New BOSS at Lakehead has entrepreneurial spirit and energy
November 13, 2014
A young entrepreneur has joined the student body at Lakehead University in Orillia, and as the newly elected president of the Business Orillia Student Society (BOSS), has great plans for the student organization.
Andrew Ault, 19-years-old, is a student in Lakehead’s Honours Bachelor of Commerce program, and hopes to bring his background and interest in business and sustainable development to the student-run BOSS.
What kind of background does a 19-year-old have in business, you wonder? According to his LinkedIn profile, Ault has quite a bit! At the age of 16 he invented a new energy-saving product called “Energy Boss;” then started his own marketing company at the age of 17; and in 2012 won the “Innovation Youth of the Year” award from the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre.
After graduating from high school in his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ault decided he wanted to get into politics, so he headed to Ottawa and landed a position as a parliamentary intern. While an intern, he studied Public Affairs and Policy Management at Carleton University.
“During my work in Ottawa, I quickly saw the value of understanding business to formulate practical public policy.” Ault began a search for university business programs and was attracted to Lakehead University in Orillia because of the “small college feel” and the program.
“Lakehead stood out among all of the business schools I looked at because of its interdisciplinary emphasis and cross-enterprise perspective,” said Ault. “Ideas from the liberal arts and sciences, along with a foundation of all functional areas of business is critical to solving complex problems in the 21st century,” he added.
Never expecting to run for president of BOSS in his first year at Lakehead, Ault says that he found it easy to get involved on campus. “There are so many opportunities here,” he said, “and if opportunity doesn’t knock, the school is very supportive of its students building new doors.”
Once he takes the BOSS helm in November, Ault will work with his executive and student members on a number of goals. These include building a partnership with Georgian College Orillia; developing services in business consulting and green product development; organizing career speed-dating nights; and hosting a business case competition at the University.
One of the first projects BOSS is working on is the partnership with Georgian. The group is planning a joint event where BOSS at Lakehead will be introduced to Georgian students and encouraged to form a business society at Georgian. “Together we’ll be better than the sum of our parts,” said Ault. “It will be a fusion of insights, including the practical emphasis at Georgian with the theory of our studies at Lakehead.”
With a good foundation built under the leadership of fellow Lakehead University business students, including past-president Mason Ainsworth, Ault looks forward to taking BOSS to new heights. “By being exceptional and unconventional, I’m confident that BOSS will grow to become one of the University’s most valuable assets.”
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Andrew Ault, 19-years-old, is a student in Lakehead’s Honours Bachelor of Commerce program, and hopes to bring his background and interest in business and sustainable development to the student-run BOSS.