Chairman of Asset | Economics
Silke Krijnen
23/01/2024
Silke Krijnen
On September 5th, I was installed as the chairman of Asset | Economics and fulfil an I also assumed the role of IT-manager of the board of Asset | Tilburg. In this blog, I will tell you more about my experiences and give you an overview of what I do.
I will start with a small introduction. My name is Silke Krijnen and I am 25 years old. I grew up in Vierlingsbeek, a small town in Brabant close to the border with Limburg. In August I received my bachelors degree in International business Administration after three years of studying. Before joining Economics and starting my board year I was an active member of IB&M for 3 years. However after three years I really wanted a change and thats how I ended up at the beautiful Asset | Economics.
My role as chairman is slightly different from the other roles within the board. This is due to the fact that I am basically the manager and therefore do not have a lot of fixed tasks. This can be challenging at times when all of these tasks have to be done. In those instances it is really about supporting your board members and making sure you pick up the slack.
Some set tasks as chairman are the contact with the university, representing Asset | Economics within Asset and prepare/lead the weekly board meetings. Next to these clear tasks I also coordinate the Activities Committee and the Alumni Committee.
The contact with the university consists of multiple aspects. I have meetings with the Academic Directors from the Bsc Economics, Bsc Economics and Business Economics and Msc Economics. During these meetings we speak about improvements for the program and career development. We always look where we can help the different programs. We do this together with Student Career Services. They are the organ within the university who provide career development events.
As mentioned the chairman also has to represent Asset | Economics within the General Board Meeting of Asset. During these meetings there are a lot of discussions about a variety of topics where you have to think what is best for Asset | Economics. These meetings always take place on the same day and time and the discussions are always planned one week in advance.
Next to taking part in the General Board Meeting the chairman also has to lead the departmental board meeting. This meeting is used to update each other on what is going on with events, committees, and other matters and this meeting is also used to prepare for the General Board Meeting. Leading these meetings van be challenging as you have to make sure that everyone gets the opportunity to speak their mind but you also have to make sure that you stay on track with the discussion.
Next to being the chairman of Asset | Economics, I’m also the IT-manager for Asset | Tilburg.
As IT-manager I am responsible for the website and all IT related matters. Furthermore, I also coordinate the almost weekly webmasters meeting, where you can discuss what problems the webmasters are having with for example the website. During the first semester my duties as IT-manager have taken up a lot of my time as we switched from our old website provider to a new website provider. This bought on some problems as our website was down for a significant part of the summer. Fortunately, it as up and running again by the beginning of the academic year and later on in the semester we introduced our newly designed website.
Normally, IT-manager is not a very high demanding portfolio. However, my predecessor has started a lot of project which continue this year. I really enjoy my role as IT-manager, even though I did not have a lot of experience with IT prior to starting this role. Currently my division of labour is about 50/50 between my duties as chairman and IT-manager.
Overall, I am really enjoying my board year and I am quite happy with this decision. I not only get to develop myself professionally but also personally. In my opinion a board year is really great to develop yourself, but a board year at Asset is even more special as you do not only have your own boardmembers to work and hang out with but als all of the board members of our floor as you work in close contact with a lof of them and you also get to spend a lot of time with them during events and activities. Because of this you get to make a lot of new friends and create amazing memories.
Hopefully this article has given you some insight in what it entails to be Chairman of the board of Asset | Economics. If you have any questions or want to know more, do not hesitate to contact me by phone (06-28813792), or by mail: chairman@asset-economics.nl