Archive for June, 2011
SFU Beedie MBA is Kicking it “Gold-School”
Posted by: SFU Beedie in Student Life on June 28th, 2011
From the Official CCV Blog:
Last Friday, CCV 2011 came to a close at BCIT as the last of eight sports wrapped up. The Indoor Soccer event displayed some of the most skilled and determined participants and after all was said and done, SFU Beedie School of Business was heralded as the first Indoor Soccer Champion of CCV.
Heading into quarterfinals, WorkSafeBC skillfully secured their position as the top seed. MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates followed closely behind, while SFU Beedie School of Business was seeded third overall after round robin games. The four top seeds, including Electronic Arts, easily advanced to semi-finals with decisive victories over their opponents.
Top seed, WorkSafeBC was set to play Electronic Arts once again for a shot at gold. The two had previously met as rivals in the same round robin division. By the end of the match, WorkSafeBC had once again solidified their standing as the stronger of the two teams with a 4-1 win. EA was sent into the bronze medal match.
On the other side, SFU Beedie School of Business had the challenging task of knocking out the MDA team in order to advance to championships. Neither teams had lost a single match throughout the entire tournament, but that was all about to change. The once impenetrable MDA team was struck down at their Achilles’ heel by the sharp players of the SFU team who won with four goals to two. Thus, the MDA team was set to play EA in the bronze medal match while SFU Beedie entered the championship match with WorkSafeBC.
At the onset of the bronze match, both MDA and EA appeared as equally-matched opponents. At the end of the first period, MDA and EA were tied at a solid 2-2. However, as the game progressed, the drive in the EA team came to light and the team aggressively stepped up their game. Outshot and outscored, MDA was obliged to accept fourth place as EA made their way to the podium off a 7-2 victory.
In the CCV Indoor Soccer final match, SFU—the champions of CCV 2011 Dodgeball, and WorkSafeBC—the champions of CCV 2011 Outdoor Soccer, both competed for a second gold medal to add to their collection. Fifteen minutes into the first half of the match, SFU and WorkSafeBC were neck-and-neck at 1-1. With only a couple minutes left in the first period, SFU scored two more goals consecutively giving them a 3-1 advantage heading into the second period.
Unwilling to be silenced, WorkSafeBC responded with two goals in less than four minutes at the start of the second half, and not more than two minutes apart. Tied at three points a piece, both teams played impeccable defense and extraordinary offence in attempt to capture gold. Finally, with less than half to go in the second period, SFU sank their fourth goal, followed by a fifth to seize control of the match. As minutes turned to seconds, and seconds ran down on the clock, the horn sounded signaling the end of the match, the defeat of WorkSafeBC, and another golden moment for SFU Beedie School of Business.
Congratulations to the winners of each CCV 2011 event and a big thank you to all the participants that made it out this year. The Corporate Champions will be crowned this Saturday, June 25th at 11:00am to 2:30pm at the Wrap-Up Beach Party held at Locarno Beach. All CCV participants are invited and friends and family are welcome as well.
Written by Diana Hu
You can check out CCV 2011 event photos on our Facebook page
The 20/30 Series: Sustainability in the City – Recap
Posted by: Maria Ghassemi in Sustainability on June 24th, 2011
Our first Net Impact speaker event at the SFU Segal Chapter at the Beedie School of Business was an incredible success thanks to our speaker panel and their willingness to share their expertise with us. We would also like to thank our associate dean, Colleen Colins for her opening remarks at our first speaker series event. Below is a brief summary of themes covered on Monday. We are grateful for their involvement in helping us educate students and young professionals in sustainability in the world of business. Our speakers were Shawn Burns, CEO and President, Carbon Credit Corp Canada; Brenda Reid-Kuecks, President, Ecotrust Canada; Saul Brown, President and CSO (Chief Story Officer), Saul Good Gift Co; Bonnie Wong, Investment Manager, VanCity Community Capital; and Jacqueline Go, Sustainability Programs Coordinator, Teck Resources.
Shawn gave us insights into the average lifespan of species and how our culture of consumerism is increasing. Brenda spoke about tourism, fisheries, and forestry sectors, and how place and environment should matter to all of us because we have an impact on each other either directly or indirectly. Saul gave his background story of how he started his own business of corporate gift baskets that are both sustainable and interesting. Bonnie spoke about travel and discovery and Jackie spoke about the transformative forces of big business like mining.
We hope to host speaker events on an annual basis, visit our Facebook page for event photos and invitations to our future events. For more information on making a positive environmental, social and economic impact in the Vancouver community, visit our Net Impact Blog.
Our Chile Trip Comes to an End
Posted by: tday in MBA Experience on June 21st, 2011
The San Antonio Terminal International Port
After an amazing two weeks in South America, followed by a week of intense dodgeball competition, it’s time for a quick recap of our trip.
The final few days in Santiago were spent doing some site visits at local businesses including one of the major ports – the San Antonio Terminal International. Because of Chile’s geography, most goods are shipped in to the country and then transported by train or truck to other areas, making the ports a crucial piece of the economy. The San Antonio port is privately run, with a public port adjacent to it and a competing port in Valparaiso to the north. Interestingly, the company has implemented a system whereby trucks waiting for cargo are guaranteed turnaround times of 60 minutes or less otherwise the port will compensate them financially. Once a truck has been on site for 30 minutes, they are placed in the red zone and are closely monitored so that the 1 hour deadline can be met. This provides San Antonio with a competitive advantage over other ports where trucks may be waiting for hours to have their cargo loaded, without compensation.
Another business we visited on site was Colgate. We heard from their General Manager about the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Chile, particularly within the confines of a company who prides itself on product consistency across many different markets. As with other businesses, supply-chain sentiments were echoed here since the company does not have production facilities in the region. Nonetheless, Colgate has a strong presence in Chile and in recent years has moved to become the market leader in oral health care.
Our final day in Chile was spent at an eco lodge at the foothills of the Andes where we had the option of horseback riding, rafting or trekking. We then reconvened for a last group dinner before heading our separate ways the following morning. Eleven of us chose to stay in South America for an additional week and had a fantastic time seeing the sights in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Overall, the trip was a great learning experience for us and provided insights to doing business in an emerging market that we could not have duplicated in the classroom.
Student portfolio managers engage finance community at SIAS performance review
Posted by: Sara Moghaddamjoo in Student Life on June 21st, 2011
Panelists deliberate to generate feedback for the SFU Beedie SIAS Team
May 27, 2011 was a big day for SFU Beedie School of Business Masters of Financial Risk Management (MFRM) candidates, especially for active members of the Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) fund — as it was our Q1 performance review. As part of the review, we highlighted the fund’s current economic and market outlook in front of industry professionals, guests and alumni. The day started at the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Vancouver with our SIAS team in black suits, white shirts and red ties. SIAS had a great first quarter in 2011 as we beat the benchmark in all of our asset classes in the operating currency and everyone was excited and ready to share this achievement with the financial industry.
The event was attended by a large number of financial professionals from Metro Vancouver. Christine Jackshoj commenced the event by providing background information on the SIAS fund and introducing the presenters. On stage we had Sara Moghaddamjoo, Chief operating officer/Compliance Officer, Meadow Wu, Vice president of Marketing/Performance analyst, Fiona Wong, Fixed income analyst, XingXing Zhang, Risk metrics analyst, Derek Wong, Canadian Equity assistant portfolio manager, Alex Conconi, Chief Investment Officer, US Equity Analyst, and Amir Khakban, Economic Analyst.
Our presentation was a summary of the performance and attribution, fixed income and equity research and trades of the fund in the first quarter of 2011 followed by a question and answer period by the panel members. The presenters and portfolio managers tackled the questions in a comprehensive manner. Next, the panel members and SIAS client Mr. Murdock and his assistants moved to the boardroom to deliberate and generate feedback. Meanwhile, Simon Hutchison gave his presentation on the impressive achievements of the MFRM program in recent competitions. After the panel members returned from the boardroom, Dr. Theunissen shared their valuable comments and discussions about the presentation and SIAS performance in Q1. One of the most exciting parts of the presentation was our special keynote speaker, Margaret Franklin, President and CEO of Kinsale Private Wealth and chair of CFA institute.
Finally, the reception started which offered MFRM students and SIAS candidates the chance to network with prominent finance professionals while enjoying wine and hors d’œuvres. During the reception, panel members, the client and the Dean of SFU Beedie School of Business, Professor Daniel Shapiro, were interviewed for a promotional SIAS video which will be launched within the next month.
Already, the SIAS team has started planning for their second quarter presentation, which is set to be an even larger event in conjunction with CFA institute, CAIA and PRMIA tentatively set for August 25, 2011. We are all looking forward to our next milestone event!
For more information visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/sias or email sias@sfu.ca
The 2011 Q1 SIAS Performance Review
Posted by: SFU Beedie in MBA Experience on June 20th, 2011
The 2011 Q1 SIAS Performance Review presentation held at the Metropolitan Hotel on May 27 focused on the past quarter, future outlook, and also featured keynote speaker Margaret Franklin, Chair of the Board of Governors of the CFA Institute and President and CEO of Kinsale Private Wealth.
The SIAS team began the presentation by reporting on the fund’s performance and risk attributes for the first three months of 2011. The SIAS Fund returned 3.08% for the first quarter and was 42 basis points above the benchmark. The positive results are due to each of the asset classes beating the benchmark with returns of 6.35%, 2.87% and 0.41% for Canadian Equity, Global Equity and Fixed Income respectively. The portfolio benefited from being underweight in Japan and Europe for the Global portfolio, overweight in financials and energy for the Canadian portfolio, and overweight short term bonds for the Fixed Income portfolio.
There were two major economic events that occurred in the first quarter: the Japanese earthquake and the turmoil in the Middle East. The team spoke about how these specific events, in conjunction with the continuing European sovereign debt crisis, affected the portfolio. In addition, they highlighted the executed Canadian trades and discussed the rebalancing of the US portfolio.
After the presentation, the SIAS team hosted a Q&A session for the executive panel. Here, they addressed the portfolio risks, expectations on commodities and the fixed income strategy. Master of Financial Risk Management (MFRM) student, Simon Hutchison also highlighted the team’s success at UBC’s National Investment Banking Competition (NIBC), University of Dayton’s Redefining Investment Strategy Education (R.I.S.E) Challenge and the CFA’s Global Investment Research Challenge (GIRC). This was followed by an inspiring keynote by Margaret Franklin, recently named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.
The event concluded with a wine and cheese networking reception for students and industry professionals. Overall, the event offered a wonderful opportunity for Vancouver’s finance community to learn more about SFU Beedie’s student-run fund and an opportunity to meet the future leaders in finance.
To learn more about the SIAS Fund, please click here. To view photos of past presentations, please visit the SIAS Fund’s Facebook page.
Why MBA? SFU MBA at the Beedie School of Business
Posted by: Kathleen Ong in MBA Experience on June 14th, 2011
Photo by Ron Sombilon Gallery
Kathleen Ong cites both the city and school as inspiration for the future
Tight-knit business community? Check. Start-up hub? Check. Innovation and sustainability leadership? Check. Active lifestyle, multi-cultural, scenic ocean and mountain views? Check.
When you ask anyone about what it’s like to live in Vancouver, Canada, they’ll tell you all of these things and more. After all, earning the number one spot on The Economist’s World’s Most Livable Cities in 2011 is no small task. Yet, dig a little deeper and you’ll find, encased in what used to be an old bank building, Simon Fraser University’s Segal Graduate School at the Beedie School of Business. As a member of the 80-student Master of Business Administration graduating class of 2011, I set out 10 months ago associating so many career goals and dreams with this very building. The question is not why Vancouver and why Beedie, but rather why not?
My school is different from the others. Looking back at the last year, I like to think that the school chose me and not the other way around because of how well we fit together. With four years of work experience, including two years as a marketing and communications manager, I wanted to take a leap into a formal business education. Beedie’s requirements, an undergraduate degree in areas other than Business, two years or more of work experience, the GMAT, and diversity in backgrounds, has created a unique and rare program for people like me. At Beedie, everyone is brought in on an even playing field; your previous work experience, GMAT scores, academic history, and industry expertise are appreciated and acknowledged in a team environment, while still maintaining a sense of competition and challenge within the classroom. As a general MBA program, we receive an intense variety of many different course subjects over the year. This healthy mix gives me a way to link and combine knowledge from marketing, finance, operations management, and strategy into valuable lessons for the future.
Academic coursework, career workshops, and events and student groups are all hard work and stimulating, but truth be told, the peers that I have met in my class have been the greatest asset of enrolling in the program. New friendships have resulted in invaluable lessons about different cultures and countries, ways of thinking, world perspectives, ideas, and skill sets. Nowhere could you find so much talent, commitment and passion as within my classroom.
And so, as the last three months of the academic portion of my MBA are approaching, this is a bittersweet moment. Although I’m not off the hook just yet, I look forward to applying both business and life lessons to the career goals and dreams that have given me the energy to keep shooting for the stars.
The SFU Beedie MBA Team wins gold in Dodgeball
Posted by: SFU Beedie in Student Life on June 10th, 2011
Congratulations to the SFU Beedie MBA Team for winning the gold medal for dodgeball at the Corporate Champions Vancouver 2011! Here is an excerpt from the Official CCV Blog about our win.
The SFU Beedie MBA Team at CCV2011
“As the night progressed, an underdog story was born: SFU Beedie School of Business who had lost their first playoff matches against the 13th seed, Impark, moved through the back-door bracket, winning six matches to bring them to the finals against the undefeated, Electronic Arts.
Although City of Vancouver fought hard to move into the championship round, they were swept aside by SFU and accepted a well-deserved bronze medal.
In the finals, Electronic Arts gained an early break advantage with a 2-1 lead in a best-of-five-games match. One game away from winning the title, SFU pummeled their way back to win the first match. However, because of the double elimination structure, SFU had to defeat EA in one more match before they could claim their gold medals. Sleeves rolled up, heart pumping, and sweat dripping—both teams laid down the rest of themselves to play at their very best. When all the dodgeballs finally rested peacefully on the ground and the battle had ceased, the only team left standing victoriously was SFU.”
Read the rest of the post here
Corporate Champions Vancouver is Metro Vancouver’s Annual Multi-sports Challenge. Building Teams, Generating Company Pride & Connecting Organizations Though Sport
From Vancouver to New York and back to Stanley Park: The life of a financial risk management student
Posted by: Elif Boz in Student Life on June 8th, 2011
It’s almost been 10 months since I started the SFU Beedie Master of Financial Risk Management (FRM) program. I have been feeling a strange mixture of relief, anxiety, and depression at the thought that I’ll be graduating from the program soon. It seems like only yesterday that I landed at Vancouver International Airport anticipating an exciting year ahead. But on the other hand, I feel like I have a new group of friends that I have known for years.
This semester, I have another five courses. One of them includes my final project, where I get to work together with my supervisors. Even with the heavy workload, I’m trying to engage in more extracurricular activities and networking events.
The SFU Beedie SIAS Fund Team presenting at their Q1 2011 Presentation
The SFU Beedie Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) Team had our 2011 Quarter 1 presentation last week and it was a great success. These presentations are a great way to meet industry professionals and broaden our network. Some of my classmates found their internships this way. The benefits of an internship are quite clear: an opportunity to apply what we learn in the classroom, experience a new field and most importantly, land a job offer after the internship.
I also had the opportunity to visit New York for a week as a member of the SIAS team. Students who have been actively involved in the student-run investment fund can apply for this trip to meet with executives, visit trading desks and learn about the operations of various firms. This is a great reward for the student contributions to SIAS, the MFRM program and the Beedie School of Business. I believe that the experience gained from participating in SIAS makes us great ambassadors for our program.
The SFU Beedie Team competing at Corporate Champions Vancouver 2011
Finally, Corporate Championships Vancouver is an annual multi-sports challenge for organizations big and small. Some students in my class have been preparing for this championship by playing soccer, basketball and volleyball. It is a true class bonding experience and everyone has a fantastic time. I’ll be cheering for Team SFUMBA!
I am anxious to explore Vancouver this summer. There is so much do to and see such as rollerblade the seawall around Stanley Park and relax on the beach at English Bay.
It promises to be an exciting final term!