Gamification is a complicated word for a simple concept: using a system of competitions and rewards to reach a business goal, solve a problem or engage an audience.
Thirty-eight of Canada's top investment industry movers and shakers have been awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal to recognize their contributions.
The awards, which are given in partnership with the Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC), are peer nominated. The IIAC's panel then picks the winners based on the ability of the candidate to grow, mould and innovate in the investment industry.
On the list are some pretty significant contributors, both past and present.
Some are company founders, such as Canaccord Capital's Peter Brown; Ira Gluskin, who helped start both Gluskin Sheff + Associates as well as Baldwin Brown and Nisker; and Eugene McBurney, one of GMP Securities' two founders.
Other winners are executives, chairs and directors of some of Canada's biggest banks and financial institutions. Lynn Patterson, who was president of Merrill Lynch Canada up until her retirement last year, made the cut. So did industry veteran Dan Sullivan, former Deputy Chairman, Scotia Capital. Charles (Chuck) Winograd, former CEO at RBC Dominion Securities, is on the list too.
Along with those getting a medal for helping the investing public through their work, nine Order of Canada recipients and one sitting federal cabinet minister are also receiving an award. That list includes Lawrence Bloomberg of National Bank Financial, John MacNaughton, founding CEO of CPPIB (and formerly of Nesbitt Burns) and politician Michael Wilson, who was once chair of both RT Capital and UBS Canada, and ambassador of Canada to the U.S.
The cabinet minister getting a nod is Joe Oliver, the country's Minister of Natural Resources. He used to be CEO at the Investment Dealers Association of Canada (now a part of IIROC).
Winners will receive their medals following the annual IIAC Conference in mid-September.