Distinguished Co-operator Award
Former chair Stu Steckle stands with President and CEO Andy MacGillivray, who presented him with his "Distinguished Co-operator" award.
Gay Lea is always well-represented at the annual On Co-op (Ontario Co-operative Association) conference and gala, but this year we truly were all the rage! We not only started off the day, we were also the final feature of the evening.!
President and CEO Andy MacGillivray was the keynote speaker, kicking off the conference with the theme "Co-ops Work—Exceptional Solutions for Exceptional Times". His motivating speech looked at how the co-operative model is the best way to foster confidence in consumers at a time when the economy is struggling. His thoughts were so well-received, that he was quoted several times throughout the day in the discussions at the individual workshops.
Gay Lea Foods' director, Janet Boot, is also a director of On Co-op. She stole the show as one of three speakers in the "Women in the Co-operative Movement" workshop. According to one attendee, she was funny and interesting. She not only provided a very interesting perspective on the topic, she also had a very humorous anecdote to share!
Each year On Co-op runs a silent and a live auction to raise money for CYL—Co-operative Young Leaders—camp. The auctioneer at the live auction? Gay Lea's Bob Ireland, from Teeswater. A professional auctioneer in his spare time, Bob has volunteered for the last number of years to help On Co-op with this part of the evening. At this year's event, Bob did such a great job, he even had Chair Ralph Dietrich and Chief Operations Officer Michael Barrett bidding against each other!