From Schulich Grad to Marketing Management: How did Hares’ CTPA Board Tenure Empower His Leadership Growth?
Hares Sivanrupan is currently serving his last year as a member of the Board for the Canadian Tamil Professionals Association as the Director of Mentorship and previously the Director of Network Engagement. He has been incredibly instrumental to the growth of CTPA in the last few years, and so we sat down with him to learn about his experience and what he has to say to his successor.
But before that, let’s get to know a little bit about him.
Hares is currently working as a Marketing Manager at TELUS where he plays a key role on the Accessory Go-To Market team. He is responsible for developing strategies to drive growth for the Accessory category within TELUS retail locations. He previously worked as a Client Marketing Specialist at LoyaltyOne, the parent company of the AIR MILES Reward Program. Hares discovered his passion for Marketing & Strategy at the Schulich School of Business where he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration. In his spare time, he enjoys volunteering, performing on the Miruthangam, and playing competitive basketball and volleyball. He is also an avid NBA fan.
What was his relationship with CTPA?
Hares had a fulfilling experience as a volunteer with CTPA since 2015, and since then, he had been inspired to continue his involvement with CTPA in a leadership capacity. Hares completed two years as a member on CTPA’s Board of Directors and his motivation has remained to create a positive impact on professionals within the Tamil community by creating career development opportunities. What Hares enjoys the most about CTPA is the exposure to bright and ambitious leaders who are willing to share their career experiences and inspire others. He looks forward to CTPA building a more connected and supportive community of professionals through their platform.
A Quick Q & A With Hares on His Experience:
Tell me 3 things you gained from being a BOD for 2 years.
1) Learning how to effectively manage teams and become a strong people leader. By serving on the Board of Directors you have an opportunity to lead a team of volunteers to success within your portfolio. Developing people leadership skills is part of my career development plan as I one day hope to manage a team of my own at work, and I had the unique opportunity of working on this skill through my Board experience. Throughout my 2 year tenure as a Director on the Board, I feel like I consistently got better as a leader and was able to help my volunteers have an amazing experience with CTPA and develop valuable skills that they were looking to build on within their own careers.
2) Building my Network – CTPA has truly allowed me to grow my network over the past 3 years. It is amazing how many people you get to meet both within your industry and profession and outside of it. Serving as the Director of Mentorship has also allowed me to build several professional relationships with established and emerging professionals that will be of value to me in my career.
3) Sense of Accomplishment from making meaningful impacts – Being on the Board of Directors puts you in a unique position to make a significant and meaningful impact on the community. I truly believe that I have been able to help individuals build their careers and make meaningful connections through the work that our team has done. Working with CTPA has also helped give me a strong sense of purpose, and when you know the hard work and effort you are putting forth is leading to positive outcomes for others, it is truly an amazing feeling that our team can forever be proud of!
Did you see growth in your career during your two terms? If so, how do you think CTPA contributed to this?
As mentioned earlier I definitely grew as a leader, particularly as a strong people leader. I got an opportunity to lead and manage projects end to end and this experience helped me secure new career opportunities as well. Earlier this year I transitioned between organizations and took on a new Marketing Manager role, and my CTPA experience helped me demonstrate my abilities and potential as a strong leader who can achieve amazing results in a collaborative team environment.
How would you describe the Directors on the Board you have worked with?
Our Board of Directors features an amazing and fun group of individuals with many brilliant minds. One of the best parts about being on CTPA is the BoD team. Such an amazing group of talented people to work with. The reason we were able to be as successful as we were and grow the organization tremendously is because of our ambitious team that worked extremely hard towards achieving our goals. In many ways, we almost operated like a start-up which is very exciting! Most importantly, this is a very fun group. Waking up for 9 am Sunday Board meetings was never a challenge because I knew we would have a great time while being very productive. I’m also happy to have built many life-long friendships through this team.
People must have asked you why you’re doing this (and for free). What was your motivation?
To make a positive impact on the community and to grow as a leader. I have been able to achieve both of these objectives through my Board tenure. As mentioned earlier, it was truly fulfilling to know that through our work we made an impact on our community and were able to improve lives. There was nothing more heartwarming this year as Director of Mentorship than to receive messages from mentees who thanked our team for matching them with amazing mentors who helped them grow their careers. That feeling of making a positive impact is very gratifying and outweighs other incentives I could’ve received.
What do you think is the most exciting thing CTPA has in store for the future?
Growth, growth, growth. It’s amazing to see how much we have grown over the past few years and we are just scraping the surface at the moment. I can’t wait to see how big we grow as we continue to get more funding and membership signups.
What makes CTPA different from just any community or professional organization?
Quality and quantity of programs and services. Our organization is extremely dedicated to providing great content to our members throughout the year and we work tirelessly to bring this to market.
And finally, what do you have to say to your successor?
There will be challenges and a lot of work, but it will be a rewarding experience, both for the community and members you serve and also for yourself. Enjoy the ride!
