Meet Tony Stannard (BSc '05, BMgt '12), Dhillon School of Business, Trading Room manager

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was born in Winnipeg, Man. As a military dependant, our family moved around a bit in Canada — I have also lived in Trenton, Ont. and Edmonton, Alta. When I finished high school in Winnipeg, I attended the South Winnipeg Technical Centre, and obtained two diplomas, one in Industrial Electronics and the other in Network Support Technician. I then worked for a few years at the Department of National Defence as a computer technician.

I soon realized I wanted to pursue a university degree, and I chose to attend the University of Lethbridge for its Bachelor in Science in computer science.

Over the course of my first degree, I worked as a proctor, participated in the co-op program, and did some contract work in the IT department. As I was nearing the completion of Bachelor of Science in computer science with co-op in 2005, I wanted to add onto my career path, so I applied for a second degree for a Bachelor’s of Management. In my first semester, I was offered a permanent position in the IT department as a systems support specialist.

How long have you been at ULethbridge and what do you do here?
I have been fully employed for 17 years. I spent the first couple of years in the help desk primarily fixing printers and after a while, I was offered a position in classroom support. I spent many years as part of a team of specialists building, upgrading and maintaining over a 100 classrooms both on the campus here, but also on the northern campuses as well. It was during this time that I also completed my Bachelor of Management in finance in 2012.

It was in 2018 when I joined the Dhillon School of Business to become the manager of the Centre for Financial Market Research and Teaching room (Trading Room).  In this position, I am able to put to use both my degrees, to facilitate in both the hardware and financial simulation software of the trading rooms, as well as teach the Excel courses offered by the department. One of my other duties is to assist in running the Citrix environment, where students, faculty or staff can access licensed software from anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection.

I also co-run the high school finance competition (HSFC) where high school students get to take part in a financial simulation competition in teams of four to test their skills in a school vs school environment. In recent years, I have expanded my skill set into assisting faculty in the use of Moodle, Zoom, and Yuja.

What's the best part of your job?
I like to assist the faculty in the Trading Room by running the various financial trading simulations on the Citrix servers.

I like seeing the impact of the technology in the room, including both the hardware and software, on the students as they become more confident in their skills and abilities as they learn the ins and outs of financial trading such as option trading and hedging.

I also enjoy teaching the Excel classes, as well as setting up and administering the high school finance competition.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Outside of work, I enjoy furthering my education as I am currently working on a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) from the University of Birmingham in the UK.  I have lots of fun training in Taekwondo with my whole family. Nanda, my wife, and I also enjoy our ballroom dancing. I also enjoy playing a variety of strategy games.