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Herrndorf, Peter A. OR'59

Herrndorf, Peter A. OR'59
Born in Amsterdam and raised in Winnipeg, Peter Herrndorf attended Ridley from 1958-9. After graduating in 1962 from the University of Manitoba in Political Science and English, Herrndorf received a law degree from Dalhousie University in 1965, and earned his Master’s Degree in Administration at the Harvard Business School in 1970. Unlike more traditional law school graduates, he entered the entertainment industry as a producer. Less than a decade after graduating from Harvard, he was Vice President and General Manager of CBC's English Language Radio and Television Networks. In 1983 he became the publisher of Toronto Life magazine where he had an immediate impact in the publishing world. In 1992, he became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TVOntario. While he was Chairman, TVOntario achieved dramatic improvements in its network programming and won an unprecedented number of national and international awards. In 1998, he was awarded the John Drainie Award by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for his distinguished lifetime contribution to Canadian broadcasting. He began his new role as President and CEO of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on September 1, 1999. There, Herrndorf has worked to strengthen the National Arts Centre's national role, as well as its youth and education activities across Canada. He was awarded the "Diplôme d'honneur" by the Canadian Conference of the Arts in 2000, presented annually to an individual for outstanding service to the arts in Canada.  He was also selected as one of Canada’s 50 “nation-builders” by the Globe and Mail in 2002. In 2008, he was appointed to the Order of Ontario. He has received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from York University in 1989, from the University of Winnipeg in 1993, from Dalhousie University in 2000, from Carleton University in 2004, and from the University of Manitoba and Brock University in 2006. In 2017, Herrndorf was named as a Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest level of the order, for his leadership in the arts community. 
P.O. Box 3013, 2 Ridley Road St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 7C3 Canada 905 684 1889
With more than 700 students from 60 countries, the largest boarding programme in Ontario and the third largest in Canada, Ridley College is a truly international, co-educational, day and boarding school of the world that prepares students for the world. It has provided enriching learning and life-shaping experiences focused on the arts, academics, and athletics since 1889. Ridley’s Lower School offers JK-Grade 8, its Upper School consists of Grade 9-PG, and Ridley graduates attend some of the top universities and colleges around the world. Ridley is the only   co-ed independent boarding school in Canada and one of only three in North America authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum programme.