Dr. Douglas Lainson, assistant professor of strategic management, is introducing a new mentorship program this semester at California Baptist University to partner students with local business professionals, available for current business majors.
In this program, selected students will have the opportunity to be advised by local CEOs and learn what it is like to lead a business while gaining knowledge and skills they will be able to apply to future fields of employment.
“A mentor-mentee relationship is critical to their long-term success,” Lainson said. He said the goal is “igniting leadership talent in our students.”
In Lainson’s year-long program, the mentors will meet with their mentees at least one to two hours per month to build relationship with them and give their mentees the opportunity to attend various company functions.
Marni Jimenez is one of the mentors and is the owner of Windermere Real Estate.
“We can give them advice and connect them with other people in the field of study they want to be in,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez said she will select a mentee who is passionate, driven and someone with whom she can best connect with to benefit the student.
“We have a lot to offer to a student and can help them start creating the characteristics they’re going to need when they get out in the workforce to equip them to not only get in the business, but climb the ladder quickly,” said Emily Hudson, mentor and senior loan officer of Prospect Mortgage. “They have some skills that aren’t book skills—they’re character skills, they’re life skills.”
The program is dedicated to prepare the new generation of Christian business leaders to apply their knowledge, skills and talents in the workplace and modern marketplace.
