Surrey Panorama MLA Stephanie Cadieux is among finalists named for the 2012 Kwantlen Polytechnic University Distinguished Alumni Award.
The award recognizes those who have enhanced the reputation of the university through outstanding careers, public and community service, athletics, arts and culture or academic achievements.
Award recipients will be announced at Kwantlen's 30th anniversary gala, Friday, March 2 at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond.
Cadieux, currently Minister of Social Development, was nominated in the community and public service category, along with Tsawwassen First Nations' chief Kim Baird; Elizabdeth Johnson, co-founder of the Grace Rwanda Society, and D.J. Lam, operations manager for Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society.
Nominees in the business and industry category are Jack Fox, senior programmer of the Boys and Girls Club of South Coast B.C.; Gozde Hilmi, human resources director for BackCheck; and Shane King, a partner in KNV Chartered Accountant.
First elected to the legislature in 2009, Cadieux has previously held cabinet posts as Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development and Minister of Labour, Citizens' Services and Open Government.
Before taking public office she was director of marketing and development for the B.C. Paraplegic Association and was manager of accessibility for 2010 Legacies Now.
She was voted one of Business in Vancouver's Top 40 Under 40 in 2007 and was named one of B.C.'s top 100 influential women by a Vancouver daily paper in 2010.
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