Chameli Naraine, a 1983 graduate of the Business Administration - Materials Management program (now Supply Chain and Operations Management), joined the ranks of Ontario's most distinguished college graduates on Monday, November 26, when she was named the 2012 recipient of the Premier's Award for Business at a gala celebration held in conjunction with College’s Ontario’s Higher Education Summit.
Each year, Ontario presents awards in six categories to acknowledge the social and economic contribution college graduates make to the province and throughout the world. Categories include Business, Community Services, Creative Arts and Design, Health Sciences, Technology and Recent Graduate.
Naraine is president and CEO of Symcor, one of Canada’s leading financial processing services providers. In this role, she oversees a $700-million company owned by Canada’s three largest financial institutions - TD Bank Financial Group, RBC Financial Group and BMO Financial Group. The company, with approximately 5,000 employees across the country, processes more than one billion cheques and almost 50 million customer payments each year.
She is also the founder of the Naraine Global Fund, a philanthropic organization dedicated to improving the lives of girls and women through the promotion of literacy, life skills and good health. Established in 2008, the foundation provides funding and oversight to grassroots charities and NGOs that deliver medical, educational, economic and food programs worldwide.
According to Naraine, her time at Conestoga ignited her passion for learning and sparked her intellectual curiosity, providing the background for what would become a fulfilling career. She also holds a BA in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University.
The Waterloo Region Record profiled Chameli Naraine in this story on December 29, 2012.
For more information on the 2012 Premier's Awards, visit http://www.co-awards.org/
For media questions, contact Brenda Cassidy, Corporate Communications Manager, 519-748-5220 ext 3336 or bcassidy@conestogac.on.ca
