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Joe Hajjar of MDS Aero Support Corporation Named as 2016 Ottawa Forty Under 40 Recipient

[Ottawa] April 22, 2016: The Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa Business Journal announced Joe Hajjar, Vice President of Business Development of MDS Aero Support Corporation as a 2016 Forty Under 40 recipient, one of Ottawa’s most prestigious business awards recognizing accomplished and rising business leaders under the age of 40.

Joe Hajjar has been an integral member of the MDS team since 2001. His passion and drive for success has propelled him to his current position as Vice President of Business Development and co-owner of MDS. He is also a member of TEC Canada, where, along with other local leaders, he dedicates time towards discussing organizational process solutions and leadership development.

The Forty Under 40 award has become the symbol of leadership, innovation, business acumen and community involvement in Ottawa, all of which enhances and validates our current and future business leaders.

The 2016 awards yet again saw an impressive number of people engaged in the nomination process. More than 260 applications were submitted, making the selection process even more gruelling for a panel of seven independent judges.

This year’s recipients come from varied backgrounds ranging from craft brewing to aerospace, representing the diverse nature of the local business landscape.

“It’s great to see the recipients hailing from different industries and backgrounds” says Chamber President and CEO Ian Faris. “These young business leaders exemplify the enormous amount of talent we have in this city. Their pioneering nature and visionary thinking will generate economic benefits in the years ahead as we strive to become the centre of talent attraction and innovation.”  

I’ve judged the award for 17 years. I found this year to be a mountain of work” said Michael Curran, Publisher of the Ottawa Business Journal. The number of recipients and, generally speaking, the across-the-board quality made it very difficult to pre-screen applicants. As evidence of that, we passed along more than 100 finalists to be judged by our seven-person committee. That’s never happened before.”

The new recipients will get together in late May at the Telfer Executive MBA facility for an afternoon of introductions and sharing.

On June 16, the recipients will be celebrated at a gala at the Hilton Lac-Leamy. The Forty Under 40 awards are co-hosted by the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa Business Journal. A special edition of the Ottawa Business Journal will feature the 2016 recipients.

Twitter users are encouraged to tweet their congratulations to the group using #OTT40.

Click here to view the 2016 Forty Under 40 recipients.

Click here to reserve your seat for the Forty Under 40 gala on June 16



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