Annual Acadia
Business Banquet
The Acadia Business Banquet brings together business students and faculty from the university, as well as individuals from the local, regional, and national professional community. This event is organized by a student banquet chair and co-chair, with administrative support from the school.
The 53rd Acadia Business Banquet will be held at the Fountain Commons, Acadia University, on Thursday, October 11, 2018. Doors will open at 6pm. Tickets are $70 ($25 for students) or $650 for a table of 10. If you are purchasing multiple tickets under the same name, please forward your guests’ names to Hope Corkum so that the name tags can be properly printed. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Hope Corkum at hope.corkum@acadiau.ca. Tickets can be purchased through the Acadia Box Office.
2018 Keynote Speaker
Colette O’Hara (’02) is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at SaltWire Network, Atlantic Canada’s largest media platform. She leads the editorial, brand, audience, product design and consumer solutions teams for more than 25 news publications across the Atlantic region, working with them to rethink the role of local media and innovate the model for the future. Within the Network, she is currently focused on rebuilding three key pillars of local media: enterprise journalism, audience connection and internal culture. In 2018, she and her team were awarded a Global Media Award from the International News Media Association for their work on the Now! Nova Scotia Good News Awards; an event that celebrates good news being made in Nova Scotia.
Previous to this, she spent five years as the co-creator and Chief Experience Officer at Red Balloon, an Inspiration Design Studio that helped shift perspectives in 75 organizations throughout the region and contributed innovation, ideation and inspiration to more than 150 projects. Informed by this work, Red Balloon created 12 proprietary tools and methods for weaving inspiration into the project life cycle, and enabling intentional communication, creative collaboration and shared celebration among teams.
She is the co-founder of Halifax’s Awesome Foundation, which gave away more than $40,000 in no-strings-attached adventure funding to make awesome ideas happen in Halifax. And in 2010, she was named as one of the Top 50 Emerging Leaders Under 35 in Atlantic Canada (21inc).
In her early career, Colette was part of the senior management team at Revolve Branding, led communication efforts for Acadia University’s $50-million Tides are Turning capital campaign, helped to establish Nova Scotia’s gaming industry as a world leader in social responsibility, developed brand strategies for some of the region’s most prominent clients, and, earned recognition from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for her groundbreaking work in social responsibility communication.
Colette holds a Bachelor of Arts (honours) in political science from Acadia University (’02) and most of a Bachelor of Public Relations (but, of course, she’d never advocate for being a university drop-out). An avid traveler, her favourite place in the world is Italy…every square inch of it. She is a lover of tennis, skiing and yoga, and is in constant pursuit of her next great meal.
Past Keynote Speakers
