Toronto, ON (March 16, 2009) – Young leaders and entrepreneurs from across Central Canada, gathered in Toronto on March 13,  2009 to compete for Regional Champion titles by showcasing their community projects and entrepreneurial ventures to live panels of business professionals.

The 2009 ACE Regional Exposition, Central Canada is an amazing event that brings together over 250 attendees including top students, faculty, alumni, business professionals and supporters from across Ontario and Quebec.

Three competitions took place during this annual event; two team based competitions – “HSBC SIFE Financial Education Challenge” and the “TD SIFE Entrepreneurship Challenge” as well as one individual based competition, the “Student Entrepreneur Competition”.

Regional Champions of the HSBC SIFE Financial Education Challenge, proudly presented by HSBC are Ryerson University and St. Lawrence College.

Runners Up: Concordia University and George Brown College
Second Runners-Up: Lakehead University and University of Toronto

Regional Champions of the TD SIFE Entrepreneurship Challenge, proudly presented by TD Bank Financial Group are Ryerson University and University of Windsor.

Runners Up: Niagra College and St. Lawrence College
Second Runners-Up: George Brown College and Wilfrid Laurier University

Regional Champions of the Student Entrepreneur Competition, proudly presented by CIBC are; Ontario Champion – Tom Henderson, Wilfrid Laurier University student and owner of ProScape Land Design and Construction and Ontario Champion –Scott Metherell, Queen’s University student and owner of BigRedWorks.

“Once again, our socially minded students have created community outreach projects and businesses that are having a measurable impact.” comments Amy Harder    , ACE President. “Together with all our stakeholders, ACE will build a more sustainable and enterprising Canada.”

About ACE
Founded in the mid-1980s, ACE is a national charitable organization that is teaching and igniting young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities through enterprise. Working in partnership with business and higher education, ACE operates a team-based program, Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) and an individual-based program, Student Entrepreneur. Through these two programs, ACE guides students along the path to becoming the champions that will define the enterprising mission of Canada. For more information about ACE, visit www.acecanada.ca.

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Contact:
Jaime Szegvary
Communications Consultant, ACE
 416.619.8994  416.619.8994
jaime@acecanada.ca

Regional champions will now move on to the national level of competition at the 2009 ACE National Exposition taking place in Toronto on May4 to 6 to compete and showcase their accomplishments to panels of top executives and leading Canadian CEO’s.