Ottawa Tourism, Invest Ottawa and the Rogers Centre Ottawa presented the 2026 Think Ottawa Leader Awards at the invitation gala held at the Rogers Centre. The awards acknowledged individuals based in Ottawa who played lead roles in bidding for and delivering conferences and events during 2025. Collectively, the recognised events brought delegates, athletes and specialists to the city from across Canada and abroad.
Think Ottawa program connects bid support with sector expertise
Think Ottawa offers bid preparation, funding connections and attendance strategies to event owners and association decision makers. The programme also links organisers with recognised sector experts and local partners to strengthen bids and shape programme content.
2026 Think Ottawa Leader Award recipients
- Melissa Brett and Dr. Stephanie Redpath — Canadian Paediatric and Neonatal Transport Conference 2025
- Judith Nassuna — Global Nursing Summit 2025
- Alison Jones and Ian Castillo — International Tritium Conference on Tritium Science and Technology 2025
- Cassandra Auguste-René — Ottawa Black Business Expo 2025
- Mark Tse — Cybersecurity and Identity Summit 2025
- Leo Doyle — Ontario Basketball Association Ontario Cup 2025
- Phyllis Bergmans — Canadian Ringette Championships 2025
- Richard Johnston — Canadian Track and Field Championship 2025
- Dr. Matei Radulescu — 30th International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems (ICDERS) 2025
- Dr. Timothy Lethbridge — IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) 2025
- Dr. David Michelson — IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting 2025
