Rising Stars Gala Event

On Wednesday evening, I attended the 4^th annual Rising Stars Gala event at the Delta Beausejour in Moncton. Approximately 200 professionals and their families from the NB knowledge industry were there to recognize 30 outstanding “Unsung heroes” of our knowledge economy. We awarded 10 of those individuals with a year long mentorship with several key players from New brunswick's knowledge economy.

The extravagant gala offered an opportunity for the finalists and professionals to network with their provincial colleagues and featured two keynote speakers. Heather Tulk of Aliant made many key statements on the importance leadership has in our lives. Heather stated that individuals are the CEO of their lives. She called on the Rising Stars finalist to think of themselves as "You, Inc." and challenged the stars to set a vision for their life and think of the legacy they wanted to leave behind them. It was truly inspiring.

The other speaker of the evening feature Carol Thompson, CEO of Austin, TX based Computerland. Carol is a key player in Austin’s world reknown knowledge economy. Throughout her presentation, Carol highlighted several key points that linked NB’s current knowledge economy to where Austin was before they decided to aggresively push economic development of a knowledge industry for their city. Carol indicated that the Moncton area has several similarities to Austin and that is why the IC2 partnership makes sense for the Moncton area. She used the example of the Rolling Stones, the housing market, Moncton’s beautiful downtown core and our blue collar roots to highlight the similarities between each community. The "can do" attitude demonstrated by Austin’s knowledge sector resembles the resurgence that transformed Moncton into a knowledge industry hub in the 90’s.

Yours truly presented the inaugural "Rising Stars Pioneer" award to Stephen Palmer or Whitehill Technologies for his commitment to mentorship and promotion of NB's knowledge industry talent.

For the fourth year in a row, the nominees were outstanding! Anyone who thinks that we lack brainpower in this province seriously needs to look at the list of nominees from this year. (Click Here).

Congrats to all the winners and especially to EGM and the volunteers for organizing a great event!

Les Étoiles Montantes 2006/The 2006 Rising Stars

Et le récipiendaire est …

Les Étoiles Montantes 2006 de l’industrie du savoir au Nouveau Brunswick seront annoncées le mercredi 27 septembre au Delta Beauséjour à Moncton.

Le programme des Étoiles Montantes est dédié à la reconnaissance des individus œuvrant dans l’industrie du savoir au Nouveau Brunswick. Ces individus, de tous les coins de la province sont mis en candidature pour leurs accomplissements et leurs contributions auprès de l’industrie du savoir et au sein de leur communauté. L’objectif du programme est de contribuer au développement de carrière des individus par l’entremise de reconnaissance, mentorat et réseautage. Entre-autre, les récipiendaires d’Étoiles Montantes participeront à un programme de mentorat pour une année complète. Le programme des Étoiles Montantes en est à sa quatrième année de succès, venez encourager les candidats et célébrer les récipiendaires d’Étoiles Montantes 2006.

La formule d’inscription.


And the winner is...

The 2006 Rising Stars of New Brunswick's Knowledge Industry will be announced on Wednesday, September 27th at the Delta Beauséjour in Moncton.

Rising Stars is a recognition program for individuals working within New Brunswick's Knowledge Industry. Individuals from all across New Brunswick are nominated for their superlative work and contribution to both the industry and their community. The program strives to target three goals: recognition, mentorship and networking. Winners, and to lesser extent nominees, can then participate in a year-long mentorship program. Now in its fourth year, Rising Stars is celebrating this year's nominees during an evening event. Join businesses, academia, government, and Rising Star alumni as the 2006 Stars are announced.

Registration form

Rumble Update

We'll the Road Hockey Rumble taping took place over the weekend and it was a blast! Except the part where the Geeks got roled over in the game... But aside from that Callum and Mark, RHR hosts, put on a great display of infantile behavior to take their rivalry to the next level. The cast was also a blast to work with.

The show will begin airing on the Outdoor Life Network in January and the Moncton episode will air in March. The show is cross between Trailer Park Boys and Kenny vs. Spenny.

On a final note, I asked the crew why they had picked Moncton... Their answer was for 2 reasons. The first was that they looked for cities that underwent a miraculeous transformation in the last 20 years. The second was...you guessed it Geeks on Ice! They loved the concept and even want to come back to take part in GOI.

I will let everyone know when the show airs in March, but watch out for the DVD boxset.

Here are some of my pics:

Rumble Match up Set for Sunday

The Road Hockey Rumble production team is in Moncton and have begun shooting the "Geeks vs. Railroad" episode. Callum has drafted the Geek team to represent him in a "Knock'm Sock'm" ball hockey match. Playing for the Geeks will be:

• Trevor Macausland
• Ryan Sorrey
• Ken Leblanc
• Dale Betts

The game will be held on Sunday beginning at Noon at the marche Moncton Farmers Market off Main Street. Anyone wishing to watch is invited to attend. Cost of admission is free, plus you get to be on tv!

Road Hockey Rumble (http://www.roadhockeyrumble.com/) features 2 hosts that hit the road, playing their way across Canada in a 13 game grudge match series of Road Hockey. In the process, they tap into the rivalries, legends and elbow-to-the-face grit of Canada’s most colorful and competitive towns. Friends in life but rivals on the Road Hockey court, the hosts will draft their own team of locals and duke it out in a balls-out rumble on the asphalt jungle. For Moncton, it's the Geeks (Knowledge Industry) vs. Railroad!