Wellington West named as a top employer in Canada for the sixth consecutive
year

Aon Hewitt releases Best Employers in Canada 2011 rankings

WINNIPEG, Oct. 28 /CNW/ - Wellington West has been named a Best Employer in Canada for the sixth year in a row. It placed ninth in Canada and was also named as a Best Employer in the Greater Toronto Area for 2011.  The Best Employers study is conducted by Aon Hewitt and co-sponsored by the Queen's University School of Business, the Queen's Centre for Business Venturing, and the National Quality Institute.

"We are thrilled to once again rank in the top 10 as a Best Employer in Canada and for the second time as a Best Employer in the GTA," said Charlie Spiring, CEO and founder, Wellington West Holdings Inc. "Our open, collaborative culture and our smart, talented people are the keys to our success.  We have assembled the finest team in the business; passionate and brilliant people who are absolutely our competitive advantage."

The Best Employers study is conducted annually; 2011 marks the 12^th time the study has been conducted. Organizations are selected as Best Employers based primarily on survey responses from employees that gauge their level of engagement; a measure of how positively employees feel about their employer, how likely they are to stay, and how committed they are to doing their utmost to achieve business objectives.

"We are incredibly proud of this recognition and honoured that our employees share our vision, our values and our commitment to a strong corporate culture," said Kish Kapoor, president Wellington West Holdings Inc. "Without them we wouldn't be where we are today."

For more information on the Best Employers in Canada study, please visit http://was2.hewitt.com/bestemployers/canada/pages/index.htm

About Wellington West

The Wellington West group of companies provides full-service brokerage, financial planning, asset management and capital markets services. In over 17 years since its inception, the employee-owned Wellington West has become one of the largest and fastest-growing independent full-service wealth management firms in Canada with approximately $9 billion in assets under administration.

Among its many corporate achievements, Wellington West has been ranked in the top quartile of the 50 Best Employers in Canada for the past six consecutive years, named one of Canada's Fastest Growing Companies in 2007, and recognized as one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies for four consecutive years and a total of ten times since 1996. In addition, Wellington West ranked in the top 3 in the 2010 Brokerage Report Card survey for the seventh consecutive year. Its founder and CEO, Charlie Spiring, won the top honour in the professional/financial services category of the Ernst & Young 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for the Prairies region.

For further information:

Kish Kapoor
204.925.2298 or [email protected]
www.wellingtonwest.com