This award was announced at the 2024 Annual General Meeting of the Ontario Music Festivals Association. This is the citation presented at the time of the award.

Today, I have the pleasure of submitting Tom Okanski's name as the candidate for the 2024 Ontario Music Festivals Association Volunteer of the Year Award.

Tom was raised in Red Lake, Ontario, a small town in northwest Ontario near the Manitoba border about 600 km north of Thunder Bay. The town is known for gold mining high quality ore. Today the population is just over 4,000. When Tom was growing up in Red Lake, there were no music teachers in town so his parents, along with several other parents, hired a music teacher to come to the town to teach piano lessons. In his teens, he took classical guitar lessons.

Tom completed a BA in English and Drama and an MA in English at Western University and then completed an MBA in Finance from Queen's University. He is a Certified Financial Planner and a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is a Senior Wealth Advisor and Portfolio Manager with CIBC Wood Gundy, in the Burnett, Okanski, Dale Financial Group.

Tom became a member of the Kiwanis Club of London on January 7, 1983, taking a major interest in the Kiwanis Music Festival of London. On June 18, 1996, the Kiwanis Music Festival of London became an independent charitable organization, and Tom took on the role of Treasurer for the newly formed Board of Directors of The Kiwanis Music Festival of London Inc. He continues in that position to the present day. Tom has managed a portfolio of investments used to provide award and prize money for outstanding young musicians who entered the London Festival. The principal for this fund was generated by donations made to the Festival. He has deposited and prepared receipts for donations and written thousands of expense and award cheques over the years. The Festival returns $35,000 to $40,000 to the community on an annual basis. He has prepared and submitted two tax returns every year for the festival. He oversees the payment of two insurance coverages for the festival operation every year. He has received cheques, PayPal and e-transfer payments for entries and donations. His records have even been audited by the government and they were found to be in good order.

In addition, Tom has held a key role in converting the Festival from a paper-based operation to a modern electronic platform. He promoted the development of software to manage the festival when none was commercially available. This software was adopted by some other festivals. In the summer of 2005, Tom had a very serious motorcycle accident, but after a long session of rehab, he was able to eventually return to his work and continue to be our treasurer. Tom was instrumental in setting up a Virtual Festival Platform in Google Drive for our festival during Covid. He prepared software and an instructive manual for us to use. He even helped match entrants with their videos and music, so all could be emailed to adjudicators for adjudication.

Tom remains very supporting on music education and actively encouraged his children to become proficient musicians. Tom is also supportive of the Grand Theatre in London. For many reasons, I am pleased and proud to put forward the nomination of Tom Okanski as a winner of the 2024 OMFA Volunteer of the Year Award.

The award was unanimously approved by all music festival representatives present.

Charlotte Cleland
Kiwanis Music Festival of London