A board year as Chairman at Asset | Accounting & Finance – Luc van Eijk

for the dutch version, click here.

As Chairman, Luc is responsible for Asset | Accounting & Finance policy and external communication to parties such as Asset and the University. He also coordinates A&F Investments and the Alumni Committee. In this article, Luc explains what his position entails and how he spends his days as Chairman of Asset | Accounting & Finance.

In this article, I want to share with you my story as Chairman of perhaps one of the most special years of my life.

Personally, I have not regretted for a second making my choice for a board year. However, I often get the question, “What do you actually do every day?” In this article, I want to answer that and get rid of that question once and for all. I will take you through an “average” week as Chairman of Asset | Accounting & Finance.

Monday

09.00h: Every Monday we start with the regular board meeting. This starts at 09.00 by default, provided everyone is on time. We always do this in our rooms in building E (above Café Esplanade), where we can basically be found all week. During the meeting, we discuss a lot of different topics; the daily tasks, our committees, events, all relevant topics at Asset General level and, of course, we also chat about our weekends.

13.00h: After this meeting, we often have lunch together and then everyone goes back to work on their own tasks. I often prepare meetings that I am going to have this week. In addition, after our board meeting, I always prepare for Tuesday morning’s Asset General level meeting. The rest of the day I am busy with smaller tasks. For instance, I searched for Alumni who want to speak about their career path for an info session we organise for students. I also reviewed small reports from students participating in the Certificate of Extracurricular Excellence for both Accountancy and Finance. This is a certificate which we run jointly with the Accountancy and Finance departments of the university and I coordinate it.

16.30h: I go for a drink with Lotte, last year’s Chairman of A&F. I can spar with her about all sorts of things and, of course, we have also become very good friends since I became active in A&F.

Tuesday

9.30h: Tuesday morning begins with an Asset General level meeting, namely GB. This is a meeting with all the chairmen of the Asset departments, the EBT and the MAK (supported by Asset). Within the Asset general board, I am the Public Relations Coordinator, which means I am the coordinator of all Asset’s Vice-Chairmen and am the final person responsible for the parties we organise with Asset such as the Asset Kick-Off Party, the Pre-Carnaval Party and our activities during TOP week. I am also responsible for contacting Asset’s external stakeholders. GB is chaired by Sasha van den Hoek the current Independent Chairman. Even though it can sometimes be a bit chaotic sitting together with all the chairmen, GB is often one of the more enjoyable meetings of the week. You find out what is going on in other departments and what they are up against.

13.00h: After the GB meeting, we always have lunch together with our A&F board at 13:00. This is always a nice moment in the week. We discuss the latest gossip and often talk about the parties and get-togethers we’ve had. As you may have noticed, we deliberately don’t talk about A&F-related matters. After all, we do this enough during the rest of the week. I am not joining them for lunch because I am having lunch later with Judith and Joyce from university.

“As Chairman, I am mainly responsible for liaising with the university. We help each other and spar on various topics such as education, student development and our formal events.”

14.00h: So later I have lunch with Joyce Ladenstein from Student Career Services and with Judith Künneke she is the Academic Director of the university’s Accountancy department. As Chairman, I am mainly responsible for liaising with the university. We help each other and spar on various topics such as education, student development and our formal events. Usually our meetings are online, but a few times a year we also go for lunch together. We speak to each other once every three weeks, but I also have a lot of email contact with both of them.

The meetings with all stakeholders not only ensure that there is good contact with the other parties, which we as Asset | Accounting & Finance deal with, but you also get to know everyone personally and build nice relationships.

Wednesday

10.00h: This morning I have a meeting with Peter de Goeij and Leontine van der Heijden, the Academic Director and Education Coordinator of the Finance Department, and once again Joyce joins us. We discuss the usual things and the next edition of Banking Days. Together with Michelle, I am already working hard on the next edition. Thanks to the discussions with Peter and Joyce, I have started to see more and more which master’s degree I would like to do. We discuss not only business things, but also often the personal things like the weekend and my choice of study. At the beginning of the year, I did not yet have a clear idea of which master’s I wanted to choose. Because I often have conversations with the university and speak to different companies at our events, I got a clear picture of both Accountancy and Finance.
14.00h: Wednesday afternoon I always have the Public Relations Meeting (PM) which I lead and coordinate. Together with all the Vice-Chairmen of all Asset departments, including our own Vice-Chairman Julia, I am responsible for Asset’s membership recruitment and the organisation of our big parties. So we discuss the progress in organising the COdE cantus and other Asset events, among others. During the summer, we are also responsible for all the activities Asset organises during TOP week. During this week, we try to introduce all new students to our association. The rest of the afternoon I am also usually busy with tasks I have to do arising from the PM meeting.
19.00h: On Wednesday evening, the Investment Night committee cooked dinner for the entire A&F board. We had a nice dinner and drinks together. We do this with all the committees and these are of course nice perks of your board year.

Thursday

11.00h: Today, a FAN meeting is on the agenda. The FAN (Financial Association Netherlands) is a consultative body of different financial study associations within the Netherlands: the FSA (Amsterdam), FSR (Rotterdam), SCOPE (Maastricht) and FSG (Groningen). During the meeting, we discuss how things are going in the different cities. In doing so, you see the similarities and differences between the associations. Sparring about joint stumbling blocks, such as responding properly to the recruitment needs we feel from different partner companies of ours.

12.00h: This afternoon I have a meeting with Asset’s Ski Trip committee. We organise the annual ski-trip for Asset General with the committee and have already started in the for next year’s trip. We have only just started so we are still mainly looking for a suitable location for 50 people that is close to the ski lift and so that we can of course roll right out of the après-ski into our beds.

13.00h – 17.00h: All Thursday afternoon, I always sit in the Asset General room with Sasha. Although I must say he is away more than actually there generally. I must honestly say this is quite nice because I tend to be little disturbed this afternoon and get a lot of work done. I also have a nice chat with Sasha about everything life has to offer. I’m here this afternoon because I then have to answer the Asset phone when we get calls for Asset General or people walk in with questions for General.

21.00h: On Thursday nights, I almost always go into the city center. On this evening, we regularly have an informal activity with A&F such as a cocktail workshop or our Male/Female night. We also go on board dates with other student boards from Asset or from Tilburg on Thursday evening or any other evening. We usually go out for dinner and into town together then.

Friday

11.00h: A lustrum meeting is scheduled today, where we are organising the lustrum with the committee for next year’s Asset General, I am leading and coordinating this committee. For now, we mainly discuss the progress and bids regarding the locations of our events such as the gala, a cantus, the opening reception and the opening party.

12.30h: We have our weekly lunch in the rooms with our active members. Where we usually catch up on the Thursday night before and we discuss our weekend plans. I always find this breaks up the day wonderfully. Often members also linger in the rooms so then it’s nice and busy all day.

13.30h – 16.00h: The rest of the day I am busy with smaller tasks and meetings. For example, I am busy converting the investment account of our A&F Investments committee together with my treasurer Daan. I coordinate this committee and we always have committee meetings on Wednesday evening where we discuss our joint portfolio. We always end these meetings with a beer in the Dorstige Hert café. Furthermore, I prepare a new contract from our regular Asset General pub and how I want to frame these negotiations. As the last part of the day, I have an Active Member Conversation. During these individual chats, you get to know the members and discuss how they are doing, both on a personal level and at committee level and discuss their coordinator, another board member. In this way, as Chairman, you learn a lot about your own board members and can manage them. Developing the board is one of the most important and beautiful tasks as Chairman. You see your board members grow enormously in the space of six months, which gives me enormous satisfaction. So I really dare to say that I am proud of my board.

16.00h: Before the weekend starts, I have a review meeting with Michelle, our new Vice-Chairman. You get to know each other very quickly and I quickly developed a good friendship with her. Everyone I have worked with as a board have become real friends for me with whom I will hopefully be in touch for a long time.

Saturday

11.00h: In the morning, I often take it easy and clean up my dorm room. I also enjoy listening to different podcasts. Besides working hard, your own physical and mental health is very important. Everyone takes care of this in their own way. As Chairman, it is important to look after your other board members as well. Make sure they are healthy, cheerful and happy. A board year can ask a lot of you, but in the end you do it together and for your own development and enjoyment.

14.00h: Saturday afternoon, I often prepare for Monday’s board meeting and go to my parents in Geldrop. I share many of my stories and my week with my family, who often, like many others, don’t really understand what I do. However, their enthusiasm is no less. This is also the day I often stop by to visit my grandparents in Eindhoven.

Sunday

10.00h: Sunday morning I always go and play football with my friends’ team. Here we are fighting for the championship in the basement league. Unfortunately, this is not going great yet and we are dangling somewhere in the middle of the league. Afterwards, we always go into the canteen and have a few beers, regardless of the outcome of the match, of course. We also often watch PSV or Formula 1 together.

19.00h: I always have dinner at my parents’ house on Sunday evening. Then I go back to Tilburg and the week can start again from scratch, but never the same, of course.

Should you want to know more about a board year after this article, don’t hesitate to send me an email at Chairman@Asset-AccountingFinance.nl or a message on LinkedIn! In addition, you can find out more about the specific job division within the board via this link.