A Brock University employee and 15 alumni were honoured last week with a 40 Under Forty Business Achievement Award.<\/p>\n
Business Link Media Group hosted its 17th annual 40 Under Forty Business Achievement Awards ceremony on May 28, which recognizes 40 business people under the age of 40 who demonstrate an extraordinary level of success in their chosen sectors.<\/p>\n
Emily O\u2019Connor (BA \u201909) represented Brock as the sole staff member awarded this year as one of Niagara\u2019s top young business professionals.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor began her career at Brock in 2011 as a special events assistant with a focus on planning and executing Brock Days Alumni Weekend. Fast forward nine years, and while she has stayed within Alumni Relations, her role has evolved over the years into alumni relations officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy focus is on faculty alumni engagement,\u201d said O\u2019Connor. \u201cFrom something like assisting with Sport Management Alumni Day to securing panelists for departmental based career nights, I\u2019ve been connected to so many wonderful on-campus partners and colleagues to help with their alumni initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor was not only recognized for her professional success, but also her inspiring volunteer work. Originally from Hamilton, she moved to the Niagara region to attend Brock as a student, fell in love with the region and began to search for ways to give back to the community. She first began her volunteer work through Brock with initiatives like Random Acts of Kindness, Brock Cares Day and sitting on the University\u2019s United Way Committee.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor currently sits as a board member and co-chair on the Events Committee for NEXTNiagara, which cultivates leadership opportunities through engagement and advocacy. Additionally, she supports local non-profits like the Lincoln County Humane Society and Motionball.<\/p>\n
\u201cReceiving the 40 Under Forty Business Achievement Award cements every decision that I have made in my personal and professional life thus far,\u201d said O\u2019Connor. \u201cI want to continue to give back to the Niagara community and it\u2019s nice to know that others can see that I\u2019m making a small difference and want me to continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Due to COVID-19 and the physical distancing guidelines, this year\u2019s ceremony was conducted virtually where the 40 award recipients were announced and celebrated for their contributions to improving Niagara\u2019s growth and development.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusiness Link did a fantastic job shifting the ceremony online to still make everyone feel celebrated,\u201d said O\u2019Connor. \u201cThey were able to condense the awards to a one-hour video, which was streamed on YouTube and every recipient was announced and recognized. It ended up being quite a fun evening and I didn\u2019t even have to leave my couch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notably, the ceremony\u2019s production team consisted of two candidates and two graduates from the Goodman School of Business’ MBA program. Marilyn Tian (MBA \u201915), President of Business Link Media Group, Tin Ng (MBA \u201915), Han (Gabriella) Wang (PMPC \u201919) and Xiaoming (Constance) Liang (PMPC \u201919) worked together to plan and execute the virtual ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cHan and Xiaoming have been volunteering their many hours in our two most recent 40 Under Forty events,\u201d said Tian. \u201cTin and I were actually in the same Brock graduation class of 2015. They have all done a fantastic job and shown such good quality of Goodman School of Business grads.\u201d<\/p>\n