Bill McCreadie, an accountant for 50 years and a key international ambassador for Victoria, is this year鈥檚 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Victoria Chamber of Commerce.
The organization is honouring McCreadie, a partner in McCreadie and Tait and a long-standing supporter of the Victoria-Morioka Friendship Society. Morioka, Japan, is one of Victoria鈥檚 sister cities.
鈥淎s a rock-steady entrepreneur, Bill McCreadie is a model for many business leaders,鈥� said Dan Dagg, incoming chair of the chamber鈥檚 board of governors. 鈥淗e has been a member of the chamber since 1971 and has run a successful accounting practice for 50 years.鈥�
McCreadie 鈥渄eserves recognition for volunteering behind the scenes to serve high-profile sports events and for quietly working on behalf of business in Greater Victoria,鈥� Dagg said.
For 34 years, McCreadie has served as president of the Victoria-Morioka Friendship Society.
McCreadie travelled to Morioka to present $20,900 in support after a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan in 2011. This year, he is serving as a liaison between the Canadian Olympic Association and the city of Morioka, which is hosting Canadian Olympians in training for this summer's Tokyo Olympics.
Robin Adair, who nominated McCreadie, said: 鈥淚t occurred to me that many people had no idea about the 30 years Bill had devoted to the sister-city friendship society or his decades of service to community organizations, including the chamber.鈥�
McCreadie will be honoured at the Chamber鈥檚 annual business awards event May 12 at the Fairmont Empress.
