2011 Distinguished Alumni Awards

Congratulations to the 2011 Award Recipients!
View BCIT Distinguished Alumni Awards 2011 photos

Peter Hrdlitschka

President, Ledcor Construction Limited, Western Canada
Distinguished Alumni Award for Professional Leadership
Building Technology DiplT '78
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The Team Builder: Redefining Canadian cityscapes is all in a day’s work for Peter Hrdlitschka. The president of Ledcor Construction has overseen stunning leading-edge developments such as The Bow in Calgary, the Edmonton Art Gallery, and the Shangri-La in Vancouver, the city’s tallest structure at 196.9 meters.

But behind the steel, glass, and concrete, Peter attests that the company’s greatest assets are the people who work on Ledcor sites every day. Day-to-day, he manages Ledcor’s overall strategy for sustainable success, which means ensuring the right people are assigned to the right jobs on the right projects.

With more than 500 employees in his group and active projects in several provinces and Nassau, Bahamas, Peter strives to spend as much time as possible out of the office visiting project work sites, meeting employees and sharing in their successes and accomplishments.

Peter is most proud of Ledcor’s mentoring program, which mitigates risks and promotes safety to employees and partners, including BCIT students.

Peter’s passion for building developed at an early age, as he liked drafting and aspired to be an architect in high school. Soon after, however, he learned that the business side of construction appealed to him, so he started estimating buildings after his graduation from BCIT.

As Peter says, “the ability to apply numbers and visualize how a building gets constructed is a huge advantage in your career.”

Peter balances his packed work schedule with a variety of sports and activities – he was a record-breaking competitive swimmer in his youth and he continues to swim regularly; he plays defense on Ledcor’s hockey team, the Ledcor Lightning; and he is an avid cycler, participating in the RBC GranFondo Whistler in the fall of 2011.

In addition, Peter actively gives back to the community, participating in various charitable organizations including Kids Help Phone, BC Children's Hospital, United Way, The Zajac Foundation, and The Looking Glass Foundation.

David Yochlowitz

Chief Executive Officer, ABC Recycling
Distinguished Alumni Award for Entrepreneurial Innovation
Administrative Management DiplT ’87, Bachelor of Business Administration '90 (OLA)
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The Industrious Family Man: David Yochlowitz knows a thing or two about running a family business. David and his extended family have been collecting and selling used metal for almost 100 years. ABC Recycling is now one of BC’s fastest growing and most successful metal recovery and recycling firms.

David knew from an early age he wanted to be part of the business, and spent his teenage years working part-time in the Burnaby yard. After finishing his BCIT diploma in Administrative Management, and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, David joined the family business full-time. Within a few years, he was promoted to general manager and later, CEO.

Under David’s leadership, ABC Recycling has experienced significant revenue growth; expanded from two to six operations in BC; developed partnerships with international markets, particularly in Asia; and created a thriving brokerage business.

A family-business council allows open discussion of issues related to the family and business dynamics, while an independent advisory board provides external expertise to David and his senior management team. While growing the business, David remains true to the family legacy of giving back to the community.

ABC Recycling is actively involved in the United Way’s annual Workplace Campaign, the Burnaby Hospital Foundation, and other locally-based charities. More recently, ABC Recycling took over Kidney Car, a fundraising program for the BC Branch of The Kidney Foundation of Canada.

David has a personal connection with kidney disease, as he was fortunate to be a kidney donor to his wife. He saw the potential in creating a second program – Kidney Metals – for companies to direct all or a portion of the payment from their scrap metal to the fund. In its first year, Kidney Metals raised more than $250,000 to support the Foundation.

David credits ABC Recycling’s success to the values instilled from four generations of entrepreneurs committed to the success of a company they can pass along to their own kids. As David says, “we live our values every day, and our customers and partners know it. There are no short-term decisions; every choice we make has long-term impacts on the business.”

Mark Angelo

Chair, The Rivers Institute at BCIT
Past Program Head, BCIT Fish, Wildlife, and Recreation
BCIT Alumni Association Award for Lifetime Achievement
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The Advocating Educator: Since he was a young boy, Mark Angelo found himself drawn to rivers. Growing up in Hollywood and attending the University in Montana, he would spend his spare time fishing and paddling on the Blackfoot River, awestruck by the raw power and beauty of the moving water.

He developed a respect and understanding for rivers as the lifeblood of our ecosystems, which has shaped his career as a world-renowned conservationist and educator and led to him being honoured by the United Nations for his international river stewardship efforts.

Mark moved to Vancouver after seeing an advertisement for the new BCIT Fish, Wildlife, and Recreation program in a magazine at the University of Montana in 1974. Soon after arriving, Mark knew he had found a permanent home, particularly after meeting his future wife Kathie at BCIT a few months in. Since then, Mark has dedicated his life’s work to raising awareness of the importance of rivers in BC, Canada, and around the world.

His many contributions include establishing BC Rivers Day in 1980, a province-wide celebration that now attracts up to 75,000 people every year and has since grown to become World Rivers Day, which is now celebrated by millions of people in more than 60 countries. He was also instrumental in establishing the Rivers Institute at BCIT, which calls for the protection and restoration of waterways, both in BC and beyond.

Most recently, Mark devoted his passion to creating “Water for Life”, a much acclaimed major television special that celebrated the world’s most precious resource. Mark has been recognized for his tremendous impact with the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada, among numerous other awards and citations.

Mark feels one of his greatest achievements is seeing the BCIT Fish, Wildlife, and Recreation diploma program grow and evolve over the past 37 years, and is inspired by the amazing accomplishments in the community of alumni from the program. After retiring this fall, Mark plans to continue to stay involved with the Rivers Institute, write, travel, paddle, and enjoy life as a new grandpa.

Dr. Sanja Boskovic

Chief Instructor, BCIT Power Engineering
BCIT Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award
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The Sustainable Power Engineer: Dr. Sanja Boskovic is not a typical power engineer. Raised in Yugoslavia and educated in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sarajevo, Sanja was one of the few women practicing in power and process engineering in her country.

After graduating, Sanja and her family found themselves caught in the midst of the Bosnian War. Sanja and her son Andrej fled to Slovenia and spent five years on the Italian border before being joined by her husband, Davor. Once reunited, Sanja and her family decided to move to Canada and set out for Halifax.

After taking up residency at Dalhousie University to complete her Masters of Applied Science, Sanja was confronted with another obstacle: she had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. Without missing a moment of her graduate program, Sanja completed chemotherapy treatment and is celebrating 10 years of being cancer-free this year.

Sanja came to BCIT in 2001 as an instructor in the Power Engineering program, and has found her home working closely with students in her class.

“I tell the students that once you start something, you have to finish it,” she says. “I feel education is necessary as you just never know where your life will take you. I myself am an example of someone who was left with nothing after the War and now I live a great life because of my education and mind.”

Her colleagues describe Sanja as warm and abounding with positive energy, which no doubt influences the success of the BCIT program and her research in sustainable energy, and imbues her students with enthusiasm.

Michael Gartner

Registered Nurse, Vancouver Coastal Health
BCIT Alumni Association Outstanding Student Leadership Award
Bachelor of Science in Nursing ‘11
Viewo Michael Gartner's video

The Compassionate Healer: For Michael Gartner, life is all about balance. Moving to Vancouver from Munich, Germany, in 2005 after a semester in musical school, Michael sought a career path that would allow him the flexibility to work wherever, whenever, while providing direct care to people in need. For Michael, that career was nursing, so he enrolled in the newly-created BCIT three-year Bachelor of Science degree program.

Over his three years at BCIT, Michael excelled as a student, earning a first-class standing in all his courses. His natural desire to help others was demonstrated by his mentorship work with more junior Nursing students, and he even assisted program staff in running orientation and information sessions for new and prospective students.

Michael demonstrated exceptional leadership by acting as the BCIT student representative on both the BCIT Education Council and the BCIT Board of Governors. While attending BCIT full-time and taking on student governance roles and responsibilities, Michael always made time to give back to the community.

Michael hikes the local mountains with physically disabled adventurers with the BC Mobility Opportunity Society, and visits with one of his clients at the Lookout Emergency Society in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. He is also a licensed ski instructor, a black belt in Judo, and a gifted piano and Spanish guitar player.

Michael Gartner’s instructors describe him as a generous mentor, influential leader, and a truly inspiring individual. Michael is already enjoying his new role as a registered nurse at Vancouver Coastal Health, and looks forward to mentoring new BCIT grads in the future.