Name: Mariëlle van Ballegooijen
Function: Vice-Chairman of Asset Strategy & Logistics
Education: MSc Supply Chain Management
Why did you want to spend a board year?
After being an active member for two years (secretary of the TRIP4you committee 2015, and chairman of the Activities committee and Promotion Committee 2015-2016), and being involved with S&L for a while longer already (if you don’t know, this coming trip to Dublin will be my lustrum trip :D) I found it was time to develop myself even further than I already had by my work in a committee, and to lead this amazing association to the best of my abilities. I wanted to learn how to present, learn what it takes to work and succeed after hard work, but most of all I liked how close-knit previous boards have been and I hoped to find this as well. After my committee work I found I was searching for more experiences and challenges and and felt I was ready to find out what happens ‘behind the scenes’, thus doing a board year was the most logical choice.
How is your typical week as a board member?
The week always starts with a board meeting on Monday morning, from 9:00h until 13:00h. After that I have my so-called roomduty that goes on until 17:00h. This means that I am the board member that is on the rooms to answer questions from students or sell guidelines. Of course you can leave or plan meetings, but it is your responsibility that the rooms are always occupied. Every other week I have a ‘webbies meeting’ on Tuesday that lasts about one hour. One department has a representative at that meeting to discuss the best plans and options for the website of the departments and of Asset itself. Wednesday I have a weekly meeting called AA, this is not because I drink too much, no this is the Asset Academy. All departments send their Vice-Chairman to this meeting and they discuss the promotion of Asset and its parties, and how to properly position Asset as a brand. On Thursday I have BE-cluster. Along with the Vice-Chairmen of SBIT, Marketing and Accounting & Finance, we are responsible for promoting Asset at the first and second year bachelor students of Business Economics. Furthermore, I have weekly committee meetings, other small meetings, and lots of evening activities.
What have you enjoyed the most with the board work?
Difficult question, especially in the beginning everything is new and exciting and but it can be a bit overwhelming so I did enjoy a lot of things, but everything happens so quickly you almost forget to enjoy it, if that makes sense to you all. However, I have truly enjoyed getting to know so many people that have the same interests, looking both department-specific (supply chain management and strategic management ways of thinking) and faculty-wide (other board members with the same interests in leading their department the best they can).
What have you learned the most from your time as a board member?
You definitely learn a lot in a board year. You learn how to work together with other people, and how to be a team leading an association. You learn how to ask more than what is said and you learn not to assume things. Also, you go back to the basics of asking ‘why’ excessively to get to the bottom of an issue, to make the best decision for the association, the members and the board. You learn how to handle certain situations, which can help you further in life and in your future job. Furthermore, you learn how to be a unity towards other departments in quests that are discussed in the general board of Asset (all chairmen of all departments, including the independent chairman of Asset), due to the fact that it is important to have one opinion as a department and not to counteract what your other board members have said. You learn more than this, but this is more learning-by-doing, which means I cannot put my finger on precisely what I have learned but looking back to the start of the year I have acquired more skills.
How is it to do a board year without excessive alcohol consumption?
Haha, good question. As most of you might know (or now you do) I do not drink very much. I make the occasional exception for a nice cocktail, however the target of getting me to drink beer (and getting me drunk) has still not been reached, not even by a long shot (luckily :P). I have grown accustomed to being the sober one at parties, and I can definitely handle intoxicated people up until some point. When the point has been reached that people get too drunk around me, I just leave the party. That way I have truly enjoyed myself, while others do too. So it takes some adjusting, but the experience will not be different.
How would you describe the S&L atmosphere?
Do pardon my Dutch but I would describe it as ‘Brabantse Gezelligheid’. You can always walk in for a cup of coffee or tea, a chat, a game of Tricky Towers, with questions, or for a beer. Furthermore, with the DoMiBo’s and the beer pong table and all the other things going on next to working I can say we do not take ourselves too seriously. Yes we are board members, but we are still students, and we intend to act like it!
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