whose innovative contributions have impacted the strategic objectives of the University. Presented at the annual Heart of Trent event for creating the Trent electronic bus pass. Tracy was one of the three people on the TCSA Team that received this award.  

Tracy is a person who understands disadvantage and discrimination and is also inspired by the perseverance and determination of so many Trent students.  She is a person who has also taken up the torch to support the most vulnerable students - and she has carried it to a population of thousands, year after year. 

She is a true ally of students – one who treats them with kindness and respect and finds ways to remove barriers – hurdles that they have often faced throughout their lives.  

Paul Delaney Award: Dane Bland ’10

Dane Bland is the director of development & communications at Rainbow Railroad, an LGBTQI2S* charity focusing on providing a safe haven for refugees seeking asylum from countries where it is unsafe or illegal to be themselves. In this role, Dane oversees the entire North American philanthropic portfolio for the organization – ensuring that over 2,000 LGBTQ persons per year receive lifesaving supports.

Before that, Dane worked at the Providence Healthcare Foundation, with external relations at Trent University, at the Toronto International Film Festival, and for numerous arts and culture organizations. In his time at these organizations, Dane has lead diversity and equity initiatives, raised over $8 Million in philanthropic support, has lead teams comprised of diverse employees, lead strategic planning, and supported capital campaign development.

Dane is also a volunteer with the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Canada and AFPGTA boards, a CFRE International Ambassador, a Board Member of Players Toronto – a non-profit theatre organization – and a political advocate.

Through his work, Dane has been instrumental in behind-the-scenes policy advocacy work to lobby the Canadian Government for sector support for the non-profit and charitable sector, resulting in a Special Senate Report on recommendations to support this sector.

In the 2020 COVID-19 year, Dane raised over $3 Million for the Providence Healthcare Foundation. His work saw emergency relief given to Providence’s long-term care organization, which experienced a COVID-19 outbreak. Reacting to this, Dane brought in $600,000 in just 8 weeks, ensuring these outbreaks were met and dealt with, and never recurred.

Throughout his career, he has worked with over 3000 individual donors giving gifts of $1 all the way to $4.5 Million, and has raised over $8 Million in his career.

Dane is the past David Glassco Memorial Award Winner from 2015, demonstrating outstanding contribution to the Peterborough and Trent University communities for his contributions to theatre and the arts.

He is the past John Stubbs Award winner for Otonabee College in 2013, representing outstanding collegiate academic achievement during his time at Trent University, while he was the President of the Anne Shirley Theatre Company, working in theatre, and working part-time on campus.

Dane is a 2020 nominee for the outstanding young fundraiser award for AFP-Toronto.

Dane lives and breathes philanthropic support personally, having donated over $10,000 in his young life to various charitable organizations, and has pledged bequest gifts in his estate plans to 2 organizations – including Trent University.

Recently, Dane announced that he was seeking the Provincial Liberal Nomination in Peterborough-Kawartha, and approached this race in a values and issues-driven way, exhibiting a true commitment to social responsibility and social justice.

As an openly LGBTQ person, Dane is also an advocate for being out at work and supporting others in their journeys.

In Dane’s personal life, he’s represents a bastion of allyship – his understanding of and knowledge of social issues, willingness to educate and engage in tough conversation, and constant and relentless community passion are truly inspiring. He is a great friend and mentor to many.

Tony Storey Award: Gemma (Jess) Grover ’02

TUAA Past President Gemma Grover ’02 has positive energy, passion for Trent, and a love of all things governance, which has enlightened the TUAA for more than a decade. Gemma served as councillor, Vice President Governance, and most recently as President (2015-2021).  

Her collaborative and visionary approach was instrumental as a member of the leadership team that developed the Trent Alumni Strategic Plan in 2016, a unique joint planning process with the university targeting several ambitious priorities for the Association and University to partner on. 

One of the key priorities of the strategic plan was to strengthen relations between the TUAA and the Board of Governors.  In Gemma’s charming, collaborative, and pragmatic way, she developed excellent working relationships with board leadership and helped to open the lines of communication. Along with Lee Hays, Director of Alumni, Gemma presented regular updates on TUAA progress to the Board, heightening the awareness of TUAA contributions to the university.  

Another priority during Gemma’s tenure was to expand volunteer and philanthropic involvement. Over the past six years volunteerism has grown substantially, including taking Trent Alumni Day of Service to a global level, and supporting the significant expansion of the Life After Trent mentorship program.  There are currently over 450 active alumni volunteers in diverse roles, such as: mentors, committee members, chapter leaders, and guest speakers.  

Gemma was also a champion for establishing college endowment fundraising. Seeing the successful establishment of the Traill College Endowment, Gemma worked with alumni council and the alumni office to develop a proposal that was approved by President Groarke to seed endowments for each college, leading to a very exciting College Blitz campaign in 2017 which raised $80,000 for the Colleges and jumpstarted giving which has now reached over $1.3 million.  

During her time as TUAA President, Gemma welcomed approximately 10,000 new graduates to the alumni family. Gemma attended every convocation ceremony, speaking at many of them, and shaking hands and hugging so many happy graduates.

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