The IBECC team. From left to right: Winnie So, Laura Anderson, Erin Lane, Sophie Collins, and Negar Hadavi.

A team of MBA students from the Beedie School of business has dominated the field at the prestigious Intercollegiate Business Ethics Case Competition (IBECC), taking first place in the 10-minute presentation and winning silver in the 30-minute presentation.

The team, consisting of SFU MBA students Sophie Collins, Negar Hadavi, Laura Anderson and Erin Lane, and Management of Technology MBA student Winnie So, emerged victorious from a strong field of 25 competing teams from across the globe, including such distinguished institutions as the University of Oxford, INSEAD, Dartmouth and Copenhagen Business School.

The IBECC, held this year at Loyola Marymount University in San Diego, California from May 8 to 10, is the oldest and most-recognized business ethics competition of its kind. In addition to the competition, it allows students to learn about organizational ethics through conference sessions and networking with the world’s leading ethics and compliance officers.

Competing teams participated in three different competitions in total: a full 30 minute presentation, a shortened 10 minute presentation and a 90 second brief, all of which were judged by practicing ethics and compliance professionals. Each team was allowed to choose a topic from any area of business ethics and make recommendations to solve the problem based on their research and analysis.

The Beedie team’s winning presentation, focusing on Canadian mining company Barrick Gold, was rewarded with two trophies and prize money of $250 each. The team opted to base their case on a Canadian company after receiving advice from their coaches, Beedie School of Business assistant professor Stephanie Bertels and senior lecturer Kathleen Burke.

“The Intercollegiate Business Ethics Case Competition was a fantastic learning experience and we are very proud to bring the title home for the Beedie School of Business,” said Collins. “The support we received from the school, in particular our coaches Stephanie and Kathleen was instrumental in our success. The competition was nerve-racking, but our decision to focus on a company close to home and approach the case from a business standpoint helped separate us from the other teams.”

The team’s success is made all the more impressive after being forced to overcome a number of obstacles in the build up to the competition, the most difficult of which involved four of the team embarking on a cross-cultural learning trip to South America as part of the MBA program in the weeks prior to the competition.

“The MBA cross-cultural trip was an amazing experience, allowing us to experience business in different cultures and gain valuable advice that helped us in the case competition from people in the local mining industry,” said Collins. “Although the timing of the trip coincided with our preparation time for the competition, the team’s dedication ensured we were able to work around this through a series of early-morning Skype sessions.”

Simon Fraser University recognized nationally for advancing the lives of new Canadians.

Student team earns 2013 national title for efforts to empower newcomers in Burnaby.

Simon Fraser University has been awarded the 2013 RBC Newcomer Advancement Project Fund Best Project by national charitable organization Enactus Canada and proud supporter RBC Foundation. The awards presentation took place at the 2013 Enactus Canada National Exposition on Monday, May 6th in Toronto.

The RBC Newcomer Advancement Project Fund was designed to accelerate the advancement of newcomers to Canada, creating social and economic opportunities that will strengthen the well-being of communities. The Enactus team from Simon Fraser University was awarded Best Project because they were able to impact the lives of 23 new Canadians through their project, Media Minds.

Media Minds is a digital literacy program which aims to gear ESL students with video editing skills to create a mini self-documentary of their life. The goals of this program are to enhance students’ storytelling abilities and increase their employability through teaching video skills.

Media Minds was created last fall by SFU communications student Hope Wang, a Richmond resident and 2012 YWCA young Woman of Distinction nominee. As a young immigrant herself, Wang’s passion for helping immigrant youth adjust to life in Canada prompted her to found the program.

“As a country, when we welcome newcomers to Canada, we carry a responsibility to support them through this difficult transition,” said Nicole Almond, Enactus Canada president. “We are proud to recognize the Enactus team from Simon Fraser University for taking on that responsibility and, in partnership with RBC Foundation, demonstrating the difference it makes in people’s lives.”

The RBC Newcomer Advancement Project Fund Best Project was awarded at the 2013 Enactus Canada National Exposition , where more than 1,200 delegates including the country’s brightest university and college students, academic professionals and top Canadian CEOs came together to transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world.

Click here to view the article in its entirety at the Enactus Canada website.

For more information on Enactus SFU, visit enactussfu.com/

Beedie School of Business alumna Salina Siu has been shortlisted for Tourism Australia’s The Best Jobs in the World competition.

Beedie School of Business alumna Salina Siu has been given an opportunity all graduates seek – the chance to land her dream job.

Siu is one of 150 people selected from over 600,000 applicants to advance to the second round of Tourism Australia’s The Best Jobs in the World competition. With six positions available, Siu is the only Canadian to make the 25-person shortlist for the Chief Funster position.

The Chief Funster position is based in Sydney and requires the winner to attend and review all the festivals and events the city has to offer over the course of the six-month assignment. The position comes with a $50,000 (AUS) salary, along with an additional $50,000 (AUS) to cover expenses.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and would be a crazy adventure,” says Siu, who previously served as social media intern in the Beedie School’s marketing department as well as stints with Invoke Media and SAP. “I am so passionate about social media, and to work in this field in such a great environment would be an amazing experience.”

Siu made it to the second round after judges selected her based on a 30-second video she submitted explaining why she was the best person for the job. The video highlighted events she has participated in and also showcased her personal YouTube channel, where she demonstrates DIY t-shirt altering skills, and which has more than 58,000 subscribers and 10 million views.

Siu has now embarked on an extensive marketing campaign to promote her application, which has included media articles and television interviews. She has also received glowing video endorsements from high profile figures such as Andrew Petter, President of Simon Fraser University.

Siu graduated from the Beedie School of Business last year after majoring in marketing and entrepreneurship. With a passion for social media and marketing required for the position, Siu will aim to demonstrate that the knowledge she gained in her BBA degree makes her the ideal candidate for the job.

“Since finding out I was shortlisted it has been a whirlwind week,” says Siu. “I have never done so much PR before, but the education I received from the Beedie School of Business really prepared me for what was in store for me. The experience I got in strategic planning, marketing, and leadership roles have all come in useful this week.”

In addition to her academic experience, Siu furthered her marketing knowledge working as vice president of communications at AIESEC SFU, before taking the position of national director of communications for AIESEC Canada.

Siu will post updates about her progress through her blog, http://bestjobs.salina-siu.com/

For more information on The Best Jobs in the World competition, visit https://bestjobs.australia.com/

Brian Hill, CEO of Aritzia, being interviewed in front of a live audience at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The spring series of CKNW 980’s “The Chief Executives” concluded with Brian Hill, CEO and co-founder of fashion retailer Aritzia, discussing his hands-on approach to the fashion retail industry with CKNW host Bill Good in front of a live audience at the Segal Graduate School.

The event was part of an ongoing partnership between the Beedie School of Business and prominent Vancouver radio station CKNW News Talk 980 to bring leadership and business insights from some of Canada’s top executives to SFU’s downtown Vancouver campus.

As a third generation fashion retailer, Hill grew up working in the family business, which Good assumed negated the need for him to ask what his first job was. Hill revealed however, that one summer he worked in a role that to this day remains his favourite job – a garbage man.

“I came home from school one summer and told my dad that I wouldn’t be working for him, and would instead be working as a garbage man,” said Hill. “He thought I was out of my mind, but the job was great. I got a suntan and became really fit from lifting all those garbage cans. Back then you were able to ride on the back of the garbage truck, so I would be hanging on while it drove at 40 miles per hour down Granville street.”

When the ripples of laughter in the audience had settled, Hill moved on to discuss more traditional aspects of business, beginning with the secrets of Aritzia’s success during what have been tough economic times for retailers. He explained that it would be difficult for Aritzia to have successfully expanded without manufacturing their own products, and that while some of their success has been based on luck, many of their strategic decisions have paid off.

He recounted the example of their decision to integrate SAP software into their company early as a strategic decision that has reaped dividends for them. Although SAP is used by the majority of Fortune 500 companies, Aritzia was a small company when they opted to go down this route. Hill said that while the integration process had been difficult and costly at the time, it had paid off for the company in the long term.

Good then inquired about Aritzia’s manufacturing process, and whether Hill monitors the working conditions of the people making their clothing. “Our manufacturing is primarily conducted in Asia, and China specifically, but we have a code of conduct and social environmental policies that we follow,” Hill replied. “We have a full time auditor who flies round the world to visit our factories and ensure standards are met. So we have the wherewithal in our own company, but we also back it up by employing a third party too. It is an integrated part of our decision process.”

On the subject of the company’s successful expansion beyond BC into other Canadian provinces, Hill explained that they made four key strategic decisions: to design and manufacture their own product; to computerize their operation; to create a template for their stores; and to build an infrastructure for the business, for both their employees and the systems they had in place.

Once the Canadian expansion was successful Aritzia moved into the US market, where it now has 12 stores across Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and New York. Asked what the challenges of breaking into the US market were, Hill responded that they were forced to build their brand reputation almost from scratch, not just with their customers, but also with employees.

When pressed on how they built their brand in the US, Hill revealed that store location was the key. “We like to have great locations,” he said. “They are costly, but you are guaranteed traffic. You have to have the right traffic, but the market we are in is fairly straightforward. However we have not figured out how to open stores in California or Florida yet, where the weather makes many of our products difficult to sell.”

Hill then discussed his role in the buying process, where he revealed that, while not as involved as he once was, he does play an active part in deciding what items the chain will sell.

“It’s one of my favourite parts of the business – walking into a legal or financial meeting isn’t nearly as interesting as going into a fashion meeting,” he said. “Our product floor has some 150 people working on it with presentations and approval meetings occurring throughout the year. 90% of the time I am involved in those meetings. Over the years you become not quite as tuned into trends and other parts of the business demand more of my time, however, there is not a single item produced by Aritzia on the shop floors that I have not seen before it is sold.”

Over the course of a fascinating interview, Hill fielded questions from a highly engaged audience, covering topics such as the dynamics of working in a family business, the mistakes he has made in his career, the importance of online retail in today’s market, whether Aritzia can thrive as a purely online retailer, and the challenge of competing with high street fashion giants such as Zara and H&M.

Finally, Hill brought the curtain down on another enthralling CEO Series with a story of a recent lunch with British Columbia business legend and longtime SFU supporter Joe Segal. “I was sitting across from Joe, and he looked at me and said, ‘Brian, what’s your most valuable asset’,” said Hill. “I looked at him as though it was a trick question. Joe then said, ‘It’s your time. Your life is a runway, and your runway is far longer than mine. I would trade all my money for your runway. And Brian, I’ve got a lot of money’.”

Elicia Maine, Academic Director of SFU MOT MBA program

Business education has an important role to play in boosting Canada’s edge in the digital age by combining masters of business administration (MBA) programs with technology management skills, industry experts say.

Released in April, the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index ranked Canada 12th out of 144 countries, down three spots from the previous year. The point of the index is to illustrate which countries’ economies are well poised to benefit from technology-based industry. Those that ranked higher – such as Finland, the United States and Singapore – were credited with having friendly business environments and top education systems.

Canada has a skilled work force, a high-level education system and a growing economy, like the other high-ranking countries. But business specialists say the country needs to expand its reach in the global technology market, create more business leaders with specific technology management skills and strengthen the bonds between business education and industry in order to move up the ranks.

The study highlights a growing business area in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, says Elicia Maine, academic director at Simon Fraser University’s Management of Technology MBA program, though she views the rankings with some skepticism, because it compares countries with what she calls incomparable economies and education systems.

Her graduates are already tapping the ICT market, she says. “About 50 per cent of our cohort is either in software, ICT, social media or gaming sectors, all things that could broadly be in ICT. And they find great value in the customized MBA program, that can really go in-depth on the strategic issues around commercializing new technologies,” she adds.

According to Industry Canada, about 33,300 companies make up the ICT sector in this country, of which more than 86 per cent are in the software and computer services industries.

The potential is there, but to truly grow this sector, according to Dr. Maine, business educators need to embrace and incorporate technology even further into MBA programs and produce leaders who have a more intense understanding of the digital age.

“We need to be able to avoid just giving out generic MBAs,” she says, “but to actually see the impact and potential of different technology opportunities, with ICT being a huge one, and try to both teach and mentor frameworks that help us to develop technology entrepreneurs and technology managers.”

Trevor MacAusland and his non-profit business Propel ICT have been trying to remedy Canada’s disconnect between tech businesses and education for the past couple of years and he says there is still work to be done so that Canadians don’t lose out on this break-out market.

“I think there is an opportunity to do more in our postsecondary education system to kind of match up those analytical, business-minded individuals to technology or research that’s being done in a university setting to help commercialize that,” says the New Brunswick-based executive director.

Propel ICT is a startup accelerator, meaning the company uses mentorship programs and funding to help get early-stage entrepreneurial tech-based businesses to market. The ICT market is mostly made up of entrepreneurs, so that is where the focus should be, Mr. Ausland says. So far, about 20 of these small businesses have been launched through the non-profit’s program, Launch 36, which began in 2012 and is attempting to mobilize 36 entrepreneurial technology ventures in 36 months.

The program is ahead of schedule, but right now Mr. MacAusland says there are substantial shortcomings throughout Canada’s ICT sector that could really benefit from the skills already taught in MBA programs, such as marketing. But what is lacking is the correlation between these skills and how they apply directly to the technology market – something that could be learned from other countries that are doing it more efficiently.

“What I see in some of our universities is that we haven’t adopted a global view to digital marketing and I think that’s where need to focus,” says Mr. MacAusland. “I see a lot of gaps in that particular area.”

But some MBA programs are recognizing these gaps and designing programs to help close them, says John Rowcroft, director of University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s MBA program.

The rising stack of applications on his desk tells Dr. Rowcroft there is increased interest in programs like this, especially in the Internet securities sector. But he says that teaching the students more technology-based skills is only half of the solution and more help needs to come from Canada’s technology industry.

Both Mr. Ausland and Dr. Rowcroft agree Canada is simply too insular in its ICT approach and there needs to be more openness between business education and industry.

“They [businesses] need to know it’s all right to bring in skilled researchers from universities to work on some of their problems and [the researchers are] not going to sell your secrets,” explains Dr. Rowcroft. “They’re going to bring you expertise that is going to help you do better and that seems to be much better received in Europe than here.”

“There are exceptions, but it’s not quite part of our culture – yet.”

Click here to view the article in its entirety at the Globe and Mail.

Spring 2013 I-3 competition winners. From left to right: Courtney Wiebe, Eric Kung, class instructor Bernie Maroney, Ryan Torio and Selena Bell

Undergraduate students at SFU’s Beedie School of Business displayed their entrepreneurial talents as they presented new venture concepts of their own design to a panel of guest judges at the I-3 competition.

The I-3 competition, formerly known as the Ken Spencer Competition, is held in conjunction with the Business 477: New Venture Planning class. The competition required the teams to create a product or service concept and business plan to commercialize their product.

Through SFU entrepreneurial support program Venture Connection, the teams were assigned mentors from the local business community to guide their business innovation ideas.

The students pitched their creations to a panel of “dragons”, consisting of experienced angel investors and business coaches from the local business community Chris Hilliard, Hugh MacNaught and Honor Morris.

The judges selected the top three teams, who benefited from prize money from the Beedie Endowment Fund, in order to encourage the students to pursue their ventures further or seek individual entrepreneurial development opportunities.

“The New Venture Planning class challenges students to create new venture concepts and perform several iterations of key business aspects to refine the idea into a cohesive venture plan, suitable for angel and venture capital investors,” said Beedie lecturer and class instructor Bernie Maroney. “Students define the business model, perform extensive market research, and develop a complete venture financial prospectus, all aligned with the objective to launch successful ventures.”

The winning team was Laptop Secure, who impressed the judges with their laptop security solution. Mentored by local entrepreneur Thealzel Lee, the team, consisting of undergraduates Ryan Torio, Eric Kung, Selena Bell and Courtney Wiebe, were awarded a $3000 cash prize.

Second place went to gourmet food subscription service YummyBox, mentored by locAZu founder Dawn Sheirzad. Team members Rezwan Imtiaz, Jason Yang, Bashayer Al-Zaidi and Rizwan Iqbal received $1500 in prize money.

Meanwhile third place went to Angela Zhou, Yiu Lam Kwok, Xinnan Zhang and Marina Cojahmetova for their venture OriginalLit.com, an online Chinese literature platform providing exclusive and high quality prose and short fiction. The team, mentored by J. Joly, CEO and founder of dimeRocker & CineCoup, took home $500 for their efforts.

“The competition was fiercely battled, with narrow margins between these teams,” said Maroney. “Strong, talented, knowledgeable entrepreneurs such as these are salient to continued economic development – these fine young men and women are worthy of our congratulations and our continued support. I am proud of all the teams for their progress throughout this demanding course, and especially proud of the winning teams who overcame challenges and adversity in their pursuit.”

Gregg Saretsky, CEO of WestJet, being interviewed in front of a live audience at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The spring series of CKNW 980’s “The Chief Executives” continued with Gregg Saretsky, President and CEO of Canadian airline WestJet, sharing his vision for employee engagement with CKNW host Bill Good in front of a live audience at the Segal Graduate School.

The event was part of an ongoing partnership between the Beedie School of Business and prominent Vancouver radio station CKNW News Talk 980 to bring leadership and business insights from some of Canada’s top executives to SFU’s downtown Vancouver campus.

With a packed and enthusiastic crowd watching, Saretsky opened by sharing his career path with Good, explaining how his father worked in the airline industry and that he had grown up taking advantage of his father’s airline privileges by travelling to a variety of places from a young age.

Having obtained an undergraduate degree in biochemistry and microbiology, Saretsky initially intended to pursue a career in medicine. Asked how he ended up changing his career path so drastically, he replied, “Sometimes you just wake up in the middle of the night and think that this just isn’t for me.” He went on to obtain an MBA, after which he ventured into banking, a career that he again eventually decided was not the right one.

Good then asked Saretsky if he had any advice for the numerous Beedie School of Business MBA students in the audience. “Pursue your passion – follow the things you are interested in and the right things will happen for you,” he replied. “Study hard and work hard. For every job you are interested in, there are at least two or three other candidates that want that job as well.”

Asked how WestJet has established itself as an industry leader, Saretsky revealed the key to WestJet’s strategy – employee ownership. He explained that their 9300 employees were all able to allocate up to 20% of their pay annually, which WestJet would then match in stock purchase in the company.

“We say that owners care, and I believe that to the depths of my heart,” he said. “When our employees care enough to look after our customers, our customers then return to purchase more tickets. This then results in the stock price going up, which makes our employees happy. If you take care of your people then the rest takes care of itself.”

To back up his claims about WestJet’s employee ownership and engagement being a successful model, Saretsky shared a statistic that indicated that the demand for positions at WestJet is so high that it is easier to get into Harvard than to obtain a job at the company.

With WestJet about to begin operation of their new subsidiary WestJet Encore, which will service smaller airports in more remote destinations, Saretsky shared the challenges in expanding the business while trying not to deviate from the current successful model.

He explained that the executive team traveled around the country to discuss the planned expansion with every WestJet employee, asking them to vote on whether to go ahead with it or not. He revealed that through this approach, they obtained a 91% support from their employees for the idea.

As WestJet currently only operates one type of aircraft, Good inquired about the challenge of bringing a second model into the fleet to operate under the Encore brand.

“It was not a decision we took lightly, we studied it for years before presenting to the board,” said Saretsky. “We knew our existing planes were too big for these smaller communities, but our model was built around only one plane type – our mechanics and pilots only need one training program. We opted to introduce a single fleet of Q400s which our people will become experts on, but we will also give them opportunities to move back and forth across both companies.”

WestJet’s aim is to become one of the top five airlines in the world by 2016. Saretsky explained that this target does not mean further expansion, but among the most profitable. With the airline industry having a notoriously low-profit margin, WestJet have set themselves a target of 12% return on investment capital, a target they exceeded last year. Saretsky did concede, however, that he could not rule out further expansion in the future. “I have learned in this business never to say never,” he said.

Asked about whether WestJet could every fly out of Bellingham, Saretsky expressed his frustration at the taxes imposed by the Canadian federal government that hinder the Canadian airline industry.

“If we were successful in getting some of the fees that are imposed on Canadian airlines repealed, then we could charge prices to encourage some of the five million Canadians who cross the border every year to take flights from US destinations to stay here,” he said. “Think about how many jobs that would create if even half of that number started in Canada. Someone has to take a leap of faith to make it happen.”

Throughout the interview, Saretsky fielded questions from the audience on a number of topics; touching upon the challenges of maintaining the strong organizational culture as the company expands; the turnaround time between flights; where he sees the company in five to ten years; the impact of technology on WestJet’s business; how WestJet maintains its strong return on investment capital; and the risk of complacency in business.

With Saretsky due to catch a flight to Calgary, Good closed the interview by asking him to sum up his view on leadership. “In one word, listening,” he responded. “Leaders do a good job of listening to their people but holding back the answers and encouraging their people to seek the answers for themselves.”

The next CEO to be interviewed as part of the Chief Executives Series will be Brian Hill, CEO of Aritzia.

“Online works great, plenty of time and thoughtful and thought provoking discussions.  In class was great as well. Pace is fast, jam packed but manageable.” Director, Information Services (previous program participant)

This popular program, offered in partnership with the CIO Association of Canada, is geared towards aspiring and current CIOs – focusing on developing the strategic business and leadership skills that will take their careers to the next level. While the program is designed for the direct reports of CIO members, interested individuals already in a CIO-role are also welcome to apply. Over the course of the program, participants broaden their technological and strategic perspective through interactive and engaging sessions as well as networking with peers, MIS thought leaders and senior CIOCAN members.

Please click here to find out more.

Tracy Redies, CEO of Coast Capital Savings, being interviewed at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The spring series of CKNW 980’s “The Chief Executives” continued with Tracy Redies, President and CEO of credit union Coast Capital Savings, discussing her journey from selling shoes to leading of one of the country’s largest credit unions with CKNW host Bill Good in front of a live audience at the Segal Graduate School.

The event was part of an ongoing partnership between the Beedie School of Business and prominent Vancouver radio station CKNW News Talk 980 to bring leadership and business insights from some of Canada’s top executives to SFU’s downtown Vancouver campus.

Redies reminisced in the opening stages of the interview about the beginning of her career. She explained how she graduated at the peak of a recession, and with few jobs available, started working in a shoe store, a position she obtained due to her being able to speak Japanese.

Her fluency in the language then led her to work in the hospitality industry, filling several roles from maid to concierge, before securing a position in a hotel management training program. According to Redies, working in a number of front-line positions provided her with a solid grounding that enabled her to thrive in her future leadership roles.

“It is important to take every experience as a learning opportunity,” she said. “Working in my first jobs I learned to work hard and have respect for the people doing this front-line work. I quickly learned that it is ok for the general manager not to be around for a little while, but if a dishwasher does not show up for work, then the organization is in big trouble.”

When Redies decided that a career in hotel management was not the right path for her she opted to return to university, obtaining an MBA with a focus on international trade and investments in the Asia Pacific region. This led to her first job in the financial industry, working for HSBC Canada.

Good then asked about her current role, and the thinking behind the organization’s strategy. “Our business is in financial services, but there are a lot of providers out there, so I have to think how to separate Coast Capital Savings from the rest,” she said. “We challenge the orthodoxies of banking and make it less intimidating and more enjoyable for our customers – I occasionally call us the ‘unbank’.”

Redies regaled the audience with a tale of a young couple who had visited a branch for help with their finances. After giving them financial advice to improve their situation, the couple returned ten months later with an unusual request – to be married in the branch. The advice the couple had previously received at the branch had enabled them to pay off all their debts, repair their credit rating, and save $20,000. The couple wanted to honor the impact the company had made on their lives, even asking two of the financial advisors to be witnesses at the wedding.

She then elaborated on establishing a strategy for her company, stressing the importance of engaging their employees in order to change the company for the better. “A lot of companies’ vision statements are mumbo jumbo – by establishing a cause that engages the minds and hearts of our employees we found they were able to connect the dots,” she said.

The conversation moved on to the community campaigns Coast Capital Savings is involved in. Redies expressed the importance to the company of giving back to the community, citing her belief that healthy communities make for healthy businesses. She mentioned the company’s focus on youth programs, singling out the collaborative work they are involved in with SFU to help young entrepreneurs as an example of this approach.

Good enquired as to Redies’ outlook on the state of the Canadian economy, and that of British Columbia in particular, in comparison to the rest of the world. She replied that the Canadian banks and credit industry had done well in managing the country’s finances through the crisis, but that the nation now faced the challenge of shedding household debt, with the rising cost of housing a challenge that must now be tackled.

“When taking on large debts it is vital that you can manage that debt long term,” she said. “We are in a period of low interest rates, but at some point those will increase and that will put pressure on a lot of people. At some point the baby boomers will retire and the demand for loans and savings will decrease as they move out of the workforce. It is a dream for people to own their own home but it has become increasingly unaffordable for people to own in the city, and that worries me.”

Over the course of the interview, Redies fielded a number of questions from the audience, touching on subjects such as the sacrifices she had made to further her career, the difference in working for a major bank and a credit union, the ethics of bonus culture in banks following the financial crisis, and the challenges Coast Capital Savings faces in the next few years with the federal government phasing out tax advantages for small companies.

Good closed the interview with his customary Vanity Fair question – which four people would they choose to have dinner with? When Redies’ response included Barack Obama, Good probed as to whether she would bet on the US remaining the key player in the world’s finances.

“Absolutely, I am a big believer in the US,” she replied. “No country has produced more wealth for its citizens and the rest of the world. There is no question that they have some debt issues to deal with, but you only have to look at the events of this week to see how resilient Americans are.”

The next CEO to be interviewed as part of the Chief Executives Series will be Gregg Saretsky, CEO of WestJet.

Saltworks Technologies co-founders Joshua Zoshi, left, and Ben Sparrow are making waste water usable.

By Remy Scalza.

That the planet’s supply of freshwater is dwindling is little surprise.  Just where it’s going, however, is eye opening.  It takes roughly 1,500 liters of water to make a pair of jeans, as much as 5,700 liters to grow and process the ingredients needed for a fast-food combo meal and about 120,000 liters to make a car – enough water to fill half an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

“If you consider the volume of wastewater generated by industrial and agricultural activity, it’s absolutely massive,” says Joshua Zoshi, president of Vancouver-based Saltworks. “We’re trying to do something about that.” Zoshi, together with fellow Beedie School of Business alum Ben Sparrow, founded Saltworks in 2008 in hopes of harnessing next-gen desalination technologies to produce and conserve freshwater.

Just four years later, the pair find themselves working with some of North America’s largest oil and mining companies, not to mention NASA, on reducing mankind’s water footprint. “Every morning, you get out of bed and know you have the opportunity to change the world,” Zoshi says. “That passion is my business.”

For the moment, Saltworks is headquartered in a former fish-processing plant on Vancouver’s industrial port, tucked between the waterfront and a sea of shipping containers.  “We had to power-wash the walls to get rid of the smell,” Zoshi jokes, leading the way onto a busy workshop floor cluttered with prototypes, pumps, plastic tubing and pressure gauges.

An electrical engineer by training, Zoshi teamed up with Sparrow, a former BC Hydro project manager with a secret passion for thermodynamics, back in 2005 while they were pursuing the Management of Technology MBA at Beedie.  “Ben invented, basically in his spare time, a brand new way to desalinate water,” Zoshi explains.  “It was a definite game changer.”

After completing their MBAs, the pair reunited to commercialize the idea.  With $180,000 in seed funding won in New Ventures BC, a province-wide technology competition, Zoshi and Sparrow launched Saltworks – a fully functioning desalination test plant along Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet.  Today, the company employs some 30 engineers and tradespeople and boasts 15,000 square feet of labs and R&D facilities.

“This is the heart of our technology,” Zoshi says, pointing to a lab bench where plastic tubing snakes in and out of stacks of plastic membranes clamped together like pages in a book.  The proprietary ion-exchange membranes – at once elementary and revolutionary – enable salt to pass through but not water.  The result: an eco-friendly way to desalinate using far less electricity than existing technologies requiring high-pressure pumps or heating.

“One-fifth of the world’s population doesn’t have access to fresh drinking water,” Zoshi says, “and that number is only going to grow.”  The Middle East and Australia, as well as urban centers in China and India, all represent immediate markets for Saltworks’ new desalination technology, he explains.  Indeed, by 2025, the UN estimates a full two-thirds of the global population could be under water stress conditions.

But Zoshi and Sparrow quickly discovered that water scarcity isn’t just an international matter.  “We were surprised to find that there are huge water challenges right here at home in Canada,” he says.  “Out in the oil sands, for instance, the amount of water used for natural resource extraction is just tremendous.”

Lately, the company has pivoted to meet these needs, applying its technologies to help recycle and reuse industrial wastewater. Saltworks already boasts dozens of clients in the oil, gas and mining sectors in North America and Australia.  “Almost every commercial process – from resource extraction to food production – leaves behind water that can be cleaned and reused,” Zoshi says. “The demand for wastewater treatment is overwhelming.” In just the next five years, the market for treatment infrastructure is expected to exceed $80 billion, according to industry analysts Global Water Intelligence.

Weaving past workers in steel-toed boots and safety goggles, Zoshi shows off a car-sized prototype of the company’s latest innovation, the SaltMaker.  Using a system of humidification and dehumidification, the machine takes industrial wastewater – contaminated with salts and other environmental pollutants – and separates it into a concentrated salt solution and freshwater.  The freshwater can then be returned to the environment or reused in industrial processes.  “We’re doing this in a way that uses much less energy and has a much smaller footprint than ever before,” Zoshi says.

Already, other uses for Saltworks technologies are emerging.  Last year, the company received nearly $1 million from B.C.’s Innovative Clean Energy Fund to explore applications in the province’s mining industry.  And last March, Saltworks was awarded a contract by NASA to design a unique water recovery system for the International Space Station. “Up there, they need to squeeze every last drop – no pun intended – out of their resources,” Zoshi says.  One major source of water is astronauts’ urine.  But existing treatment systems get jammed by the excess calcium leached from astronauts’ bones in zero-gravity conditions. Saltworks has developed a fix. “If all goes well, our units will be in orbit one day,” he says.

Zoshi leads the way from the busy workshop floor out to the cold Vancouver night.  Freight trains rumble by, while massive container cranes offload ships huddled in port. “The understanding of the mechanics of innovation and being an entrepreneur that we got from Beedie was so crucial,” Zoshi says. “There’s a world of difference between having an idea and turning it into a viable business.”

With entrepreneurial pride, he shows off the future of Saltworks: a full-scale version of the SaltMaker, housed in a 40-foot long shipping container and designed for deployment at industrial sites. “Our mandate is that every innovation we pursue bring both environmental benefits and be competitive in the marketplace,” he says.  “There’s absolutely no reason that sustainability and profitability can’t coexist.”

This story was first published in the March/April edition of Ideas@Beedie magazine, the Beedie School of Business’ iPad and digital magazine showcasing the business school’s academic research, industry impact and engagement with the community. To view the full digital magazine or download the iPad app, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/ideas

Dr. Nancy McKinstry

The 2013 SFU Nancy McKinstry Awards for Leadership in Diversity is issuing a call for nominations for the Corporate Diversity Award. The award recognizes a company that excels in the area of diversity, with nominations open to all companies with operations in British Columbia.

The winner of the Corporate Diversity Award will be announced at the awards breakfast on September 25, 2013. Nominations and finalists will be confidentially held and resubmitted with future nominations for a period of two years.

This year, applications are encouraged from small to medium-sized companies who have set themselves apart with their own unique diversity programs. These applications may qualify for an Exemplary Initiative Diversity Award.

Nominees will be measured against the nomination criteria by the Awards Selection Committee, appointed by the University. Nominees are encouraged to provide examples of their accomplishments or Key Performance Indicators for the Objectives listed in the nomination criteria.

Senior management from the winning organization will be provided with an opportunity to speak about their successes at the awards breakfast, where a graduate student entrance award designed to support the diversity and efforts of the SFU Beedie School of Business will also be awarded. Any proceeds from the event are directed to the Nancy McKinstry Endowment that supports this award.

Deadline: The nomination deadline is Friday, June 28, 2013.

Event Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2013, at SFU’s Segal Graduate School of Business.

Please submit your nomination package to:

Elaine Lo, Manager, Alumni & Events
Beedie School of Business, c/o Segal Graduate School of Business
500 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1W6
Phone: 778-782-9459 | Fax: 778-782-7831 | Email: elaine_lo@sfu.ca

Sponsorship: A limited number of sponsorship opportunities exist for the awards. Please contact Elaine Lo at the above contact information.

Please click here to download a copy of the nomination criteria.

Beedie School of Business professor Jeremy Hall’s research applies complexity theory to sustainable supply chains.

A 2010 share listing which raised $72.8 billion confirmed oil and gas giant Petrobras as the fourth largest company in the world. However, research from the Beedie School of Business argues that Petrobras’ route to becoming the global giant it is today has not necessarily involved the organization following textbook management advice when it comes to sustainable supply chains.

The research argues that companies should include sustainable development considerations in supply chains as a means of improving social and environmental impacts of production systems, in addition to the financial impact. This may involve investment in areas which traditional thinking would suggest might not be profitable for the organization.

The study, “Understanding why firms should invest in sustainable supply chains: a complexity approach” was authored by Beedie School of Business professors Jeremy Hall, Stelvia Matos and Bruno Silvestre, and published in the International Journal of Production Research.

They argue that firms focusing on individual sustainable development elements are unlikely to find satisfactory solutions to their sustainable supply chain problems, and should be investing in multiple initiatives, even if it does not seem apparent that this investment would be of any benefit.

The study builds on past research undertaken by Hall, who has a long-standing interest in sustainable supply chains. In his previous research, he argued that sustainable development was not just about environmental impacts, but is about economic, environmental and social impacts, and how they interact.

“The logic behind sustainable supply chains is that you can’t look at firms in isolation when it comes to sustainability,” says Hall. “They can’t just subcontract their dirty work – they’re not really solving the problem if they just push it aside. You have to look at the situation from the entire supply chain, and look at the entire value being added or lost.”

The researchers applied complexity theory to the study, based on the principle that with so many interactive variables at play, there is no optimal solution to the problem. As sustainable supply chains involve multiple dimensions of complexity – the coordination of supply chain members, and the interactions among financial, environmental and social elements – managers need to look for satisfactory solutions to their problems, rather than look for the optimal solution.

The study focused on the Brazilian energy industry, due to the country having recently become self-sufficient through the discovery of offshore oil and gas and biofuels development, and also the recent introduction of several policies designed to advance social inclusion.

While Petrobras’ success is further confirmation of the Brazilian energy industry establishing itself as a world leader, the research argues that much of Brazil’s success in the industry comes as a result of it being willing to explore the complex interactions among financial, environmental and social elements.

The researchers argue that had the Brazilian energy industry only focused on financial performance, it is likely that it would not have enjoyed the rapid growth it has experienced. This demonstrates the opportunities and long-term benefits for organizations willing to incorporate sustainability within supply chains.

When multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto introduced transgenic farming into Brazil, for example, the results were extremely rewarding from a financial sense, resulting in rapid expansion. However, as the organization bought up more farmland, it resulted in many small-scale farmers being pushed off their land.

As Monsanto had not adequately factored in social elements to their sustainable supply chain, they experienced a fierce backlash from locals to their expansion. The study found that companies therefore often find themselves under pressure to demonstrate social contributions, such as creating jobs in specific sectors, or ensuring that locals are not disadvantaged by new technologies.

In order for these companies to maintain their legitimacy, they can invest in areas that they may not have otherwise have done so, in order to spread their wealth around society.

In recent years Petrobras has invested in a governmental program to purchase castor beans, which can be used to create biodiesel, from local subsistence farmers. It would make more financial sense, however, for them to purchase from the highly efficient, large scale soybean agribusinesses common in the country, for example. In addition, many small-scale subsistence farmers distrust industry or government, and often fail to understand the benefits of long-term contracts over short term but unstable spot markets.

Yet despite all these drawbacks, Petrobras has continued to develop more sustainable energy supplies due to the attention paid to all elements of the supply chain.

“Petrobras’ history is rife with examples of where people said their schemes wouldn’t work, yet today they are considered one of the most sustainable companies in the world and, they remain a major industry player,” says Hall.

“Traditional management research would say they are mad to be involved in many of their deals. Petrobras is often faced with difficult situations, but it is able to maintain the legitimacy it has as a social provider by investing in various sustainable elements of the supply chain which are not purely for financial reasons.”

This story was first published in the March/April edition of Ideas@Beedie magazine, the Beedie School of Business’ iPad and digital magazine showcasing the business school’s academic research, industry impact and engagement with the community. To view the full digital magazine or download the iPad app, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/ideas

The Beedie School of Business BBICC team. From left to right: Lindsay van Leeuwen, Justin Ling, Isabel Gomez-Garcia, Matt Martell and Peyman Abedi-Rad.

Students from the Beedie School of Business have enjoyed success at two prestigious international business case competitions, each capturing a top three finish in their respective competitions.

The teams competed at the Belgrade Business International Case Competition (BBICC), hosted by the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and the Royal Roads University International Undergraduate Case Competition (RRUIUCC), hosted by the University of Victoria. Each Beedie School of Business team earned bronze in their competition.

The BBICC team, coached by Beedie alumnus Matt Martell, consisted of undergraduates Isabel Gomez-Garcia, Lindsay van Leeuwen, Justin Ling, and Peyman Rad. The students won their place on the podium after competing against 12 teams from around the world, including New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, Denmark and the US.

The BBICC competition is the first global undergraduate business case competition to be held in Belgrade, and offered a unique opportunity for international business schools to participate in the first Southeastern Europe case study competition.

Prior to the competition, the Beedie team was treated to a meeting with the Crown Prince and Princess of Serbia, a reception at the Canadian Ambassador’s residents, a tour of several monasteries and fortresses, a wine tasting in Novi Sad, and an amazing race style tour of old Belgrade.

“Since the start of the year, the BBICC team have spent up to fifteen hours a week honing their presentation, analysis and case solving skills,” says Martell. “In the end, the students did an excellent job at solving and presenting a difficult case on how to sell FIAT cars in Serbia, and their bronze finish is just reward for their hard work.”

Meanwhile the RRUIUCC team, coached by Beedie School of Business alumnus Isaiah Baldissera and instructor Tara Immell, consisted of undergraduates Jeffrey Lee, Gordon Zhang, Scott Hirsch, Mohammad Tabesh, and Rubia Zhai. The team captured their top three finish after competing against 19 other teams from across the globe, including Canada, the US, Norway and Singapore.

“The team put in many late nights and overcame several major obstacles to get to this point,” says Baldissera. “Placing at an international competition takes some natural talent, a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, and I’m proud of the team for their dedication. I’d also like to express my thanks to the people at the Beedie School of Business who have worked equally as hard to make this a reality for us.”

The RRUIUCC competition utilizes a round-robin format with four business cases, including one real-world case taken from a local company. Participating teams were required to apply their analytical, decision-making and communication skills to the issues raised in the cases before presenting strategic choices and action plans to a panel of judges composed of senior business executives from a variety of business backgrounds.

For more information on the Beedie School of Business undergraduate Case Competition Training Program, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/bba/competitions/.

Visit http://rruiucc.royalroads.ca/ for more information on the RRUIUCC, or http://www.bbicc.org/ for information on the BBICC.

An innovative process to create pallets from recycled car tires, an online community for people with disabilities, and locally sourced prepackaged meals were just some of the innovative business ventures showcased by Beedie undergraduates at the 2013 Opportunity Fest.

The annual marketplace-style showcase of student creativity was held on March 26 at SFU’s Surrey campus. The event allowed participating students to demonstrate their business creativity by tackling perceived challenges through entrepreneurship and innovation.

For the past few years, guest judges from industry, academia, and the wider community have evaluated the participating teams’ endeavors and awarded prizes to students enrolled in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation concentration. Opportunity Fest 2013 welcomed judges from a wide variety of organizations, including Make, Global Agents for Change, BC Technology Industry Association, the City of Surrey, Central City Brewing, Ayoudo, Vancity, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Indel Therapeutics, and TD Commercial Banking.  

This year’s event also encouraged interdisciplinary collaboration through entrepreneurship, with judges from SFU’s schools of computer science and engineering science, the faculty of environment, and the SFU Innovation Office complementing those from industry.

In addition, SFU’s Student Entrepreneur of the Year Michael Chen, an undergraduate student in SFU’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology, addressed the participants with an inspiring keynote speech.

This year, 37 teams vied to impress the judges in three categories: Best Product, Most Investable, and Most Impact. Winners in each category were awarded $1000 and mentoring from industry experts, and for the first time ever, competing students were also able to vote for their favourite venture in the Entrepreneur’s Choice award.

Enviro-pal, designed by Beedie undergraduates A.J. Ahmad, Evan Li, Tadaaki Sun, and Wesley Li, was voted “Best Product” and “Most Investable”. The judges were impressed by the venture’s concept of utilizing recycled rubber instead of wood in the manufacturing process of pallets, creating a more durable, environmentally friendly product, which would last five times longer than a standard wood pallet.

The “Most Impact” award went to Picasso Foods, which aims to create food products with fresh produce sourced from small local farmers. The brainchild of Kelvin Chen, Conroy Hui, and Michael Jung, the venture creates consumable products from overlooked produce that does not meet the beauty standards of supermarket purchasers, thereby decreasing food waste, and providing more opportunities to local farmers.

Meanwhile EnableLife, an online platform providing education and information exchange for people dealing with various forms of disabilities earned its creators Farhan Patel, Aamir Sheriff, Xinyan Chen, and Samuel Chan the recognition of their peers as they took home the Entrepreneurs Choice award.

The titles of Mr. and Ms. Opportunity, awarded to the most engaging student presenters, were presented to A.J. Ahmad of Enviro-Pal and Lynn Shinto of One Big Family, a home health care service for aging seniors.

“Increasingly, Beedie’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation program is integrating students from across the faculties and Opportunity Fest shows how successful these interdisciplinary teams can be,” said Casey Dorin, Executive Director, undergraduate programs at the Beedie School of Business.

“The students’ ideas and ventures all possessed great potential to represent viable business concepts and the judges were impressed with their ability to find new opportunities to address the issues that mattered to them.”

For more information on Opportunity Fest 213, including an overview of all business ventures on display, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/oppfest/overview/

To view photos from the event, visit the Beedie School of Business’ Flickr page.

The Beedie School of Business RISE team. From left to right: Raymond Chan, Ehsan Seyedin, Gary Gu and Allen Liu.

For the second consecutive year, MSc in Finance students from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business have won a major award at the prestigious RISE (Redefining Investment Strategy Education) investment competition hosted at the University of Dayton in Ohio – the world’s largest competition of its kind.

The Beedie students won first place in the Balanced Investment Style category for their work on the Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) fund, the student-run investment fund which sees Beedie students managing $11.8 million of the university’s endowment portfolio.

Ehsan Seyedin, Raymond Chan, Gary Gu, and Allen Liu attended RISE to represent the SIAS fund and present the entire team’s work on the risk-adjusted return of the portfolio from December 2012 to January 2013.

The SIAS fund was judged to have the best risk adjusted return in its category, underscoring the quality of mentorship and teaching from which the current cohort has benefited, along with the hard work they have put into the fund.

“It was truly a privilege for the four of us to represent the SIAS fund at the 2013 RISE Conference in Dayton,” said Chan. “Winning first place in the Balanced Investment Style category for the second consecutive year is testament to the hard work that both our current team and the previous cohort have invested in SIAS.”

The SIAS fund is Canada’s largest student-run investment fund, and one of the largest such funds in North America. The fund is managed by students from the Beedie School of Business Master of Science in Finance program, providing them with invaluable real world investment, risk management and compliance experience.

Now in its thirteenth year, RISE is the world’s largest and longest running student investment forum, each year bringing finance industry leaders together to share their perspectives on economic and market trends, forecasts and critical issues with students, faculty and professionals.

This year’s forum ran from April 4 – 6, and attracted nearly 2,400 participants including two Federal Reserve Bank presidents, stellar panelists and moderators from the finance industry. CNBC’s Steve Liesman and Bloomberg Radio’s Kathleen Hays broadcast live from the event.

For more information on RISE, visit www.udayton.edu/business/rise/

For more information on the SIAS fund, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/sias/

John Walker, CEO of FortisBC, being interviewed at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The spring series of CKNW 980’s “The Chief Executives” continued with John Walker, CEO of energy provider FortisBC, sharing his vision for the future of Canada’s energy industry with CKNW host Bill Good in front of a live audience at the Segal Graduate School.

The event was part of an ongoing partnership between the Beedie School of Business and prominent Vancouver radio station CKNW News Talk 980 to bring leadership and business insights from some of Canada’s top executives to SFU’s downtown Vancouver campus.

Walker opened by reminiscing about his early life, which saw him grow up in a small mining community in Newfoundland.

He revealed that he had several jobs in the local community from a young age, including newspaper routes, collecting scrap metal, and working with prospectors in the bush. The latter gave him his first experience in leading a team, as he found himself responsible for leading a crew of 50 workers at the age of only 18.

“I could never just sit on the sidelines, even if I tried,” he said. “I like to lead the pack – if I saw something that I wanted to change I aspired to do just that.”

As an undergraduate Walker majored in psychology, with a minor in mathematics, before going on to attend military school. He left after one year upon deciding it was not the correct route for him, instead going on to obtain an MBA. He expressed to Good how important the MBA was in providing a business and finance perspective, and also offered some alternative advice to any prospective students.

“Education is very important to anyone, but the biggest thing you can take from university is to teach yourself to think,” he said. “You can’t learn everything from a textbook, so it’s important to learn to challenge yourself and to think differently.”

Asked what qualities he looks for in employees, Walker revealed that in addition to technical skills, he looks for people who possess leadership qualities who are capable of rising through the organization. He said that he recognizes that while some people may possess leadership skills, those qualities may not be applicable in every scenario, and that it is difficult to tell how a person will perform in a role until they actually start to do that job.

Walker spoke at length about the BC energy sector throughout the interview, beginning with his organization’s attempts to move towards being more customer focused over the last 25 years. “I believe this is an area in which we are still evolving – we all use energy and we take it for granted, but people don’t understand what it takes to get that energy to their house,” he said.

He moved on to discuss the impact of local government on the energy sector, before sharing his opinion on the importance of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the BC and Canadian economy, and the potential that LNG has for Canadians, provided they work to take advantage of this and do not become complacent.

“Natural gas is unlike oil – there won’t be a cartel, as it is global and not restricted to certain regions,” he explained. “Canadians have to remember that we have long made our living in the resource sector and we have an opportunity here to exploit the potential.”

Good at one point asked what he referred to as an “off-the-wall” question, when he sought Walker’s opinion as to what energy model of car he would purchase today if he were looking to buy.

Walker acknowledged the difficulty for consumers in this regard, stating that he would probably choose a hybrid if pushed, but that as the technology is evolving so rapidly, it will likely come down to personal preference, with no one clear fuel model dominating the sector.

The live audience was encouraged to ask questions of Walker, with one inquisitive mind enquiring as to what his core values and beliefs are. He explained that in his industry safety is paramount, and is something FortisBC reinforces every day. He also expressed how critical teamwork is in his organization, that he is a great believer in candour, and that loyalty, honesty, and integrity are values he encourages his employees to embrace.

During the interview, Walker also fielded questions on topics such as his opinion on the future of LNG, the ramifications on exporting LNG, the potential for change in the energy sector brought on by the forthcoming elections, how FortisBC deals with uncertainty in their industry, how they adapt to innovation, and how the great historical leaders tackled societal change.

The next CEO to be interviewed as part of the Chief Executives Series will be Tracy Redies, CEO of Coast Capital Savings.

The Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business has been selected to BC Business Magazine’s list of British Columbia’s most innovative companies.

Launched in 2012, the EMBA program is the first graduate business degree of its kind in Canada.

“B.C.’s aboriginal business community has a big stake in the province’s economic future,” notes BC Business Magazine in its April 2013 issue in referring to SFU’s newest EMBA cohort. “The program (has) attracted business leaders, administrators and senior officials as students, including Squamish Nation Chief Ian Campbell, and former mayor of West Vancouver, Pam Goldsmith-Jones.

BC Business Magazine’s annual list recognizes the top 20 organizations in the province that have used an innovative idea to build a company and redefine an industry.

The EMBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership program is the only selection from the higher education sector on the list, which also includes business ventures such as a transportable ground satellite station and field hospital military solution, and a pioneering micro-lofts development for affordable housing in downtown Vancouver.

SFU’s Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership meets a growing need for senior-level management education for Aboriginal managers and entrepreneurs, as well as individuals and organizations collaborating with Aboriginal communities.

“The Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership is a reflection of SFU’s commitment to using its education and research resources to support Aboriginal peoples and communities,” said Andrew Petter, President of Simon Fraser University at the time of program’s launch. “This program is particularly needed at a time when Aboriginal peoples are striving to overcome longstanding challenges and seeking to take advantage of new challenges.”

For more information about the Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/EMBA-Aboriginal-Business-Leadership/about/index.php

Beedie School of Business assistant professor Stephanie Bertels has assembled a working group of companies to collaborate on a three-year project on embedding sustainability into organizational cultures.

Organizations in a number of business sectors are still struggling to embed sustainability into their culture. While this is not a challenge that will be accomplished overnight, it is one that Beedie School of Business assistant professor Stephanie Bertels is attempting to unravel.

Bertels has a long-standing interest in sustainability, specifically how organizations can develop and implement innovative strategies for a sustainable future. Her latest research has resulted in tangible outcomes that are already helping organizations achieve their goals. What makes this even more impressive is that the research is still in its early stages.

In partnership with the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS), Bertels has assembled a new working group of companies to collaborate on a three-year project on embedding sustainability into organizational cultures. According to Bertels, “not only is the research novel, but the process being used to undertake the research is extremely novel.”

Each year, NBS identifies a list of sustainability challenges that organizations are struggling to cope with, one of which concerned embedding sustainability into organizations. Bertels first became involved with NBS when she successfully answered a call for researchers to conduct a systematic review on the topic.

The systematic review resulted in the development of a framework for embedding sustainability into operations and culture. In addition, it also created an assessment tool, that allowed companies to see where their sustainability initiatives stood, what areas they were performing well in, and where they could improve. The tool proved to be the starting point for the next step in her research.

“After we released the systematic review we started to get companies approaching us saying that they had used the assessment tool, but wanted to know how their efforts compared to others and where they could go next,” says Bertels. “This became an intriguing question for me: how do we develop a system to compare what organizations are doing, and also get a sense of what practices are important along the different stages of the journey?”

Bertels decided to assemble a working group in order to build upon the systematic review, examining what companies are doing to embed sustainability throughout their organizations and how this work evolves as they make progress.

Each member of the group, which comprises Teck, Suncor, Bentall Kennedy, Sustainalytics, ConocoPhillips Canada, Lanxess Canada, Cenovus, TD Bank, and Farm Credit Canada, has committed significant financial resources to the project. Bertels stresses, however, that it is the group members’ dedication to the partnership and sharing of best practices that are the real contributions.

“Our goal is to ultimately move beyond an academic paper or report to an interactive tool that will support these organizations in completing the work they need to do,” says Bertels. “This is the most exciting and innovative piece of this research – it’s very different to what you would normally think about academic researchers doing.”

The working group will meet this spring in order to compare their results so far across organizations in a cross-sectional standpoint, before going on to develop action plans that will support each other as they progress. Already, many of the organizations involved have held informal discussions to share insights on different initiatives they have implemented.

The inter-disciplinary sharing does not end with the working group. After obtaining a SSHRC grant, Bertels partnered with faculty in SFU’s School of Interactive Art and Technology to develop a visualization tool to assess how well organizations are embedding environmental and social sustainability into their organizational cultures.

“Nothing existed to measure collective efficacy related to sustainability, and we wanted companies to be able to build a picture over time of where they were strong,” says Bertels. “The model is built on the experience of larger companies, but the idea is that small to medium sized companies will eventually be able to use it, resulting in a large repository of systematic data for comparison.”

Although the project is in its infancy, much of the feedback so far has been enthusiastic. Bertels has presented the results to the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, and the United Nations Financial Initiative’s North American environmental working group, as well as to 800 of Walmart’s suppliers and vendors.

Many of those involved in the working group have articulated that they view it as more than just traditional academic research, with the framework and visualization tool already implemented in many organizations. One such organization is Suncor, with Gord Lambert, vice-president of sustainability, commenting, “This practical diagnostic tool has helped us assess the strengths and weaknesses of our internal culture.”

“Our members have told me that they use the tool as a visual means of demonstrating all the initiatives going on across their organization,” says Bertels. “It allows them to illustrate that sustainability isn’t just the job of their sustainability group, but rather that it needs to be embedded across the entire organization. That is exactly the sort of visible value we were aiming for when we created this tool.”

For more information on the NBS Culture Project, visit http://nbs.net/topic/culture/organizational-culture/

This story was first published in the March/April edition of Ideas@Beedie magazine, the Beedie School of Business’ iPad and digital magazine showcasing the business school’s academic research, industry impact and engagement with the community. To view the full digital magazine or download the iPad app, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/ideas

BY SUMARI MACLEOD, TECHVIBES

Students working hard on a weekend at UBC is nothing new. Students from other schools working hard at UBC’s Point Grey campus on a gorgeous weekend is a little unusual.

The past three days were host to the first UBC Startup Weekend. Vancouver’s Startup Weekends have been hosted by universities before – last August’s event was hosted by Emily Carr – but this marks a Lower Mainland first in terms of a university owning the event.

The participants of UBC’s Startup Weekend were a relatively even blend of BC’s post-secondary institutions. 40% of the participants were UBC students and alumni, with the other 60% were a blend of entrepreneurs and students at SFU and Emily Carr. There were 80 participants in all, with 60 creating a presentable project.

The judge’s panel was a cornucopia of local talent. Mark Williams, cofounder of Elastic Path, opened the judging with a 25-minute speech meant to inspire the participants to continue to pursue entrepreneurship, despite any possible outcome when the presentations were done.

“Right now, what I want to say, and I think it’s the most important thing that you guys should realize, there’s probably millions of ideas out there that have been pitched to VCs, angel investors, etc., and they’ve been told the idea is dumb, nobody’s going to buy it. And at the end of the day, the entrepreneur did do it, and it became a multi-million dollar organization,” he said. “Don’t give up on your ideas.”

The panelists included local success stories including Kenshi Arasaki of A Thinking Ape, SFU’s Sarah Lubik, Jason Xu of Battlefy, Entrepreneurship@UBC’s Anuj Singhal, and Fundrazr’s Bret Conkin. Fundrazr also provided free campaigns for the contestants on its platform; four campaigns are still running as of publication, with ProDono, a service that allows businesses to provide pro bono work with what would have been a professional fee instead becoming a donation to the charity of the business’s choice. ProDono received an additional $200 from Fundrazr in recognition of its success.

But the unsurprising winner of the event was gaming platform Pony Pony Dog. Masterfully presented by  Emily Chen, Pony Pony Dog will be a trans-generational gaming platform for parents, grandparents, and their three to six year old children to bond over minigames despite geographic boundaries. The team had a working prototype for one of the minigames that could be featured in a final version. The game had the entire auditorium emotionally invested in the game’s titular pony.

The second place winner was Uplyft, an upscale online provider of umbrellas. Considering the event’s theme was Improving Vancouver, it was a deserved if unsurprising choice for the winner’s podium. In third was the vigorously presented Marco Polo, a facilitation service for bloggers and businesses similar to Odesk and Elance.

The next Startup Weekend to hit the Lower Mainland will be held on the final weekend of May. If the talent, enthusiasm, and innovation there are half of what was demonstrated on Sunday night, we’re in for quite a show on May 31.

Jonathan Whitworth, CEO of Seaspan being interviewed at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The spring series of CKNW 980’s “The Chief Executives” continued with Jonathan Whitworth, CEO of marine services organization Seaspan, describing his remarkable career path to CKNW host Bill Good, as well as offering his opinion on BC’s promising economy in front of a live audience at the Segal Graduate School.

The event was part of an ongoing partnership between the Beedie School of Business and prominent Vancouver radio station CKNW News Talk 980 to bring leadership and business insights from some of Canada’s top executives to SFU’s downtown Vancouver campus.

The interview opened with an intriguing revelation, as Whitworth explained that he knew from a young age that he was destined to go into the nautical industry.

He described how his father, who also worked in the industry, put him on a ship to South America at the age of 11, in order to find out whether he was suited to a life on the seas. When it became apparent that he had discovered a passion for it, Whitworth followed up the initial voyage with two further trips south over the next three years.

“My dad took a gamble to see if the sea and the shipping industry interested me, and luckily it paid off as I fell in love with it,” said Whitworth. “I was always an average student in school, but when I started at a maritime academy I excelled at my studies because I had found a program that I loved. Life takes off when u find something u want to do and I was very lucky to find that at 11.”

The topic of conversation inevitably then moved on to the 2011 award of an eight billion dollar shipbuilding contract to Seaspan from the Canadian federal government. Whitworth described the challenges both Seaspan and BC as a whole faced as a result of this contract, but also stressed that these challenges would result in net benefits for the province.

“I have worked around the world, with the exception of China, and BC currently has the most opportunity I have ever seen,” he insisted.

With the shipbuilding industry having been largely non-existent in BC for the past 30 years, there currently exists a distinct lack of professional talent for Seaspan to hire from within the province. Whitworth explained that while they will look further afield for talent initially, they intend to work with universities across BC to nurture talent to fulfill the contract in future.

“This is an opportunity for people currently in high school to build a lifelong career in shipbuilding in BC,” said Whitworth. “Until now we have been living in a boom or bust industry. We would get a contract to build two ferries but would then have to lay everyone off after three years when the job was complete. To have the federal government backing is great – we are now not providing jobs, we’re providing careers.”

Whitworth also explained the strategy the company will take in attracting business to the revived shipbuilding industry in BC when competitors may have an existing competitive advantage.

He revealed that Seaspan would stick to what it does best and not look to take on established ship builders in Korea and China in building many varieties of ships. With companies such as BC Ferries in the process of renewing their existing fleet of vessels, Seaspan will concentrate on customers like this who are looking for products they have a history of successfully providing.

Asked about his leadership style, Whitworth revealed the three things that keep him up at night: execution, execution, execution. “I believe that you have to have a balance between strategic and tactical,” he said. “You have to figure out where the company is going, but you also have to be able to execute that plan. People say to me that with the new contract I must sleep soundly, but the minute you stop worrying about the future is the minute things start to go wrong.”

Over the course of a fascinating interview Whitworth also discussed his belief in respecting others regardless of their lot in life; the fact that despite working in the nautical industry for his entire life he does not own his own boat; Seaspan’s plans for quadrupling their workforce in certain sectors of their business over the next few years; and his work/life balance – which he admitted he does not do a great job with, as his job is very much his hobby.

As Good closed the interview with his customary Vanity Fair question – which four people, alive or dead, would the interviewee choose to have dinner with – Whitworth ended reminiscing about his father. “My father passed away in a shipping accident when I was 14,” he said. “He put me on a ship at a stupid age and it was the starting point of my career. He didn’t get to see what happened, but it is because of him that I am here today.”

The next CEO to be interviewed as part of the Chief Executives Series will be John Walker, CEO of energy provider Fortis BC.

Mike Waites, CEO of Finning being interviewed at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The head of the world’s largest Caterpillar dealer and a global provider of industrial equipment took centre-stage at the CKNW CEO Series held on March 27 at Simon Fraser University’s Segal Graduate School in downtown Vancouver.

Mike Waites, who was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Finning International in May of 2008, engaged in a wide-ranging discussion about international business and Canada’s economic prospects with CKNW host Bill Good in front a large audience of Beedie students, alumni and faculty as well as business leaders.

For over 80 years, Finning has provided parts and service for equipment and engines to customers in mining, construction, power systems, forestry and other industrial markets. 

The Vancouver-based company employs over 15,000 people world-wide with operations in Europe, South America and North America.

Waites, who was born in the UK, notes that his company continues to look to leverage the skills, talents and technologies across its international markets.

“One of the opportunities we have is can we take one-plus-one-plus-one and make it more than three,” he said. Ultimately, he notes, “it’s a benefit – we have diversity.”

Asked how he oversees such a widespread operation, Waites pointed to his Finning colleagues. “We have a strong management team, and a decentralized structure.”

Waites, who helped see his company through the global financial crisis during 2008, pointed to some lessons from a business book by author Nassim Nicholas Taleb, entitled “Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder.”

“(Taleb) does a good job of putting things in perspective,” said Waites, who went on to refer to one of the ways that Finning was anti-fragile itself – by focusing on servicing existing parts and engines instead of selling new product to its industrial customers.

“When we had that meltdown, people stopped purchasing,” he said.  “But the mines kept running, and we were rebuilding the machines. We were confident in the business model – we knew we could survive on that.”

The central premise of Anti-fragile, Waites explained, is innoculation – in this case through the challenges of the recession and how companies respond. “It makes you stronger,” he maintains.

The CEO of the heavy duty equipment dealer also aspires to bridge the gap between environmental and economic progress for Canada.

“Why can’t we have environmental responsibility  and responsible energy development? I think we shift the game when we ask either/or. We should ask for both.”

Waites, who is approaching retirement and expects to step down later this year, enjoys down time at a property on Vancouver Island and admits to being a fan of film – recently viewing (and recommending) Silver Linings Playbook.

He is also an admitted fan of baseball, in particular the Vancouver Canadians. His mentor, Jeff Mooney, Executive Chairman of A&W Canada, is a co-owner of the successful franchise.

“When I joined the Finning Board in 2003, he was on the board and a mentor to me,” Waites said. “He was always the passion around the customer, around the franchisee. Tremendous insight – strategic, passionate, a tremendous guy.”

“And if you haven’t been to see a game (at Nat Bailey Stadium where the Canadians play), you really should.”

The following article was published by BC Business
on March 27, 2013.

B.C.’s aboriginal business community has a big stake in the province’s economic future. Treaty agreements, renewed autonomy over aboriginal land and increased control over health and social services have been game-changers for bands and First Nations across B.C. But future opportunities are still tied to present challenges, and big questions. Can business priorities reconcile with indigenous world views? And how can aboriginal business overcome the financial limitations and economic disadvantages embedded in the Indian Act and inherited from a history of colonization?

The Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership at SFU’s Beedie School of Business is tackling these challenges head on. Launched last September, the program attracted business leaders, administrators and senior officials as students, including Squamish Nation Chief Ian Campbell, and former mayor of West Vancouver, Pam Goldsmith-Jones.

Semesters are divided into tight, two-week sessions at SFU’s downtown campus, allowing the participants to ferry between the Lower Mainland and their full-time jobs, with some participants travelling from as far away as the Yukon.

According to program director Mark Selman, 80 per cent of the content is the same as the regular EMBA. The difference? Addressing the role of indigenous knowledge in the boardroom, and the accounting for unique policy and governance issues that aboriginal enterprises face.

“We look at standard business models like Apple, but we get to a point where that won’t work in our communities, so then we have to make it applicable within our world,” explains Tamara Goddard, a student in the program’s inaugural semester and the founder and CEO of Blue Habitats Distribution Ltd., a manufacturer of eco-friendly building supplies.

Six months in, the program is a pilot for First Nations professional training, and has provoked conversations about aboriginal commerce and economic development. Teck Resources Ltd., a financial supporter of the program along with Vancity, started hiring students two months in. Selman says other Canadian universities are interested in developing a similar program.

“The education goes two ways,” says Goddard. In tackling issues from climate change to urban poverty, “learning from other cultures that have a different way of approaching business is what we need.”

Convened by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and hosted by Melinda Gates, TEDxChange is streamed live around the world in over 40 countries, with a focus on issues surrounding global health and development. TEDxChange events are licensed by TED and centered on the live webcast of speakers hand-picked from the corners of the world, including vaccine advocates Salim Shekh and Sikha Patra, legal scholar Cathleen Kaveny, Harvard Masters in Public Policy candidate Halimatou Hima, and former Wall Street Journal writer Roger Thurow.

TEDxSFUChange is one of over 175 events happening around the globe that will expand on the theme of Positive Disruption and emphasize the power of breaking barriers to change preconceived attitudes. By challenging old assumptions and exposing new possibilities, TEDxSFUChange offers an incredible opportunity to use ideas worth spreading as a path to true progress.

Join the changemakers of the SFU community on April 3rd, 2013 at the Djavad Mowafaghian Theatre, Simon Fraser University from 6:00 – 8:30pm and get ready to listen to and discuss ideas that will change communities on a global scale.

Register for limited spots starting March 18th at tedxsfu.com.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for regular updates on this year’s fall conference.

RADIUS (RADical Ideas, Useful to Society) will bring together students from all faculties across SFU to develop and nurture practical solutions to pressing social problems and provide opportunities for deeper learning.

The initiative will employ an interdisciplinary approach to develop solutions to problems and incubate and implement projects to address social issues.

Students participating in RADIUS will experience a unique model of business teaching based on experiential learning.

RADIUS already has a number of projects ongoing, working with partners such as Ecotrust Canada, where students aim to establish traceability and certification of forest products and economic valuation of environmental impacts.

Leading the social incubator are SFU Beedie senior fellow David Dunne and adjunct professor Shawn Smith. The pair have a strong track record in innovation education and venture incubation.

Dunne, formerly of the Rotman School of Management, is an award-winning business educator who, as a manager, launched multi-million dollar products, and consults to multi-nationals on design and customer experience.

“Wicked problems are pervasive in business and society – they are critical, chronic, and have no clear start or end point,” says Dunne, co-founder and chair of RADIUS. “To work on wicked problems in social innovation, students need ways of thinking that deal with ambiguity, incorporate and balance the concerns of those affected, and are action-focused. RADIUS will teach students to rethink problems from the ground up, empathize with those affected, and create radical, sustainable opportunities.”

Smith is a globally recognized social entrepreneur. Last year, he launched the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at SFU Beedie, which has gone on to produce a number of social ventures, such as a cultural experience company employing immigrant women, and a transportation sharing community.

“At RADIUS, we know that big ideas are great, but pressing social issues demand action,” says Smith, co-founder and director of RADIUS. “Instead of solving pre-digested cases, RADIUS students will encounter the messy real world, coming up with creative solutions and then moving them to implementation. We are helping not just to ask the right questions, but to then turn the answers in viable, high impact social ventures.”

“As a business school we have made a longstanding commitment to social innovation and entrepreneurship,” says Daniel Shapiro, Dean of the Beedie School of Business. “Our students engaged with RADIUS will continue to inspire and motivate us as we help them learn how to become responsible, creative leaders and entrepreneurs. This is a great example of learning that that is adaptive, interactive and highly experiential.”

For more information about RADIUS, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/radius/

Jennifer Weintraub (left), CA Recruiter, and Katie Hensrud, Business Development Officer at CMA, were at the Business Career Expo to raise awareness of the new Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation.

For Business Career Expo 2013 Platinum Sponsors, the Chartered Accountants & Certified Management Accountants of BC, the event offered more than the chance to talk to some enthusiastic students about employment opportunities. It allowed them to spread the word about a new accounting designation – one that will soon become the preeminent program in Canada when it launches later this year.

The new Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation is the result of a forthcoming merger between two existing accounting designations, the Chartered Accountants (CA) and the Certified Management Accountants (CMA).

“The CPA Professional Education Program (CPA PEP) will take the best elements of the existing programs to create a flexible program that will be internationally recognized,” says Katie Hensrud, Business Development Officer at CMA. “Students will come out of CPA PEP with an excellent understanding of all facets of business – they will be well-rounded individuals and business leaders, well equipped to work in both public practice and in industry.”

Hensrud and her colleague Jennifer Weintraub, CA Recruiter, were present at the Business Career Expo 2013 to answer students’ questions on the new designation and raise awareness about the forthcoming merger.

With the first intake into CPA PEP set to start in September 2013, the opportunity to participate in the Business Career Expo 2013 as Platinum Sponsor proved to be extremely timely – many of the students in attendance at the 2013 Expo will go on to form the first cohort of the new CPA program.

“The merger is particularly exciting for students in their final year, as they have the chance to become the first graduates of the new program,” says Weintraub. “The CPA PEP is the best program that could possibly have been built here in Canada. As the CPA is the largest accounting designation in the world, students will be getting a designation that is respected and transferable both across Canada, and internationally.”

CPA Canada will also offer a Prerequisite Education Program, for students who did not major in Accounting in their undergraduate degree. The Program will ensure that all participating students have the knowledge and prerequisites to tackle the CPA program, regardless of their background.

Weintraub and Hensrud are no strangers to the Business Career Expo, having both attended in previous years. At previous Expos, a typical interaction at their booth would involve giving advice to students on sourcing job opportunities and completing the steps necessary to enroll in one of the professional accounting programs. And while this year is no exception, the merger has added an extra responsibility to their role this year.

“The Business Career Expo is a great way for students to see what job opportunities are out there, so we are excited to be a part of that,” says Hensrud. “A lot of the employers present at the Business Career Expo today will be employing CPA candidates and designated CPAs in the future, so this is a great opportunity for us to support them and ensure that all students and employers are fully informed about the new CPA designation.”

“Events like the Business Career Expo expose students to an element of business they cannot learn any other way – one that is just as important to their career as their studies,” adds Weintraub. “The Expo combines the three top universities in the province, and we are always amazed at how well informed and knowledgeable the students that approach us are. Each year we find great candidates, and this year was no different. We are proud to hold the title of Platinum Sponsor this year and we look forward to continuing to support the Expo in the future. ”

For more information on the new CPA programs in British Columbia, visit www.bccpa.ca or the Become a CPA Facebook page.

Margot Micallef, founder and president of investment firm Oliver Capital Partners being interviewed at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The spring series of CKNW 980’s “The Chief Executives” continued as Margot Micallef, founder and president of investment firm Oliver Capital Partners, answered CKNW host Bill Good’s questions on business and leadership in front of a live audience at the Segal Graduate School.

The event was part of an ongoing partnership between the Beedie School of Business and prominent Vancouver radio station CKNW News Talk 980 to bring leadership and business insights from some of Canada’s top executives to SFU’s downtown Vancouver campus.

After an introduction which listed just a few of the highlights from Micallef’s impressive résumé, including overseeing the recent opening of Subway restaurant’s 400^th location in BC, Good remarked that when he first read her bio he thought to himself that there was no way this was just one person, as her accomplishments were too numerous.

Good then opened the interview in his usual style, enquiring about the first job Micallef ever had. She recalled that she began baby sitting at the age of thirteen as a way of contributing to her family. “My family immigrated from Europe and brought with them the immigrant work ethic,” she said. “To this day I don’t know how not to work hard.”

Micallef revealed that her entrepreneurial spirit first appeared when she and her sister started a business manufacturing and selling crocheted bathing suits. She admitted, however, that despite the business being reasonably profitable, their quality control was not of a high standard.

She studied psychology at Simon Fraser University, after deciding on her career path at a young age. Having always wanted to help people, Micallef spent a year working with emotionally disturbed children after graduation, but soon decided that it was not the right career for her, a realization she described as, “devastating”.

After soliciting some advice from her mother, Micallef decided to enter law school, and after graduation was hired by Shaw Communications as their general counsel. As the first lawyer the company had ever hired, she was responsible for developing the legal department. She recalled how she began to drift away from law to work more in mergers and acquisitions, with the company involved in over $15 billion worth of transactions during her time there.

She then described how her career began to move towards investments after leaving Shaw, with her first investment being in Vista Radio. Good remarked that her investments all seem to experience growth, to which Micallef revealed that under her guidance Vista Radio has grown from having just one radio station to 64 today, and that another of her investments, Subway, now has more franchises in British Columbia than McDonalds or Tim Hortons.

Good asked what qualities Micallef believes make for a good leader. “You have to be really bossy,” she replied, a comment which elicited laughter from the audience. “My mum was a strong woman, and that is where I got my training for leadership. I don’t know whether it is something you are born with or taught, but I have always taken the lead. In school I was always the first to volunteer, and my mum used to say that growing up I was the example to my brothers and sisters.

Over the course of the interview Micallef fielded questions from an eager audience, with one guest enquiring as to what her core values are in life. “My attitude in life is to be successful,” she replied. “I don’t mean to be arrogant or egotistical, it is just a matter of fact approach. When we started Vista Radio we had no money, but we did not doubt for a minute that we would not succeed.”

Good then asked what her expectations of her employees are, and whether she expected them to be available 24 hours a day. Micallef responded that she is respectful of her employee’s time with their family, and is careful not to frighten people into being accessible. However she acknowledged that the majority of her employees recognize that business carries on outside of business hours.

Micallef then fielded another audience question from a Beedie School of Business MBA student, who sought her advice on negotiating tactics. “One mistake people often make is talking too much and not listening,” she advised. “Negotiation, for me, is about finding a solution for both sides. I am proud to say that there has never been a deal I wanted to close that I did not succeed in closing.”

Good closed the interview with his customary Vanity Fair question: which four people, alive or deceased, would she choose to have dinner with? Micallef revealed a guest list of inspirational figures, including Jim Abbott, a major league pitcher born without a right hand; Viola Desmond, an African Canadian woman who raised awareness about racial segregation in Canada in the 1940s; and Roy Thomson, a radio salesman who established his own radio station after the First World War in order to give his customers something to listen to.

Micallef’s final guest turned out to be her grandfather, who had worked as the minister of agriculture in Malta before the Second World War. He had been responsible for turning it into a self-sufficient nation from one heavily reliant on imports for food. When Malta was attacked by the Axis Alliance during the War, the techniques her grandfather had introduced meant that the nation was able to sustain itself.

The next CEO to be interviewed as part of the Chief Executives Series will be Mike Waites, CEO of heavy equipment dealer Finning International.

For more information about the CKNW Chief Executives Series at the Beedie School of Business, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/events/

Gordon Price, Director of the City Program at SFU, speaking at the Get On Board SFU event.

A group of Beedie school of Business undergraduate students explored how the forthcoming provincial elections will affect issues in public transit at an event held at SFU’s Surrey campus last week.

The event, Get On Board SFU, featured guest speakers Gordon Price, Director of the City Program at SFU, former Board Member of Metro Vancouver & Translink, and recent recipient of the SFU President’s Award for 2012; City of Surrey councillor Tom Gill; and Nick Smith, project manager at Sustainable SFU.

The event was organized by students in Beedie School of Business professor Dianne Cyr’s Business Leadership class in the BBA program. Cyr split the class into groups of five, and set each the task of working with a non-profit organization.

One group of students, Robin Dong, Joyce Mai, Ben Tan, Jason Yang, and Jerry You, opted to team with Sustainable SFU. After learning about Sustainable SFU’s Get On Board campaign, the students decided to organize the event to raise awareness among their fellow SFU students.

“Although the Get On Board SFU event gave us the opportunity to hone our leadership skills, the main objective was to raise awareness of the transportation issues surrounding BC,” says Dong. “Thanks to the efforts of our guest speakers and the support of our professor Dianne, we were able to accomplish what we set out to achieve.”

Keynote speaker Price spoke at the event about the issues surrounding Vancouver’s public transit system, touching on the cost of public transit, the campaign to preserve the U-Pass system, the need to change the car culture that is prevalent throughout Vancouver, and what the future holds for the public transit system in Vancouver.

Councillor Gill then talked about his role in Surrey’s transit system before the floor was opened to allow questions from the audience, resulting in an enthusiastic debate between the speakers and some passionate attendees on issues such as the city’s roads and bridges.

“The students did a fantastic job in organizing the event, successfully tackling a number of logistical challenges and were able to obtain some high profile speakers,” says Cyr. “The event certainly encouraged some lively discussion, but also provided the students with a degree of experiential learning and a chance to engage with the local community. They can be proud of what they accomplished.”

For more information on the Get On Board campaign, visit http://sustainablesfu.org/get-on-board/

Opportunity Fest 2012

The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University will next week host the third annual Opportunity Fest, a marketplace-style showcase of student creativity aimed at seizing new opportunities and addressing perceived challenges through entrepreneurship and innovation.

Opportunity Fest 2013 will be held from 6 to 9pm on Tuesday, March 26 at the mezzanine of the SFU Surrey campus. The event is open to all, with current and prospective students from all faculties, university personnel and other community members encouraged to come and see what the next generation of entrepreneurs has in store.

Building on the success of last year’s event, around 150 Beedie undergraduate students from the Entrepreneurship and Innovation concentration will present their class-produced projects and ventures through trade-show exhibits. The student ventures build on opportunities in areas such as video-hosting, online Chinese literature and products made from reclaimed wood.

Judges from industry, academia and the wider community will engage with the student teams, evaluate their endeavours and award a number of prizes, including Most Investable, Best Product or Service, Most Impact, and the titles of Mr. and Ms. Opportunity, presented to the most engaging student presenters. This year’s event will also include an Entrepreneur’s Choice award, chosen by the event participants.

Each winning team will receive a $1000 cash prize and be matched to a business mentor that will help them take their idea forward.  The prizes will be awarded following a keynote address by Michael Cheng, winner of both SFU and the Surrey Board of Trade’s 2012 Student Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

“Opportunity Fest is like a Capstone experience for these undergraduate students,” says Beedie professor Eric Gedajlovic, founder of Opportunity Fest. “The event is a little bit of Dragon’s Den, and a bit of Apprentice. “In today’s inter-connected world, where things are happening so rapidly and your plans are outdated as soon as they are established, success and growth depends on your ability to continuously identify and pursue opportunities.”

Last year’s Opportunity Fest featured a variety of business ideas, with winning ventures including an affordable hand-held device to measure water chemistry balance in hot tubs; a wristband which measures heart rate and sleeping patterns and utilizes Bluetooth to update an online support and tracking platform; and a sustainable business which turns broken or forgotten umbrellas and rice bags into environmentally-friendly, handmade backpacks.

“At the Beedie School of Business, we have responded to today’s challenging environment by creating a place where ideas are germinated, nurtured, grown and then change people’s lives in real and positive ways,” says Gedajlovic. “These are ideas and new ventures that come from dissatisfaction with the way things are done currently and have potential to represent viable business concepts. Opportunity Fest gives the students the opportunity to develop something they will really care about.”

The event underscores The Beedie School of Business’ continued and growing commitment to experiential learning and entrepreneurship.

For more information on Opportunity Fest 2013, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/oppfest/overview/. To view details on last year’s event, click here.

Keynote speaker Dr. Wolfgang Engshuber, chair of the UN’s PRI committee.

The CIBC Centre for Corporate Governance and Risk Management at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business in partnership with the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) hosted a meeting on February 28 welcoming delegates from the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI) committee. On the agenda was the role of responsible investing in ensuring risk management and building healthy, sustainable capital markets.

Daniel Shapiro, Dean of the Beedie School of Business, introduced keynote speaker Dr. Wolfgang Engshuber, chair of the UN’s PRI committee. In his opening remarks, Shapiro said that the Beedie School of Business was proud to have committed itself to upholding many of the same values that define the PRI as a signatory to the Principles of Management Education (PRME). Both initiatives adhere closely to the UN Global Compact on long-term ethical sustainability.

Founded in April 2006, as a vision of former UN secretary Kofi Annan, the number of signatories to the PRI has grown from less than 200 to over 1500, managing combined global assets of 35 trillion US dollars. Annan’s goal was to minimise global instability by encouraging financial organizations into thinking long term about their risk management strategies in addition to addressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

Reflecting on the time elapsed since the creation of PRI, Engshuber remarked that while preparing for this auspicious meeting he had read a paper on fiduciary responsibility from the SHARE website. Though well written, he was puzzled; why had certain key sources not been referenced? His question was answered on the front page – “The document had been written in 2005 and the problems are already addressed. Now there isn’t a conflict; fiduciary responsibility is an actual responsibility,” said Engshuber.

Until now all the PRI’s objectives have been aspirational but, as Engshuber noted, there is mounting evidence and a certain amount of regulatory pressure encouraging organizations to comply.

“Responsible investing and the PRI are growing strongly globally,” he said. “Investors recognize the need to respond to significant trends. And the evidence is that [addressing] ESG [issues] and responsible investing enhance returns and reduce risk is becoming stronger.”

Engshuber highlighted the positive correlation between ESG-awareness embedded in corporate culture and performance by referencing research that companies with high ESG scores are the ones with the best stock performance. Those which focus on ESG issues, especially their environmental responsibilities, have better credit ratings.

Factors such as ESG and PRI compliance are also taken into consideration by investment industry regulators and may be considered before stock exchange listing. Furthermore, under pressure from consumers and government, pension funds, for example, may look for ESG compliance as evidence of socially responsible investing.

Many of these points were further elaborated in a panel discussion following the keynote, moderated by Michael Parent, Director, CIBC Centre for Corporate Governance and Risk Management. The panel of experts comprised Robert Adamson, executive director of CIBC Centre for Corporate Governance and Risk Management; Bob Walker, Vice President, ESG Services and Ethical Funds at NEI Investments; Dermot Foley, Manager ESG Analysis at Vancity; Bryan Thomson, Vice President, Equity Investment at BcIMC; and Laura O’Neill, Director of Law and Policy for SHARE.

Panelists spoke on issues of stewardship codes, and educating investors on non-financial externalities that should be considered when making investment decisions. They also covered topics such as the impact of executive compensation and emerging markets on ESG issues within an organization. These points were echoed further in questions from an extremely engaged and knowledgeable audience.

With this growing emphasis on embedding ESG issues within organizational governance, Engshuber was pleased to announce the launch of a robust recording framework for the PRI this October. “Reporting is a very important part of the principles and signatories must publish their progress,” explained Engshuber.

“If they don’t, then they are excluded from the initiative,” he added.

Although recording initially seems like a threat, it is also a good tool to manage strategy, giving feedback to an organization and information on how its peers are progressing. This transparency also avoids green washing, upholding many of the principles inherent to responsible investing and enhancing engagement with consumers.

Dr. Engshuber closed his address reiterating the need to develop long-term strategies, rather than just focusing on profits.

“Imagine going home tonight, and your spouse or your child asks,’ So what did you do today?’” he speculated, “and you could answer them, ‘Well today I created something of real value’ – wouldn’t that be great?”

The Beedie School of Business HEC MBA Sustainability Challenge team. From left to right: Colin Knudsen, Geordan Hankinson, Erin Lane and Andrew Lee

A team of MBA students from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business have captured first place at the HEC Montréal MBA Sustainability Challenge case competition.

The team, consisting of MBA students Erin Lane, Geordan Hankinson, Colin Knudsen, and Andrew Lee, emerged victorious from a field of 12 competing universities from across Canada, the US and Denmark.

The competition, held at HEC Montréal in Québec on March 16, seeks to demonstrate the relevance of addressing corporate social responsibility issues in the management of successful enterprises, and featured a panel of guest judges from industry and academia

Competing teams were presented with a question concerning a real life issue facing organizations one week prior to the competition. This year’s question focused on biofuels in the aviation industry, and the team worked round the clock to prepare their case and presentation for the day of the competition.

After presenting their case in the preliminary round the team advanced to the final, where they were given 45 minutes to prepare a previously unseen question.

The Beedie MBA team defeated three other finalists from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University, and HEC Montréal to capture the top prize, and was presented with a trophy and a cheque for $4000.

“I am very proud to have been able to win this competition for the Beedie School of Business,” says Hankinson. “The competition provided an opportunity to apply all of the course material we have learned from our MBA program, such as finance, economics, statistics and strategy. The Beedie MBA program really equipped us to be successful.”

The students were coached by Beedie School of Business assistant professor Stephanie Bertels, who provided invaluable advice to the students on their case strategy and presentation skills, in addition to coaching them on the specifics of tackling a sustainability-related case competition.

“Each member of the group brought a very strong and diverse set of skills to the team, and it was fantastic to see them harness those skills,” says Bertels. “In training we focused on understanding what were the core risks to the organization and how sustainability affected those risks, and it was very pleasing to see the team use that model to achieve success. I am extremely proud of the team’s performance.”

“The guidance provided to us by Stephanie during the practice rounds was the cornerstone of our winning presentation,” says Lee. “As there are more variables to consider in a sustainability-focused case competition, the advice provided allowed us to focus our strategy in the right areas.”