The Clare Hayes Leadership Award is presented annually to a Sunderland Co-op employee in recognition of excellence in leadership as demonstrated through their work over the past year on a specific project, activity, or with a team.
The selection criteria consists of the following core attributes:
Demonstrated a collaborative leadership style
(for a specific project, activity or with a team as identified above) Created a positive work environment using appropriate leadership skills Inspired, motivated, mentored and coached others to aid in their development and results Led a project, team or task to outstanding results Demonstrates the values of the Co-op on a daily basis
It is my honour to announce that the fiscal year 2022 Clare Hayes Award recipient is… Dennis Carew!
Above Photo - Dennis Carew (left) with former General Manager Clare Hayes (right) at the 72nd Annual General Meeting
Dennis has been a fulltime employee of our Co-op since 2013 and works in our Agronomy Division based out of Oakwood. This is in addition to his responsibilities at his Fenelon Falls home farm where he and his wife Jill run a successful beef, sheep, and cash cropping operation. They also have had the added joy of welcoming their firstborn son, David, to their fold on January 1st, 2021. Needless to say… Dennis is a busy guy!
Dennis has done just about every job there is to do inside the Agronomy Division. From the complexities of developing crop plans for customers, tracking seed, dispatching deliveries, directing drivers, applicators, and yard staff, to the most menial task of cleaning out a plugged leg on our fertilizer tower… He has proven to be a no non-sense leader who is not afraid to roll up his sleeves to help get the job done, no matter what the job is.
This positive, can-do, credibility that he has developed and displayed here at Sunderland Co-op is what prompted his promotion to Operations Manager – Agronomy earlier this year. This was a well-deserved promotion and Dennis has continued to demonstrate his leadership in this new capacity.Dennis was and is an instrumental part of Oakwood’s Fertilizer Expansion Project Leadership Team. From its early inception, Dennis was at the table with insights into what the facility needed in terms of capability. And he was an integral part of the financial feasibility studies we conducted in order for us to make the final recommendation to our Board to move forward. We are in the final stages of completion of this project with Dennis adding finishing touches to the facility and validation of the programming system linked with Agvance.
Being a farmer himself, Dennis understands the demands and pressures that our customers face each year. As such, he is able to relate well with our customers and ensure that his team is doing their utmost to service them accordingly. He has a huge agronomy clientele here at the Co-op as he has developed a noteworthy reputation over his nearly 10 years of service as many members and customers have grown to rely on his excellent product knowledge and resourcefulness.
Dennis’ continued hard work and dedication have made us all take notice of his value to our members and our Co-op. He is worthy of this award as he exemplifies the character of retired General Manager Clare Hayes, with his dedication to the success of our producer members and to the success of Sunderland Co-operative Inc.
Please join me in congratulating Dennis for this achievement and a sincere thank-you for his contribution to our business.
Peter Stanbury
General Manager
Sunderland Co-operative Inc.