KPU marketing grad wins this year’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award

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Kwantlen Polytechnic University marketing management graduate Tate Tham won this year’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award on June 13 at spring convocation.

The KPU Alumni Association recognized Tham for mentoring students at the KPU Marketing Association (KPUMA), volunteering at Minnesota-based non-profit Global Synergy Group, and working as a growth marketing operations specialist at Envisio, a Surrey headquartered IT services and consulting company.

For Tham, receiving the award was an exciting experience.

“The Alumni Association welcomed me and was very kind in treating me like a VIP, so the guests and myself were very thrilled to be there,” Tham says.

“It’s a full circle moment for me, because I graduated during the time where COVID just started, so I didn’t actually attend my convocation because there wasn’t an in-person one. It was really fun to finally get to walk the stage and be part of a ceremony [where] I could see … the students graduating.”

Tham says the last two years of KPU’s marketing program allowed him to work with clients in creating marketing plans, doing market research, and visiting sites, which helped him with his current career.

“It felt like everything we’ve learned from the first and second year of theory was finally given to us as a real-life challenge [with] a real-life client. It was definitely a good preparation stage in the third and fourth year and to [see] what the real world was like.”

Before Tham studied at KPU, he worked at the electronics store Future Shop, a job that sparked his interest in marketing because he enjoyed talking about and selling products.

“I’d say that transition of selling a product, to learning how to market it and finding the different strategies to market different products and learning the [about] different personas and people was … a smooth transition.”

Now at Envisio, Tham works on the company’s marketing strategy and campaigns. Envisio is focused on building trust and transparency in the public sector, which is important to Tham.

Beyond work, Tham hopes to pursue teaching and mentoring, like he does at the KPUMA. This interest began when Tham attended Windermere Secondary in Vancouver, where he was part of a school initiative that gave back to the community through events and afterschool programs.

“I guess [the initiative] … lit a passion in me to always keep that going. I always enjoy teaching and creating relationships, so that seemed like a good way to spend my time and efforts,” Tham says.

“I [hope] in the future to come back into the school system and try to teach the next generation of marketers or business students, which would be my goal in the next couple of years.”

To be qualified for the award, a graduate must be under 30 years old at the time of nomination, demonstrate continued community service while making an innovative or significant impact in their career, lead with purpose, and be involved with KPU or alumni activities since graduation, according to the alumni website.

For this year’s graduates, Tham hopes they focus on the challenges they can control over the ones they cannot, while also having “grit and consistency” when searching for a job.

“Try to think outside the box during this time to meet your goals or to form your life, however you may want it to be,” he says.