Over 80 people were in attendance at the first Business Kickstart event, which was a great success.
Bruce talked about his career path that led him to his present position as one of the top managers of Canada’s largest sporting goods retailer. FGL Sports Ltd (formally Forsani Group) employs 15,000 people, has 400 locations and generates over 2.5 billion in retail sales every year. Bruce, who is a UBC Bachelor of Commerce graduate, started his career at CIBC and this transitioned into working for one of his best clients, the very successful entrepreneur Kevin Jardine and Sport Mart. After working with Kevin on his leadership team to see Sport Mart grow from 8 stores to over 50, Bruce left to become a sessional instructor for the School of Business and Economics at TRU. Bruce was headhunted to come and work for Forsani Group when Kevin Jardine sold them his 70 store Sport Mart retail chain.
Bruce reflected on his most important career decisions that impacted his path to success. He shared a video highlighting the exciting new flagship store for Sport Chek opening in West Edmonton Mall. This Sport Chek location has taken the “in-store” experience to a whole new level. Hearing about this forward-thinking marketing first hand was very exciting.
Bruce imparted his view on how to be successful and quoted the coach of the Canadian National Women’s Soccer team, John Herdman who said, “Vision, passion, and discipline gives results.” Some of Bruce’s key points included:
– Everyone can be a leader.
– Do what you say you are going to do.
– Take risks.
– Don’t be afraid of failure… that is how you learn.
Bruce said that a Business degree is more relevant now than ever before. He gave away over $5,000 in sporting goods to the audience for answering questions and after his presentation stayed on hand to meet with students and other attendees.
The next Business Kickstart event is coming up November 17, Monday 5 pm in the Irving K. Barber Centre in the House of Learning. The guest speaker will be Tom Gaglardi. Tom is president of Northland Properties Association, and owner of the Dallas Stars, the Texas Stars and part owner of the Kamloops Blazers.
