Features Profiles
University outreach coordinator was former future super of year

July 17, 2018 – The future of Canada’s professional turf and grounds maintenance industry is in good hands. From coast to coast, several bright, young superstars have been making a difference in the industry, paving the way for the next wave of up-and-coming professionals. This week, we profile the ninth (in alphabetical order) of our Top 10 Under 40 roster of selected recipients: Cameron Shaw.

Cameron Shaw, 36, communications and outreach coordinator, University of Guelph, Ont.
An OAC gold medal recipient and multiple award winner at the University of Guelph, where he studied turfgrass management in the associate diploma program, Shaw held positions as turf club co-president and turfgrass representative to the student federation of the Ontario Agricultural College. Since his graduation in 2012, he has matured into a dedicated and enthusiastic member of the turf management industry.

Shaw volunteers with multiple industry associations and has had more than a dozen articles published in various trade magazines, including the Ontario Golf Superintendents Association’s On Course and the CGSA’s GreenMaster. He currently sits on the OSGA’s On Course editorial committee, helping generate ideas and content for the quarterly publication.

In 2012, he had the honour of winning the Toro/CGSA Future Superintendent of the Year Award. It allowed him to spend six weeks in Scotland and Ireland where he gained experience working with and learning from a number of elite greenkeepers and turf managers from across the United Kingdom. In 2017, he was one of three recipients of the OGSA’s Hugh Kirkpatrick Award that is presented to promising assistant superintendents who display strong leadership, commitment and career accomplishments.

Shaw has been working in the golf course maintenance industry for 17 years. Highlights include serving as supervisor at Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club, interning at TPC Boston, working as second assistant superintendent at Burlington Golf & Country Club and serving as assistant superintendent at Piper’s Heath Golf Club near Milton. In October of 2017, he made a career change to work at the University of Guelph as the communications and outreach coordinator for the Guelph Turfgrass Institute. He has also taken on the challenge of providing instruction in the turf program from which he graduated.