London Inc. Weekly 06 • 14 • 2019
JA London and District announces 2019 Hall of Fame laureates
Photo: Richard Sifton and Jeff Macoun are the 2019 JA London and District Business Hall of Fame laureates
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT LONDON and District yesterday announced two new laureates to be inducted into the JA London and District Business Hall of Fame.
The 2019 laureates are Jeff Macoun, president and COO at Canada Life, and Richard Sifton, president and CEO, Sifton Properties Limited.
The pair will be honoured at the 29th annual JA London and District Business Hall of Fame Induction Gala Dinner, to be held on October 24, 2019 at the RBC Place London. The signature gala event showcases the lives of the inductees, their achievements and how they have developed and nurtured their legacies.
Established in 1990, the JA London and District Business Hall of Fame supports the work of JA in London and throughout Middlesex, Elgin, Oxford, Huron and Perth counties. It was created to honour respected members of London’s business community, past and present, for their outstanding contributions to business, entrepreneurship and philanthropy.
The 2019 London and District Business Hall of Fame Inductees will be joining a distinguished list of previous laureates whose portraits are showcased in the London and District Business Hall of Fame Gallery located in the downtown London Public Library. 
Fanshawe receices $2 million to establish agri-food research hub
Photo: With new federal funding, Fanshawe College is establishing the Centre for Bioeconomy
FANSHAWE COLLEGE RECEIVED nearly $2 million over five years from the federal government to establish a research hub focused on the agri-food industry.
Yesterday, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, announced funding of over $73 million through the College and Community Innovation (CCI) Program and the College-Industry Innovation Fund (CIIF). This investment will help 90 post-secondary institutions across the country partner directly with local employers to facilitate commercialization and transform the results of research and development into new technologies to help businesses expand and grow. It also provides specialized equipment to help companies develop local solutions to pressing issues in their regions.
With the funding, Fanshawe College will establish the Centre for Bioeconomy within the recently opened Centre for Advanced Research and Innovation in Biotechnology (CARIB).
The Centre for Bioeconomy will focus on plant and soil health, food innovation and turning agri-food waste into bioproducts. Fanshawe’s facilities, equipment and expertise will help expedite product development and commercialization, improve knowledge diffusion and technology adoption through its emphasis on collaborative and networked approaches to research and innovation.
“The centre will help companies in the agri-food and agri-tech sectors become more competitive in a rapidly evolving industry, helping them create new products and improve existing product lines,” says Colin Yates, chair for Fanshawe’s Centre for Research and Innovation.
“Our faculty and students are excited to continue supporting companies within the agri-food sector through engagement with our expert biologists and chemists in the newly completed CARIB lab,” added Lindsay Engel, associate dean at Fanshawe’s School of Applied Science and Technology. “This new funding is in line with the college’s previous investments within the space, as well as its strategic mandate to support the agri-food sector.”
CityMatch expands service offerings to include real estate
Photo: Jodi Simpson and Shawn Adamsson of CityMatch
CITYMATCH, A BUSINESS providing a destination and settlement service for employers relocating talent to London, has added a suite of real estate services to its offerings.
Launched by Jodi Simpson in 2015, CityMatch partners with area employers focused on employee attraction and retention efforts. The firm is operated by Simpson and her husband, Shawn Adamsson, and provides a range of planning, transition, settlement and support services so newcomers can focus and be productive in their careers as quickly as possible.
Simpson recently obtained her real estate license and CityMatch is adding real estate services in collaboration with A Team London-Century 21, a brokerage founded by Marcus Plowright and Allen Fayad.
“As a high-touch relocation consultancy we are proud to be growing our service offerings. Our expansion into real estate services is simply one more way we can make the experience of relocating to London as seamless as possible,” said Simpson in a statement on the CityMatch website.
Simpson will continue to be the face of CityMatch, working with a variety of business, education and healthcare organizations to introduce new employees and their families to everything London has to offer. Adamsson is chief strategy officer, responsible for marketing, planning and keeping things running smoothly behind the scenes.
“I’ve worked with people from 20 to 25 countries, coming to work in all kinds of sectors,” said Simpson in a past London Inc. interview. “Each case is unique, and my job is to welcome them and make sure their transition is as smooth as possible.”
Air Transat adds new winter destination from YXU
Photo: Air Transat will introduce weekly service to Puerto Plata commencing in December
BEGINNING DECEMBER 19, 2019, travelers from Southwestern Ontario will be able to fly from London International Airport with weekly service on Thursdays to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. The added service joins Punta Cana and Cancun as the third sun destination from London serviced by Air Transat.
“Puerto Plata is an exciting addition to our growing list of sun destinations out of London,” said Mike Seabrook, CEO at London International Airport. “We work closely with the travel agency community in our area and Puerto Plata is the destination in the Dominican Republic that has been most requested. We think it will be a real winner out of London International.”
A division of Transat A.T. Inc., Air Transat is Canada’s leading leisure airline, carrying over five million passengers annually flying to over 60 international destinations. The airline has been in the news of late regarding a possible sale or merger following WestJet’s sale to Toronto-based private equity firm Onyx. Air Canada and Air Transat are currently involved in a 30-day period of exclusive negotiations to see if they can agree to a deal. Montreal property developer Groupe Mach has also shown interest, offering Air Transat $1 per share more than Air Canada.
Featured Business Event
Social Media Made Simple | June 25, 2019, 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Hosted by the Small Business Centre and facilitated by Cara Campbell of CC Social, the Social Media Made Simple seminar will walk you through the most popular social media platforms, how they work and, most importantly, how to make them work for you and your business.
Building on the basics, the seminar will then cover tips and tools to make managing your social media easier and less time consuming, as well as a talk about how to keep your branding consistent across all online platforms. (Facilitator’s note: It would be helpful, but not required, if participants bring a laptop or smart device.)