Alexander Gillis

Alex is a Loran Scholar at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business. Having previously received the title of Startup Canada’s "Young Entrepreneur of the Year”, Alex is heavily involved in the Canadian startup ecosystem and has previously advised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the future of entrepreneurship and education for youth across Canada. Alex is involved in numerous entrepreneurial initiatives on campus, having founded the UBC Entrepreneurship Hub in 2017. In his first year of studies after being invited by former President Obama to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at Stanford University, Alex brought Stanford’s highly regarded University Innovation Fellows program to campus in partnership with UBC’s President, Santa Ono, and the Sauder School of Business’s Dean, Robert Helsley. Currently, Alex is in his third year of studies specializing in entrepreneurship and has been selected as one of ten Commerce Scholars to pursue academic research alongside his studies. Outside of school, he enjoys sailing and is working to spur the next generation of entrepreneurial policy and investment by celebrating the “Canadian Dream” with the Canadian Dream Initiative and Canadian Dream Summit. Having struggled with literacy through to grade seven, Alex is promoting the future of global literacy with his educational technology company, Simbi, to more than 12,000 learners in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as a formal representative on the UNHCR's Education Technology Task Force.