Loyalist College to award eight honorary diplomas at Convocation ceremonies  

Belleville, Ontario, June 3, 2022 – Today, Loyalist College is pleased to announce the names of eight community leaders who will receive honorary diplomas at the College’s 55^th Convocation ceremonies, taking place June 6 – 11.

Honorary diplomas are awarded to individuals who embody the College’s core values through their outstanding achievements and community impact, standing as examples of excellence for students and graduates.

This year’s honorees include:

Ann Buller
President Emeritus, Centennial College

Ann Buller, President Emeritus of Centennial College, is passionate about education that drives personal and community transformation. She is renowned within the Canadian postsecondary sector for her leadership and her ability to catalyze major transformative change, resulting in widespread recognition for her ground-breaking work in leadership development and global citizenship education. During her tenure, President Buller led Centennial’s award-winning internationalization efforts. She also introduced notable programs to support underrepresented students, such as those residing in underserved neighbourhoods, students with learning disabilities and those who are the first in their families to pursue postsecondary education. She served as Board Chair of the Canadian Bureau for International Education (2012-14) and as the Chair of the Colleges and Institutes Canada (2011-14) and currently serves on the Board of World Education Services and Academics Without Boarders. President Buller recently received the Order of Canada, has earned several prestigious awards recognizing her excellence as a leader, including the Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2021 Global Women in Education’s Influential Women in International Education Award; the 2016 World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics Leadership Award; the Top 100 Most Powerful Women Award (2016, 2010); the 2015 Canadian Bureau for International Education’s President’s Award for Distinguished Leadership in International Education, and The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Stacey Daub   
President and CEO, Quinte Health Care

A passionate community builder, lifelong learner and visionary health system leader, Stacey is the President & CEO of Quinte Health Care (QHC). QHC is a family of four community hospitals working together to provide high quality, compassionate care to the communities they serve. Her career spans three decades with a wide range of leadership experiences in hospital, home, community and primary care across urban and rural communities in Ontario.

Matthew DeMille      
Chef and Co-Founder, DeMille Culinary Group

Matt DeMille completed Chef Training at George Brown College and has completed stints at renowned restaurants LeSelect Bistro, Enoteca Sociale and Parts & Labour. In the late summer of 2014, he opened the widely acclaimed Drake Devonshire Inn, which was listed on Canada’s Best Restaurants List, 2016. In 2017 Matt launched Eat With Matt DeMille, a small and large scale catering business also offering instructional cooking tutorials and private chef services. Since then, he has launched Matt’s Hot Maple and is currently in the works of opening a food truck at The Grange Winery in beautiful Prince Edward County.

Colonel Ryan Deming
Commanding Officer, 8 Wing/CFB Trenton

Colonel Ryan Deming enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1993. He graduated from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (Mechanical) in 1997 and earned his navigator wings in 1998. Throughout his career, Colonel Deming has been a part of 429 Transport Squadron; 426 Transport Training Squadron; 1 Canadian Air Division Detachment Transport and Rescue Standards and Evaluation Team (TRSET); 436 Transport Squadron; Canadian Expeditionary Force Command (CEFCOM); Deputy Director Strategic Coordination for the Chief of Force Development, and was the Executive Assistant to the Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force. He has deployed as a Tactical Navigator to the Regional Air Movements Coordination Centre in Italy and as Officer Commanding of the Tactical Airlift Unit in Afghanistan. Colonel Deming is a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Program at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, Ontario, and holds a Masters of Business Administration from Trident University International. Colonel Deming is also a graduate of United States Air Force Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, where he earned his Master of Strategic Studies. He was invested as an officer of the Order of Military Merit in 2017 and took command of 8 Wing Trenton in 2019.

Christopher Goodchild
Global Director, Program Management and Margin Optimization, Magna Lighting
Manufacturing Engineering Technician, 2003

After receiving his Manufacturing Engineering Technician diploma from Loyalist College in 2003, Chris started a student placement with Magna International. Throughout the years, Chris continued his education with technical courses in the areas of robotics and industrial controls. During this time, Chris remained engaged with Loyalist College not only as a student but also in a professional capacity, as faculty member in the Manufacturing Engineering Technician program. Chris’ professional success expanded to global responsibilities in 2018, including a two-year stay in Europe as the VP of Operations for multiple manufacturing and engineering centres in both Europe and Asia.

Dr. Bettina Hamelin
President and CEO, Ontario Genomics

Bettina Hamelin, PharmD, EMBA is the President and CEO of Ontario Genomics, an Ontario-based not-for profit organization dedicated to catalyze and support the development of genomics-based technologies across multiple economic sectors for a genomics-driven bioeconomy. Dr. Hamelin has over 30 years of experience in academia, industry, and not-for profit organizations. She has held positions of increasing responsibility in the biotech and pharma industries including leadership positions at BioChem Pharma (Associate Director, DMPK) and Pfizer (Head, Strategic Research Partnerships, Western Canada; Director Vaccines, Pfizer Canada; Medical Director, Pfizer Germany; Global Scout, Pfizer Inc.). Dr. Hamelin also has 10 years of academic research expertise as a tenured professor at Université Laval. Prior to her current role, she served as VP of NSERC’s Research Partnerships Directorate, where she was responsible for stimulating increased public/private sector collaboration and technology transfer by connecting the Canadian research enterprise to Canadian and global innovation partners.

Melanie Harrington
CEO, Creative Director, Dahlia May Flower Farm

Melanie Harrington is the owner of Dahlia May Flower Farm, founded in 2014. From beginning eight years ago selling her flowers off a single pallet in her driveway, Dahlia May Flower Farm has gone on to be featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Canadian Florist Magazine, The Toronto Star; on CBC television and radio; and by PayPal, Google, among others. Melanie was awarded “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2018 by the Quinte Business Achievement Awards, and Dahlia May was named “Agri-Business of the Year” by the same in 2019. Melanie specializes in growing and providing cut flowers on her family’s third generation farmstead. She combines her background in horticulture with her willingness to work her own story into her hard work; through her ability to persist and to risk, Melanie continues to build community while making her rural property a destination for flower-lovers and a hub for those seeking locally grown blooms.

Rachel Pulfer
Executive Director, Journalists for Human Rights

Rachel Pulfer is the executive director of Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), Canada’s media development organization. She has led JHR since 2011. In that time, the organization has mentored and trained approximately 10,000 journalists on four continents. Previously a print reporter and magazine journalist, she was the Webster / McConnell Fellow at Massey College in 2009/2010. She is a regular commentator on media development and media freedom, and a member of the Banff Forum.

Click here for details on Loyalist College’s Convocation ceremonies.

About Loyalist College
Loyalist College is located on the territory of the Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, and the Haudenosaunee people. We acknowledge our shared obligation to respect, honour, and sustain these lands and the natural resources contained within. Ranked one of Canada’s top 50 research colleges, Loyalist College empowers students, faculty, staff, and partners through experiential, industry cluster-based education, training and applied research programs. As Ontario’s Destination College, the College provides job-ready graduates for, and knowledge transfer to, industry and the community. Located on more than 200 acres in the beautiful Bay of Quinte region, the College is perfectly positioned between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Loyalist College offers more than 70 full-time diploma, certificate and apprenticeship programs in biosciences, building sciences, business, community service, health and wellness, media studies, public safety, and skilled trades. Continuing education options are available through LoyalistFocus.com, including hundreds of online, distance and in-class courses, and through the College’s 100+ university transfer agreements. Loyalist College is a key driver of social and economic health in eastern Ontario. It contributes 3.8 percent of the Gross Regional Product, representing $396.3 million annually to the regional economy – based on an October 2021 report by Emsi. For more information on Loyalist College’s Belleville, Bancroft and Toronto campuses and Port Hope satellite location, visit loyalistcollege.com.

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Contact:
Braden Root-McCaig
Director of Marketing and Communications
647-523-4300
brootmccaig@loyalistcollege.com