Sam Thiara honoured by Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow

Sam Thiara, Manager of Student Engagement and Recruitment at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, has been recognized for his longstanding engagement and leadership by the Leaders of Tomorrow program (LOT) of the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Thiara was selected as Mentor of the Year by the Board’s Leaders of Tomorrow initiative, which recently held its annual graduation. LOT is a student mentorship program that engages final year post-secondary students with industry professionals from across the Lower Mainland. During the course of the program, students develop their skills in the areas of mentorship, leadership, networking and volunteerism. LOT has had over 1,500 students and more than 700 mentors participate to date and contributes several thousand volunteer hours to the community annually.

Annually, the program recognizes one mentor who “considerably exceeds the program requirements in multiple ways.” Thiara was lauded by students for his “commitment to the success of others… He made his student feel comfortable from their first meeting, is a tremendous listener and gave valuable advice throughout the year. His leadership and commitment is an inspiration to many.”

That sentiment is echoed by Austin Nairn, Program Manager, Vancouver Board of Trade. “I have had the pleasure of knowing Sam for the last three years and he has become an outstanding example to me and all mentors in the program,” he said. “Sam truly lives what we try to teach young people and we are fortunate to have him involved.”

In addition to his award, Thiara’s mentee — Will Swanston of BCIT — was given the honour of “Mentee of the Year” at the same graduation – resulting in a clean sweep for the mentorship pairing.

Thiara has been involved with Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow since it was established in 1999 and annually hosts a popular leadership and development session encouraging students to, as he says “make their autobiography worth reading.”