Penticton Chamber of Commerce unveils latest Top 40 winners

Photo: Contributed

The Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce and Kettle Valley Memorial are rolling out profiles on this year's Top 40 award recipients. Read about the winners every Friday morning.

It's Friday again, meaning another chance to showcase the Pentictonites chosen to be recognized for their phenomenal skills, talent, and contributions as local leaders.

The selection committee has completed their work evaluating each of the Top 40’s list of nominees. Two recipients will be named every week – a recipient that is under 40, and one who is 40 or older, until all 40 recipients have been revealed.

Kettle Valley Memorial and the Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce said that the nominees were independently scored by multiple judges on a number of criteria including their vision and leadership, innovations, achievements, positive influence, commitment to social responsibility and their involvement with the community.

Photo: Contributed

Melissa Burdock

Top 40 Under 40 Award recipient: Melissa Burdock

The Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce and Kettle Valley Memorial would like to make a sincere act of recognition to KVR Middle School’s Melissa Burdock for being named a Top 40 Under 40 Recipient. Her dedication to our youth and our community, including the introduction of ‘Real Acts of Caring’, has had a positive impact not only in our schools, but throughout the entire South Okanagan.

Melissa has spent the past 15 years teaching middle school and is currently finishing her Masters of Education in curriculum studies. Prior to teaching, she received a bachelor’s with a double major in history and education and then pursued a post-baccalaureate in leadership and mentorship. Melissa is also a ‘Mind-Up’ trainer and ‘RULER’ facilitator for School District 67 – programs that focus on social and emotional learning to provide students with essential skills that are needed for success in the classroom and beyond.

As an educator, Melissa’s primary goal is to create and maintain an environment that is inclusive and welcoming for all the students. She has been working on planning equitable learning experiences that embed First People’s Principles of Learning so that all students may feel a sense of belonging, and led her peers through a process that identified common goals in order to create a staff charter. It included measurable actions for what faculty would do to make each other feel accepted, inspired, welcomed, supported, safe, connected, respected, and valued, creating a strong working environment.

Most recently, Melissa was involved with the Friendly Streets initiative, where KVR students painted the asphalt leading up to the crosswalk that connects KVR Middle and Penticton Secondary schools as a way of adding safety, imagery, and fun to our streets.

But Melissa’s favourite project, and one that has become very well known in Penticton, is ‘Real Acts of Caring’. The goal is to inspire kids to plan an intentional act of kindness during Random Acts of Kindness week, and then to observe the ripple effect it has across the community. This year, Melissa’s class presented to over 2,000 elementary students in School Districts 67 and 43, which was in addition to the presentation they made to Mayor and Council. Melissa says that watching these 12- year-old role models embrace this leadership opportunity is something she is most proud of, and hopes that everyone realizes the importance of being kind all year long.

Photo: Contributed

Kenneth Barnes

Top 40 Over 40 Award recipient: Kenneth Barnes

Equipped with an MBA and big city marketing experience, Kenneth Barnes returned to the Okanagan in 2017 to raise his young family. Two years after the move, he started his own digital marketing agency KJB Digital and given its continued success along with its support of tackling childhood hunger and sponsoring youth sports, Kettle Valley Memorial and the Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce are pleased to announce Kenneth as the latest recipient of Penticton’s Top 40 awards.

Born and raised in Coldstream, Kenneth graduated from Simon Fraser University with a degree in mathematics followed by an MBA with a specialization in Marketing from the University of Alberta. Using that education, he gained valuable experience working for several advertising agencies in Vancouver and Calgary before moving to Penticton as the Director of Marketing for a local software company, but it wasn’t long before Kenneth ventured out on his own.

In 2019, KJB Digital was founded and originally operated as a home-based business. Less than a year later, Kenneth moved KJB Digital into an office in downtown Penticton where it continues to be located today. Over the next 5 years, Kenneth would add 6 full-time employees and a number of contract staff to provide digital marketing services to over 25 clients, some of which are national brands. In 2022, KJB opened a satellite office in Calgary, and are looking to open a second satellite office and double the number of full-time employees by 2027.

At KJB Digital, Kenneth encourages creative freedom by removing the fear of failure. Team members are empowered to explore new ideas and approaches, and whether it’s in brainstorming sessions or designated “innovation time”, everyone is encouraged to think outside the box and share their unique perspectives.

An important initiative that KJB Digital has been actively involved in is Toonies for Tummies. Recognizing the critical issue of childhood hunger in Penticton, KJB Digital’s team made the decision to regularly donate to this program in order to make a positive difference in the lives of local kids who would otherwise be at risk of going to school without proper nutrition.

When Kenneth isn’t busy growing his company, you’ll find him spending time with his wife and four children, including Lucy who was born just a few months ago.