Beedie School of Business News

Alice Longhurst (left) and Alannah Cervenko are MBA students at Simon Fraser University.

Two graduate business students at Simon Fraser University are putting their business acumen to work for the benefit of young women hoping to make positive strides as future leaders, managers and entrepreneurs.

Alannah Cervenko and Alice Longhurst, graduate students in the MBA program at Simon Fraser University, created the Graduate Business Women’s Council for the Beedie School of Business in 2011. To date, their primary focus has been raising awareness amongst the membership about upcoming networking and development opportunities focused on women in business, and collaborating with organizations to ensure that their fellow members can participate in these activities.

This term, Cervenko has assembled an all-star panel of female executive speakers for what is being dubbed a “fireside chat” with SFU’s full-time female MBA students. This event, which is taking place at Segal Graduate School on June 6, will be followed by a Q&A session and networking. Entitled “Everything You Wanted to Know About Business… But Were Too Afraid to Ask,” the meeting aims to provide access to female executives who will share insight and strategies on how to succeed as emerging leaders. The student organizers are looking forward to “inspiring dialogue, candid discussion and insights into workplace best practices that we, as MBA students, may draw upon as we ascend the corporate ladder upon graduation”.

The executives that will be participating in the June 6 discussion are:

• Christina Anthony, Vice President, Director, Portfolio Manager and Investment Advisory, Odlum Brown.
• Tracey L. McVicar, Partner, CAI Capital Management Co.
• Susan Yurkovich, Executive Vice-President, Site C Clean Energy Project, BC Hydro

About GBWC: Co-founded in 2011 by two full-time MBA students, Alannah Cervenko and Alice Longhurst, The Graduate Business Women’s Council is comprised of passionate MBA students from the Beedie School of Business who believe that knowledge-sharing and networking with executive women, along with providing insights and guidance to younger generations, can lead to enhanced careers and greater diversity in leadership in BC. GBWC is also planning a “Effective Negotiation Strategies for Women” event, which will be held this summer at Segal Graduate School.

About GBWC’s Co-Founders: In 2011, Longhurst received the Nancy McKinstry graduate student scholarship for leadership, given to a Beedie School of Business graduate student who has been a leader in promoting opportunities for women in business. Cervenko’s resume at the Beedie School includes her team project work supporting the Dugout, a local organization that provides daily meals and support services to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside community. The organization, which positions itself as the “community living room” for people in that neighbourhood, has roots going back to the 1960s. To raise funds and awareness for the Dugout, she took the organization’s story to the Vancouver Canucks — where she garnered support from the likes of hockey stars Roberto Luongo, Sami Salo and Kevin Bieksa.

Longhurst meanwhile was part of a group working with the Minerva Foundation for BC Women, which promotes community and workplace opportunities for women. Her team developed a successful “Leading by Tweeting” campaign – where they secured online champions such as Patricia Graham (Vice President, Digital, Pacific Newspaper Group) and the renowned Canadian author Margaret Atwood

For more information:

Alannah Cervenko, SFU MBA Candidate
acervenk@sfu.ca

Alice Longhurst, SFU MBA Candidate
alonghur@sfu.ca

Tags: Alannah Cervenko, Alice Longhurst, Christina Anthony, Graduate Business Women’s Council, Kevin Bieksa, Margaret Atwood, Minerva Foundation, Patricia Graham, Roberto Luongo, Susan Yurkovich, The Dugout, Tracey L. McVicar, Vancouver Canucks

Students in SFU’s Full-Time MBA program at the Beedie School of Business have garnered real-world marketing lessons that have taken them from social agencies in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to a hospice society in Pitt Meadows to a seniors wellness centre in North Vancouver. In the process of helping these groups raise awareness or operating funds, they have enjoyed early-stage support from the likes of celebrated author Margaret Atwood and Vancouver hockey star Roberto Luongo.

The community interactions are part of the marketing class Business 702, taught by SFU marketing professor Leyland Pitt. Within the class, students are challenged to strategically design a social media marketing program for not-for-profit organizations in Metro Vancouver.

By working outside of the classroom with social agencies and community groups, the students have been able to broaden their perspective around business and society – and further integrate social entrepreneurship and sustainability into their marketing coursework.

A case in point is a group that worked with the Minerva Foundation for BC Women, which promotes community and workplace opportunities for women. The MBA students developed a successful “Leading by Tweeting” campaign – with the goal of raising awareness and support for the foundation via the microblogging medium of Twitter. They ultimately found online champions such as Patricia Graham (Editor, Vancouver Sun), Bridgitte Anderson (Vice-President, Edelman), and the aforementioned Margaret Atwood – and in the process guided executives at the foundation in the art of using Twitter and other social media channels. As MBA student Alice Longhurst noted, a retweet from Atwood helped put the organization’s message in front of over 280,000 Twitter users.

“As a business school, we believe that businesses can survive and indeed thrive by emphasizing sustainability and social responsibility,” said David Hannah, Academic Director of the SFU MBA program. “By involving our students in initiatives like this, we are preparing them to make this kind of impact.”

Another group of MBAs chose to support the Dugout, a local organization that provides daily meals and support services to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside community. The organization, which positions itself as the “community living room” for people in that neighbourhood, has roots going back to the 1960s.

MBA student Colin Stansfield said his group was compelled to help the organization given that it is one of the longest-standing venues for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Vancouver, and serves many clients who are either homeless or live in Single Room Occupancies.

To support the Dugout, the student group created a new website, along with Facebook and YouTube channels designed to enhance fundraising efforts. Along the way, they added some sporting sizzle to their campaign.

Upon discovering that the Dugout has long welcomed locals into the facility to enjoy Vancouver Canucks hockey games – since the NHL franchise’s inception in 1970 – student Alannah Cervenko took the organization’s story to some of today’s players, including Roberto Luongo, Sami Salo and Kevin Bieksa at an official team function. The response from the Canucks players was very positive – with all of the Canucks canvassed signing a commemorative playoff towel geared to support the Dugout campaign.

Left to right: Vancouver Canuck Roberto Luongo, MBA student Alannah Cervenko and Canuck Sami Salo

Other student projects delivered social media marketing campaigns for organizations as the Greater Vancouver Firefighters, Ridge Meadows Hospice Society, Downtown Eastside Kitchen Tables Project, the North Shore Keep Well Society, Maplewood Farms and We Canada.

“Throughout this project, these students displayed a remarkable ability to leverage the power of social media to help these organizations achieve their marketing goals more completely – and by extension make a real difference in the community,” said Professor Leyland Pitt.

Though the marketing class concludes this December, many of the MBA students will carry on with their efforts with the organizations into the New Year and beyond.

Tags: Alannah Cervenko, Alice Longhurst, Business 702, Colin Stansfield, David Hannah, Downtown Eastside Kitchen Tables Project, Facebook, Greater Vancouver Firefighters, Leyland Pitt, Maplewood Farms, Margaret Atwood, MBA, Minerva Foundation, Patricia Graham, Ridge Meadows Hospice Society, Roberto Luongo, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, The Dugout, the North Shore Keep Well Society, Twitter, We Canada