A day in the life of a Board Member
8 February 2022
Youp Hafkamp • 73rd Board
Digital Systems Officer
My day starts with grabbing a cup of coffee. After discussing last evenings drink we had with our committee members I open my mailbox and check my agenda for the day. At 10.00 I have a brainstorm session with the developer to look for possibilities to innovate the website even more. The website is one of the IT systems I manage, next to Salesforce, Mailchimp and the Google Drive of every committee in the organization. There are endless opportunities for innovation and optimalization of the IT systems, which why it is often a general policy point of every board. I really like the fact that this part of my function gives the opportunity to be creative. Next to that I gain a lot of knowledge about the digital systems I potentially will also use later in my business career.
Next on my agenda is a meeting with the Sports committee, where we discussed potential sponsors for our ski trip. By supervising 4 committees my days are really varied, which I really like. After spending some hours behind your laptop it is nice to have physical meetings with committee members and brainstorm sessions with fellow board members.
In the afternoon I have some time to work on my own projects and to give every committee an update about how their event enrollments are going. Therefore I am in close contact with the marketing officer to align the website with the overall marketing. My workday ends with a call for a lunch reservation the next day with my committee, as we also like to do social activities together. When I close my laptop at the end of the day I feel satisfied, because I did a lot the whole day. In the evening it is time to have a diner with my fellow board members to celebrate the success of the latest career event.
Maaike van den Boom • 72nd Board
Innovation Officer
My day starts with grabbing 3 cups of coffee and a tea for myself and my fellow board members. After discussing last evening’s online beer tasting event we had with our committee members it is time to open my mailbox, answer questions from committee members and check my agenda. It is already time to go to the first meeting; with the Green Office, the sustainability platform at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
This year we work on three policy points and one of them is CSR, where an official partnership with the Green Office is one of our goals. In this meeting we discuss how we can make Aureus more sustainable and we look for the possibilities to create a long term plan. After the meeting we briefly go over the most important points, we evaluate our new waste separation bins and I immediately plan a new meeting to work on this policy point together. We made some good steps today!
Next on the agenda is a meeting with the faculty. Making difficult decisions is something we have to do a lot this year. This week we have to decide if we will launch a new service. Discussing this strategic decision with the faculty gives us some more feedback and support which can be very helpful.
Before the final meeting of the day I have some time to work on my own project and the long term policy of Aureus. I have to make a few calls for an interesting new project.
After a physical meeting with the Speaker Series Committee, where we discussed the speakers who will come to the debate event it is time for our board evening. The boys will cook a nice dinner and we will have some drinks.
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