Leaders Of Tomorrow Podcast

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris Thomson is going to start a series of conversations with some of our successful rookies, people who are off to a great start and who are going to talk about their impressions and the lessons they learned after their first months into our program.   In today’s show, Chris is going to talk to Alexander Rutenberg, a third-year student at Queens and a t...

In today's show, we are going to re-broadcast our interview with Paul Flick, one of our successful alumni, who has 20 years of leadership and management experience in the franchising industry.  Paul is the CEO and Founder of Premium Service Brands (a company that offers multiple services in the home services space) and 360 Degree Painting (a painting franchise company whereas Premium). Paul was a...

Today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow is going to be a special one as we are going to share our latest President's Club call, where we selected 10 of our best operators to share best practices and tips on how to run a successful business within our program.   You are going to learn what are some of the amazing things that we're doing at the Student Works Management Program to create the incredibl...

In today’s show, Chris interviews William Chyz , Managing Director at Traynor Ridge Capital Inc. William, a former student painter, currently helps HNI’s with their alternative investments.    We start this show with William sharing his backstory.    As a high school student, William did not have much idea about what he was going to do with his life. So, after working some odd jobs, when he joined...

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris Thomson chats with Chris Mills, an amazing young leader who was an operator and a business coach in our program between 2009 and 2013.   After graduating from our program, he got involved in the hospitality business and worked as a senior market manager at Airbnb for about five years.   Today, Chris is the vice president of sales at Rented — A Trave...

In today’s show, Chris interviews Simon Miller , Senior Principal Managing Partner at Workday Canada . Simon shares the most important attributes which enabled him to overcome personal challenges and rise through the corporate ranks. This show starts with Simon sharing his background information. Growing up in abject poverty and being subjected to emotional and mental abuse by his step-father fuel...

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris Thomson has another fascinating and inspiring interview with Patrick Lalonde, VP at Student Works.   In today’s show, Patrick is going to talk about the nature of being successful in the world, some important mindset concepts that we use regularly at Student Works and the way those different concepts work together to really pull people towards succe...

In this episode, Chris interviews Jonathan Suther, co-founder, SimpleTax. Jonathan shares how grit, ingenuity and focus can help you quit your corporate job, follow your dreams, and start your business.   This show starts off with Jonathan sharing his background information and his life before Student Works. Did Jonathan always have a huge appetite for hard work? Jonathan shares some inspiring (an...

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris has another conversation with Luke Fenn and Devon Thomson, business coaches at Student Works Management Program. This time they discuss getting off to an unbelievably fast start for 2023, what they have seen from the incredible results that they've co-created with all the operators they worked with, and will share some lessons they’ve learned and so...

In this episode, Chris interviews Amer Abu Shakra , Business Owner, Student Works Painting. Amer shares his SIX rules of success that helped him hit the all-time high sales record of $500,000 at Student Works. This show starts with Amer sharing some background information with listeners. Born in Jordan, Amer is truly thankful for the excellent opportunity that Student Works has given him. Amer was...

In this day and age, is it even possible to launch greenfield projects that allow you to exploit the first-mover advantage? On today’s show, we interview the incredibly successful serial entrepreneur Josh Campbell who shares with us his wisdom on exploration, product differentiation, and taking the path less trodden. We start this show with Josh revealing some of the biggest lessons that he learne...

Ever wondered what the world of investment banking looks like? And about the pressures and challenges that bankers go through on a daily basis? On today’s show, we have with us Garth Friesen who shares with us distilled wisdom on resilience, investing vs. trading, and risk management. 19-year-old Garth got into Student Works just because “his friends were doing it”. And while he already had the bo...

What is the ONE thing that could help you realize your most audacious goals? If you want your life to get better and better, you can’t do it without integrity. But, what does integrity really mean? In the simplest terms, integrity means that you are honoring your word. However, in today’s show, Chris and Patrick share a more thoughtful and detailed definition of “integrity”: Doing what to do, doin...

In today’s show, Chris interviews, Brett Bergmann , COO, Solar Panda. Growing up, young Brett was totally confused by the myriad of options available in front of him. There were a whole bunch of ways he wanted to go, but he had little idea how to get there. This is when the Student Works opportunity came knocking. Running a painting business and managing a crew of people at a young age had a trans...

In today’s show, Chris interviews Chris Reynolds, Founder and Managing Partner at Venn Capital Partners. Chris kickstarts today’s show by sharing a bit of a backstory. As a young professional, Chris was (and still is) a hustler with a big engine for work.  Like most people at that young age, Chris wasn’t sure about what he wanted to do career-wise. So, to get clarity, he took up various summer job...

In this show, Chris interviews, Andrew MacGillivray, Director, HomeDepot. Andrew reveals how he went from being lazy and uninspired to the top of the corporate chain at one of the largest organizations in the world.    How did Andrew achieve this amazing personal transformation? In the first segment of the show, you will learn how his Student Works stint helped Andrew find focus and drive.   What...

In today’s show, Chris interviews Jamie-Lee Bongard , Team Leader, Keller Williams Experience. Jamie shares some of the best practices which make Keller Williams a force to reckon with within the real estate space.   This shows starts with Jamie recalling her life before Student Works. As a teenager, like many of her Student Works counterparts, Jamie, a motivated individual was always up for a goo...

Nick R. Eaves served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at Woodbine Entertainment Group , Inc. Now, he is the Chief Venues & Operations Officer at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment . Nick is an alumnus of Student Works , and today I had a chance to speak to him of the benefits the program provided him. He shared a lot on this episode. He talked about up until this day; he never does anyt...

Today we wanted to offer you something really special for our 300 episode of Leaders of Tomorrow podcast. And because many of our leaders listening to the show asked Chris to turn the microphone around and speak about his own experience with the Student Works Management Program, we thought it would be a great idea to do exactly that. So, today’s episode is going to be led by John Cameron, one of o...

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris Thomson talks to Chris Chapman, an amazing leader whose journey to success started some decades ago with Student Works Management Program. Today, Chris has an incredible career. He is a partner & managing director at MNP,  the largest, national and mid-market focused accounting and advisory firm in Canada Previously he worked as a national leader fo...

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris continues his conversation with Luke Fenn and Devon Thomson, Business Coaches at the Student Works Management Program.   This time they discuss the different steps and processes of the program that happen between June and the end of the season.   You will find out more details about the most important focuses of the program in June and August.   Luk...

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris talks to Zak Lefevre, co-founder and CEO at ChargeLab, a company that builds OCPP-Compliant software for managing EV charging stations. They are the back-end software behind North America's leading EV fleets, charging networks, and charging sites. Zak’s entrepreneurial journey started with Student Works back in 2011 and, like most of our alumni, he...

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris talks to Austin Trudeau one of our amazing alumni who believes that our program changed his life and made it possible to become who he is today. Austin is a franchise owner at Rydel Franchise Group and he is very passionate about business development, systemization, and leadership.  You will find out a little bit about Austin’s background and how St...

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris talks to Cade Savoy from Frederington, one of our amazing operators and rookie of the year who completed  $340,000 with the business. Cade started as a painter in his first year and became a production manager, sales manager and Operations Manager in his second year. As a result of his experience, he managed to build a profitable business from the f...

In today's episode of Leaders of Tomorrow, Chris talks to Luke Den Tandt, one of our alumni who works as a Strategic Account Manager at Stromcore, a cutting-edge lithium battery manufacturer based out of the GTA.  Luke was one of our top operators back in 2017, he sold and produced over $250,000 in house painting and staining projects and completed 40+ projects over the course of 2 summers. In his...