How has your experience as science representative prepared you for this position?

My experience as a representative prepared me to serve the students  and hear what students want and that’s different from representing myself on legislative council. I think this position requires connecting between students because we’re here to manage student fees and provide maximum resources for students. That  experience has helped me understand what students want. For example, during the occupations I held special office hours on Thursday night in Burnside basement. 

What other kind of experience do you have that would help with the VP Finance and Operations position?

I was working in the operation management committee and at the financial ethical review committee. I also directly worked with the student run cafe working group. I was involved in small student clubs such as QMG and WikiNotes. Some clubs have never heard that SSMU has funding for them, and some of them have never heard about [the] campus life fund. The application process is hard for small and new clubs, because they don’t have the resources to start from scratch. The SSMU funds clubs based on audit scores, and this audit score [is] hard to understand as a non-management student. 

What do you think is the most important issue facing the VP FOPS next year?

I can see the biggest issue being coordinating between different projects and operations and the renovations at the same time.  This summer, Gerts and the second floor are undergoing renovations and Gerts will be closed for renovations. SSMU doesn’t know how much revenue they’re going to lose. With incoming operations such as the café, the biggest challenge will be to manage both new operations, old operations, and the renovations.

What did you like about the way this year’s VP FOPS ran their job, and what would you do differently?

I really liked that this VP Finance worked very hard on the the student run café, including in the working group and a financial review committee. He was really proactive this year. Shyam did a really good job of accomplishing the second ethical business purchasing policy that’s going to come out. Additionally, I want to improve the Marketplace. We need to better manage this website to streamline the user experience. 

If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?

Maybe seeing the future.