The Gil Bennett Gold Standard Award

The Gold Standard Award was named in honour of former Canadian Tire Chair, Gil Bennett. The award has been presented annually since 2006 to a Directors College graduate who demonstrates dedication to raising the bar for professional standards in corporate governance through his or her progress in the Chartered Director program. Winners include Jim Adamson, John Ryan, Andy Poprawa, Adam Cooper, Michael MacBean, and Don McCreesh.

NEWS RELEASE: REENA SAGOO NAMED THE 2012 WINNER OF THE GIL BENNETT AWARD

Left to Right: Ron Stokes (Partner, Ernst & Young LLP), Reena Sagoo (2012 Gil Bennett Award Recipient), Dr. Chris Bart (Principal and Lead Professor, The Directors College)

Toronto, March 6, 2012 – Reena Sagoo, Chief Financial Officer, Borealis Infrastructure, is the 2012 recipient of the Gil Bennett Gold Standard Award, presented by The Directors College to a Chartered Director who demonstrates dedication to raising the bar for professional standards in corporate governance.The award was presented Monday at the graduation ceremony for newly certified Chartered Directors (C. Dir.) of The Directors College. The Hon. John Manley, President and CEO of the Canadian Council for Chief Executives and a Chartered Director himself, was the featured speaker at the graduation.

Founded in 2003, The Directors College is a joint venture of McMaster University and The Conference Board of Canada, and is Canada’s first university-accredited corporate director development program.

Borealis is the infrastructure investment arm of OMERS, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. Ms. Sagoo has worked at Borealis since 2003. Before that, she worked in both the assurance and advisory practices at KPMG.

“In her role as CFO, Reena exemplifies Borealis Infrastructure’s commitment to practicing strong corporate governance to encourage accountability, transparency and collaboration, and to promote good decision-making that supports our businesses.  Reena is a forward thinking role model who inspires and empowers others with her professional integrity, openness, strong work ethic and desire to help others develop their talents. She is an effective leader who recognizes the value each team member brings to the table,” said Michael Rolland, the President and CEO of Borealis.

“To win the Gil Bennett Award, our Chartered Directors have to demonstrate that they possess more than just the technical and legal knowledge to be a director in the 21st century. They also need to show how to achieve excellence in the boardroom through a great boardroom culture,” said Chris Bart, Principal & Lead Professor, The Directors College.

Named in honour of former Canadian Tire chairman Gil Bennett, the Gold Standard Award has been presented annually since 2006 to a graduate of The Directors College. Previous winners include Don McCreesh, Michael MacBean, Andy Poprawa, John Ryan, and Jim Adamson.

The criteria for the award include scoring in the top 10 per cent on the final exam for Chartered Directors; providing a positive contribution to the class discussion; and displaying constructive behavior as a director during the unique Board Simulation exercise of the Chartered Director program.

For more information on The Directors College and its Chartered Director Program, visit: www.thedirectorscollege.com.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Brent Dowdall, Media Relations, Tel.: 613- 526-3090 ext. 448

E-mail: corpcomm@conferenceboard.ca

Past Award Recipients

Jim Adamson: Director, Com Dev International, Winner 2011

John Ryan: CEO, Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, Winner 2010

Andy Poprawa: President and Chief Executive Officer of the Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario (DICO), Winner 2009

Adam Cooper: Former Chair of the Board of Directors of Educators Financial Group, Inc., Winner 2008

Michael MacBean: Managing Director, TriWest Capital Partners, Winner 2007

Don McCreesh: Corporate Director and President, The Garnet Group Inc., Winner 2006

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James Scongack, Head of Corporate Affairs, Bruce Power LP

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Tony Di Emanuele, MBA, C.Dir., President and CEO, Mohawk Shared Services

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The Honourable John Manley, P.C., O.C., C.Dir., Former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister

“The changes that impact corporate governance are establishing a pattern of increased accountability for the delivery of long-term value to customers, shareholders, employees and society. Proper corporate governance is now being defined to include knowledge of critical elements such as risk management and the measurement of strategic performance. At the end of the day, each board will be judged on its ability to effectively deliver value, rather than on its structure. The Directors College innovative program fills a unique and important gap in providing knowledge and insight as to how this expectation can be met. CMA Canada is pleased to be a sponsor of this timely initiative.”

Steve Vieweg, C.Dir., Director, Executive Development, I.H. Asper School of Business – University of Manitoba

“As an organization focused on educating corporate secretaries, the ICSA believes in furthering the potential of board members to better contribute to building effective governance structures. Given the key role of directors and corporate secretaries in applying proper boardroom practices, corporations need to ensure that these individuals meet a professional standard. The Directors College curriculum covers all the formal regulatory issues for directors and also addresses the informal skills of building effective and appropriate relationships with senior management. We see significant benefits to this program and ICSA is pleased to endorse it.”

Lynn Beauregard, Executive Director, Chartered Secretaries Canada

“The Directors College has developed a director education program which goes well beyond the fundamentals to address the structures and the behavioural components of principle-based governance. I am proud to be associated with the Directors College and I am honoured to lend my name to the College’s graduate award. ”

Gilbert Bennett, Director and Recently-Retired Chairman of the Board, Canadian Tire Corporation Limited

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David Beatty, Managing Director, Canadian Coalition for Good Governance