Lifetime Achievement Recognition Recipient, 2026
Prepared by: Ashley Foley, Foley Communications & Consulting
When Jill Raycroft told Peter Kempenaar he had been selected for the Belleville Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award, his first reaction was not pride. It was something closer to confusion.
“Lifetime Achievement,” he said. “I’m not even thinking about lifetime achievement. I mean — I’m just getting started.”
He was not being modest. He meant it. He was working on a cottage renovation. He was thinking about his next building project. He had recently represented Canada at the World Dragon Boat Championships. And he was, by any reasonable measure, in the best physical shape of his life at 64 years old.
What Peter Kempenaar has built is the kind of record that earns a standing ovation from a room full of strangers. His work spans multiple decades and careers, through projects that have shaped the skyline, culture, and character of Belleville and the surrounding region.
Peter Kempenaar was born in Picton in 1959, the eldest son and second eldest child in a family of four boys and three girls. His parents, Ann and John Kempenaar, were Dutch immigrants who had come to Canada and built a life in Prince Edward County the way first-generation families do: through discipline, perseverance, and a quiet, unshakeable belief that the future is worth working for.
Peter attended Sophiasburgh Central School from Grades 1 through 8, starting in a two-room schoolhouse with no running water. The irony that he attended a school without plumbing and then went on to build massive, innovative buildings as a career is exceptional. He attended PECI in Picton for his secondary years and was a strong student and athlete, playing multiple sports throughout high school. But it was in drafting class that something clicked.
His teacher recognized the talent early and began referring paid work to him. By the time Peter graduated from PECI in 1978, he had designed two or three homes for clients in The County: real blueprints, real projects, real money, while still in high school.
He reflects on his parents and grandparents often when asked what drove him. “They sacrificed so much for a single reason,” he says, “and that was to ensure that their children had a future. The future was something not to be taken lightly.” Those early lessons of hard work, integrity, and perseverance shaped everything that came after.
Peter enrolled in the Architectural Technology co-op program at Fanshawe College in London in 1978. His first co-op term brought him to Bel-Con Engineering in Belleville, where Bill White ran a firm that was always working on something interesting. Peter must have made an impression. When his placement ended, Bill called him back at school and offered him a full-time job. But when he realized that would mean dropping out of school, Peter politely and respectfully declined. Bill, being Bill, was grateful Peter chose to stay in school and told him there would always be a job for him at Bel-Con.
His second co-op term sent him west to Stevenson, Raines, Barrett & Partners Architects in Calgary, during the years when the Alberta economy was booming, and everyone was going west. He worked on the Calgary Performing Arts Centre, the Calgary International Airport, and the Red Deer Community College expansion. He worked 80-hour weeks because there was always more to do. A master’s student at a nearby desk needed help with presentation drawings for his architecture thesis; Peter took it on after hours, in exchange for Calgary Stampeders tickets and a little cash.
He graduated from Fanshawe with the Association of Architectural Technologists of Ontario Award for achieving the highest academic standing in his program. The firm offered him a full-time position. He took it, returned to Calgary as Raines, Finlayson, Barrett Architects, and continued working on major projects, including design and planning work for venues for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
Then the economy fell out, he and Linda were planning a wedding, and Belleville started looking like home again. He came back for Christmas, stopped in at Bel-Con, and left with a job.
Peter joined Bel-Con Engineering as a Project Manager in 1984 and eventually became Director of Business Development. Over the next decade, he worked on some of the most prominent projects the city had seen: the Harbour Club, the Belleville City Police building, and the restoration of City Hall.
The City Hall project was the kind of job that defines a career. It was a complex, multi-year undertaking governed by strict Ministry of Culture heritage preservation regulations. As Project Coordinator, Peter spent months researching materials, sourcing acceptable replacements from England, Holland, and Germany. When Ontario government funding for the exterior restoration was threatened in late 1987, risking the entire project, Peter worked alongside Mayor George Zegouras, M.P.P. Hugh O’Neil, and consultant Martin Weaver to advance the file. The Ministry recognized the urgency, and the funding came through. The building was saved.
His photo is in the book written about the project. He is young, clean-cut, and clearly going somewhere fast.
Peter had been thinking about starting a business for a while. He was turning the idea over quietly, the way a person does when they already know what they want to do but haven’t said it out loud yet. He had even decided on a name.
He was working late in his office one evening when Dave Brown, Bel-Con’s Chief Engineer, saw his light on. Dave went and picked up a six-pack of beer, came upstairs, set it on Peter’s desk, sat down across from him, and asked: “Have you ever thought about starting your own business?”
Peter looked at him. “As a matter of fact,” he said, “yeah.”
Dave had a name in mind. Peter said no. He said he already had one. Task Force Engineering.
“That’s the name,” Dave said.
The two had known each other for years by then. Dave recently reminded Peter that when he first arrives in Belleville from Chatham to work at Bel-Con, he needed money for the first and last month’s rent for an apartment. Peter loaned him some money. He laughs when he tells the story, admitting that he isn’t even sure how he could have afforded to do that at the time. He said he doesn’t even remember doing it, but Dave never forgot.
“It was the best investment I ever made,” Peter says. It was the start of a friendship that lasted over 40 years, and a business partnership that built one of the most respected engineering and project management firms in eastern Ontario.
They founded TaskForce Engineering in 1994, putting them in direct competition with their former employer. They were in their early 30s, starting a business after a conversation over a six-pack of beer, with a logo inspired by a Sleeman beer coaster, with one major business strategy in mind: stay small. They planned to only manage construction and design projects, limit the number of direct employees, and keep overhead low.
Peter was driving to a project with another prominent local business-owner in those early entrepreneurship days, and when he told him his plan was to stay small with TaskForce Engineering, he laughed and said, “Good luck with that.” He told Peter he had the same strategy when he started out. His business grew way beyond what he intended, so he sold it and started another. The same thing happened again. He was now building boat docks behind his house as a hobby, and again, he couldn’t keep up with demand.
“Do good work,” he told Peter. “Provide good value, be honest and trustworthy, and the business will take on a life of its own.”
After 30 years in business, Peter says, he was right.
TaskForce grew steadily, built on the complementary strengths of its two founders: Peter’s vision, connections, and business development instincts alongside Dave’s engineering discipline and construction knowledge. In 1997, they purchased an office building on Newberry Street. They incorporated Industrial TaskForce Inc. for expanded industrial services and a third company to manage and develop growing property holdings. The firm became a trusted name across Eastern Ontario, involved in high-profile projects including the Quinte Ballet School, Wellington Arena, multiple major projects at CFB Trenton, medical office developments throughout the region, and numerous industrial expansions.
In 2010, the City of Belleville hired TaskForce to manage the design and construction of the Quinte Sports & Wellness Centre expansion, which was the largest construction project the City had undertaken to that point.
Peter and Dave assembled property at the corner of Newberry and St. Paul Streets and built a new TaskForce headquarters. Medical office buildings along St. Paul Street followed, developed for local doctors and dentists.
TaskForce celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019. When Dave was ready to retire, and Peter was ready to slow down, the next generation was close by. Professional Engineers Hilary Murphy and Ian Wilson joined the ownership group in 2015, bringing complementary strengths and a longer-term vision. The company kept growing. Peter fully retired from TaskForce in 2024.
He describes building a business as a sacrifice; late nights, hard decisions, years of going at 100 miles an hour. He would be the first to tell anyone coming up behind him: find balance.
Peter’s community involvement runs so deep and so long that a simple list of it barely captures what it means. He served on the Quinte Construction Association Board from 1992 to 1999, including a year as President in 1998. He volunteered on the restoration of the historic Myers Mill. He served on the City of Belleville Economic Development Committee. He contributed time, resources, and leadership to the Field of Abilities inclusive playground project, as well as to the Parkside Village Retirement Residence and others.
He coached Belleville and Stirling minor hockey teams, and a Centre Hastings youth indoor soccer team. He has been a member of the Belleville Men’s Sales and Ad Club, and of 100 Men Who Care Quinte. He has supported United Way of Quinte, Quinte Healthcare, Hospice Quinte, the Military Family Resource Centre, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society, minor sports teams, and individual athletes across the region.
He joined the Belleville Chamber of Commerce board in 2014 and served for nine years, including a year as Board President in 2022. He brought the same dedication to board work that he brought to everything else, particularly in government affairs. He felt strongly that the Chamber’s advocacy voice was serious, consequential, and deserved to be taken seriously.
Since 2023, he has served as Vice Chair of the Humane Society Hastings Prince Edward board, volunteering his construction expertise to help with shelter maintenance and operations. In 2026, he joined the Ontario Career Lab’s Career Conversations program as a volunteer to guide students on a path forward.
TaskForce was awarded the Quinte Economic Development Business Achievement Award in 2004.
Peter was 56, eating well, exercising, not overweight, and had never smoked, when he had a heart attack. He had just finished 10,000 metres on the rowing machine. The cardiologist walked into the room, looked at the chart, looked at Peter, and said: you are not my usual patient.
The cardiologist told him to reduce his stress and keep doing everything else he was already doing. Peter’s daughter Ainsley, now a physician and physiatrist, handed him a book called Younger Next Year. He read it and vowed to find balance. He thought about what his next chapter would look like if he did.
“Dragon boating,” he says, “probably saved my life.”
Peter had been paddling competitively for years, first with Quinte Heat, competing at Canadian National Championships. He helped build the Great Lakes Paddlers team in Belleville with world-class coach Konrad Doerrbecker of Prince Edward County, drawing athletes from Sudbury, London, Pickering, Welland, and Toronto. At the 2018 Club Crew World Championships in Hungary, Peter sat in the stroke seat at the front of the boat. They qualified sixth-fastest for the 500m final. They won gold medal, as underdogs, beating everyone in the final. Five paddlers from that crew were from Belleville.
They qualified nearly all their crews to go to France in 2020. Then COVID hit; the trip was cancelled, and the team unraveled.
It was a hard loss. But Peter didn’t stop. When Pickering’s top club heard the Belleville group was struggling, their head coach reached out. A core group went to Pickering, tried out, and made the team. Peter made four crews: the Senior B men’s (50 and over), the Senior C men’s (60 and over), and the mixed versions of each.
At the 2024 Club Crew World Championships in Italy, his Senior B crew won four gold. His Senior C crew came home with one gold and three bronze medals.
When Peter returned from Italy, he was invited to a selection showcase for the Canadian National Dragon Boat Team. He went; the selection process progressed through multiple camps. They started with 184 athletes from across Canada. They named 24 men to the team. Peter was one of them.
He represented Canada at the World Dragon Boat Championships in Brandenburg, Germany. He stood on the podium as part of both the Men’s and Mixed Senior C crews. Canada won gold and two silver medals.
“There’s nothing more,” he says, “than standing up on that podium as a proud Canadian.” He pauses. It is the kind of pause that fills a room.
He is now preparing for the 2026 World Club Crew Dragon Boat World Championships in Taiwan after his Pickering crew won the Canadian Championship last year. He is, as he said, “just getting started.”
Peter and Linda Kempenaar were married in 1984. In 1988, with infant son Alex supervising from his playpen, Peter built their family home in Thurlow on evenings and weekends with the help of family. That is a fairly concise summary of how Peter Kempenaar does things.
Their three children: Alex, a high school teacher and department head; Ainsley, a physician and physiatrist; and Alicia, an architectural designer and realtor. Each of his kids has, in their own way, inherited something of their father’s instinct for doing things that matter.
It was Ainsley who came up with the idea to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania before starting medical school. Peter agreed, and they raised sponsorships and donations for the Canadian Cancer Society research along the way. They reached the summit of the highest free-standing mountain in the world, 5,895 metres above sea level, in over six days.
It was Alicia who came up with the idea to do a Habitat for Humanity build on the island of Java in Indonesia. They spent nine days working alongside international volunteers and local community members, constructing a home for a family who showed up every day to watch it going up. Peter nearly got heat stroke pouring a concrete floor in the midday heat. Still, he would recommend the experience to anyone.
In 2018, Peter began purchasing lakefront properties on Lake Kashwakamak. He built a retirement lakehouse in 2020, established Whitefish Bay Cottage Company in 2022, and currently operates two short-term rental properties with two more under renovation.
When Peter reflects on what a lifetime of work and community has meant, a few words come to mind: integrity, perseverance, impact, and stewardship. He offers these as a framework, or quiet summary, of a man who has spent decades doing things well and is now being asked to reflect on his journey.
“These are more than words,” he says. “They are the foundation of what I feel is the definition of a life well lived in business and community.”
The Belleville Chamber of Commerce proudly recognizes Peter Kempenaar as the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient.
He designed houses before he could vote. He helped save City Hall. He built a company on a six-pack of beer and a beer coaster. He served his community for decades without being asked to. He climbed a mountain with his daughter. He poured concrete in Indonesia in 40-degree heat. He had a heart attack at 56, came back stronger, and then went and represented his country at a World Championship at 65.
He is humble about all of it in a way that is almost frustrating, until you realize the humility is not performance. It is genuine. He is a man who likes to do things well, who has been doing things well for a very long time, and who finds it genuinely hard to believe anyone would think that was worth an award.
That is, of course, exactly why he is receiving this year’s BCC Lifetime Achievement Award.
1959 – Born in Picton, ON to Dutch immigrants Ann and John Kempenaar, the eldest son in a family of seven children.
1965–1978 – Attends Sophiasburgh Central School and PECI in Picton. Excels academically and athletically. Discovers architecture through drafting class; designs two or three homes in Prince Edward County on paid contracts while still in high school.
1978–1982 – Completes Architectural Technology co-op program at Fanshawe College, London, ON. Graduates with the Association of Architectural Technologists of Ontario Award for highest academic standing. Co-op placements at Bel-Con Engineering (Belleville) and Stevenson, Raines, Barrett & Partners Architects (Calgary).
1981 – Works on Calgary Performing Arts Centre, Calgary International Airport, and Red Deer Community College expansion. Assists a master’s student with thesis drawings.
1982–1984 – Returns to Calgary as Raines, Finlayson, Barrett Architects. Works on design and planning for 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics venues.
1984 – Returns to Belleville. Joins Bel-Con Engineering as Project Manager. Marries Linda Tookey.
1984–1994 – Rises to Director of Business Development at Bel-Con. Works on City Hall restoration, the Harbour Club, and Belleville City Police building. Serves as Project Coordinator on the City Hall heritage renovation, helping secure provincial funding that saved the exterior restoration program.
1988 – Builds family home in Thurlow on evenings and weekends with family’s help, while infant son Alex supervises from his playpen.
1992–1999 – Serves on Quinte Construction Association Board of Directors, including President in 1998.
1994 – Co-founds TaskForce Engineering with Dave Brown.
1997 – Purchases office building on Newberry Street for TaskForce headquarters. Incorporates Industrial TaskForce Inc. and a property development company.
2004 – TaskForce awarded the Quinte Economic Development Business Achievement Award.
2010 – Hired by the City of Belleville to manage design and construction of the Quinte Sports & Wellness Centre expansion; the largest construction project the City had undertaken to that point.
2014–2023 – Serves on the Belleville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, including Board President in 2022.
2015 – Professional Engineers Hilary Murphy and Ian Wilson join TaskForce Engineering’s ownership group.
2018 – Leads Great Lakes Paddlers to gold at the Club Crew World Championships in Hungary, winning the 500m final from the sixth seed. Begins purchasing lakefront properties on Lake Kashwakamak.
2019 – TaskForce Engineering celebrates its 25th anniversary.
2020 – Builds retirement lakehouse on Lake Kashwakamak.
2022 – Establishes Whitefish Bay Cottage Company, offering short-term vacation rentals.
2023–Present – Joins Humane Society Hastings Prince Edward as Board Vice Chair, volunteering construction expertise to support shelter operations.
2024 – Fully retires from TaskForce Engineering.
2024 – Competes at Club Crew World Championships in Italy; Senior B crew wins four gold, Senior C crew wins one gold and three bronze. Named to the Dragon Boat Canada Sr. C Canadian National Team. Competes in Brandenburg, Germany, winning gold and two silver medals as part of the Men’s and Mixed crews.
2025 – Qualifies for World Club Crew Championships in Taiwan in 2026 by winning Canadian National Championships, along with other local paddlers.
2026 – Volunteers with Ontario Career Lab’s Career Conversations program.
2026 – Honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Belleville Chamber of Commerce.
Story prepared by Ashley Foley, Foley Communications & Consulting.
