After a rigorous and thorough hiring process, the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union has officially hired their executive team for 2017-18.
After being elected as Students’ Union president on Jan. 26, Kanwar Brar, along with current president Tyler Van Herzele and various administrative members of the Union, worked to hire Brar’s new team of vice-presidents.
“The marking process for the application — the proposal — started the day after [election day] and then round one [and] then round two were then followed by subsequently,” Brar said.
The incoming vice-presidents were officially announced on the Students’ Union Facebook page last Wednesday, Feb. 8.
While the official transition period won’t take place until Feb. 27, Brar emphasized that the team will be working closely together in preparation for their upcoming budgeting season.
“We’re looking forward to the budgeting season coming up and our official transition does start the Monday after Reading Week, so that’s when we’ll be working closely as a team, preparing the budget, so I’m really excited about that,” he said.
The 2017-18 executive team includes many returning members of the Students’ Union, including current director Stephanie Bellotto, who has been hired as VP: university affairs. In her time at the union, Bellotto has participated in outreach campaigns in university affairs and has also been a part of Local Advocacy Week, where she engaged with local representatives on advocating for student issues.
“We advocate on behalf of students at all levels of government [including institutional and regional],” Bellotto said. “We make our education more accessible and affordable for all students.”
Anthony Tomizza has also been hired as the VP: programming and services on the Waterloo campus.
Through his role, Tomizza hopes to increase the awareness of all programming and service committees that are offered to Laurier students.
“It’s a changing diversity each year of what students want to see from us, so it’s really important to really grasp what they want and have some strong volunteers able to work and run those different events and campaigns to get a broad outreach to students,” he said.
The VP: finance and administration will be Courtney Collard, who hopes to work closely with volunteers and inspire more students to become involved with the Students’ Union.
“The role encompasses kind of HR issues and concerns regarding volunteers and also doubles and deals with the financial side of things, so organizing budgets for all of our operating committees as well as the Union in general,” she said.
Nelly Song, the incoming VP: clubs and associations, hopes to fully represent the students involved in university clubs on the Waterloo campus.
“I’ll be representing the whole clubs and associations department and representing the students who are within the clubs and associations and just overseeing all the clubs and the faculty association,” she said.
Lastly, Nathan Reeve will be the incoming VP: programming and services for the Brantford campus.
In his role, Reeve hopes to hear more about what students want for programming and services in Brantford.
“Alongside my team, I look forward to developing new programming that promotes collaboration and isn’t afraid to try new things,” he said. “In all aspects of the department, I look to see where we can find areas of growth and development.”
In upcoming weeks, the associate VP and orientation and transition coordinators will be announced. The incoming VP’s will officially begin their terms at the start of May 2017.
