Canadian Mortgage Awards Judging panel announcement

The industry’s leading awards ceremony is set for May 22nd at Toronto’s Liberty Grand, and we are proud to announce this year’s judges.

The industry’s leading awards ceremony is set for May 22nd at Toronto’s Liberty Grand, and we are proud to announce this year’s judges.

Alan Tennant

Alan Tennant has served as the CEO of CREB since 2011, representing more than 5,100 licensed real estate brokers and associates in Calgary and surrounding communities.

He has 28 years of experience in real estate, serving in multiple leadership roles in the industry. Previously, as a career REALTOR and former associate broker at Airdrie’s RE/MAX Rocky View, he achieved recognition as a top producer at the local, national and international levels.

Tennant has served as president for both the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and CREB. He was also chair of the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations (ICREA), CREB Charitable Foundation and the inaugural MLS Technology Council. Tennant has also served as co-chair of CREA’s federal affairs committee.

As an active member in the industry and community, Tennant has been honored for his dedication to community service.   He was named CREB 1995 REALTOR of the Year and Honourary Life Member by both CREB and the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA). He is also a recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal.

Ron Penner

Ron received his CPM (Certified Property Manager) designation in 1993 and went on to obtain his CRP (Certified Reserve Planner) designation from the Real Estate Institute of Canada in 2002. Ron has been with Globe since 1981.

Ron is the current president of the Real Estate Institute of Canada (REIC), he has served on the national board since 2011 serving on a number of committees. He is also co-chair of the International Forum for the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM). Ron has been a member of the Professional Property Managers Association of Manitoba for many years, previously serving as a board member for eight years, four years as president. Ron also serves on the board of the Real Estate Institute of Manitoba as its past president and is the past chair of the Institute of Real Estate Management Council #114.

Frances Blau

This 50-year veteran of the industry and 2014 winner of the Lifetime Achievement In The Mortgage Industry Award, is also president of Abacus Mortgage, an independent private lending brokerage. In that position, the Ontario broker has nurtured and trained dozens of mortgage agents, in partnership with Bob Andrew and Jeff Atlin.

That giving extends beyond her private practice, with Blau having served in a number of volunteer positions, including president of the-then Ontario Mortgage Brokers Association. She was also the first female broker named to the Hall of Fame by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals, that honour coming in 2004. The tribute is just one of many marking her storied career.

John Andrew

John has been Director of Queen’s University’s Executive Seminars on Corporate and Investment Real Estate since its creation in 2004. In 2012, he established the Queen’s Real Estate Roundtable (the “Q25”), a new and growing industry organization focused on executive development and applied research. Since 2000 he has also been a professor in the Queen’s School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP), where he teaches commercial real estate courses to graduate students. He has also taught real estate management in the Queen’s School of Business since 2009.

John consults to the commercial real estate sector, primarily on strategic planning, financial analysis, environmental issues and conflict resolution; and has served as an expert witness in real estate commercial litigation. He is a frequent speaker and national media commentator on a broad range of real estate issues.

Aldo Cundari

After completing studies at L’Istituto Europeo di Disegno in Rome, Italy, Aldo quickly established himself in the marketing field in Canada. By 1980, he created the foundation for what would become Cundari. Today, Aldo’s forward-thinking and innovative enterprise has grown to become Canada’s largest independent communications agency with an emphasis on the omnichannel integrated communications approach he pioneered in Canada over 30 years ago.

A testament to great insights leading to great creative, in 2012 and 2013 Cundari placed in the Top 3 agencies in Canada, first in the Top 10 Canadian campaigns of 2012 and 6th in the top 10 digital agencies worldwide, the only Canadian agency to be ranked on this worldwide list. In 2014 Cundari received international recognition when two of its campaigns were included in the WARC 100 as two of the World’s Smartest Campaigns. That year Cundari was also ranked by WARC as the #1 Automotive agency in the world.