NU honours alumni

Nipissing University honoured the achievements of three graduates with alumni awards, and recognized one individual with honorary alumni status at the annual Alumni Awards celebration held Tuesday, May 23, at The Grande Event Centre. David Bell was presented with the Dr. James Jamieson Influential Alumni Award. Aengus Finnan was recognized with a Distinguished Alumni Award, and Timothy Brazeau received a Rising Star Alumni Award. Vicky Paine-Mantha was presented an Honorary Alumni Award.

“I’m very honoured to be recognized with the Dr. James Jamieson Influential Alumni Award from my alma mater, Nipissing University,” said Bell.  “The university means a great deal to me, it’s where I met my wife, and where I launched my career.  As a student, I worked to be involved and engaged with the school and was rewarded with some incredible opportunities and some amazing memories.  I look back on my time at Nipissing with a lot of fondness.  Nipissing is a wonderful university.”

Congratulations to all the winners on their achievements both personal and professional, Nipissing is proud of all its 38,000 alumni worldwide.

David Bell, winner of the Dr. James Jamieson Influential Alumni Award, graduated Nipissing University with Bachelor of Arts (honours) in 1999. During his time at Nipissing, he was involved as an executive on the Nipissing University Student Union and participated as a student representative on the Board of Governors and Academic Senate.

Upon graduating, Bell worked as a Development Officer with Nipissing, raising funds for financial aid and capital projects.  He has also worked in fundraising roles at the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Windsor, in addition to providing consulting services to a number of Canadian charities.  Bell is currently the executive director, development and alumni relations at the Schulich School of Business at York University, where he is responsible for coordinating a team of professionals dedicated to building and enhancing long term relationships between the Schulich School and its key stakeholders, including close 30,000 alumni living and working in more than 90 countries around the world.

Bell is also a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and practiced environmental law and litigation with Ferguson Barristers and Saxe Law Office.  He received his LL.B. from the University of Windsor and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2005.

Bell has volunteered with a number of community organizations.  He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Job Skills, the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, The Student Education Company and volunteered as a pro bono legal researcher for Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.  Bell currently leads the Legacy Gift Planning Committee of St. George’s Anglican Church in Barrie, Ontario.

Bell is married to Nipissing Alumna, Stephanie Bell (nee Sheppard), (BA ’99, BEd ’00, MEd ’10).  The two have a four-year-old daughter.

Aengus Finnan, winner of the Distinguished Alumni Award, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and raised in rural Canada.  He earned a Bachelor of Education from Nipissing University in 1994.

After serving as the touring and audience development officer for the Ontario Arts Council, Finnan took on the role of executive director of Folk Alliance International in September 2014.

Finnan has a diverse background in arts administration, education, and community outreach. As an artist and musician he has released three recordings and toured extensively throughout North America, Japan and Australia before founding the Shelter Valley Folk Festival in 2003 where he served as artistic director until 2010. He taught art and music in several northern communities including Moosonee, and the arctic community of Inuvik. Finnan served as board president for the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals (now Folk Music Ontario) and was a co-founder of Canada's annual Gordon Lightfoot tribute concert series.

He is a visual arts graduate of Lester B. Pearson United World College and also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre.

Finnan was twice nominated for the Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and is a recipient of a Canadian National decoration with the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal for his cultural and humanitarian work.

He currently serves on the Kansas City Arts Industry Sector Council.

Timothy Brazeau is the recipient of the Rising Star Alumni Award. An avid community participant and volunteer, Brazeau received the Attorney General's Community Volunteer Award from his high school and earned a full entrance scholarship to Nipissing University, graduating in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor in Political Science.

Brazeau was a highly engaged student at Nipissing, involved in residence life and events, working with the alumni office to aid development, and for the registrar's office providing support and leading tours for prospective students and their families.

After graduating from Nipissing, Brazeau was hired as a summer student by the Gravenhurst Chamber of Commerce to assist with marketing and special events. Excelling in that position he was soon hired full-time and oversaw many major events vital to the community and chamber.

Roughly two years ago, he was hired for a fundraising and business development intern position at the Festival of the Sound.  He has helped the festival to surpass the previous year's amount by an excess of $175,000. Furthering his role in the organization, Brazeau oversees marketing, development, interns and summer staff and was  recently promoted to general manager.

Brazeau is a member of the association of fundraising professionals, an active member of the Parry Sound area community and a director at the Parry Sound Area Chamber of Commerce.

Vicky Paine-Mantha is currently the president and CEO of Brontaine Limited, a family owned private investment and development company. Over her 34-year career, she has held numerous executive positions at the president, CEO and vice-president levels in a number of complex business environments. She has extensive knowledge of the university and college sectors, experience with health software development and implementation, small business ownership, and corporate finance. She has always been passionate and involved with capacity building to enable organizational growth and development in both the non-profit and private sector.  

Paine-Mantha spearheaded the sizable capital expansion plans from 2005-2012 for Nipissing University during her tenure as vice-president, finance and administration. She was entrusted to fill the position of interim president for a year in 2013, while the university searched for its next president.

Paine-Mantha is also an entrepreneur and was the president, CEO and majority shareholder of Healthware Technologies Inc., a software development company and information systems provider to the Canadian healthcare markets. She was instrumental in growing this small Northern Ontario Company to the stage where it became an attractive target for merger and acquisition. Healthware Technologies Inc., with its head office in North Bay and satellite offices in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver was selected as Company of the Year in its category in the 1996 Northern Ontario Business Awards.  In 2000, Healthware Technologies was acquired by Momentum Information Systems Inc. of Winnipeg, MB. Integrating the core competencies of both companies established the basis for continued growth and evolution of their software products within the North American and international markets.

Paine-Mantha has held several other positions of note, including executive vice-president, strategic business development at Momentum Healthware, CEO at Mindoka Technologies, vice-president finance and administration at Canadore College, dean of business and hospitality and Continuing Education, and taught as a professor in the faculty of business.

Paine-Mantha currently holds a number of board positions with non-profit, national and local business organizations.