Rob Huddleston, a 2010 graduate with an advanced diploma in Human Resources and Business Administration, has been making jumps in his career. Having worked his way up through the Foot Locker Corporation, Rob is now Manager Trainer and General Manager of Foot Locker’s House of Hoops brand of retail merchandise on Yonge Street in the heart of Toronto.
“I’ve helped introduce House of Hoops to Canada by leading its new concept store on Yonge Street in Toronto,” said Rob. “This includes professional development of team members through goal setting, teaching communications, and providing coaching and feedback. Recruiting and developing the future leaders of our organization is something that I am very passionate about.”
During his time at Loyalist, Rob and his classmates established Loyalist’s first SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team, part of an international student-run non-profit organization now known as Enactus Canada. Today, more than 2,300 Enactus student leaders, as well as academic advisors and business experts, create and implement over 350 community empowerment projects and business ventures a year. At Loyalist, the Enactus group continues SIFE’s entrepreneurial action by assisting military spouses, Aboriginal youth, local entrepreneurs and local farmers as well as supporting many charitable organizations.
“While I was a student, I was honoured to be named the first President of the Loyalist chapter of SIFE,” Rob explains. “In that role, I learned how the right people can make a direct and positive impact on an organization. While the Business Administration program fueled my interest in business, SIFE allowed me to put my education into practice, giving me an edge that I continue to benefit from today.”
Rob continues to draw on this experiential learning to define his role at Foot Locker and to bring value to the organization.
“Through SIFE, I developed a number of skills including leadership, public speaking, critical thinking, corporate relations, project management, and motivational empowerment,” he added. “That speaks to both the knowledge I gained in the classroom and the impact our SIFE team had in the community.”
He encourages recent graduates to, “Maximize your potential by putting the information you’ve acquired into practice. Ultimately, you will get out of your experiences what you put into them.”