Gallant says he’s ready to learn from more experienced leaders

No matter where Duncan Gallant goes, he seems to stand out as a leader.

His leadership roles go back to his days as a high school student in Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia. He was involved with student council every year. He continued to be a leader when he came to STU. He was head of welcome week and president of the Students’ Union.

And now, he’s being recognized for it.

21 inc. recognized Gallant as one of the emerging leaders of New Brunswick. He was invited to go the Emerging Leader’s Summitt to improve his leadership skills.

Among the list of big shots, Duncan Gallant is one of the youngest on the list.

“ I’m hoping to learn some new strategies and techniques in terms of leadership and bringing out the best in people and looking forward to networking and meeting the people who will be attending the conference because a lot of them are pretty big ticket people,” he said. “When I looked at the list I was like, there’s a doctor and a partner of a firm, so it felt a little weird being selected among that group.”

Gallant graduated last year from St. Thomas, and already has a full-time job as a recruiting officer for the university.

Gallant’s favourite part about recruiting is meeting people. One of his strong points is his people skills.

“I’ve always liked meeting people and I was involved in high school and worked with a lot of different groups in high school and I think I was known as a pretty social person,” he said. “I didn’t really have a clique but I would mediate between the different cliques in high school, trying to get everybody to get along and the same thing when I came to St. Thomas. I always tried to talk to people in different corners of the buildings and try to branch out a bit.”

But now, Gallant is eager to learn from the more experienced leaders that will be attending the conference.

“All of them have gone through their own struggles and developed their own styles of leadership and their own strategies so I’m looking forward to comparing notes.”

Sullivan still wants to contribute tens years from now

If you spend some time with Ryan Sullivan, he’ll have you wanting to get more involved. Let’s say you visit his office for an interview, but he turns the conversation around. You end up spilling way more about yourself than you meant to.

He stands out for his heavy involvement in school functions dating back to his days as a student at St. Thomas University. Now he’s the director of recruitment for the university.

“The more you interact with people and the more you’re in leadership roles, the more you develop your leadership skills,” he says.

His leadership work is now paying off. Sullivan has been added to the list of emerging leaders for 21 Inc., a program that develops a new generation of leaders in Atlantic Canada.

This week, 21Inc. is hosting the Emerging Leaders Summit. It will host 50 leaders picked from 407 candidates across New Brunswick. It will focus on developing their leadership skills.

It’s perfect for Sullivan who enjoys activities that keep him occupied.

“The more I’m involved both in the organization and outside the organization, and in the wider community, the happier I am. I like being involved. I like trying to make a difference,” he said.

His career with STU shows just how much he loves to contribute. As a student, he was a member of the Students’ Union.He has participated in welcome week for the past 12 years.

“[Welcome week] is one of those exciting times of the year,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun, a lot of energy.”

Sullivan says the most important thing about being a leader is a clear sense of direction and the ability to inspire people to achieve their best.

“Know where you want to go and how you want to get there and then engage the people around you in that process,” he said.

Students need this type of guidance, especially in their first year of university. Sullivan says he has no plans to leave as long as he can still participate in the university experience.

“Ten years from now I would want to know that I’m still making a contribution,” he said.