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ABOUT US
HISTORY OF SLBC
The Smith Leadership in Business Conference was founded in 2012 by two second-year Queen’s Commerce students: Christian Alaimo and Russell Moore. Since debuting on October 25-26, 2013, SLBC is focused on uniting the most passionate student leaders at the Smith School of Business for a 3-day conference focused on improving and fulfilling their leadership potential.​
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In their first year at Queen’s, Alaimo and Moore had noticed that there were few opportunities devoted entirely to developing the leadership potential of students. The Queen’s Commerce Society is one of the largest and most successful undergraduate business societies in Canada. Consisting of 25 student-run committees and 12 world-class conferences, the Society offers a tremendous number of extracurricular opportunities. Additionally, there are leadership positions that students can take within the Smith School of Business that focused solely on leadership development.
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There was no initiative in place that helped aspiring leaders increase and fulfill their potential.
The Smith School of Business is home to some of the brightest and most ambitious business students in Canada. With the help of Commerce Society Executives and the Queen’s Commerce Program Executive Director, the Smith Leadership in Business Conference was designed to provide these intelligent and ambitious students with an opportunity to increase and fulfill their leadership potential.
After months of development and revision, the Queen’s Commerce Society officially approved the Smith Leadership in Business Conference to operate within the Commerce Society portfolio on November 11, 2012. The first SLBC Executive was hired one month later.
INTERACTION
Learn and network from some of the country’s most dynamic students
INSIGHTS
Hear from a variety of sponsors and speakers, all leaders in their industries
DEVELOPMENT
Discover and develop your own style of leadership
This proposal will outline the objectives and actions that Smith Leadership in Business Conference intends to execute in the short, medium and long term.
This process is not one that we took lightly, and is a result of the discrimination and lack of equity of the program that was brought to light in the summer of 2020. Like many others, we are in shock about the perpetual abuse that so many individuals at Smith experience throughout their time in the Commerce program. We would like to thank those individuals that had the courage to come forward and share their experiences with the world.
To prepare this document, we deliberately took the time to educate ourselves and learn more about our role in perpetuating these issues but also the opportunity we have to ignite change. This includes engaging in difficult and thoughtful conversations to critically analyze our current state and propose more inclusive alternatives.
In accordance with the Smith Commerce Society EDII review plan, we are determined to be disruptive in this space, embodying our core values of being relentlessly curious, community driven, encouraging authenticity and intentionally balanced.
OUR E.D.I.I Report
Equity Diversity Inclusion Indigeneity
DELEGATE TESTIMONIAL
I loved being an SLBC delegate because it was my first ever conference at Queen's that truly quick-started my journey. I learned how to be a good leader to others and myself, about other people’s experiences in the professional world as well as their personal experiences, how to present properly, and most of all I made new friends who were delegates and on the exec team. In some other conferences I attended, you could feel the exec looking down at you and it made my experience less pleasant. I loved how SLBC was so welcoming and how social the executive team was with the delegates.
MARIANNE WILLIAMS,
COMM '27
EXEC TESTIMONIAL
Joining SLBC has undoubtedly been one of my favourite aspects about being at Queen’s so far. First attending the conference as a delegate, I was welcomed by the exec and felt immediately part of the family and community, that is the Wolfpack. Now, as an exec, this remains true more than ever and I feel so empowered working with and learning from friends and leaders both in my academic and personal journey. I am so proud to be part of such a tight knit community and hope to inspire that same feeling for others planning to join. The cherry on top is learning from speakers and leaders within diversified industries and making lasting connections. Years later, I still remember those meaningful conversations and discussions back from being in 1st year and am immensely grateful for the realm of opportunities SLBC has given me.
