2018 Premier's Award Nominees

We are pleased to announce the Humber alumni we have nominated for the 2018 Premier’s Awards. The gala will take place on November 26th and we will certainly be cheering on our grads.

Kelli Saunders
Marketing, 1985
President and Chief Executive Officer, Morai Logistics Inc.

An award winning entrepreneur and leader, Kelli Saunders is an influential voice in the logistics, supply chain and 3PL industry. With over 30 years of experience, her pioneering spirit and industry expertise has grown her business into a successful multi-million dollar, multi-national organization. Believing in the power of “pay it forward”, Kelli has spoken at industry panels and conventions aiming to advance the role of women in leadership positions and educate about careers in logistics. She has received numerous industry awards, most recently the 2016 OWIT-Toronto’s Women Exporter of the Year and 2017 WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100.

Jamil Jivani
General Arts and Science, 2006
Activist and Author

Jamil Jivani is a lawyer, activist, professor and author, whose work centres on issues impacting youth, and low-income families. He founded the Citizen Empowerment Project to empower underrepresented communities to engage with national legal and policy issues such as police carding and voter turnout. A Yale Law graduate, he was named the 2015 Young Lawyer of the Year by the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers. In 2018,
Jivani authored Why Young Men: Rage, Race and the Crisis of Identity, a critically acclaimed book recounting his experiences and using them to open discussions around finding a solution to these issues.

Debra DiGiovanni
Comedy Writing & Performance, 2000
Stand Up Comedian

Debra DiGiovanni is an award-winning stand-up comedian who rose to fame on MuchMusic’s “Video on Trial”. She has since shot comedy specials for CTV and Comedy
Network, and performed in venues around the world. She was a finalist on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and has released a DVD special titled “Single, Awkward Female”. Di-Giovanni has performed at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Comedy Festival ten times and was the first solo female ever toured by the Festival in 2014. She was awarded a 2009 Gemini for Best Comedy Performance and won three Canadian Comedy Awards in 2007, 2009 and 2011.

Allan Cole
Funeral Service Education, 1978
President and Owner, MacKinnon & Bowes Ltd.

Allan Cole is President and Owner of MacKinnon & Bowes Ltd., Canada’s specialist in international repatriations of deceased persons. Cole was the first (and remains)
Civilian Mortuary Affairs Director for the Department of National Defence and the RCMP, serving his country by overseeing the repatriation of fallen Canadian soldiers
and heroes who lost their lives protecting Canadian freedom. Cole is fundamental in disaster preparedness efforts alongside government institutions, and in the face of the 1980’s AIDS epidemic, created a protocol for those who had died with this and other infectious diseases.

Darius Mosun 
Mechanical (Manufacturing) Engineering Technology, 1990;
Business Management, 1999

Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Soheil Mosun Limited

Darius Mosun is Chair and CEO of Soheil Mosun Limited (SML), one of the world’s leading custom architectural fabricators. Working with renowned architects and
designers, they are dedicated to one of the most demanding tasks in the commercial world - turning their concepts into reality. Utilizing industry professionals, including
toolmakers, machinists, welders, model makers, etching artists and industrial designers, SML has contributed to projects like the window frames for the Peace Tower
and the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, ornate work at the Baha’i Temple in Haifa, Israel, and the elevator interiors of the Central Market towers in Abu Dhabi.

Keon Lee
Paralegal, 2013
Justice of the Peace, Ontario Court of Justice

Keon Lee currently serves as a Justice of the Peace at the Ontario Court of Justice, a position he attained in August 2017 after only four years working as a licensed
paralegal associate. Following a career as a social service worker, Lee returned to school to pursue his paralegal education, working at Anderson Sinclair PC since 2013. Lee is a long-serving member of the Canadian Armed Forces as a Cadet Instructors Cadre Officer, and has also been volunteering with various youth-oriented organizations for the past 16 years, including Canadian Cadet Organizations and the Boys and Girls Clubs.

Jason Parsons
Cook Apprentice, 1992
Executive Chef and General Manager, Peller Estates Winery Restaurant

Jason Parsons is Executive Chef of Peller Estates Winery Restaurant, a premier dining experience in Canada. Parsons brings 25+ years of culinary experience to the kitchen, gathered from some of the world’s most renowned chefs and restaurants, including six Relais & Châteaux properties, two Michelin Star restaurants, and Leading Hotels of the World destinations. An iconic figure for Canadian and wine cuisine, Parsons has cooked twice at the James Beard House, known as “the cathedral of food”, in the Kitchen of Chef Gordon Ramsay, and for 15 years, been a guest chef expert on Cityline reaching the homes of millions.