The P.J. Gardiner Newfoundland and Labrador Entrepreneur of the Year Award celebrates the achievements and entrepreneurial spirit of innovators who strengthens our province’s economy and business community as well as serves as a role model for today’s youth.

The Gardiner Centre, formerly known as the P.J. Gardiner Institute, and Memorial’s Faculty of Business Administration, began recognizing entrepreneurs with the prestigious designation of Newfoundland and Labrador Entrepreneur of the Year in 1986. In recognition of the first head of the School of Business Administration and Commerce at Memorial, the award was renamed the P.J. Gardiner Newfoundland and Labrador Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Peter J. Gardiner understood the value of developing an entrepreneurial culture in the province. His work in this area inspired the creation of the P.J. Gardiner Institute, an incubator-type unit operating under the umbrella of the Faculty of Business Administration that was designed to foster the entrepreneurial spirit in the local community.

It later merged with the Centre for Management Development to form Gardiner Centre, which today provides top quality management and professional development for business, education and government.