Atlantic Canadians captured three Startup Canada Awards at a gala affair at the CN Tower in Toronto last night, shining the spotlight on mentorship and education in the region.

Gerry Pond, the chairman of East Valley Ventures, captured the headlining Wolf Blass Lifetime Achievement Award for his years of contribution to startups and innovation in the country. 

Mary Kilfoil, who heads the Starting Lean Initiative at Dalhousie University with her husband Ed Leach, took home the Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year award. And the University of New Brunswick was named Most Entrepreneurial Post-Secondary Institution of the Year.

There’s certainly an educational theme the selections in Atlantic Canada. Though many think of Pond as an investor first and foremost, I think he has two roles that are of greater value. First, he’s tremendous at building the ecosystem, a pursuit in which he’s tireless. And second, he’s a great mentor, and his lessons on sales and getting to market are timeless.

In a similar vein, the other winners are devoted to imparting knowledge, wisdom and lean methodology on a new generation of entrepreneurs.

As well as being the home of the Pond-Deshpande Centre, UNB has a long history of blending engineering and/or scientific research to produce great companies. One interesting feature is that the Dr. J. Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management & Entrepreneurship, headed by Dhirendra Shukla, is part of the engineering school, highlighting the link between development and commercialization at the university.

Kilfoil and Leach have been teaching their Steve Blank-inspired entrepreneurship course for almost two years, giving birth to several startups along the way. They are also the driving force behind Canada’s Business Model Competition. 

I’d like to congratulate Rick Spence of the National Post for winning the Media Person of the Year category. The runner up for this award was Rob Lewis of Techvibes, while I received an honorable mention.

Runners-up from Atlantic Canada were Rob Cowan of McInnes Cooper in Professional Services Organization of the Year, and Startup Fredericton in Startup Community of the Year.

The other people who received honourable mention were Bob Pelley in Community Builder of the Year, Dan Martell of Clarity in Entrepreneurial Effect Award and Robert Zed in Mentor of the Year.