MY JOURNEY

Transferring to SFU Beedie was the best decision I could have made to set myself up for success in the career that I wanted. The transition was super smooth and support staff at SFU helped me through the entire process.

My academic journey was unconventional. In Grade 11, I suffered a major knee injury as well as complications with surgery that caused me to miss a significant amount of my last two years of high school After I graduated, I spent two years at another university upgrading my high school courses and taking the prerequisite transfer credits for SFU Beedie.

I decided to take a break to explore the world before starting at SFU. I worked full-time as well as traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Guatemala, El Salvador, Texas and Chicago which helped further confirm my decision to pursue business.

My reason for pursuing a degree with a concentration in Finance was that a large portion of CEOs and C-suite executives have a background in Finance because it drives a lot of the overall strategic vision of companies. I have always been a high-level, strategic thinker so I wanted to leverage my skillset and couple that with an education that provided the foundation to achieving longer-term goals.

For my concentration in Management Information Systems (MIS), I recognized that the world revolved around data and if I wanted to be successful in my career, I needed to understand how to collect, use, and understand data to shape and drive my decision-making processes.

MY SFU BEEDIE EXPERIENCE

While I think every class was important and taught me a lot, I found the classes that took theories and enabled us to apply them in real life scenarios were the ones that benefited me the most.

Extracurriculars had such a large impact on my experience. Getting involved taught me both soft and hard skills that I leverage daily and that allow me to excel in what I do. I cannot say enough about getting involved and how it can support your growth.

Presenting to senior executives of IKEA and Domino’s Europe at the Rotterdam School of Management Case Competition in the Netherlands is a highlight of my time at SFU Beedie. The CEO of Domino’s Europe told me afterwards how much he loved our presentation. While the case solving piece was a grind, the reward was a life time of memories and friends across the world.

Another highlight was leading the SFU team and placing second in Western Canada at JDC West —the most prestigious undergraduate business case competition in Canada. Seeing the well-deserved results of hard was amazing. The compound effect has been seeing people I led go on to other SFU JDC West teams, Enactus and other clubs, continuing a tradition of excellence. If it weren’t for case competitions, I wouldn’t have pursued a career in consulting.

My Beedie experience shaped who I am today, both personally and professionally. I truly owe so much to the amazing people I met through the various programs I was a part of.

MY BBA PROGRAM

Academics

• Finance
• Management Information Systems
• Certificate in Business Technology Management

Student Engagement

• SFU Finance Club, Corporate Relations Director
• Investment Banking Preparatory Program, Participant
• JDC West, Canadian and International (Netherlands and Mexico) Business Competitor
• JDC West, Captain
• SFU Beedie Dean Selection, Student Advisory Panel
• Business Administration Student Society (BASS) Mentorship Program, Mentor

NEXT STEPS

I really enjoy the work that I am doing in consulting, however, if the right opportunity came along to turn my side project into a full-time startup role, I would welcome it.

In five to 10 years, I would love to be running my own startup either based on my current fintech exploration or something else. I also have thought about becoming a professor as I would like to help the next generation of business students learn how to think about some of the big problems facing the world.