Step Aboard! • A board year at Aureus with Arvind Naipal

My first experience with Aureus was the European Study Trip to Lisbon in my first year. A week of company visits, cultural activities and, of course, experiencing nightlife in Lisbon! After Lisbon, I decided to apply for committee membership and got accepted to organize the European Study Trip to Istanbul. The social activities of Aureus combined with organizing events was something I really enjoyed. You get to know a lot of new people each year and you make a lot of new friends. In my second year at Aureus, we also got challenged on improving events and got involved in the strategy of Aureus through the Commercial Team Committee and, as time passed by, my interest in becoming a board member became stronger.

In 2015 – 2016, I applied for Controller of the 67th Aureus board. At the time, I didn’t know how amazing the experience would be. With eight board members, we were responsible for building the future of Aureus, making strategic choices and work together with 180 committee members to make sure we could satisfy the social and career needs of 4000 students. As Controller, I was responsible for the budgeting and planning of Aureus as a whole and making sure that all decisions were sustainable for the future. As board member you also have to help each other, so besides my own position, I worked closely with the Innovation Officer and the Commercial Officer. Throughout the year, I got to know more and more about the other seven functions of the board.

One of the bigger projects we worked on strategically as the board was creating a new website which would fit within a data-driven environment. The change towards a data-driven environment takes a lot of input from different stakeholders (e.g. our members, our business partners, the Faculty). Working on such a big project with the board was a great experience and is still of great value for Aureus. But besides the work itself, the greatest experience was not only working with our fellow students, but also having a lot of fun with all 180 members.

Through my experience with Aureus, I developed myself professionally and personally, and I knew what aspects I really enjoyed within a working environment. In the end this brought me in contact with my current employer ING Bank – one of the three main partners of Aureus – where I work within the International Talent Programme as Finance Trainee for the coming four years.

Are you interested in what a board year will bring you? Click here for more information about the 8 different positions, their responsibilities, and the selection procedure!