Photo: Contributed
Okanagan Edge and the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce partnered this year to showcase some of the region’s most exciting entrepreneurs through the “Top 40 Over 40” program.
Sponsored by BDO, the “Top 40 Over 40” recognizes high-achieving professionals in our community and showcases their accomplishments. It marked the fifth year the chamber has conducted a “Top 40” showcase. Honourees have been featured throughout the year on Okanagan Edge.
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Paul Nesbitt has won more than 30 Okanagan Housing Awards of Excellence during his career as a luxury home designer.
When it came to being nominated for BDO’s Top 40 Over 40, however, there was one volunteer initiative on his part that was the primary focus.
Nesbitt created the Canadian Designated Driver Dads Inc., a volunteer organization that gets people home safely on Friday and Saturday nights if they’ve been drinking. The cost is a simple donation.
“Keeping guys focused on the bigger picture has been his ongoing mandate as a leader,” his nomination form read. “Helping volunteer dads to not look at the amount that someone donated as being a distraction to the fact that the dads helped them to stay alive and made sure no one else was affected by a bad decision to drive drunk. Nesbitt leads by encouragement, as most volunteers respond to praise.”
Nesbitt, who attended Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton, was named the City of Kelowna’s “Man of the Year” in 2012, and he received the Diamond Jubilee Award from the Queen for community service that year as well.
He has been designing and building homes since 1994, capturing several provincial and national awards as a result of his work.
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