Join us on Monday, October 17th 2011 to celebrate BDC’s Small Business Week with two compelling speakers:
- WHEN: 5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. October 17, followed by networking reception.
- WHERE: HSBC Hall (C680), UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver
- REGISTRATION: No cost and open to the public – but make sure to reserve a space!
Please follow this link to RSVP your attendance by Thursday, October 13. - LIVE WEBCAST:Not in Vancouver? No problem – tune in to our live webcast to engage with the speakers at http://bit.ly/biztalk_sba. Please note that this will not be active until the event night.
About our Speakers
Paul Cubbon (Website)
Paul Cubbon is a Marketing Instructor in the Sauder School of Business at UBC. He teaches marketing in the MBA programs, and has been a member of the core Faculty team since 2005. He also teaches in a range of Executive programs, and many Bachelor of Commerce courses.
His interests are in marketing communication, customer behaviour, innovation and competition, and e-business – and how these combine to influence management practice so organizations can be truly customer serving. In all aspects of his work, Paul is interested in helping others become curious about learning, looking at situations in different ways, facilitating improved teamwork and linking theory to action.
Paul has taught a wide range of courses, focusing on advertising, digital/Web marketing, innovation and entrepreneurship – but also including an emphasis on branding and reputation, consumer behaviour and customer experience.
Paul has designed/re-designed a number of courses, and uses different approaches to engage learners more effectively. He recently led the design and team implementation of Comm101 (dubbed “the un-lecture.”) This course provides an engaging, interactive and applied introduction to business for all first-year Sauder undergraduates.
Paul’s teaching and training philosophy involves a high level of interaction (both face-to-face and online) and the use of many real and current examples to illustrate good and bad practice. In this way, learners are encouraged to develop their own toolkit that they can take away and put into use immediately.
In 2011, he was awarded the Sauder “Talking Stick” for pedagogical innovation. Paul has been a student short-listed nominee for the MBA teaching excellence award in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Paul’s career in industry includes three years in advertising, working for J. Walter Thompson, and 10 years with Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods multinational, where he undertook major assignments in marketing and sales. He played lead roles in several substantial organizational change initiatives, including the establishment of a global innovation centre. His portfolio responsibilities grew progressively to include Europe and substantial interaction with Latin America and North America.
Paul continues to consult in industry, where his work involves using his customer-orientation and problem-solving skills to facilitate change-management programs for organizations facing major challenges or opportunities. These include high-tech start-ups, traditional manufacturing or service organizations, and government agencies. He is involved in a wellness start-up and a social media agency focused on the travel sector.
Paul holds a B.A. Honours degree from Oxford University, and an MBA from Simon Fraser University.
George Moen (Website)
George Moen proudly describes himself as a Serial Entrepreneur. With more than 30 years of experience in food and franchising, he specializes in transitioning small businesses into big business success stories.
George entered into his first business venture while still a student at UBC studying marketing and commerce. With a couple of classmates, George launched the Sandwich Tree chain of restaurants. While this venture has morphed significantly over the years, he still maintains interest in the chain.
As a technically inclined individual, his curiosity was piqued as the Internet gained a foothold in the business realm. As a result of that curiosity, George managed to successfully experience both the Dot.Boom and the Dot.Bomb. He continues to maximize the potential of the Internet today with growing success in social media and its marketing opportunities.
As a sports aficionado, he also built a partnership with a computer programmer and a prominent professional hockey player/coach and developed a coaching program that is in use by minor hockey league coaches.
As a socially motivated and motivating individual, George learned that his successes could most often be attributed to support from his long-time friends and business contacts. Recognizing that people do business with people they know and trust, he became a proponent of the philosophy that by sharing your Rolodex, you have the potential to build deep trust-based relationships. Again, within a strong partnership, he built a business networking organization that grew to over 500 members in its first year, and has continued to prosper.
George was appointed President of Blenz The Canadian Coffee Company in February 2007. His mandate is to support the original three founders of Blenz to transition towards strategic planning and directorship of the popular coffee retail chain. “The founders of Blenz had the courage to start, the commitment to keep going and the discipline to constantly innovate,” George says. “It’s allowed us to be able to grow a successful business in the biggest coffee market in the world. It’s a pleasure to work in an environment that is properly capitalized and to participate in pioneering the next great stage of expansion for Blenz.”
The final word from this Serial Entrepreneur: “I’ve always had an unquenchable thirst for learning – new ways to think about the world we work in and better ways to respond to an ever-changing marketplace. When you act only out of necessity, you’ll only achieve what’s necessary. I encourage everyone to pay attention, read, network and stay connected to local, national and international mediums. Then pick your passion and pursue it.”
On the personal side, George lives in Vancouver with his wife, Sarah Moen, who is one of the co-founders of Blenz The Canadian Coffee Company, and is very proud of his two successful adult children.