The Toronto-based Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) has presented several financial planners with awards as part of Financial Planning Week, the standards and certification body announced Wednesday.
The awards were granted during a celebratory dinner Tuesday evening in Toronto.
Dawn Hawley has received the Donald J. Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award in Financial Planning, the highest honour bestowed by FPSC. The award recognizes “a lifetime advancement of CFP certification and significant positive impact on the financial planning profession,” FPSC says in a news release.
Hawley is a financial planner with the Angus Watt Advisory Group — National Bank Financial in Edmonton. She has more than 35 years of experience in financial planning, and has “advocated for rigorous standards” in the profession over the course of her career. She was chairwoman of the FPSC board of directors from 2015 to 2017.
“I am honoured to receive the Donald J. Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award in Financial Planning,” Hawley says in a statement. “I strongly believe in the positive impact that professional financial planning has on the wellbeing of Canadians and I’ve been proud to devote much of my career to this fantastic profession.”
FPSC says it will make a $10,000 donation in the award winner’s name, and that Hawley has selected two charitable organizations: the Financial Planning Foundation and the Edmonton Community Foundation.
Two new Fellow of FPSC recipients were also recognized: Aurèle Courcelles, assistant vice president, tax and estate planning with the advanced financial planning division at IG Wealth Management, and Professor Kwok Sum Ho associate professor of finance at York University.
Fellow of FPSC distinction “is a lifelong honour that recognizes individuals who have helped advance FPSC’s purpose as well as advance CFP professional standards, and who have embodied these standards throughout their careers.”
President’s List honourees were also recognized at Tuesday’s event for their top performance on the certified financial planner examination.