Why did you decide to study the Greenwich MBA?
I had worked extensively in engineering and was becoming more responsible for the development of the company's products when I realised that in order to progress further, I would need a greater business acumen.
I looked into the various options and decided that an Executive MBA would be the most beneficial, due to the level of detail and the topics covered. At the time I was living near Greenwich which meant that it would be very convenient.
I had the chance to speak to Paul Stoneman, who was the programme leader of the MBA. We talked about Greenwich and the opportunities that obtaining an MBA from here would lead to and I felt very inspired to sign up.
How did you balance work and study?
Because I travel so much for business, I think I did half of my MBA either on planes or in airports - that's the benefit of the executive course, I was able to dial into most of the classes no matter where I was in the world.
In addition, we had our first son just two months into starting the MBA, so that was another element I had to juggle over the three years. It's all about time management and grabbing the opportunities to study whenever or wherever you are.
How did the MBA help you develop your leadership and professional skills?
The MBA changes the way that you think about things. It provides you with a new perspective on the situations that you face on a daily basis at work. It has enabled me to think about possible outcomes from my decisions in a very different way.
The case studies allowed us to learn from real-life situations and put our theory into practice which made me more confident when dealing with similar scenarios at work.
It also gave me the confidence and skills to articulate myself in a more professional and authoritative way.
Can you tell us more about your current job, what kind of things you're involved in?
I work for a Fortune 500 company that specialises in telecoms. We are one of the top two global-networking businesses. My division is responsible for 'Enterprise services' which entails building and selling Cloud, Datacenter, Managed and Professional Services.
When I started the MBA, I was a Product Manager.
Over the course of the MBA I have progressed to Head of Product Marketing and now in my third year of the course, had a promotion to European Director of Product Portfolio Management, where I was responsible for all of the products produced and sold by the Enterprise Services Division, as well as Product Engineering and Product Marketing.
I have most recently been promoted to Senior Director, Product Management.
I believe that these promotions during my time at Greenwich have been made possible as a result of my studies and the skills and confidence that the course has given me.
My progression has taken me down a managerial route which, without the knowledge I have gained during my MBA, would have been much more difficult to secure and to succeed at.
