The William (Bill) Swinimer Business Leader of the Year was awarded for the final time on Tuesday evening.
The 19th annual event, held at Hawk Ridge Golf & Country Club, recognized all five nominees for demonstrating a strong commitment to the community.
Betsy Gross, the committee chair, says the award is a way to honour William (Bill) Swinimer, who was an executive at the Campbell Plastics plant in Orillia before buying the company and five others in North America.
Since his retirement from the plastics industry, Swinimer has been a local community advocate, donating his time and money to various community groups and causes in Orillia.
Recently, Swinimer donated $500,000 towards Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital’s new MRI project. He says having an award named after him has been a “big honour.”
“It’s been especially meaningful to me to be among a group of people who live here, work here, and treat their employees well,” he said. “These are well-accomplished people who have amazed me and our community.”
Gross says the award and the event have had a “wonderful run’ and honoured some of Orillia’s greatest business leaders.
“Orillia has won awards for being the most caring community,” she said. “All of our William (Bill) Swinimer Business Leader of the Year award winners have proven that you can be a success and help out your community while you are doing it.”
To make up for the award's recent hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the five nominees were each named winners at Tuesday evening's event.
The winners were Susan Willsey of Susie Q Fudge & Gifts, Steve Orr of Dapper Depot, Timm Mclean of Windmill Garden Centre and Landscaping and Bcuddly, Mike Holenski, Danielle Tisi, and Sylvain Tisi of McLean & Dickey Insurance, and Kirby Wagg of Wagg’s LTD.
Riley Johnston accepted the award on behalf of Willsey, an ambassador for women's curling in Orillia and an advocate for the See You on the Patio program in downtown Orillia.
“It’s an incredible honour to be in a room with so many people who are influential here in this town,” she said.
Orr, who was instrumental in the $50,000 fundraising initiative to bring the Valis Sound Studio project to the Orillia Youth Centre, says he never expected to be in a position where he was standing at a podium accepting such an award.
“It’s a real honour to be here,” he said. “I've really enjoyed doing work with the Youth Centre and being a strong advocate for eight or nine years now.”
Orr says it’s an honour to win an award named after Swinimer.
“I want to thank Mr. Swinimer ... he’s a special person in this community.”
Timm Mclean, who provided a $10,000 sponsorship to ensure the See You on the Patio program continued in 2022, says he works hard to help grow the community.
“It’s a community in Orillia and it has always been that way,” he said. “People are always trying to help each other.”
Mclean says he feels grateful to play a small role in helping to build the community, just as Swinimer has done before him.
“Thanks, Bill, for setting an example for everybody in this room,” he said. “I’m doing my part to build the next generation.”
Holenski says he and his team at McLean & Dickey Insurance, who spearheaded the Drive for Millions campaign to raise money for Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital, and regularly donate to and sponsor local charitable and sports organizations, are "honoured and humbled" to win the award.
“We really want to thank the citizens of Orillia,” he said. “Without them and the support they’ve given us over the last 18 years, we wouldn’t be here tonight.”
Holenski says it’s a priority of McLean & Dickey to give back to the community.
“We want to keep this community as vibrant as it is now and going forward,” he said.
Wagg, a volunteer mentor through Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School’s Leadership Program and past director of the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce, wasn’t on hand to accept his award on Tuesday night.
