Awards & Recognition
Honoring Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Biological Sciences
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🌟APB Awards Recipients🌟
Association of Professional Biology
**Call for Nominations**
Each year, the APB provides a number of award opportunities to members of the Association. You can nominate someone by filling out the Awards Nomination form specific to each award and submitting your nomination package to the APB office. Please send your nomination package to info@professionalbiology.com.
The Application forms are available to download below.
Application Deadline February 28
Ian McTaggart-Cowan
W. Young
Fellow (FAPB)
Biology Professional
Honorary Membership
Mark Angelo Receives APB Honorary Member Award
The APB is pleased to have awarded an Honorary Membership to Mark Angelo at the 2026 AGM.
Mark Angelo is a globally renowned river conservationist, speaker, writer, and paddler. He is the Chair and founder of both BC Rivers Day and World Rivers Day, now celebrated by millions of people in over 100 countries. And now he is an Honorary Member of the Association of Professional Biology.
In presenting the award APB President Bruce Clark exuded, “This APB Honorary Member Award is being presented in recognition of your many years of service to communities near and far with respect to rivers and the natural world around us. Congratulations, Mark!”
Among his many accolades, Mark is a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Order of BC for his efforts to protect and restore rivers both locally and around the world.
In receiving the Award Mark enthused, “I am very pleased to receive this award and appreciate the good work of the Association. This is a great honor”.
APB President Bruce Clark (Left) presents award to Mark Angelo
The Biology Professional of the Year Award
The Biology Professional of the Year Award (formerly Biologist of the Year Award) was added in 1993. This award recognizes shorter-term contributions to biological science and the application of biology and recognizes local or regional achievement rather than provincial or national achievement. The award is presented at the AGM for outstanding contributions by a member or a team to applied biology and to the advancement of professional biology. If you wish to nominate somebody, please download the application form above.
Professional of the Year
Bill Jex Named Biology Professional of the Year 2026
Biology Professional of the Year was recently awarded by APB to Bill Jex, RPBio. A local of Smithers (a ‘Smithereen’) for two decades, Bill has enjoyed a career in natural resources that started in 1984. Since then, Bill has been dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife, and habitat in BC and across Canada. Bill has worked as an environmental consultant and held a range of regulatory, enforcement, and specialist roles in provincial governments. Before retiring from the British Columbia government in the spring of 2025, he served as the first Provincial Wild Sheep and Mountain Goat Specialist, acting as the provincial species expert and representing the province both nationally and internationally. The APB Board of Directors identified Bill as an ideal candidate for the award and a great representative for the profession.
Bill Jex (left) received the award from APB Executive Director John Leech at a site overlooking the Fraser River in Lillooet BC.
Previous winners of this Award include:
Dr. Jennifer Balke – Biology Professional of the Year 2018
Dr. Jennifer Balke is in all senses of the word a “community ecologist” and represents the highest ethical standards of the APB. Her commitment to, and leadership in, her community’s conservation and stewardship projects have made her one of the most respected figures on Denman and Hornby Islands. As with many well-known Canadian zoologists who were products of MacTaggart-Cowan’s teaching, such as Dr. Bob Gainer, who almost single-handedly led Parks Canada’s brucellosis recovery program after working with African elephants, Jenny began her career in Nanaimo only to go to Zimbabwe before returning to Canada via Missouri. But it was her home on Denman that drew her back to biology. In a quiet, unassuming way, she has been the prolific author of scientific papers and reports, several of which have been on her favourite topics of otter research and management. If you want to know what we learned about the impact of Exxon Valdes on otters and what otter recovery techniques were developed, ask Jenny. She wrote the guiding paper on that!
For the benefit of all British Columbians, it is Jenny who rediscovered Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori), which many of us thought had been eliminated from the Comox Valley. It was also Jenny who spearheaded a magnificent recovery program. Amongst her many other projects, she now leads a bat recovery program that involves members of her community. Her enthusiasm is as infectious as some of the viruses she has also written about. Her extensive list of accomplishment is driven by a rare dedication to providing her community with the necessary scientific tools to preserve and restore its unique environmental values. It is too long to list here but there is no doubt that Jenny exemplifies the stewardship values cherished by all members of the Association of the Professional Biologists and that her distinguished community work is a model for all. She definitely deserves the Biology Professional of the Year Award.
Domenico Iannidinardo, President of the Association of Professional Biology, and Linda Stordeur, recipient of the President’s Award in 2017.
President’s Award
The President’s Award is presented only in special circumstances in recognition of exemplary service to the Association of Professional Biology or to professional biology. This award can be presented to non-members.
W. Young Award for Integrated Resource Management
The W. Young Award for Integrated Resource Management is sponsored jointly with the Association of BC Forest Professionals and honours a B.C. individual or association who has demonstrated significant accomplishments in integrated fisheries, forestry or wildlife-forestry management.
Nominations should be made by five members in good standing of the APB or of the Association of BC Forest Professionals and must include a biographical sketch of the nominee and their contribution to integrated resource management.
Gerry Leering (left), then President of the Association of Professional Biology, presents Harold Armleder (centre) with the Bill Young Award in 2009 alongside Jon Lok, then President of the Association of BC Forest Professionals (right).
David Polster, Andy Matysiak, Liz Stanlake, Alison Peatt, Al Peatt, Domenico Iannidinardo President of the APB, and Debora Stanyer
Domenico Iannidinardo, MBA, RPBio, PEng, RPF (left) was presented the APB Fellow Award in 2026 by APB Vice President Wayne Wall, RPBio (right).
Fellowship in Association of Professional Biology (FAPB)
The designation of Fellow in Association of Professional Biology (FAPB) complements the APB’s suite of awards by acknowledging members with significant continuous involvement in the APB and consistent support of its stated purposes. This designation is reserved for members that stand as role models who bring distinction to the profession with inspiration and mentorship to other members.
The Ian McTaggart-Cowan Award for Excellence in Biology
The Ian McTaggart-Cowan Award For Excellence in Biology is sponsored entirely by the APB. This award is presented periodically to a member in good standing of the APB in recognition of a significant contribution to the biological sciences in B.C.
This award is not an annual award. It is granted when a member (or, in exceptional circumstances, two or three members) have made an outstanding contribution to biology.
Nominations must have the written endorsement of at least five registered members of the APB. They must include a complete description of the biological contribution made by the nominee and a brief biographical sketch including education and training, professional responsibilities, accomplishments and any previous awards and honours.
David Low (centre) receiving the Ian McTaggart-Cowan Award in 2017 from Domenico Iannidinardo, President of the Association of Professional Biology (left), and Astrid van Woudenberg, then Director of the APB (right).
Fred Bunnell (left) and Ian Hatter (right) are presented with Lifetime Memberships by Domenico Iannidinardo, President of the Association of Professional Biology (centre).
Fred Sverre received the award in recognition of his many important contributions to the APB and the profession of applied biology. It was presented virtually during the online 2022 APB Spring Conference & AGM.
Lifetime Membership
APB Life Membership recognizes members who have provided long-standing, dedicated service and made significant contributions to the Association of Professional Biologists and the biological profession.
The Directors may, upon written nomination by seven (7) or more regular members of the Association in good standing, approve the designation of a retired member to Lifetime Member if the member: is 55 years of age or older; has been a regular member of the Association for 25 or more continuous years unless extenuating circumstances can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Directors; and has made an exemplary contribution to professional biology.
Lifetime Members retain their regular membership as a retired member but pay no annual fees. A Lifetime Member remains a voting member and shall continue to have a single vote in the affairs of the Association.
Nomination process: The APB President makes a recommendation to the Board, complete with rationale for the recommendation. The Board then discusses the recommendation and votes on the nomination.