Hello Friends, My name is Tony Ayala and I am running to be the ...

Hello Friends,
My name is Tony Ayala and I am running to be the next Vice-President Finance of the
University Students’ Council. I am a fifth year student in BMOS at Kings University College
completing an Honors Specialization in Finance Administration. I live in Hamilton but am
proud to have called London and Western my home ever since first year.
In my years at Western, I have been involved in student government in numerous different
capacities. I was involved on the King’s University College Students’ Council for my first
four years as a representative, the Clubs Finance Commissioner, a member of the Finance
Committee, and in my fourth year, I served as the Vice-President Finance.
This past year, I used my knowledge and education from King’s to help me successfully
perform my duties as the USC Food and Beverage Marketing Intern. I can truly say that this
internship really opened my eyes to the USC and its potential to better serve students. While
originally this role was created to support and promote The Spoke and The Wave, I also had
the great opportunity to work with InPrint, The Purple Store, CHRW, and InfoSource in
promoting their services. As an intern, I learned how the USC operations work and how the
Executive, the Senior Managers and the staff function in our organization.
I strongly believe that the knowledge I have gained and the experiences I have had at King’s
and as a USC Intern have prepared me for the role of Vice President Finance of the USC.
The role of VP Finance is twofold. Its first job is to support the President and other Vice-
President’s with their portfolio initiatives. The second is to provide fiscal oversight of the
strategic management of the operations and activities of the USC, keeping an eye out for
new ways to make our organization more efficient for students. While other Vice President’s
come into their roles with platform points, a strong VP Finance comes into the role with an
understanding of how the corporation works and a financial vision for the future. It is
important that they are ready to help support the rest of their Executive and are prepared to
be both proactive and responsive to challenges that occur on a day to day basis. It is also
crucial that a Vice-President Finance has strong communication skills, works with a high
level of integrity, understands finances and budgeting cycles and above all is approachable
to the students they serve. I am confident of myself in being prepared to do all of this and
more if elected.
I have been looking forward to this campaign period for some time now, not because I am
excited to talk about my vision but because I cannot wait to hear yours. I cannot express in
words how important it is to me to hear your thoughts and feedback on my platform, but
also what you believe is important and necessary for our organizations growth in the future.
With this said, I would like to respectfully submit my platform for your review. Please take a
look and I hope to have the opportunity to meet with you during the next two weeks.

All I ask is that you provide me with an opportunity to prove to you that I can see the
implications behind the numbers, that I have the qualifications to do this job and that I will
do more than just measure value — I will help create it.
Sincerely,
Tony Ayala
My Platform
Campus Tour
- Visit all faculty/affiliate/residence councils for presentations about The USC’s finances and
the amazing operations/services it runs. It is fundamentally key to interest students about the Finance
portfolio in a proactive approach to encourage involvement into what the USC does.
Finance Training:
- 1 on 1 training with faculty and affiliate councils. Roundtables are a good first step, but only
so much can be done in a large group setting like this. Visiting different constituency vice presidents
and working on ways to improve accounting/tracking methods would benefit councils as a whole.
Internships & Opportunities
- Gain valuable work experience within the USC, while at the same time offering more student
jobs
- This year, only half the interns were hired. I believe it should be a priority for the board and
council to find uses of the interns so that the program can expand and benefit students looking for
employment opportunities
- There are Work Study funds available to the USC which allows us to hire students who are
looking for jobs through Work Study. I will work with the board to further utilize this while at the
same time helping students find employment.
Grants committee:
- More active approach towards promotion and accessibility to the Grants fund.
- There has been a trend for the same student groups and activities to ask for increasingly more
funding from the grants committee year to year. I wish for a more diverse pool of applicant and
offering the opportunity to new students to take on new initiatives.

- I wish for a full detailed report to be published monthly about Grants that were approved on
our website. It is time for students at large to see the different projects that Western students are
attempting and showcase the possibilities that are available through this fund.
Empowering Finance committee
- Only being a reporting centre of the VP Finance is just not enough, without involvement into
the entire finance portfolio, councillors become uninterested and disengaged when budget cycle
occurs
- I will start new tasks for finance committee so they feel more involved with the USC and its
operations and services
- This can start by:
• Being involved in investigating methods to advertise/operate/brand USC operation
• Communication and promotion methods of USC resources/funding to students and special
interest groups (clubs)
• Investigate new avenues of growth for different operations and services
• Conduct a survey solely dedicated to what students feel about service at the operations. To
collect information on things they wish to further see from our operations, and there biggest
problems accessing them.
Transparency
- Get a section online explaining corporate policies and common businesses practices of the
USC
- These do not need to be enforced by the by-laws of council, but they may help councillors and
students understand the more intricate dealings of the corporate side of Council, and the
reason/approach certain decisions are made.
Communication of hidden fees & costs:
- Specific extra training for InfoSource and InPrint staff to communicate all costs associated
with reservations and projects
- Many students & student groups are caught off guard by certain fees charged to them by
certain operations. For example, at Reservations there are many fees that are not clearly explained
before an event which results in miscalculated and over expensed budgets on students’ end.

BizInc
- Developing a new long term strategic plan for the ever expanding program
- Continue the great work done by the previous VP Finance’s to constantly promote this
valuable resource
- Bizinc currently only has sustainable funding for another year or two. Decisions and plans
will have to be evaluated early into the VP Finance term to look forward to the relationship between
the USC and the service.