Dr. Ray Muzyka, '90 BMedSC, '92 MD
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
What’s the key to building an effective and engaging entrepreneurial mentorship program?
Dr. Ray Muzyka, '90 BMedSC, '92 MD
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
The UAlberta’s founding promise, “Uplifting the Whole People” provides a useful clue. Over the past eight years we’ve built a unique, vibrant, inclusive and diverse entrepreneurial community— one where both Mentors and entrepreneurs truly benefit from being active, engaged participants.
Volunteer mentorship programs must provide sustained value to everyone involved to attract and retain good people over time. With this in mind, we've always believed in focusing on entrepreneur and Mentor satisfaction and program quality. And though we’ve grown considerably since we first started back in 2013, we still embrace this same philosophy and core metrics.
To that end, as we continue to grow in 2020 and beyond, we’re focused on the power of an aligned, high-quality community and we’ll always ensure we’re meeting the needs of our stakeholders. As we grow, we’re adding new educational events for both entrepreneurs and Mentors, finding new ways to connect in this emerging virtual world during a global pandemic, and increasing the frequency of our Mentor rallies to allow us to bring in more entrepreneurs as word-of-mouth about the benefits of being part of our program continues to spread.
Personally, I can attest that working with entrepreneurs and my fellow Mentors in VMS is incredibly engaging and rewarding. As an active Mentor across multiple teams, I’ve found deep satisfaction in helping teams move forward, networking with amazing, passionate people across the program, and, through these interactions, continually leveling up myself!
we’re very focused on the power of an aligned, high quality community
True to the spirit of entrepreneurship, our program constantly seeks to grow and improve by integrating innovative ideas, feedback from all participants, and adjusting our programming based on our stakeholders’ needs. We’re always looking for new input—put up your hand if you see opportunities for us to improve and let our excellent and hard-working program admin team (Lazina McKenzie, Manager; Joe Di Fabio, Senior Lead; Debra Keehn, Program Support) know, or any of the fantastic volunteer members of the VMS Board of Advisors (VBA), Mentor Engagement Team (MET) or Entrepreneur Engagement Teams (EET), or the Excellent Education Committee (EEC). We want your feedback!
Thanks very much to our great admin team for their hard work, to the UAlberta for their ongoing support and to our donors, both private and commercial, for their much appreciated support. Thank you to all of our exceptional volunteer Mentors for the generous gift of their time and experience, and our wonderful entrepreneurs who make the experience so valuable (and fun!) for all of us serving as your Mentors.
The ThresholdImpact UAlberta Venture Mentoring Service is a program we can all collectively be proud of. I’m truly excited by where the program is headed and can’t wait to see what we accomplish this year and beyond.
Whether you are a UAlberta graduate, faculty or staff member seeking to grow your venture, or a seasoned business leader willing to share experience that can make a meaningful difference to our VMS teams, we invite you to join our community as we strive to empower passionate entrepreneurs building a range of diverse organizations.
The best is truly ahead of us and I’m truly honored to be a part of this community with you all :)
Sincerely,
Dr. Ray Muzyka CM, BMedSci, MD, CCFP, MBA
Founding Chair, ThresholdImpact UAlberta Venture Mentoring Service