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Conrad, McCaw win Top 20 Under 40 honours

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Two of Vancouver Island brightest business stars call the Cowichan Valley home.

Mr. Mikes-Duncan owner Chad Conrad and Cori McCaw of DLC Canadian Mortgage Experts were honoured last week at the Top 20 Under 40 Business & Community Achievement Awards.

"I'm really blown away with this one," Conrad said. "Frankly I would not have even been considered for this award if it weren't for my co-workers past and present. Since all of them are under 40 they too won this award with me and I am honored to share this with all of them."

It was the second year in a row McCaw was a finalist.

"It is a big deal. It's certainly a nice feather in my cap for sure," she said. "Last year I didn't win so I was hopeful to win this year but wasn't expecting to."

The second annual gala, recognizing the movers and shakers of the Islands' business community under the age of 40, was held Feb. 15 at the Florence Filberg Centre in Courtenay.

"Chad runs the No. 1 Mr. Mikes in the province. He's got a really impressive resume," said Roger McKinnon, chair and part of the selection committee. "Cori does a lot for charity, and these are business and community awards. It's about what they've done for the community lately."

A sold-out event, 315 people jammed into the banquet room to hear keynote speaker, provincial education minister, Don McRae.

"We had lots of mayors and dignitaries there. It was a huge black tie event," McKinnon said, adding that more than 125 nominations were made and regional judges set to work paring down the list to 100. From there executive judges selected the winners. "It's pretty impressive to be able to win," McKinnon said.

Conrad felt the same. "It's very humbling to be recognized in a class like this," he said. "It's an amazing group of individuals that accomplish so much in terms of business and community achievement so I was certainly in very good company," McCaw added.