18 Ontario Clean W ater Agency 2012 Annual Report Our Commitment to Employee Development Hosting these delegations enables OCW A to showcase Ontario s water expertise and innovative technologies to the inter national water industry W ater industry employees ar e highly specialized and r equir e various levels of certifcation and qualifcation For this r eason it is important that OCW A attract and r etain qualifed skilled staf f Our employees ar e the foundation of our business and we strive to pr ovide them with continuous ongoing support in the form of open communication lear ning opportunities r ewar ds and r ecognition and an inclusive envir onment In 2012 for the frst time OCW A submitted an application for consideration as one of Canada s T op 100 Employers Even though it was our frst time entering the competition we wer e among the top 200 companies shortlisted for the awar d W e will enhance our employee engagement and development initiatives and will continue to submit applications in the coming years l to r Ralph Witte OCW A Sonia Leon Mendoza Na tional Associa tion of W a ter and Sanita tion Utilities in P eru Conor Anderson W orld University Ser vice of Canada Sylvia Murcia OCW A Da vid Edwards OCW A William F ernandes Region of P eel Nevin McKeo wn OCW A Gr owing Inter national Inter est in our W ater and W astewater Operations As part of our commitment to support the Pr ovince of Ontario s goal to become a North American leader in developing water technologies OCW A has made our expertise available globally this past year and continued to cultivate strategic partnerships in the global water community As pr eviously outlined OCW A continues to collaborate with inter national partners such as Mekor ot and Global W ater Resour ces to pr ovide innovative solutions to our clients and the water community T o further shar e our expertise establish valuable r elationships and networking opportunities and connect with other leaders in the water industry OCW A s CEO Jane Pagel and other executive management team members have engaged in speaking opportunities and pr esented papers at various inter national confer ences such as Globe 2012 the W ater Innovation summit the Global W ater Leaders Dinner the Caribbean W ater and W astewater Association Confer ence and the Association of Metr opolitan water agencies The expertise of OCW A has also gar ner ed inter national inter est with many delegations r equesting to tour our facilities In 2012 OCW A staf f in Peel hosted a number of tours and informational meetings with delegations fr om Israel Peru India and China The delegations wer e taken on plant tours in or der to see frsthand how a large wastewater facility is operated Participants wer e also able to lear n about the facility s pr ocesses and optimization practices and exchanged a gr eat deal of knowledge and experience The Chinese wa ter sector delega tion along with Canada s T rade Commissioner toured the Lakeview wa ter trea tment facility l to r Nevin McKeo wn OCW A Nick Reid OCW A Dr Shai Ezra Mekorot Da vid Edwards OCW A Mr Sergey Mekorot Mr Y ossi Y aacobi Mekorot