2016 PEO Mississauga Chapter Award Ceremony

Engineering Excellence Award: Dr. Xavier Fernando

Xavier Fernando is a Professor and Director of Ryerson Communications Lab. He was an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer and delivered over 40 invited lectures worldwide. He has (co-)authored over 150 research articles; holds three patents and monographed a book. He has won 15 prizes and awards so far. He was the General Chair of IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering 2014. He was a member of Ryerson Board of Governors and a program evaluator for ABET. He was a finalist for the Top 25 Immigrant Award of Canada in 2012. He was the Chair of IEEE Toronto Section and Member of IEEE Canada Board.

Management Award: Syed Shere

Syed (Syd) Shere P.Eng, PMP has more than 17 years of professional experience in Project/Program management, Systems and Hardware Engineering. His designs are operational in Space and flying in aircrafts all over the world. Syd is currently the Integrated Product Team (IPT) lead on F35 Program at Honeywell Aerospace leading all engineering activities on the program in Mississauga. Syd has Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from McGill University and Diploma in Space Studies from International Space University Strasbourg France. He is currently enrolled in MBA at Schulich School of Business, York University. He is Green Belt, DFSS and TQM Certified.

Entrepreneurship Award: Frank Baldesarra

Frank is a Civil Engineer who worked in the computer industry before Co-Founding RAND Engineering in 1981. In 1985, he Co-Founded RAND Technologies which became a global leader in providing design and engineering software and services to the manufacturing industry. As President and COO, Rand Technologies operated as a publicly traded company and by 1999 had revenues of approximately $500 M, employing over 1500 globally. His other accomplishments include creation of IMAGINiT, co-founding Engineering.com, and shaping many other entities including Cadsoft and Vecture.

Young Member Award: Christopher Davidson

Christopher Davidson P.Eng. earned his degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2003. His work experience has included various municipalities, the MTO, and most recently consulting engineering at Golder Associates in Mississauga. While at Golder, Mr. Davidson developed tools for assessing climate change effects on water management systems. He is a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto on surface water regulation, and meets with government representatives on matters concerning surface water engineering. Mr. Davidson is also part of the Engineers in Residence program, and regularly visits classrooms to introduce students to engineering and to give demonstrations.