Audain to receive Distinguished Community Leadership Award

Erica Branda — Simon Fraser University

April 10, 2008

Michael Audain, O.B.C., LL.D., is the 2008 recipient of the SFU President‘s Distinguished Community Leadership Award. He will be honoured at a dinner on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver.

The award recognizes people who make a difference to our community. Past winners include Peter Bentley, George and Jane Hungerford, Jack Poole, the Vancouver Foundation and the YWCA of Vancouver.

Audain, chair of Polygon Homes Ltd., is one of Canada’s most active arts philanthropists. Through the Audain Foundation for Visual Arts, he has generously supported the arts in B.C. with gifts to SFU Contemporary Arts, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Bill Reid Foundation, the National Gallery of Canada and many others.

Audain is chair of the Vancouver Art Gallery Foundation, a member of the Arts Council of British Columbia, a founding member of the Bill Reid Foundation, former chair of the Vancouver Art Gallery and former President of the Urban Development Institute.

“Michael Audain certainly stands above the crowd in his effort to make the Lower Mainland a better place to live,” says SFU President Michael Stevenson. “Through his generous and thoughtful philanthropy, his passion for British Columbia art and his ardent support of its artists, he has created a legacy that will transform this community for generations to come.”

Every year, more than 6,000 students join SFU. Each one can change the world. Community leaders such as Michael Audain and previous award winners exhibit the values and qualities that SFU students aim to achieve.