An evening of cocktails and recognition
Guests arrived to mingle over cocktails and appetizers before the program got underway. Andrew McWiggan, Acart's president and CEO, opened the evening with remarks reflecting the "Unstoppable Since '76" theme, touching on the company's resilience through decades of reinventing its capabilities, talent and business model. He then welcomed founder Al Albania to the stage, who spoke about the legacy and community the company has built over five decades in Ottawa.
McWiggan framed the milestone not just as a matter of longevity but of relevance. "Acart's story isn't that it lasted 50 years," he said. "It's that it kept earning the right to matter."
Mayor Sutcliffe presents a proclamation
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe also took the stage to mark the occasion, presenting Acart with an official mayoral proclamation honouring the company's 50th anniversary. Sutcliffe pointed to the rarity of a local business surviving a change in leadership across generations. "Lots of businesses come and go," he said. "Lots of businesses don't survive that transition, so it's really a testament to what Al built and what Andrew continues to build."
Longtime staff honoured
The evening also recognized the people who have carried the company through those decades. Five long-serving team members, Kevin Scannell, James Thibault, Leslie Stewart, Avdo Nalic and Lynn Norris, received awards for their years with Acart. Their recognition underscored a theme running through the night: that a company's survival often comes down to the staff who stay through its reinventions, not just the leadership at the top.
An Ottawa institution
Acart Communications has operated in Ottawa since 1976, making it one of the city's longer-running marketing and communications firms. The anniversary celebration doubled as both a retrospective and a statement of intent, with McWiggan's remarks framing the next chapter around the same adaptability that got the company this far.
Sources: Ottawa Business Journal
