Future 40: CBC Manitoba's first 11 finalists unveiled

The votes are in: A panel from CBC Manitoba and Metro have pored over 195nominations and arrived at a short list ofManitobans they feel are making a positive impact in the community.

• CBC Manitoba's Future 40: Full nominee bios

The nomination period closed last week andCBC Manitoba's list of Future 40 finalists has been voted on and whittled down to 40 rising prairie stars.

Ourpicks spanned the gamut from artists, academics,community organizers and activists, to scientists, entrepreneurs,educators and more.

CBC Manitoba will unveil 10 new finalists a day between Monday and Thursday. Here are the first 10:

Heather McCormick

McCormick was nominated by Bill Shead.

She is the co-founder ofManitobah Mukluks andhas volunteered with the Aboriginal Literacy Foundation.

Heather leads a staff of 35 that provide holistic education and training programs to aboriginal adults seeking post-secondary education, skills and technology training at the Aboriginal Community Campus and Neeginan College of Applied Technology.

She was a past board member for the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg and Adult Secondary Education Council and has recently joined the board of directors of Aboriginal Health andWellness Centre.

McCormick is a proud Mtis woman dedicated to the continued growth of the aboriginal community.

Lucas Stewart

Stewart, who was nominated by Margo Granda, is asocial enterprise entrepreneur who believes that social enterprise is key to achieving sustained reductions in poverty and crime rates, and improving the quality of life of those who are otherwise marginalized from the workplace.

As the founder and general manager of Manitoba Green Retrofit, a non-profit social enterprise, Lucas has grown one of Manitobas strongest social enterprises through grit and determination.

What started as a two-person contract to repair units in the At-Home/Chez-Soihomelessness project, Lucas has expanded the business to over 30 full-time positions for people with barriers to employment, delivering a multitude of services and skills to the community. Today, Manitoba Green Retrofit has three divisions and generated $1.8 million in revenue last year.

Sarah Brooker

Brookerwas nominated by Jennefer Larsen and is the owner and lead artist of 2 Chicks and a Bag of Makeup.

Thirteen years ago,Sarah took her talent for stage makeup application and direction and turned it into a successful business.

Sarahs accomplishments with 2 Chicks include a recent weekend in Thompson providing makeup services to the likes of Ron MacLean and Theo Fleury at the Hometown Hockey Tour, a guest appearance on Breakfast Television, and being featured in numerous magazines and blogs including Its Love, Wedding Bells and Flare.

Sarah also won the Manitoba/SasKatchewan awards for Best Bridal Makeup and Overall Makeup by an Artist or Business at the Canadian Wedding Industry Awards in 2014.

Sarah has applied her talent to over 1,500 weddingsand to sports, television and music entertainers such as Jennifer Jones, Manitoba Amateur Body Building Association members, Sierra Noble, Sweet Alibi, Jeanne Beker and even Prime MinisterStephen Harper.

Kyle Mason

Mason was nominated by Scott Eastveld and grew up in the North End of Winnipeg in a single-parent family.

After graduating and moving away for a few years, finishing his degree and working with a food bank in Saskatoon, Kyle moved back and started North End Family Centre, asafe place where people can build community, find resources and do laundry.

With the programs offered through North End Family Centre, he is helping bring positive change to the community and helping his neighbours break the cycle of poverty.

JamilMahmood

Mahmood was nominated by Jesse Gair and is the executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association (SNA).

As a neighbourhood renewal corporation located in one of the poorest postal codes in Canada, SNA focuses on fivekey areas of community development: holistic housing, community connecting, community economic development, environment and open spaces and youth and families.

Through different projects, Jamil has worked to address gaps or enhance the strengths within Winnipeg. Jamils many accomplishments include setting up Youth Programming at the Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre, which now sees over 100 kids a day and includes a full meal and transportation.

Jamilstarted with SNA 10 years ago by setting up community gardens. Hecontinues to work tirelessly to make the West End a healthy, safe and welcoming environment for all.

Matt Henderson

Henderson was nominated by D'ArcyPhillips and is a teacher atSt. Johns-Ravenscourt School.

He is considered an innovative teacher, passionate about how and what he teaches, andground-breaking curriculum designer and teacher trainer.

Matt recentlyreceived the 2014 Governor Generals History Award for Excellence in Teaching and a Government of Canada History Award.His work in this field has also resulted in his receiving the Association for Manitoba Archives Manitoba Day Award.

Having published a number of articles in academic journals, Matt, who is happily married and a father of two kids, continues to teach and works evenings and weekends to complete his master's thesis focusing on the relationship between experience and ecological literacy

Tasha Spillett

Spillet was nominated byJanell Melenchuk. She isCree and Trinidadian, and an educator and active member in the indigenous community.

In her work as an educator, Tasha makes every effort to infuse her cultural knowledge into her teaching philosophy and practice to support the positive cultural identities of indigenous students and to strengthen relationships between all communities.

Tasha is the chair of the Miss Manito Ahbee Youth Ambassador gathering in honour of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and is actively involved in other initiatives to ensure that indigenous women and girls are safe in our communities.

Tasha is currently pursuing her master'sin land-based indigenouseducation through the University of Saskatchewan.

Michael Legary

Legary, who was nominated by Joe Czubaty, is the founder of Seccuris Inc. and the chair of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

Legary has 15 years of successful business leadership behind him ranging from tech startups, hobby businesses and more recently philanthropic pursuits.

Seccuris is the leading provider of information security and information systems risk management solutions for North American organizations.

Long-term corporations and new startups alike acknowledge the substance and new approach Legary brings to businessand community support.

Jason Syvixay

Syvixay was nominated by Diane Gray. Jason is from the North End and is anurban activist.

As managing director of Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, he launched and manages the annual CEOSleepout, which since 2011 has raised over $600,000 to support employment programs that have generated over 50,000 hours of work for 137 homelessManitobans.

He serves on the Winnipeg Poverty Reduction Councils Task Force to End Homelessness, as treasurer of the Winnipeg BIZand as a director on the boards of Graffiti Art Programmings Studio 393, Food Matters Manitoba and The Wasichana Fund Inc. Last year, in recognition of these efforts and many others, he was named the Canadian Public Relations Society's(Manitoba)Communicator of the Year.

Heis currently completing the requirements for his master's of City Planning at the University of Manitoba.

Kal Barteski

Barteski was nominated by Ian McCausland. Kalis an artist and brush script painter, a TEDx speaker, a published author and winner of a Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

She has also been featured on Animal Planet/Discovery. Always a work in progress, she has a deep, hard-to-understand love for polar bears for all living creatures.

She sells her paintings internationally and uses her signature brush script style to make magic with beautiful companies all over the globe.

Matt Erhard

Erhard was nominated byDavid Wiebe. Matt took over the ownership of Summit Search Group,a professional recruitment and executive search firm, at the age of 29, joining a national executive ownership team across Canada of professional recruiters.

Erhardestablished himself as the leader in Winnipeg for recruiting in sales, marketing and management roles in all industries and sectors. Within the first year of ownership, hewas able to grow the business and place well over 50 candidates in successful roles with new organizations.

Erhard was appointed by the minister of conservation to the Whiteshell Advisory Board, contributing to decisions affecting cottagers.

Erhardhas participated in the CEO Sleepout andgives back to the community in a variety of ways. He is the current committee chair of KidSport Winnipeg, helping underprivileged children to participate in sport.

Want more details about the nominees andthe Future 40 project? Read their full bios here.