Jennifer Stewart, founder and CEO of Syntax Strategic, has been named a 2026 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award winner in the Entrepreneurs category. The recognition acknowledges her leadership in building a strategic communications agency while scaling her entrepreneurial portfolio across multiple industries.
Stewart founded Syntax Strategic and grew it into one of Canada’s leading strategic communications firms, with offices in Ottawa and Vancouver. The agency advises organizations and leaders navigating complex communications environments, building reputations, and shaping conversations that matter. Her achievement adds to a career marked by earlier recognitions, including two designations as one of Ottawa’s 25 Most Influential People by Ottawa Life Magazine and a Forty Under 40 award from the Ottawa Board of Trade and Ottawa Business Journal.
Beyond her flagship communications firm, Stewart has built a portfolio that spans media and agriculture. She co-founded The Honest Talk, a Canadian forum dedicated to women discussing leadership, ambition, success, and the realities of professional achievement. She also owns Ottawa Valley Grain Products, demonstrating entrepreneurial reach into sectors far removed from her core communications practice.
Building Organizations That Create Opportunity
Stewart views entrepreneurship as more than business growth. “It is about building something that creates opportunity for the people you work with, the communities you are part of and the next generation of leaders coming behind you,” she said in a statement about the award. Her leadership philosophy centers on assembling teams willing to take risks and pursue shared ambition.
Her board service extends this philosophy beyond her own companies. Stewart sits on the boards of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation, BGC Ottawa, Microbix Biosystems Inc., and the Ottawa Board of Trade. Through these roles, she contributes strategic expertise and perspective on governance, civic engagement, and creating space for women to lead authentically.
The Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards recognize leaders across nine categories, celebrating achievements shaping the future of business, entrepreneurship, governance, AI and technology, and related fields. The awards operate through WXN Media, a company built on nearly three decades of leadership through the Women’s Executive Network.
Entrepreneurship as Risk and Collective Effort
Stewart acknowledged that entrepreneurial vision requires seeing what could exist and then accepting the risk of making it real. However, she emphasized that meaningful ventures depend on teams, colleagues, clients, mentors, friends, and family. The award, in her view, belongs to everyone who participated in that journey.
Her recognition in the entrepreneurs category reflects the increasingly visible role women play in founding and scaling Canadian businesses. Stewart’s career demonstrates how entrepreneurs develop leadership capabilities across multiple ventures and sectors, balancing communications strategy, agricultural operations, and community governance simultaneously.
Stewart also emphasized the importance of encouraging other women with ideas or ambitions to trust themselves enough to pursue them. Her visibility as an award recipient raises the profile of female entrepreneurship and provides a model for how founders can scale beyond a single venture while maintaining community and board engagement.
Strategic Communications as Core Business Discipline
Syntax Strategic’s success reflects a broader market demand for specialized strategic communications expertise. Organizations increasingly need partners who can guide them through complex media environments, reputation challenges, and stakeholder conversations. Stewart’s ability to scale the agency across multiple cities signals that strategic communications has become a recognized professional discipline rather than an ancillary function.
The firm’s growth also highlights how operational discipline and scaled business models form the foundation of sustainable organizational growth. Building a two-office strategic communications practice requires systems, talent management, and client service standards that many founders struggle to maintain while expanding.
Stewart’s recognition as a top entrepreneur adds weight to her advisory work and board service. Clients and organizations value her perspective partly because she has proven her ability to build and manage significant ventures. Her entrepreneurial credibility extends into her community leadership roles, where boards benefit from her operational experience and strategic thinking.
The 2026 award reflects Stewart’s cumulative impact on Canadian business and community life. Her portfolio approach to entrepreneurship, operating a major communications firm while co-founding a women’s leadership forum and running an agricultural business, demonstrates how founders can pursue multiple ventures without compromising leadership quality or community involvement. The recognition validates that model while positioning her as an example for the next generation of Canadian entrepreneurs considering how to scale ambition beyond a single company.