The Kelowna Chamber’s Top 40 Program has returned for 2024. The program recognizes and honours individuals in the community who take leadership, philanthropy, and business to the next level.
Honouree:
MacKenna Lenarcic
Enactus Canada
“Be proud of what you have done. Even if you impact one life, that’s one life that you have changed for the better.” – Enactus Canada’s past CEO Allyson Hewitt
MacKenna Lenarcic is manager of alumni relations with Enactus.
She graduated with BBA in Marketing from the Okanagan College School of Business. In her four years at OC, MacKenna’s studies focused on strategic and digital marketing, leadership, sustainability, and social entrepreneurship and she was involved with student leadership club Enactus that created social, economic and environmental projects in our community.
In her last year at OC, MacKenna was helped secure over $34,000 in grant funding, leading their team to be the first from Western Canada to win the National Championship. The team placed in the top four of 2,584 worldwide.
MacKenna believes in creating a team environment where students feel safe to step outside of their comfort zone and try new things. She mentored an Enactus team from Ireland and initiated a new partnership with one from Belgium, and worked with high school students participating in the Kelowna Sustainable Development Challenge.
In her current role with Enactus, MacKenna is developing a new alumni engagement program to support students across 70+ post-secondary institutions in Canada. MacKenna’s most memorable achievement is leading the national expansion of Unusually Good Food Co (UGFC), which resulted in UGFC products on the shelves of 19 retailers across Canada including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories. This contract generated $57,000 in revenue, and they reinvested profits into the community, and MacKenna received HSBC’s Women Entrepreneurial Leader of the Year.
Honouree: Travis Pye
Lakehouse Homestore & Kitchens Cooking School
“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook – try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and above all have fun.” – Julia Child
Travis Pye is chef, operations director, and co-owner of Lakehouse Homestore Kitchens & Cooking School in Kelowna.
Pye holds a diploma from BC Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute with Red Seal from Saskatoon Polytech, and he has opened eight restaurants across Canada.
He believes in supportive leadership through proper training, clear objective, transparent feedback, and working toward a goal of ongoing improvement.
One of Pye’s most memorable achievements is opening a 500-seat, open-kitchen restaurant in the newly developed Lansdowne Park in Ottawa (steps away from the stadium) the year the Red Blacks rejoined the CFL. On game days there would be 20,000 people in and around their restaurant, and with a completely open kitchen and a brigade of 80 staff they managed it masterfully.
Travis has been on the board of the Downtown Kelowna Association for five years and is now the vice- president, providing a voice for the hospitality sector. He’s an active chef instructor with Chefs in the Classroom to teach healthy eating, growing, sustainability and basic cooking knowledge to third grade students.