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Reference | March 2011 | Rachel Stephenson | manager@oxfordhub.org

JAKE

LEEPER

I met Jake three years ago, and was immediately struck by his enthusiasm, energyand passion to make change in our world. Since then, I have worked with and

known him in many capacities: as a Student Hubs Trustee when he was the

President of Oxford Hub; as a friend and fellow Oxford student; and, most

recently, as his Line Manager at Oxford Hub. Throughout, I have learnt a lot from

Jake, and borne witness to his growth as a changemaker.

In his role as Outreach Officer for Oxford Hub, Jake has shown and developed

many competencies:

- He is a natural leader and, specifically, acts as a facilitator within his role,empowering students to run activities and take action themselves;

- He contributes to and works well within the organisations different teams(student committees, staff teams, wider national network), adapting his

way of working appropriately to the team setting;

- Jake is committed to the integrity of the organisation he is working for,and has demonstrated his commitment to maintaining key values: he is

able to constructively challenge the status quo to achieve this, and

contributes profitably to discussion;

- He has contributed to wider organisational strategy and, in particular, hastaken responsibility for researching and writing strategy in specific areas,

namely around activities relating to the environment and sustainability;

- Jake has lead on three key student-facing conferences, involving largeteams of student volunteers and hundreds of delegates. In each instance,

he has demonstrated his ability to empower and motivate teams of

students, facilitate relationships with external organisations and speakers,

create and manage budgets and financial processes, and take the lead on

operational aspects of large-scale events.

As a team member, I have found Jake to be reliable, flexible and positive in his

attitude, as well as keen to seek out inefficiencies and to tackle challenges in

order to make positive change. He is absolutely committed to sustainability, and

8/7/2019 Jake Leeper - Reference

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Reference | March 2011 | Rachel Stephenson | manager@oxfordhub.org

understands the value of institutional memory, systems and communications in a

volunteer-involving organisation such as ours. Specifically, as his Line Manager, I

welcome Jakes ability to listen and evaluate, and his capacity to support his co-

workers when needed.

Furthermore, in the years that I have known him, Jake has repeatedly shown his

aptitude for creative thinking and problem solving. He has a clear, strong work

ethic and brings much energy and enthusiasm to our team and organisation. It

has been a pleasure to know and work with him.

Lastly, it is well known that at Student Hubs Jake is the go-to climate person! Not

only able to engage other members of the team in discussion, he has also

specifically taken a lead on drawing up strategy for Student Hubs in this area, aswell as supporting the student coordinator of the Oxford Climate Forum, a one-

day conference for 400 young people focusing on environmental debate and

policy. It is clear that Jakes passion lies in this area, and he always presents

himself as both a willing leader and learner.