Citizen of the Year Gala 2008

The Citizen of the Year for 2008 . . . Michael Kerr

Michael KerrMichael Kerr is an industrial technology advisor with the National Research Council who has played a significant role in the expansion and diversification of the Prince George economy. His skill in helping develop local companies is so strong that he is regularly among the top of his 1,300 colleagues at the NRC in number of projects and volume of funds.

His involvement in Prince George’s business community goes far beyond his job. Kerr was an early proponent of bioenergy, founding the bioenergy conference in 1999. He acquired $60,000 in seed money from Western Economic Diversification and the NRC. He has gone on to speak internationally on the topic of bioenergy.

Kerr currently sits on the board of directors of Initiatives Prince George, following a successful seven-year stint with the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. He sat on the chamber executive from 2003 to 2005 and served as president of the chamber in 2006. During his tenure as president, Kerr was instrumental in the first rewrite of the chamber’s constitution in 95 years, along with forging new business links across the province and the country.

Always willing to share his knowledge and expertise, Kerr has been a volunteer mentor for youth, including Business The Next Generation, a College of New Caledonia program that coaches entrepreneurs eager to start their own business. He has also coached UNBC business students competing in the national business plan competition and helped a Grade 11 and 12 business class develop a business plan and run a small business. He has been called on repeatedly as a judge at numerous local and regional science fairs, as well as the heritage fair. He continues to serve as a guest instructor with the Masters of Business Administration program and the Bachelor of Commerce program at UNBC.

Besides encouraging future business leaders, Kerr has also worked hard to help current businesses grow. He founded an advisory group that helps local companies enhance their productivity through efficient management techniques. He fostered development in the mining industry by linking 47 local business with two mining companies, which lead to more than $2 million in business. He has served as a judge of outstanding female entrepreneurs at the Today’s Women Show and chaired the awards committee for the Natural Resource Forum Awards for four years.

Recognizing the importance of keeping the region’s brightest minds contributing to innovation, Kerr founded the Northwest Science and Innovation Society and was a director of the Science Council.

The business sector hasn’t been the only recipient of Kerr’s time and energy. He has served for the last seven years as a board member with the Salvation Army in Prince George. He was a founding member of Timbers Church and helped construct cabins for Cedars Christian School last summer. He also worked with Vancouver MLA Lorne Mayencourt in setting up the addiction treatment facility at Baldy Hughes.

We would also like to recognize and thank our worthy nominees for 2008:

Alex MichalosAlex Michalos

Since arriving at UNBC in 1994, Dr. Alex Michalos has made himself an invaluable member of the volunteer community in Prince George and Northern B.C.

Michalos has worked on the downtown revitalization planning committee, city council’s advisory committee on healthy communities, the city task force on smoking, the working group on the report of quality of life in Prince George, the UNITY project committee, the committee building the Learning Difficulties Centre of Northern B.C., the B.C. Healthy Communities Network as the regional representative, the mayor’s task force on youth and the B.C. advisory council on health goals.

He helped establish the Canadian Rural and Remote Health Association and remains involved with the Canadian Rural Health Research Society. Michalos has also been heavily involved with UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization), serving as a member of the executive committee of the Canadian commission for UNESCO, a member of a UNESCO ad hoc group of experts on a code of conduct for scientists and a UNESCO representative judge at the national science fair. His current UNESCO involvement includes chairing the UNESCO sectoral commission on natural, social and human sciences and serving on the UNESCO monitoring and evaluation expert group for the decade of education for sustainable development and the UNESCO expert group on the statistical measure of the diversity of cultural expressions.

Some of the other current volunteer work keeping Michalos busy includes chairing the Community Planning Council board, the Community Partners Addressing Homelessness and the United Way fundraising campaign. He is also a member of an ad hoc committee to get Prince George to join the UN coalition of municipalities against racism and discrimination, as well as the Fraser Basin Council’s indicators advisory committee.

At UNBC, Michalos’s latest post is chancellor. He is an emeritus professor in political science and director of the Institute for Social Research and Evaluation. In his academic capacity, he has published 23 books, 95 peer-reviewed articles and helped found six scholarly journals. He is also the past president of the Royal Society of Canada’s Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Some of his more recent awards for his academic efforts include the Deryck Thompson Award for community social planning from the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C., an honorary doctorate from Thompson Rivers University and a lifetime achievement award from the B.C. Political Science Association. His most prestigious award came in 2004 when he was presented the gold medal for achievement in research from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the highest honour in Canada to recognize outstanding social science research. Past honours include the Vincentian Ethics Scholar Award from the Vincentian Universities of the USA and the Secretary of State’s prize for excellence in interdisciplinary research in Canadian studies. The International Society for Quality of Life Studies has also honoured Michalos on two occasions – in 2003, an award for the betterment of the human condition and, in 1996, an award for extraordinary contributions to quality of life research.

Gordon LucasGordon Lucas

Gordon Lucas makes magic with the strings of his violin, with the music he hears in his mind and with the ability to bring musicians together.

Lucas is best known as the Prince George Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster but his role in the musical life of the city reaches far deeper. Perhaps it’s the double masters degree in music and education that fuels his passion for he has taught literally thousands of students in this region; 15 of those pupils have grown up to be professional musicians in their own right.

In 2002, Lucas founded the Northern Orchestra, a tightly-knit group of about 50 players, half of whom are based in Vanderhoof. Lucas formed the orchestra as an outlet for older musicians still eager to play publicly while providing valuable experience to younger players. The string section is largely made up of his devoted students while the woodwinds come from throughout the area, driving the long distances to make beautiful music together. Rehearsals for members of the orchestra are held in Quesnel, Prince George and Vanderhoof before all the players gather for performances, playing across the north for free. Neither Lucas nor the players receive any compensation for their efforts, relying strictly on donations from an appreciate audience.

Lucas was playing his accordion in festivals at the age of eight, winning accolades (and competitions). He went on to play clarinet and violin with the Vancouver Junior Orchestra. After completing his musical education at UBC, Lucas turned down offers from two major symphonies because they would get in the way of his love for fishing, hunting and photography so Prince George became an obvious destination.

Besides playing, teaching, conducting and founding an orchestra of his own, Lucas is also a composer and arranger of increasing renown. Along with the PGSO, the Edmonton and Victoria symphonies have also premiered his work.

Along with the generosity of his time and musical knowledge, Lucas volunteers to play at charity events. The same charities have also received paintings and handmade fly fishing rods, donated by Lucas for silent auctions.

Although  health problems have hampered him this year, forcing a leave of absence from the PGSO, Lucas refused to abandon, even temporarily, his beloved Northern Orchestra, helping prepare the orchestra for its spring concert series.

Marlies GreulichMarlies Greulich

Marlies Greulich has been making her mark in Prince George for 40 years, after emigrating from Germany in 1968.

The current executive director of the Multicultural Heritage Society, Greulich has been an active volunteer for more than three decades. She was instrumental in the formation of the German Rheingold Club in 1977. She was also a key organizer in the city’s first-ever Oktoberfest celebration that same year. From there, she went on to help establish the city’s first German language school for children and an Oktoberfest parade.

Greulich’s direct involvement in the Multicultural Heritage Society began in 1980, when she became a board member to represent the German Club for Canada Day celebrations. She remained on the board for the next 10 years, when she became the society’s administrator. She was named executive director in 1994 and has held that post ever since.

Her devotion to multiculturalism led to Greulich’s appointment as the northern regional representative on the Collaborative Committee on Multiculturalism in 1996 and she continues to serve on the provincial body.

From 1998 to 2005, Greulich served on the City of Prince George’s Intercultural Committee and was a member of the city’s task force on hate activities from 1999 to 2001. Her work helped the Intercultural Committee, in partnership with the heritage society, receive the 2001 End Racism Award from the Ministry of Multiculturalism and Immigration for their project to create community awareness of hate activities in Prince George.

She continued her multicultural activism in 2001 with the ad-hoc committee for the development of a hate activity policy and procedures for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the committee to organize a northern symposium on immigration citizenship.

Greulich’s energy has extended well beyond the city’s multicultural community. As a mother, she volunteered extensively at St. Mary’s Catholic School from 1980 to 1988, helping out with everything from sports days and field trips to ordering school uniforms and serving the students on hot lunch days.

From 1993 to 1997, she sat on the board for Project Literacy Prince George, serving two of those years as the group’s treasurer. From 1998 to 2003, Greulich served on the board of the Goodtime Bingo Association, helping 87 local charities with their fundraising efforts. In 2003 and 2004, she worked with the Central Interior Community Access Program to provide computer, Internet and e-mail training to residents in 50 northern communities.

Greulich currently oversees the Prince George Safe Harbour Program, training local businesses and their staff on how to assist customers and clients in emergency situations. She also volunteers with the Canada Revenue Agency to provide free income tax preparation to new immigrants.

Along with winning the city’s Volunteer Award of Merit in 1996 for 15 years of service, Greulich was awarded the German Canadian Friendship Award in 2001 from the German Embassy in Ottawa for her outstanding support of German-Canadian Relations.

Photos courtesy of Alex Zander Photography
Canfor

If you would like to nominate a worthy citizen, please submit this Nomination Form