Speaker: Brian Lewis Albanese Branding & Communications Being Authentic

Hamza Kakakhel 0747496 C09

Summary Brian Lewis started off his career working with charity and non-profit sports and health organization. As such Lewis spent has spent 20 years in sports marketing. Lewis is a great promoter of Hamilton and its heritage. He believes there are great opportunities and great sources of inspiration. He is one of the driving forces behind Hamilton Hall of Fame, and is now working with the Albanese Branding and Communications. Lewis spoke about the initiatives that he runs in the community along with Hamilton Hall of Fame. One of the key initiatives he is involved in is the Pathfinders Project. This initiative cooperates with the local school boards, and the media to promote athleticism and sports among the young. Lewis started off with no formal training in marketing but worked his way through to make a mark in the industry. His contacts and his efforts brought him to the forefront. He mentioned that when he had a meeting with a marketing official in one of his endeavours he was annoyed with his response regarding his initiative, not because the professional marketer was wrong but because he was right. Lewis argued that one should take it upon themselves to create their own jobs. He also argued that such actions will lead to better quality of life for the Hamiltonians. Evaluation The methodology promoted by the speaker was very vague. He is lacking passion, and doesnt do much to engage the audience. In fact most of his presentation consisted of Hall of Famers who hail from Hamilton and their inspirational stories. His career story is not inspirational either. He has no professional training and seems to have lead his career on whom he knows rather than what he knows. Application One of the prime applications from this presentation was getting governmental and private funding for a non-profit organization. The presenter showed his success in attracting philanthropists, local and national businesses, and local and national governments towards his cause. He also promoted non-formal learning, which he believes accounts for some of his success. The promotion of non-formal education is rather misguided. No one will argue that formal education guarantees success in career but it has a better rate than those who have none. There is no consistency in non-formal education. 1

Dib, Claudio Zaki. "University of So Paulo." American Institute of Physics (1987): 300-315.

Speaker: Andrew Tefler Wal-Mart Canada Observations of a Sustainability Professional

Hamza Kakakhel 0747496 C09

Summary Andrew Tefler started his journey by completing his bachelors in geography from University of British Columbia. Soon after he joined General Mills as a sales representative, this led him to a career in consulting with firm known as Nielson. While working at Nielson he was put on a project with Wal-Mart which led him to taking up a permanent position at Wal-Mart. There he became the head of the Sustainability Program. He is also currently mentors at the University of Ottawa. He is also a great promoter of collaboration among the various retail organizations and is the member of Canada retail council in which the members come together to discuss sustainability and environmental issues. The key point that Tefler tried to drive home was that during his work as a sustainability career he has learned that the bottom line is still key to getting any initiative through in a profit-based organization. In terms of employment and career advice, Tefler strongly believes in it is not what you know, it is who you know, theory. He is a strong promoter of social media, in-person networking and keeping in touch with your colleagues. He believes that coffee meetings arent the right approach to creating contacts.