MBA Student Profile – Lindsay Angelo, MPID, Vancouver 2010 Olympics

This post will serve as the root page for what is an ongoing and exciting profile story of recent SFU MBA graduate, Lindsay Angelo. Through a combination of both interviews and first person accounts, A Few Good Minds will track the burgeoning career of this recent MBA Grad. At the bottom of this post are the links with descriptions for different parts of her story and her career adventure thus far after finishing her MBA coursework in August 2008. There is also a link describing the lead-up to her enrollment at SFU in Vancouver after receiving an undergrad from George Mason University in the USA.

Each link will bring you to a separate post on each of the two rotations Lindsay has completed at BC Hydro thus far, as well as a third link describing her Vancouver Olympic Secondment position.

Lindsay’s story is particularly noteworthy due to her unique ability (both taught and innate) to seek and pursue any opportunity that she views as being able to advance her career.

“When I heard about the BC Hydro “Managers and Professionals in Development” (MPID) program in one of my Career Management sessions, I immediately knew it was something I wanted to do. The program was ideal; four half-year rotations in different functional areas of the second largest corporation in the province. I knew that this was a perfect opportunity to solidify some of my MBA knowledge while gaining experience in several different roles. I would then be able to make a better judgment about the direction I want my career to go in the future.”

Lindsay applied and was admitted into BC Hydro’s highly sought after Managers and Professionals in Development Program (only 1.5% of the more than 700 applicants are accepted) in January of 2009.

This past August, during a short vacation in California, Lindsay received an all-staff email from Bob Elton, CEO of BC Hydro. The email was sent requesting any interested staff to apply for a secondment position with the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. In a BC Hydro Press Release the company stated that as part of its Official Supporter partnership, BC Hydro will provide secondments of personnel, as well as the temporary use of some BC Hydro properties and electrical connection equipment during the Vancouver 2010 Games. Secondments are a critical need for the games, as they allow for the temporary transfer of a highly qualified employee from their regular organization to a one or two month assignment at the games. BC Hydro will be “lending” nearly 100 members of their staff for several critical Olympic positions.

“I immediately sent an email to my boss. I wanted to make sure that although my vacation plans had me returning to Vancouver a day after the deadline that I could still be considered for one of the positions. A month later I accepted a secondee position as a Village Plaza and Events Supervisor, it was a great moment. I’m extremely lucky to be working for such a fantastic employer, one that allows staff to pursue once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like working for the Olympic Games in Vancouver.”

• Read about Lindsay’s decision to enroll in the SFU MBA program




• Read about Lindsay’s 1st rotation in the Engineering, Aboriginal Relations and Generation (EARG)    Project management role




• Read about Lindsay’s 2nd rotation in the field, involving some organizational change




• Read about Lindsay’s Olympic Secondment and her plans beyond Vancouver 2010




• Read Lindsay’s Vancouver Olympic – MBA Poem




• Learn more about the BC Hydro Managers and Professionals in Development (MPID) Program

We look forward to bringing you Lindsay’s story and the stories of several other current students and graduates as we help to connect SFU MBA grads and follow them in their careers.