Launched in 1999, The Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) is a mentorship program of Vancouver Board of Trade (VBOT) that connects top post-secondary students with leading industry professionals. It is recognized as the premier mentorship program in BC. The four pillars of LOT include mentorship, leadership, networking, and volunteerism. I am fortunate to say that I had the opportunity to experience all four of these.
Last fall, I was curious to find out what I wanted to achieve in life. It was then when I heard of this program and out of that interest, I applied. I was extremely lucky to have a chance to be a part of it. Hearing the experiences of Beedie alumni at orientation made me take a step ahead and participate actively in events. One of the best parts is that you can attend three events from the Vancouver Board of Trade, and unlimited Leaders of Tomorrow and Member Receptions at no cost. I took full advantage of this opportunity and attended more than 15 events either as an attendee or volunteer. The most memorable experience was listening to the CEO of Air Canada, Calin Rovinescu. He described how Air Canada is transforming itself to capture a greater share of global traffic flows and is making significant investments in aircrafts, products, technology and routes. I am passionate about airlines and it was a great opportunity for me to listen about the future of that industry.
In addition to attending events, I was selected on to organizing committees for various events. This helped ignite my own project and event management skills. One of the great opportunities that I had was to host the Leadership Café with Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver. I was the MC for the event, allowing me to implement my communication skills. I felt that I was part of a team that set a higher bar for future events. It’s been a great experience as it was a diverse team made of people from other schools, which provided me the opportunity to learn how to work in a group setting with people I didn’t know before.
LOT has been a great platform to grow my network in the corporate world. It’s been a great experience to be a part of LOT and to be surrounded with the best of the best students in greater Vancouver. The key takeaway message was that the more you get involved, the more you get out of the program. Programs like this allow us to grow individually while learning mutually from the people we meet and the connections we make.
Ali is a 3rd year student, pursuing a BBA with a concentration in Human Resource Management and Accounting. He is an extremely active and engaged student on campus within the faculty, residence, and the greater campus community. Currently, he is an elected Senator and working as a Community Advisor at Simon Fraser University Residence.