School of Business

Acadia BBA student Kate MacKenzie was awarded $15,000 as a recipient of the 2013 Frank H. Sobey Award for Excellence in Business Studies. "Winning the Sobey award is a huge honour," said MacKenzie, who hails from Truro, Nova Scotia. "I’ve had the opportunity to grow my professional network and meet really successful and inspiring people—something that will help me when I graduate Acadia. Overall, I am so appreciative that this type of award exists!" MacKenzie is one of only six business students studying at Atlantic Canadian universities to be recognized with the Sobey Award, the most prestigious business award in the Maritime region.

The 2012/2013 academic year has been a very rewarding one for Kate MacKenzie. She was one of ten Canadian University students this year to win a Futures Fund Scholarship, which involved travelling to Toronto to receive her honour at a gala held at the Royal Ontario Museum. She was also the recipient of the F. C. Manning Advisory Board’s Impact Award, bestowed to students who have made a significant impact upon their community. But the key contributions that justify the accolades have come as president of the Acadia Business Society, one of the largest student-run groups on campus. During her tenure, she transformed the Society from a primarily social venue for business students into one that focuses upon career preparation. This transformation was achieved by organizing the Insider Information sessions whose workshops and panel discussions featured topics such as How to Get a Job, International Business, How to Become a Business Leader, and Gender in Business.

The impetus to make this significant change on campus derived from an earlier work experience with TalentEgg, a Toronto "career-hatching" company that matches students to companies seeking their skills. During her two summer terms with TalentEgg, MacKenzie leveraged her entrepreneurial skills and interests to hatch several projects, including the inaugural sponsorship program and the social media campaign driving the company’s effort to connect more students to suitable employment. She also conceived and wrote the TalentEgg September Recruitment Survival Guide. The Globe and Mail and Toronto’s Metro newspapers subsequently ran related stories under MacKenzie’s byline.

"Kate MacKenzie is a humble, industrious and aspiring young woman," says Ian Hutchinson, Director of the Fred C. Manning School of Business Administration. "Her selflessness, entrepreneurial approach, and humility lend a certain style to her extra-curricular leadership that is easily described as excellent." The other word Dr. Hutchinson uses to describe her work ethic, determination, self-motivation and the impact she made on the Acadia Campus and local community during her time at Acadia, is remarkable. "Her broader civic-mindedness shines through in some of her extracurricular activities, such as Best Buddies, CC Riders Youth Soccer, and Special Olympics."

Post-graduate plans for MacKenzie include a joint MSc program in Global Media and Communications at the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE)—whose better known alumni include Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau and Kim Campbell, and President John F. Kennedy—and the University of Southern California (USC) at Los Angeles, whose commencement address last year was delivered by Maria Shriver. "It’s my dream program," MacKenzie says. "So I’m really excited to start." With the astonishing collection of accolades and awards that MacKenzie has accumulated at the undergraduate level, not the least of which is the distinguished Sobey Award, she is well prepared for London, Los Angeles, and all points in between.