USG Executive Director Brian Cannon talks about balancing work, school, personal life

Brian Cannon

Brian Cannon

Paige Verma

Balancing college, work and a social life can be difficult, including being the voice for the study body.

Brian Cannon, executive director of Kent State’s Undergraduate Student Government, takes on the challenge of balancing all of that. Cannon has been involved with USG for two years, and this year was elected to the position of executive director. Cannon is originally from Rocky River, Ohio, and is double majoring in entrepreneurship and marketing.

Q: What got you involved in USG?

A: I originally wanted to get involved, so first thing was I went Greek, and then as I was Greek, one of my fraternity brothers was executive director of USG. He was a senior, and I was a freshman, and he got me involved in the whole thing. I wanted to do more than just Greek life, so I ran for director of business my sophomore year and won that for my junior year. Seeing how USG was ran, I wanted to make it a little bigger and change up a few things so I ran for executive director.

Q: What setbacks have you had as a student also having the responsibility at USG?

A: No setbacks yet, fingers crossed. It’s a lot harder to keep up on school work. I multitask a lot and do a lot of different things. I rely on my whiteboard. I have USG stuff on one side and my classes on the other. I am definitely a more organized person as far as my calendar and what I need to get done.

Q: What other organizations are you also involved in?

A: I am in Phi Delta Theta, and I was part of CEO (collegiate entrepreneurs organization), but not anymore. Mainly try to stay focused in USG

Q: What future ideas/projects are going on in USG?

A: Our biggest project right now is changing our charter – pretty drastically. It has to be approved since we are a body under the trustees, it has to be approved by them. We are helping to write charters for the regional campuses and trying to start student governments there. So, we are making one student government for Kent State University. We are also making some tiny changes with responsibilities and guidelines within USG.

Q: What’re your plans after graduation?

A: Good question, I don’t exactly know. I’ve had two internships, and I work for Red Bull right now on campus, and I really love the company and the atmosphere and everything they do, globally. So, hopefully, I’ll stick with that brand and that company until I exactly figure out what I want to do.