Another Contest

Here is a Press Release put on the City of Windsor website today. I hope it was in response to my BLOG this morning even though I am told that no one at City Hall reads my BLOGs.

The contest, although the answer should be easy for you by now is: What's missing here?

Remo Mancini to Chair Development Commission Board of Directors

(Windsor, ON - Tuesday, October 24, 2006) At its meeting held on Monday, October 23, 2006, the new Board of Directors of the Windsor-Essex County Development Commission (WECDC) elected Remo Mancini, ICD.D as its new Chairman. In addition, the Board elected Dr. Albert Schumacher as Vice-Chair, Dr. Lucy Ellen Kanary as Secretary and Robert Feldmann as Treasurer.

Following his election, Mr. Mancini detailed some of the activities that he sees as critical to the Board’s success.

“First, one of our primary goals is to as quickly as possible select a dynamic, energetic and knowledgeable Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead the Commission’s activities. This important task is being managed by a Board committee and is moving forward.”

Mr. Mancini stressed that “the Commission must intensify its advocacy for Windsor and Essex County. Our region is strategically located for trade and commerce within North America. We have a great deal to offer the world: a well-trained and skilled workforce, a highly developed post-secondary educational infrastructure, and a successful and diverse agricultural industry.”

“The Board has already exchanged views with important community organizations and is looking forward to continuing this dialogue. Our goal is to fully engage the community and marshal all of our resources to increase economic development in our region.”

The Commission’s new eleven member Board was formed in July, 2006 following a search for members by a Transitional Board that had presided over the Development Commission’s activities since 2004. The Transitional Board placed high consideration on applicants with broad-based knowledge of business development and the community.

The resulting Board includes the Chief Administrative Officers of the City of Windsor and the County of Essex, representing the funders of the Commission, and nine other members selected from applicants representing a range of economic sectors and considerable business development experience.

The Board’s mandate is to direct and support the Commission in its continuing efforts to retain, diversify and expand existing business as well as the attraction and creation of new business.


Biographies of the New Executive

Mr. Remo Mancini is a private sector public policy and corporate governance advisor/ consultant. Mr. Mancini is a former Ontario cabinet minister and long-time senior corporate executive. He has extensive experience in strategic planning, issues management, corporate development and in managing teams of experts including consultants, lawyers, engineers and other professionals. He is an active member of the US-based National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and the Canadian-based Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD). Mr. Mancini is a graduate of the Corporate Governance College, “Directors Education Program,” at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. The program is a joint initiative by Rotman and the Institute of Corporate Directors. Mr. Mancini also serves on the Board of Advisors of Watts Energy, a Michigan based energy company focused on renewable wind energy.

Dr. Albert Schumacher is a practicing family physician and a former President of the Canadian Medical Association, 2004-2005, where he played a senior advocate role on key issues such as the shortage of doctors and long waiting times for patients. He is also a former Chair of the Ontario Medical Association Board and served as President, 2000-2001. He was recently elected as a director of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute in Edmonton. He remains active on the issue of medical education and is the founding chair of the Ontario Medical Student Bursary Fund.

Dr. Lucy Ellen Kanary, P.Eng. Dr. Kanary’s career has spanned the entire spectrum of innovation; from the product development stage through to helping others to bring the results of their research and development to market. She has 18 years experience working directly with business, government and the educational communities to lead the evolution of a high performance business incubation environment for accelerating the growth of high technology companies. Ms. Kanary has also served on a number of Federal-Provincial Taskforces struck to develop an innovation strategy for the Province of Nova Scotia and evaluating Nova Scotia’s economic performance within North America.

Mr. Robert Feldmann is currently responsible for the regional Economic Development initiatives of Union Gas Limited. He has several years of direct and related experience in municipal economic development and was most recently involved in the Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Human Capital Policy for its 2006 Ontario Economic Summit. He has also served as Board Governor, Treasurer and Vice Chair of St. Clair College (2000-2005).

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The Windsor-Essex County Development Commission (WECDC) was established in 1958 as the Greater Windsor Industrial Commission and was given its current name in 1974 to reflect an expanded regional mandate. In 2006, the elected councils of the City of Windsor and the County of Essex agreed to a per capita formula to fund the Commission’s activities and confirmed its key role in building the region’s economy. The primary objective of the Commission is to market the region as an attractive location for business investment and to retain local businesses while assisting them in diversification and expansion of their operations.

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For further information, contact:

Remo Mancini, ICD.D
President
Sandstone Strategies
420 Devonshire Rd., Suite #5
Windsor, ON., Canada, N8Y 4T6
Phone: 519 253 4030
Fax: 519 253 4828
Cell: 519 980 7047
Email: rjmancini@sandstonestrategies.com