This BC Lions offensive lineman has been one of the most active members amongst the club’s community programs since he joined in 2018. Andrew Peirson, the Kingston, Ontario native, was nominated in 2019 and 2021 for the Tom Pate Award for players that contribute to the team and the community. Throughout 20 appearances in orange and black, Peirson, the ultimate teammate, not only helps others, but he’s also planning ahead on his career after football.
During the offseason, Peirson studies the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) exams to be able to work in finance one day. One of the hardest workers on this team doesn’t consider himself as gifted in academics because he once suffered from a learning disability. Peirson said just like football, there’s no other way around it other than constant repetitions, which led to where he is today. Here we present the 5 Things To Know about Andrew Peirson.
1. Andrew The Community Leader
As some may know already, Andrew is the winner of the Jamie Tara’s Community Service Award for the club, as well as the league’s nomination for the Tom Pate Award. Along with a few other players from the club, Andrew is currently a part of the Team Up to End Racism program to inform youths about raising awareness for inclusiveness and having mutual respect for different cultures. As well as the FortisBC Energy Champion Program to teach kids about saving energy and Be More Than a Bystander on ending gender-based violence.
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2. Worked As A Golf Course Groundskeeper
One of Andrew’s favourite summer jobs growing up was being a golf course groundskeeper. He loved waking up early in the morning to make his coffee before a seven-hour shift. Then his day would be done around early afternoon, that’s when he and his co-workers would go and play a few rounds of golf. Andrew is still a big golf enthusiast to this day, he and teammates David Mackie, Jacob Scarfone, Isaiah Guzlak-Messam use golf as a bonding experience.
3. Heart & Stroke Foundation Charity Golf TournamentÂ
Andrew kept in touch with the people with who he used to work at the golf course. They started a golf tournament for the Heart and Stroke Foundation because Andrew’s father suffered a stroke while he was growing up. They decided it was a good opportunity to bring all the friends together and raise money for a good cause.
“Since all of our buddies are all over the place, it’s a great time for people that are in Ottawa, Toronto and for me being across the country and have a good time with friends and play some golf. It’s been going on for the seventh or eighth year now and we’ve raised a decent amount of money,” he said.
4. Finance & Entrepreneurship Major — Senior Project: HIPPOH
Andrew studied finance and entrepreneurship and also has a minor degree in marketing at Gannon University, Pennsylvania. During his final year, he and a few classmates created a hypothetical business plan, and they came up with HIPPOH, which was an application that helps people find out the happy hour, deals or special events at a particular restaurant. The business plan was a hit that drew a lot of interest from business developers, they even receive funding and thought about expanding to different cities until the pandemic ruined everything.
“When I was in America, I couldn’t believe how many bars had different specials, food, beverage and like activities that were going on. It was hard to know what’s going on like half off wings on Thursday or $2 beer when the Bills are playing on Sundays,” Peirson recalled.
“We created a hypothetical business plan called HIPPOH and pitched it. We got a lot of feedback. Even when I got pickup by the Lions, I took more of an advisory role on the operations and expansion to different cities. We received funding and raised our seed round of funding which was awesome. We were so pumped and two weeks later, everything started shutting down.”
5. Top 10% In The CFA Level 1 Exam
To pursue finance after football, Andrew has been studying for the CFA exams. He took the level 1 exam last May and found out he passed the exam in the top 10 percent. Andrew is currently preparing for the level 2 exam and then eventually taking on the level 3 exam soon.
“When I’m done with football, whenever that may be, I can make a seamless transition into finance, specifically private equity. But it’s a pretty hard jump from professional football to private equity so I’ll probably have to make a couple leapfrogs around first, but that’s kind of the end goal,” he said.
Growing up, Peirson struggled in academics all the way up to university. Once he discovered his passion for football, he realized no one is going to fix the problem for him. He was motivated to overcome his learning roadblocks.
“I never think of myself as a smart person, it just comes down to repetition and hard work. Even today, I still struggle with spelling. My teacher used to call me to read in front of the class and I knew I couldn’t make it through half the words. You just chip away at it every day to make your weakness your strength.”