GRIT Ed. 9 | Family Matters - Flipbook - Page 25
Leadership Volunteers: Q&A
Q: You joined EY last year as
for girls and emerging trends like
Q: Is there a particular project you
an
Business
distributed finance, blockchain and
are working on right now you are
consulting and volunteered as a
cryptocurrency. It is important to
excited about?
Mentor and interview panelist for
me to be a lifelong learner, so I try to
NEXT Canada shortly after. It is
find ways to learn about emerging
admirable you are volunteering
trends as well as topics that are
your time and expertise to our
interesting to me. At EY, we have a
community!
great learning platform, and I also
KB: Yes! I am currently supporting
an EY Ripples project that will
provide STEM-based opportunities
and exposure such as training,
materials and content through
a free app to underserved girls
between the ages of 13 - 18, and
this is currently being launched
in Canada. The EY STEM app will
provide training, content and
resources to help underserved girls
gain technical skillsets to pursue
careers in a technical industry, such
as technology, computer science,
mathematics and applied statistics.
My hope, as a result of focusing on
launching the EY STEM app in our
underserved communities, is that
we can bring awareness to girls
across the country, and they feel
empowered to join the technical
workforce in generations to come.
Associate
you
to
Partner,
What
become
motivates
involved
with
enroll in courses at Harvard Business
organizations like NEXT?
School and MIT’s Sloan School of
KB: I really enjoy this part of my
Management to keep up with these
profession. This is the part of my
trends.
job that brings me a meaningful
purpose of being a servant leader.
Q: With your over 20 years of
I
should
experience in finance, what would
contribute to our next generation
be your advice to our founders
of leaders and founders for the
around finding the right CFO?
betterment of society. I have a lot of
KB: For the Next 36 founders and
startups, they have a deep passion
for their ideas, and they may need
help to develop that passion into
something that can be tangible
and scale. And as a founder, they
are trying to think through every
aspect of their business. Every
startup is in a different growth
stage and cycle.
My advice is to have a CFO that
can be a good sounding board,
who is a good listener and can ask
you questions that will help you
think from a different perspective.
Founders should want to have
a CFO who can be adaptable,
flexible and dynamic, someone not
opposed to change or pivoting
when you fail. Someone who will
be there to support you as you
might change directions at the
speed of light. When selecting a
CFO, you may want someone who
can be detail oriented but also
have the vision to see the bigger
picture so that they can help you
focus on executing your vision. You
want someone who has a deep
understanding of the relationship
between the P&L and balance
sheets, and you want this person
to have a seat at the table to help
drive decisions for the company’s
strategic vision.
think
servant
leaders
passion for helping our new startup
founders so that they can leverage
my finance skill set and experience
as they start to think through their
business models. NEXT is such a
great organization to support and
be an active mentor for our future
leaders. I really enjoy meeting all our
new founders, understanding their
business ideas, and hearing their
passion as they talk through their
ideas, and I look forward to being a
sounding board and spending time
with the founders over the next few
months. I believe a rising tide lifts all
boats.
Q: In addition to your work at
EY, you do some angel investing.
What do you look for when you
are meeting new ventures as a
potential investor?
KB:
When
meeting
with
new
companies, I look for their passion
and the friction they are trying
to solve in their business model.
Usually, it can be what is relevant
to emerging trends, but also I look
at what interests me. As a working
mother, I am interested in ideas that
support children and purpose-driven
organizations that push humanity
forward. I am really passionate
about
STEM-based
opportunities
Q: You moved to Canada from the
US last year, what are you liking
about living in Toronto so far?
KB: Toronto is a beautiful city –
there is a lot to love about it. It
is a safe city and very easy to
get around, and I appreciate the
immense cultures and diversity.
Even though Toronto is the 4th
largest city in North America, it
doesn’t feel like it because there
are a lot of neighbourhoods
where you feel like you are part
of a smaller community. Since
relocating to Toronto from the
states during the pandemic, we
weren’t able to explore the city
during the lockdown as much,
but now I am trying to spend as
much time as possible learning
more about the city. As a sports
fan, I appreciate the fact there
are so many major sports teams
here; hockey, basketball, baseball,
soccer - the only thing missing is
American football.
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