Former CNA student nominated for international award
11/24/2009 3:29:30 PM
College of the North Atlantic (CNA) graduate Brian Kean was one of five finalists for the 2009 Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year Award presented last month.
The annual award recognizes a project manager who has exemplified superior performance and outstanding project management methods, skills, and techniques, and their important contributions in business, industry, and government community or not-for-profit environments. Kean was the only Canadian finalist.
Kean’s career has come a long way since studying Environmental Engineering Technology at CNA's Baie Verte campus. In 1998, he obtained a position at Shell Canada as environmental technologist. A year later, he assumed the role as regulatory specialist during the design and construction of one of Shell Canada’s multi-billion dollar projects. He claims this was when he started to make the transition into project management.
In 2005, Kean left Shell Canada and became the project manager at Suncor Energy Inc. He believes all of his accomplishments started from his college education.
“I benefited from having the technical background from the CNA Environmental Engineering Technology program. The diverse course curriculum provided the spread of technical and practical education required for the job,” says Kean.
Tony Foster, academic communications instructor at CNA, taught Kean when he attended the college and speaks very highly of him.
“I taught Brian courses in technical writing when he was a student in our environmental program. When I heard that Brian was nominated for an industry award, I was elated but not at all surprised,” says Foster.
“I found Brian to be a dedicated student who always performed in the top 10 percent of his class. Even though he was extremely goal-oriented and focused, Brian maintained a professional, thoughtful demeanor.”
The award, established in 2006 by International Institute for Learning (IIL), is named in honor of Dr. Harold Kerzner. He is a globally recognized expert, and bestselling author, on project management, total quality management and strategic planning.
“I was first exposed to Dr. Kerzner’s literature and training course while at Shell Canada, and brought the training material with me to Suncor. The award is considered prestigious for any practitioner,” explains Kean.
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Media Contact:
Pamela Spencer
Public Relations Assistant
709-643-7928
pam.spencer@cna.nl.ca