Aluminate April 2009 edition

to the wind?REASSESSING RISK AND FACING UP TO AFUTURE WHERE THE WORST CAN HAPPEN >>>>

SEE PAGE 20

ALSO INSIDE>>>>NEWS>>>>ALUMNI GROUPS>>>>NETWORKING REMOTELY>>>>GUIDE TO SINGAPORE>>>>

HOW TO GIVE EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK>>>>RESEARCH>>>>WHERE ARE THEY NOW>>>>WEDDINGS>>>>

APRIL 2009The magazine for Edinburgh MBA alumni

AluminatePitch for successGIVE A WINNING PRESENTATION WITH CONFIDENCE >>>>

SEE PAGE 24

Fulfilling futureONE ALUMNUS DOWNSHIFTSTO MAKE A DIFFERENCE >>>>

SEE PAGE 28

Caution

www.alumninet.man.ed.ac.uk april 2009 | aluminate | 3

contentseditor’s comment

2 | aluminate | april 2009 www.alumninet.man.ed.ac.uk

Welcome to the second issue ofAluminate featuring the new brand ofthe School. Many thanks to those of

you who got in touch following the Octoberissue. It was great to get such positivefeedback from readers. It was also rewardingto receive external feedback earlier this year when Aluminate was shortlisted for Best External Magazine in the BritishAssociation of Communicators in Business(CiB) Scotland awards.

Over the past few months, an increasingnumber of you have got in touch, both here in the UK and overseas, to let us know theimpact that the current recession is having on

your careers. It is obviously a difficult time formany of you, and the School is always happy tohelp, particularly if you are facing uncertaintyor redundancy. The career and personaldevelopment team here in the School are ableto continue to offer support both in personand over the telephone. This can range fromone-to-one career advice through topsychometric testing and diagnostics. Furtherdetails can be found on page 17.

For those of you who have already chosento leave a company and perhaps set up onyour own, securing an investment for yourbusiness is likely to be tougher than ever, sohave a look at the article by Malcolm Good(Class of 1997) on page 24 on delivering thebest pitch. The feature includes tips from ourEntrepreneur in Residence, Gavin Don.

Equally, taking some time out may prove tobe an option for some of you. Ellen Crabtree(Class of 1995) did just that when she movedher life from Edinburgh to Johannesburg to

embark on a period of volunteering withVSO. Working at the Reproductive Healthand HIV Research Unit at the University ofthe Witwatersrand, she immediately put herMBA skills into use. She is enjoying the job somuch, she has already committed to stayingfor a third year. Read her story on page 28.

Given the economic situation, it is ofcourse a difficult time for our current MBA students hoping to secure internshipsand subsequent employment following theirstudies. We were therefore grateful to anumber of alumni who recently came intothe School to give presentations to thestudents about their experiences in threeindustry sectors: finance, consultancy and oil and gas.

Companies represented included BaillieGifford, Scottish Investment Trust, Deloitte,Prudential, Cap Gemini, BP and MelroseResources. Feedback was very positive fromthe students and we hope to run similarsessions for the new intake in the autumn. Ifyou are based locally and would like to beinvolved, please get in touch.

Following on from the feature in the lastissue on the business impact of climatechange, this time the focus is riskmanagement, again a topic of particularrelevance to all of us at the present time. Turnto page 20 to learn more. My thanks to thealumni who were interviewed for the feature.

The School has launched a new Masters inFinance and Risk with the first intakeexpected in September. Despite the economicdownturn, the Director of the programmebelieves that there will be plenty ofopportunities for graduates from theprogramme, as companies restructure toincorporate more relevant risk positions.

Wishing you all stability in your careers inthe months ahead.

Jane CrawfordEditor

‘IT WAS REWARDING TO RECEIVE EXTERNAL FEEDBACKEARLIER THIS YEAR WHEN ALUMINATE WASSHORTLISTED FOR BEST EXTERNAL MAGAZINE IN THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNICATORS IN BUSINESS SCOTLAND AWARDS’Jane Crawford

The School is here to help

If you no longer wish to receive future issues of thismagazine, please contact the Alumni Officer: University of Edinburgh Business School, 7 BristoSquare, Edinburgh EH8 9AL. Tel: +44 (0) 131 650 9840 Email: [email protected] views expressed in Aluminate are not necessarily

those of the University of Edinburgh Business School.Magazine design by Connect Communications.

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body,registered in Scotland, with registration numberSC005336.

SCHOOL NEWSHead of School report 4

News 5

Events 10

INTERNATIONALAlumni groups 12

An insider’s viewof Singapore 14

Where in the world – Dubai 15

PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENTKeeping in touch 16Keep your network alive from the other side of the world

The art of giving effective feedback 18How focusing on the softerside of feedback can paydividends with staff

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTPerfect pitch 24How effective preparationand delivery can helpsecure investment

SPECIAL FEATURESRisky business 20As the economic outlookchanges, companies willneed to rethink theirapproach to risk

Making a big change 28One alumnus downshiftsfor a fulfilling role in South Africa

RESEARCHNews and publications 26Emotional finance, casestudy success and newbooks from School staff

PEOPLEOn the ball 31An alumnus balances hiswork and home life with refereeing

Together again 32Old friends are brought together at three reunions

Obituaries 33

Where are they now? 34

Wedding bells 37

New arrivals 38

‘I DON’T FEEL LIKEA VOLUNTEER“IMPLANT”, BUT RATHERCOMPLETELY ATHOME, AS IF THISIS WHAT I’MMEANT TO BEDOING. I HAVE THEMBA TO THANK INPART FOR THEEASE WITH WHICHI’VE MADE THISTRANSITION’Ellen CrabtreeSee page 28

‘REMEMBER THAT THE UNLIKELY CANHAPPEN AND IF IT IS CATASTROPHICYOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO LIVE WITH IT’ Peter DalzielSee page 20

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head of school report


T he current economic gloom is as deep as many ofus have ever known with some of the weaknessesof global financial systems painfully exposed. Also

exposed are the tremendous interdependencies ofcorporations and economies across the globe. We live indramatic and exciting times.

Here in Edinburgh, much of the speculation isaround what will happen to Halifax/Bank of Scotlandand Royal Bank of Scotland following the merger of theformer with Lloyds TSB and the government assistancethat has been poured into the latter. Of course, thereare many other financial institutions around Edinburghwhich will also be affected by the downturn, but thesetwo giants are receiving most attention. More optimisticcommentators say that Edinburgh may turn out to be anet beneficiary of restructuring in the financial servicessector. We shall see.

At the School, we are watching carefully to see howthe economic climate will affect us. Business education,particularly at postgraduate level, tends to be counter-cyclical, with many people using recession as a time ofopportunity to rethink their careers. Others choose totake a year off to upskill at a time when advancementopportunities with their current employers are limited.

Looking at the level of applications for places on ourpostgraduate programmes compared with last year, weare seeing a significant increase – nearly 60 per centabove the level of the same time last year.

Some of this growth is due to the launch of newprogrammes – both our Masters in Accounting andFinance and in Carbon Management are doingparticularly well – but applications for longer-established programmes are also showing a healthyincrease of 15 to 20 per cent. More gratifying still is thatour conversion rate of offers to acceptances is up

significantly, indicating that we are becoming a moreand more desirable choice for prospective students.

A major piece of news since the last issue ofAluminate is that work started on the new building forthe Business School in August. This £17mrefurbishment of the Adam Ferguson Building onGeorge Square will take nearly two years to complete.We are scheduled to move in during the summer of2010. The new building will transform the School.

Aside from eliminating the inconvenience of beinglocated on the two sites of Bristo Square and the WilliamRobertson Building, our new accommodation willprovide great facilities for postgraduate and executiveprogrammes as well as housing all the staff of the School.

Another exciting development is the arrival of severalnew members of faculty over the last few months. Twonew professors joined the Accounting and Financegroup – Pauline Weetman from the University ofGlasgow and Bill Rees, previously Dean of AmsterdamBusiness School. Sarah Cooper joined us fromStrathclyde as a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurshipand Brad MacKay from the University of St Andrewstook on the role of Senior Lecturer in Strategy. We stillhave further posts to fill in Entrepreneurship and inInternational Business, and are continuing to search fortop faculty to fill these.

In the current economic climate, communities ofalumni are more important than ever. They can serve asnetworks for intelligence about what is going on indifferent sectors or different countries; they can providesupport and sympathy through difficult times; and mostimportantly, they can provide information andopportunities for their members. Our alumni networkis extremely important to us here at the University ofEdinburgh Business School. I am always delighted tohear from you, either about your activities since you leftEdinburgh, or just to hear about anything that you thinkit would be useful for us to know about. Please do feelfree to get in touch.

Nick OliverHead of School

Growth intimes of crisis

‘SOME OF OUR GROWTH IS DUE TO THE LAUNCH OF NEWPROGRAMMES – BOTH OUR MASTERS IN ACCOUNTING ANDFINANCE AND IN CARBON MANAGEMENT ARE DOINGPARTICULARLY WELL – BUT APPLICATIONS TO LONGER-ESTABLISHEDPROGRAMMES ARE ALSO SHOWING A HEALTHY INCREASE’Nick Oliver

MBA scholarships

Cameron Ironside’s dream of studying at a world-renowned business school

has become reality thanks to thegenerosity of one alumnus.

Edinburgh graduate VictorLoewenstein has funded thescholarship for the South Africanstudent for the first year, and otheroverseas students in each of thefollowing four years, to give themthe same kinds of opportunities thathe was given.

Victor explained: ‘A British nationalbut raised in Portugal, I came toEdinburgh almost as a foreign studentand my studies and subsistence werefinanced by a member of my closefamily. I can therefore relate to thosewho have chosen – as I did – a majorand world-renowned academicinstitution, but who may not be able to afford the tuition and relatedcosts associated with a graduateprogramme.

‘The University of Edinburgh gave me an academic “baggage”which I was able to use throughoutmy professional life. It also gave memy first exposure to an internationaland multi-racial environment,

reflected by the student populationwhich surrounded me during thosestudent years. In addition, theUniversity gave me the opportunityof integrating an internationalstudent association – AIESEC – thatprovided me with the people skills,self-confidence and public-speakingcompetencies which are essential toachieve ambitious career goals.

‘Shortly after graduation I waselected Secretary General of AIESECInternational in Geneva, anopportunity I would not have had, hadit not all begun back in Edinburgh.

‘Now retired, after close to a 40-year career in managementconsulting, I feel that the time hascome to give something back tosociety for the personal andprofessional fortunes I have had.

‘This is why I hope that mymodest contribution will allowother “foreigners” to achieve theirdream of studying in such a leadingand well-recognised university.

‘This will be their stepping-stonefor the future, but only theirsubsequent personal efforts andcommitment will turn thisexceptional opportunity into long-term professional success andpersonal satisfaction.’

school news

Giving back

The scholarship from Victor Loewenstein is just one of four scholarships, each worth£5,000, which are available each year due tohelp from alumni.

As a result of a donation from GordonMcCulloch who graduated with an MA(Hons) inPolitics in 1986, the Gordon R McCullochScholarship was awarded to Harrison Mordi-

Williams from Nigeria. Two Calum Miller Scholarships were made

possible thanks to a donation from alumniDavid Millar and Tina Marinos. The scholarshipswere awarded this year to Lekshmi Nair fromIndia and Berislav Prpic from Croatia.

The School also awarded three 25thAnniversary Scholarships, worth £5,000,

to Nkese Udongwo and Solomon Okopi, bothfrom Nigeria, and to Sasithorn Supatanakomkijfrom Thailand.

We are also grateful to Citi and Abbey whofund scholarships for postgraduate students.MBA recipients this year were KayDausendschoen from Germany (Citi) and CarlosIsoard Freyssinier from Mexico (Abbey).

SCHOLARSHIPS ON THE RISE

RIGHT:VictorLoewenstein(left) wantsCameronIronside to get‘exceptionalopportunities’

ONE ALUMNUS IS FUNDING A ONE-YEAR SCHOLARSHIPFOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS TO GIVE OVERSEASSTUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITIES HE ENJOYED

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school newsschool news

www.alumninet.man.ed.ac.uk

Edinburgh has retained its position in the latestFinancial Times ranking of the world’s top full-timeMBA programmes for the ninth consecutive year –

one of only eight UK schools to have done so. In the rankings, published in January, the

programme was placed 92nd in the world, 28th inEurope and 17th in the UK.

Unfortunately, this represented a considerable dropcompared with our 2008 position. Almost all of the UKschools dropped in the rankings this year, but our dropwas one of the most severe. This is obviously adisappointment to us all – to staff, students and toalumni – and we must, and we will, correct it.

The ranking methodology uses information from twomain sources. Firstly, a survey completed by the Schoolcovers issues such as composition of faculty, researchoutput and gender mix. Secondly, surveys arecompleted by full-time MBA alumni from three, fourand five years ago, covering factors such as currentsalary, change in salary after completing the MBA andratings of a number of features.

A total of 20 measures are combined to producescores for each school, which in turn generate therankings. The measures are weighted differentially;salary-related indicators contribute 40 per cent of theoverall score. The alumni surveys are also weighted – thesurvey from three years ago is weighted as 50 per cent,and those from four and five years ago 25 per cent each.

There have already been a number of developments tothe programme since the period covered by the FinancialTimes survey (2003-05) which should make a differenceto future rankings. These changes include a greater focuson employability, for example via the career andpersonal development programme which has beendeveloped even further over the years, and theintroduction of the Graduate Management AdmissionTest (GMAT) for the 2008 entry. These changes are yet

Isobel Sharp CBE, former President of The Institute of CharteredAccountants of Scotland, was appointed a visiting professor ofthe School in August.

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Isobel is atechnical partner at Deloitte London LLP, where she specialises infinancial reporting, company law and corporate governancematters. Her role at the University will involve teachingundergraduates and postgraduates and advising on researchprojects. Her track record in major research projects goes backmore than two decades when she played a major role in theseminal publication, ‘Making Corporate Reports Valuable’.

Isobel is currently a member of the International Advisory

Panel on Accounting by Non-PubliclyAccountable Entities (NPAEs) and amember of the European Joint Groupon NPAEs and SMEs.

Isobel said: ‘I have many happymemories of the University as astudent, so to come back and beallowed to contribute as a visitingprofessor is both a thrill and an honour. Financial reporting andcorporate governance are subjects that have always beenimportant and will continue to be so – I am keen to pass on myexperience of these areas to the next generation.’

David Milne, Co-founder ofWolfson Microelectronics,has been appointed to theSchool’s Advisory Board.

He joins a board of 11highly experienced industrypractitioners whose role isto provide independent,external and commerciallyorientated strategic adviceto the School.

David Milne is one ofScotland’s most successfulentrepreneurs. He co-founded WolfsonMicroelectronics in 1984 atthe University of Edinburgh.

A year later, he and hiscolleague Jim Reid spun itout to run the company asan independent microchipsdesign house. David servedas the Chief Executive Officerand Managing Director untilMarch 2007. He now servesas a non-executive director.

In 1985, he was awardedthe OBE for services toindustry. He has been amember of the Court of theUniversity of Edinburghsince 1998, and wasawarded an honorarydegree of Doctor of Scienceby the University in 2008.

The award recognised hiscontribution to thedevelopment of electronicsand electrical engineering inScotland and his ties withthe University.

For further informationabout the Advisory Board,visit www.advisoryboard.man.ed.ac.uk

New horizonsfor fellows Over the past three months, the School hasbeen hosting a British Council CheveningFellowship programme on Finance andInvestment in a Low Carbon Economy.

The 14 Chevening fellows are drawn fromten different countries, including Canada,China, Australia, Kazakhstan, India and Brazil.

The international nature of the programmeis a key part of its success, as highlighted byHeidi VanGenderen from the USA whocommented: ‘The international aspect of theFellowship has truly opened whole newhorizons for me. We have been well cared forby the Business School and the School ofGeoSciences, and Edinburgh is a delight.’

This comprehensive programme consists ofa combination of dedicated lectures, site visitsto a diverse group of energy and financeorganisations and two weeks of placements,as well as attending lectures on theEdinburgh MBA and the MSc in CarbonManagement. This is the first Cheveningprogramme that the School has delivered andit is hoped that its successful delivery willlead to new programmes in the future.

Martin Squire from Australia said: ‘TheUniversity of Edinburgh has created a positivelearning environment coupled with expertlecturers, interesting site visits and great ITsupport. I’m really enjoying the focus of thecourse and the opportunity to interact andengage with other students, fellows andexperts. The experience and knowledge that Iam gaining will be an asset to climate changepolicy and application in Australia.’

Awarded in December 2008, BenHosaka (Class of 2008) was the winner ofthe Grant Management Business Plancompetition, securing the £3,000 cashprize for his new business, Petit Japon.

Having been brought up in the part ofJapan that manufactures kimonos, Benhas always had a love of the traditionalJapanese dress. His business planinvolved the purchase of vintagekimonos and recycling the material into

handbags and other fashionaccessories. Ben is already trading withsome success, under the name of PetitJapon (www.petitjapon.com), which wasestablished last year.

While studying for his MBA, Ben was also involved in a couple of otherinitiatives, including contributing to an exhibition of Japanese art at PerthMuseum and Art Gallery entitled ‘A glimpse of the floating world’.

to feed into the rankings, and because of the way themethodology works, it will take some time. In October2008, we commenced a major review of the MBA whichBrad MacKay, one of our new hires, is leading.

We are very aware of the significance of rankings toour current students and alumni. A drop in ourposition in this important ranking is unwelcome to usall, but is only one among many measures thatinfluence the reputation of a School and its graduates.

We are working on many measures to ensure that thisis a transitory dip – these include the rebranding of theSchool, a new building in 2010, the introduction ofGMAT and the comprehensive review of theprogramme, to name just a few.

Better focus for future

WANT TO KNOW MORE?If you have any comments on the above, please contact Nick Oliver, Head of School, on [email protected]

Welcoming Isobel’s appointment, Nick Oliver, Head of the School, commented: ‘The quality of a business school is heavily driven by the quality of its connections with the corporate world. We are delighted to appoint someoneof Isobel’s professional stature as one of the School’svisiting professors.’

Business plan’s a winner

LEFT: On the road tosuccess – BenHosaka (left) isawarded his prize byPeter Grant, GrantManagement

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Isobel Sharp will be presenting at the School on theevening of Monday 26 October on the topic of therecession and how it has tested the system. Further details will be posted ontowww.alumninet.man.ed.ac.uk once available.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY...

Top accountant becomes visiting professor

Electronicsleader joinsboard

LEFT: David Milne speaking at a recententrepreneurshipevent. Photo:

Photo Express

6 | aluminate | april 2009

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school news

april 2009 | aluminate | 9

FAREWELL AFTER TWO DECADES

AssessmentCo-ordinatorJoan McMillanhas retiredafter 20 yearsof working in anumber ofsupport roles atthe School.

Joan joinedthe Full-time MBA office at 5 Buccleuch Place in 1989 on a temporary basis to covermaternity leave.

She continued working there until the moveto Bristo Square in the early 1990s.

Subsequently, she has been working as anAdministrator on the MBA in InternationalBusiness programme and as Research Secretary to Jamie Fleck before taking on the post ofAssessment Co-ordinator which she held untilher retiral in December.

The School is pleased to announce NanyangBusiness School (NBS) in Singapore as a newexchange partner for the MBA in InternationalBusiness programme.

NBS recently jumped more than 20 places to be ranked 24th among the top MBAprogrammes worldwide in the Financial Times2009 Global MBA rankings and is the onlybusiness school in Singapore to be accreditedby both EQUIS and AACSB.

The School provides a great learningenvironment, with a full range of undergraduateand graduate programmes, state-of-the-artfacilities and world-class research centres. Two of the current MBA in InternationalBusiness students have chosen Nanyang astheir exchange school.

Staff retirals THREE MEMBERS OF STAFF, WHO HAVE ALL PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE MBA PROGRAMME OVERTHE YEARS, HAVE RETIRED IN RECENT MONTHS. WE’RESURE YOU WILL JOIN WITH US IN WISHING THEM ALLTHE BEST IN THEIR WELL-DESERVED RETIREMENTS…

FINAL ROLE ENDS FOR JOHN After a career that has seen him travel theworld, John Henley is now able to relax a littlemore – he has retired.

John joined the then Department of BusinessStudies from the Industrial RelationsDepartment at London School of Economics andPolitical Science (LSE) in 1972. He was appointedto a joint lectureship in the University ofEdinburgh and the University of Nairobi in 1972.After secondment to the Faculty of Commerce,Nairobi, he joined the Department of BusinessStudies, Edinburgh in 1975.

John was Director of the Full-time MBA from1982 until 1987. In 1990, John led a team todevelop a management training centre in Lodz,Poland, which led to the beginning of acollaboration with the United Nations IndustrialDevelopment Organisation (UNIDO) in Vienna.John took part in missions to Poland, China,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan andAzerbaijan, advising on promoting inwardforeign investment.

John became the last Head of the BusinessStudies Department in December 1998 until itwas absorbed into the unified Business Schoolin August 2001.

During a sabbatical, John began to renew hisinterest in foreign direct investment in Chinaand the complexities of the Indian business

environment, latterly working as an adviser tothe Government of Orissa on investmentpromotion. Since 2005, John has acted asprincipal consultant for the UNIDO Africa Foreign Investor Survey, published in 2007. He is currently a lead adviser with UNIDOdeveloping the Africa Investor Survey 2009.

John gave a long service to the Departmentof Business Studies, having occupied a numberof roles including that of last Head ofDepartment. John retired as Head of theStrategy and International Business Group inAugust 2008, having successfully launched thenew MSc in International Business andEmerging Markets with Xiaobai Shen in 2005.

He served on the UK’s Association of BusinessSchools executive for six years convening theUndergraduate Forum and initiating the ScottishBusiness School Deans’ sub-committee.

JEAN TAKES HER LEAVE

After 23 yearsserving theSchool in avariety of roles,Jean Goldringhas retired.

Jean startedworking forthe Universityin 1986 in

the Department of Business Studies. She was secretary to the Part-time MBA

programme for a couple of years, before workingon the ‘continuing education’ side until shebecame PA to the Director, Simon Coke.

After Simon, Jean worked for subsequentdirectors, namely Jamie Fleck, David Hatherly,and Simon Earp. She has been in the presentpost for about six years. In addition, she hasworked with Jonathan Crook on eight out of theten Credit Scoring and Credit Control conferences.

school news

8 | aluminate | www.alumninet.man.ed.ac.uk8 | aluminate | april 2009

The School hosted the second Scottish MBAand experienced postgraduate student careersfair in February in the Playfair Library.

Co-hosted by Strathclyde Business School,students from 11 other business schoolsattended. The participating organisationsranged from blue-chip organisations to SMEs,and career-related organisations. They

included Accenture, IBM, Standard Life,Procter & Gamble, Scottish and SouthernEnergy, TOTAL and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Alumni exhibitors included Susan Stark(Class of 1997), pictured, Senior HR Managerwith Procter & Gamble, and AngusMacPherson (Class of 1996), Managing Directorof The Environment Exchange.

Looking torecruit MBAs?Even in the current economic climate,many companies are continuing torecruit. If you are looking to fill a positionin your company, but struggling toidentify suitable candidates withexperience in your sector as well asknowledge of the latest businessthinking, then why not think about one ofour MBA students?

Representing a diversity of nationalitiesand industry sectors, the students aretypically in their early 30s and alreadypossess successful career records inmanagement or specialist fields in a widerange of industry sectors. On average,they have seven years of work experience.

To help in your search, the School

produces astudentprofiles bookwhich detailseach of thestudent’scareer andqualificationsto date, theircareer objectives, preferred locations and the focus of their MBA anddissertation.

The full-time MBA students willgraduate in September and the MBA in International Business students in December.

Leader of the packCorianne Waller was awarded the John McFarlane Prizefor leadership at her graduation in December.

Students are chosen on the basis of their contributionto the School and for demonstrating leadership amongthose in their MBA class. The prize is awarded fromfunds donated by John McFarlane, former ChiefExecutive of ANZ Banking Group, and Non-ExecutiveDirector of the Royal Bank of Scotland. He is an MAgraduate of the University of Edinburgh.

Work is continuing on the new Schoolbuilding, set to open in 2010. The main site worked started in

November, with a launch event held to markthe occasion.

A number of staff attended the event, to viewthe progress to date.

The existing internal infrastructure of theAdam Ferguson Building on George Square hasnow been stripped out, and work hascommenced on alterations to the existingunderground drainage to accommodate theconstruction of the new pavilion and entrancefoyer onto Buccleuch Place. Work will soonstart on the top-floor steel work extension,which will house offices for seniormanagement as well as boardroom facilities and a large staff room.

Work startson School’sgreat newbuilding

RIGHT: Nick Oliver, Head of School (left), pictured with Dermot Paterson, Partner, LDN Architects,

at the launch event

WANT TO KNOW MORE?To follow progress on the building, visit the AFBdevelopment blog at http://blogs.business-school.ed.ac.uk/afb-development

Singapore school is new exchange partner

WANT TO KNOW MORE?The individual student profiles can beviewed online at www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/corporate or to request aprinted student profiles book, [email protected]

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ABOVE: Corianne Waller(left) receiving her awardfrom Inger Seiferheld, MBADirector

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www.alumninet.man.ed.ac.uk | aluminate | 11

events


events

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KOLKATA, INDIAAs part of the Scotland-Kolkata Connections, a BurnsSupper was hosted by theBritish Council at the HyattHotel in Kolkata on 7 February.

The evening featuredperformances from the RedHot Chilli Pipers and readingsfrom the Scottish authorAndrew O’Hagan, as well as

Scotland set a new world record byjoining together thousands of BurnsSuppers worldwide in January 2009

to mark the 250th anniversary of thebirth of Robert Burns and open theHomecoming Scotland 2009celebrations.

A Burns event hosted by theSchool was attended by morethan 160 students, alumniand staff, on 24 January.

This year, the haggis was addressed byAlistair Fenton (Class of 1993) whoperformed the poetry with expertise andflourish. He was followed by John Beattie(Class of 2001) who delivered the

Immortal Memory. Two MBAstudents, David Luger and

Michele Wirt, contributed theToast to the Lassies and theReply from the Lassies.

Once the tables werecleared away, the

Occasionals provided themusic for traditional ceilidh

dancing. With an excellent caller,there was no hesitation from the gueststo take to the floor, and continuedancing until the early hours.

The party gets piping hot

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RIGHT: Murray Smith (right) prepares topipe in the haggis. LEFT: Burns Supper

speakers, from left, Alistair Fenton (Class of1993), John Beattie (Class of 2001), Michele

Wirt and David Luger (both MBA students)

THE SCHOOL JOINED IN WITH THE HOMECOMINGCELEBRATIONS TO MARK THE WORK OF ROBERT BURNS

CELEBRATING BURNS AROUND THE WORLD

ICELAND More than 180 people attended the32nd annual Burns Supper organised by the Edinburgh Society in Iceland,including a good representation of MBA alumni.

Despite the financial crisis, they had

75kg of MacSween haggis flown in fromScotland to help celebrate the 250thanniversary of the birth of RobertBurns. The event included traditionalreadings, poems and songs and ceilidhdancing. The Toast to the Lassies wasdelivered by ex-MBA Director Jim Hine.

MOSCOWVice-Principal for Development and Alumni, Young P Dawkins,hosted a table on behalf of the University at a Burns Supper inMoscow, organised by the Caledonia Club of Moscow.

The event was attended by those with an interest in Scotland andits heritage, as well as those living in Russia with Scottish ancestry.

This was part of a week-long visit by Young Dawkins, along withAlan Mackay, Head of the University’s International Office. More than20 alumni and friends, including MBA alumni, gathered for areception at the British Council where Dawkins spoke about theimportance of the relationship between graduates and the Universityand highlighted the increase in numbers of Russian studentsattending the University of Edinburgh each year.

many other Scottish traditions.The event was attended by

colleges and universities fromthroughout Scotland and avariety of Scottish alumni andmany other guests. Theyincluded Suniti Khastgir(pictured), who graduated from the MBA in 1998. Suniti is currently Head of Marketingwith Tata Medical Centre in Kolkata.

RIGHT: From left,Catriona McCarthy,

Assistant Director of theUniversity’s

International Office,pictured with Suniti

Khastgir (Class of 1998)and Stephen Hillier,

Director of PostgraduateStudies and

International Relations,University of Edinburgh

A record number of speaker events have recently taken place at the School to provide insights into current business issues.

Of particular note were the high-profilespeakers attracted for the MBA strategyseries. This series complements the MBAstrategy course by inviting leadingpractitioners to discuss the formulationand implementation of their company’sstrategy. Speakers this year included DavidMackay, Divisional Director of Retail(north UK), Abbey Santander; John Allan,CEO Global Business Services, DeutschePost World Net; Crawford Gillies, SeniorAdvisor to Bain & Company; Marc VanWeede, Executive Vice-President, GroupStrategy, AEGON NV; and Dr Wolfgang GSchneider, Vice President – Legal,Governmental and Environmental Affairs,Ford of Europe.

At the first event of the year, in a jointevent with the Association of MBAs,James Espey, Non-Executive Director atAG Barr, gave an enlightening talk basedon his passion for building brands andpeople. Entitled ‘An MBA is a springboard,but what about the pitfalls and theuniversity of life?’, he gave advice on what

to look for in a company, how long to stay,becoming an entrepreneur, and the role ofa non-executive director.

Recent months have been anextraordinary time for those involved inqualifying and managing market risks. Thiswas reflected by finance talks in theprogramme with John Hibbert, Co-founder of risk specialists Barrie &Hibbert, speaking on ‘Interpreting extremeevents in the financial sector’.

This was just one of the finance eventshosted by the School; others included atimely debate on ‘Hedge funds: futuretrends and challenges’, jointly held withthe Chartered Financial Analyst Institute.Speakers included Denis Jackson, formerMD of Prime Finance, Citigroup; ColinMcLean, MD, SVM Asset Managementand James Clunie, Investment Director,Equities, SWIP.

Most recently, a joint event with theSecurities and Investment Institute washeld in March, entitled ‘The future of thefinancial services in Scotland’ with speaker,Owen Kelly, CEO of Scottish FinancialEnterprise, the business supportassociation for the Scottish financialcommunity.

Talking about strategy…

WHAT WENTWRONG WITHTHE CRUNCH?

David Cruickshank (picturedbelow), Chairman of Boardof Partners, Deloitte UK,and an alumnus of theUniversity, delivered theannual Jubilee Lectureentitled ‘The Credit Crunch– what went wrong andwhat are the implicationsfor business?’

More than 300 BusinessStudies undergraduates andother invited guestsattended the lecture inNovember to hear Davidoutline the background tothe crisis.

In the Q&A following histalk, David discussed the UKGovernment’s Keynsianresponse of fiscal stimulus,the likely impact of tighterregulation and theimplications of a creditsqueeze for a range ofindustry sectors. On a moreoptimistic note, he saw anumber of opportunitiesfor ‘asset poor, but talentrich’ undergraduates whowill be entering the jobsmarket in the next coupleof years.

The Jubilee Lecture wascreated in 1968 to celebratethe 50th anniversary of thefirst students to studybusiness at the University ofEdinburgh. Edinburgh’sBusiness Studies is one ofthe longest establisheddepartments inmanagement withinEuropean Universities.

Credit Scoring and CreditControl XI Conference,26-28 August 2009Organised by the CreditResearch Centre, it isEurope’s premier conference

for credit scoring andrelated topics.

The conference includestalks ranging from currentindustry issues to the lateststatistical research findings.

For further details or to register for theconference, visit:www.crc.man.ed.ac.ukor email:[email protected]

FORTHCOMING EVENT

Did you know?

More than 3,600 BurnsNight Suppers took place in

more than 80 countries to mark Homecoming

Scotland

ABOVE: James Espey gave an insight into being a non-executive director


international alumni groupsinternational alumni groups


CONTACTS AROUND THE WORLDInternational alumni groups are well established in a number of countries. Wherenumbers are smaller, we also have key alumni contacts located in various areas ofthe world, or work in conjunction with other University of Edinburgh alumni groups. If you would like to make contact with alumni in countries not listed below, pleasecontact the Alumni Officer on [email protected] who can helpwith identifying appropriate contacts.

Argentina Rodrigo Salgado [email protected]

Australia Todd Booth [email protected]

Brazil Paulo Almeida [email protected]

Frankfurt Ralph Rudolph [email protected]

Ghana George Adjei [email protected]

Greece Giorgos Gerakakis [email protected] Georgakopoulos [email protected]

Iceland Oli Klemensson [email protected] Skulason [email protected] Gunnarsson [email protected] Rebekka Valsdottir [email protected]

India Amrit Singh [email protected]

Indonesia Handoko Bayumurti [email protected]

Japan Eiro Taniguchi [email protected]

Madrid Charlie Wilson [email protected]

Malaysia Sanjay Saigal [email protected]

Munich Markus Geisenberger [email protected] Doerfler [email protected]

Shanghai Martin Jensen [email protected]

South Africa Yoni Titi [email protected]

Singapore Jay Jayaseelan [email protected]

Switzerland Charles Barber [email protected] Kuenzler [email protected] Plattner [email protected] Pottier [email protected] Etienne Rumo [email protected] Teinila [email protected]

Thailand Vishnu Somboonpeti [email protected]

Toronto Josh Gillespie [email protected]

A festive boat trip and an opera housetour have been the themes for recentevents in Switzerland.

In late November, a small group of alumnienjoyed a relaxing evening on the fondueboat on the Lake of Lucerne. They enjoyedviews of the illuminated hotels along theshore as they sampled traditional Swiss food.

With the festive season over, greaternumbers of alumni were attracted by thenext event, a guided tour behind the scenesof the Opernhaus Zurich. The event wasopened with a lunch at the Belcantorestaurant, before the group visited the operahouse for a behind-the-scenes tour. Theywere made to feel very welcome by theirguide, Esther, and a number of the groupwent on to see the opera, Simon Boccanegra,later in the evening.

Kiyoshi Saito (Class of 2002) commented:‘It was a great event. After the tour, Imanaged to purchase tickets for the operaand although the seat was near the ceiling, itwas wonderful. The singers for SimonBoccanegra were superb especially StefanoSecco in the title role as Leo Nucci. Theacoustics were wonderful so high up, as wassuggested during the tour, but above all itwas exciting to witness the ‘bricks andmortar’ which we had seen earlier in the day,turned into a beautiful stage.’

Other alumni attendees included MartinVontabel (Class of 2004), Yannick Pottier(Class of 2001), Victoria Chirko (Class of2007), Stefan Wagner (Class of 2003) andCharles Barber (Class of 1996).

In February, Professor DavidMarshall visited the Faculty ofEconomics and Business,University of Sydney, and theSchool of Business, Universityof Western Australia, Perth.While in Sydney he met upwith MBA alumni andUniversity of EdinburghBusiness Schoolundergraduates on exchangewith the University of Sydney.

He also visited staff in theinternational offices at theUniversity of Sydney andUniversity of Queensland, Brisbane. During his trip he presented severalseminars to staff and students on his research into young consumers, anddiscussed opportunities for research collaboration.

The School has been represented at a number of fairsinternationally over the past six months.

Asia was the focus in November with Matthew Wortley,Assistant Director of the International Office, attending theTopMBA fair in Tokyo, where he is currently based. He wasassisted by Kazunari Okada and Machiko Tateishi (both Classof 2006). A couple of weeks later, Matthew flew to Taipei inTaiwan where he was helped at the fair by Johnny (Shih-Yi)Liu (Class of 2007) and Kelly (Chia-Chi) Lee (Class of 2006).

Once back in Tokyo, Matthew hosted a dinner for MBAalumni at the Hazelburn bar in Shinjuku, where theyenjoyed Scottish food, beer and whisky.

Later in the month, Dr Yew-Ming Chia, Director of the MSc in Management, represented the MBAprogrammes in Singapore, where he was assisted byKenneth Yap (Class of 2000).

In February, Jane Crawford, Alumni Officer, travelled toCanada to represent the School at the MBA fair in Toronto.She was assisted at the fair by Soraiya Walji (Class of 2008)and David La Vista (Class of 2007). Whilst in Toronto, shealso took the chance to host a dinner for alumni livinglocally, and visit Schulich Business School, one of ourexchange partners.

Two European fairs in March brought the latest round offairs to a close with Inger Seiferheld, MBA Director,representing the School in Barcelona, where she wasassisted by Francisco Gonzalez-Bree (Class of 2000), andAidan Hetherington, Careers and Corporate Relations Officer,visiting Frankfurt.

Group enters stage left...A LOOK BEHIND THESCENES OF A STUNNINGOPERA HOUSE IN ZURICHWAS JUST ONE HIGHLIGHTOF RECENT SWISS EVENTS

ABOVE: Enjoying fondue on the boat, from left,Victoria Chirko (Class of 2007), Markus Kuenzler(Class of 2003), Markus’s wife, Nicola, and DanielLehman (Class of 2005)RIGHT: Stefano Secco in Simon Boccanegra

ABOVE: From left, Carolyn Loton (Class of 1992),Michael Wright-Smith (Class of 2004), Carole Kriletich,Rob Kriletich (Class of 2003) and David Marshall

SPREADING THE WORD FAR AND WIDE

ABOVE: In Tokyo, back row from left: Shinichi Hata(Class of 2004), Hisako Ogura (Class of 2003),Yoshiaki Kondo (Class of 1993), Machiko Tateishi(Class of 2006), Toshiyuki Kaneko (Class of 1993) and Toshiaki Yamasaki (Class of 2006) Middle row,Mayumi Yamamoto (Class of 2004) Front row,Matthew Wortley, Naoshi Saito (Class of 1994) and Hiroki Nakamura (Class of 1995)

RIGHT: From left, EvanGreen (Class of 2006),David La Vista (Classof 2007), Soraija Walji(Class of 2008), SimonMiles (EDUCT), JoseMoreno (Class of1991), Norm Litchfield(Class of 2003), JaneCrawford (AlumniOfficer) and ErnieRobles (Class of 2007)

G’day to peers down under

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international

14 | aluminate | april 2009 www.alumninet.man.ed.ac.uk april 2009 | aluminate | 15

international

WHY IS SINGAPORE THE PLACE TO GO?An ultra-modern city of soaring skyscrapers andcommercial efficiency, Singapore is also a place of historyand cultural fusion - you can experience a variety of Asiancultures in an island only 42km long.

WHERE TO STAY…Singapore is a tourist playground with a host ofspectacular hotels, such as the Ritz Carlton Millenia(www.ritzcarlton.com), the Conrad Centennial Singapore(http://singapore.conradmeetings.com) and thefamous Raffles Hotel (www.raffles.com).

There is also a range of business andtourist hotels as well as local budgethotels in all parts of the island. Mosthotels are located in Orchard Road(shopping district), Raffles (businessdistrict), the River District (popular barsand pubs), the Heritage District and theDowntown City Hall area.

WHERE TO EAT…Food is one of the city’snational pastimes and it is no

surprise that the island has areputation as the food capital of

Asia for its huge variety of restaurants.Some of the popular dining spots include

Clarke Quay, Marina Bay and East Coast Parkfor seafood, Orchard Road for Japanese, as well as LittleIndia and China Town Food Street. Some of the shoppingcentres such as Vivo City and Sun Tech City also havesome of the most popular restaurants.

The best way to get a taste of real Singapore is from ahawker stall (outdoor food courts). Typical menu itemsinclude chicken rice (a casserole of chicken, Chinesesausage, Chinese mushrooms and rice), laksa (spicycoconut soup with quail’s eggs, prawns, chicken, beancurd, bean sprouts and noodles, pictured above), chilicrabs (hard-shell crabs cooked in with a tomato chillibase), and hokkien prawn mee (prawn noodles).

HOW TO GET THERE AND GET AROUND…Changi International Airport, just 20km from the centreof Singapore city, is a major hub in the Asia Pacific region.The newly completed Terminal 3 is particularly noted for

its state-of-the-art construction. Connections are availablefrom all parts of the world and there is a terminal forseveral Asian budget carriers. Ambassador Transit Hotelsare located within the departure transit lounges ofTerminal 1 and 2, which allow you to book a room for six-hourly blocks, without leaving the airport orclearing immigration.

Singapore’s public transport system is reliable andefficient. From the airport to the city, transportation isrelatively inexpensive (S$15 by taxi, S$3 by subway train,

and less for the bus). Taxi fares normally start ataround S$3 but beware of peak hours as taxis

can charge double. The city is easy to getaround and the subway stations (knownas MRT) connect to all major areas.

BUSINESS ETIQUETTE…Singapore is a place where many ethnic

groups, races and religions live in harmony.The official language of the island-city-state is

English with all signs and directions in English.Singapore’s main three ethnic groups are Chinese

(mostly speaking Hokkien-Fujian), Malays and Indian(mostly speaking Tamil). However, Chinese are by far themajority and the business etiquettes of the Chinese,Malays and Indians are often found throughout Singapore.

Due to the tropical weather all year around, even informal functions, the dress code is generally casual.Businessmen regularly wear short-sleeved shirts, oftenwithout a tie, although business suits for both men andwomen are often expected at first meetings, in the legal

sector and for some restaurants. If you want to wear asuit, it is better to find out whether others are wearingone as well.

WHAT TO SEE…Known as the Garden City, Singapore is laden withbeautiful gardens, parks, tropical green plants and flowersin all parts of the city. Take time to visit the Chinese andJapanese Gardens set on adjacent islands in Jurong Lakelinked by the Bridge of Double Beauty.

A particular weekend favourite for Singaporeans andvisitors alike is East Coast Park. It offers numerousactivities including cycling, canoeing, windsurfing,bowling, picnicking and more.

For wildlife enthusiasts, take the opportunity to visitJurong Bird Park. Covering a vast area of 20 hectares, thisis the largest bird park in South East Asia. Home to over8,000 birds, it features a simulated rainforestthunderstorm and the world’s largest hornbill collection.

And when the sun goes down, head to Singapore River,the city’s nightlife hub which forms a central artery in thedensely packed central business district. Alternatively, whynot discover the Night Safari at Singapore Zoo, the world’sfirst wildlife park built for visits at night?

WHERE IN THE WORLD? Jamie Dewar (Class of 2005) is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

WHY ARE YOU LOCATED IN DUBAI?I work for Cisco, a supplier of networking equipment andnetwork management for the internet (www.cisco.com).Cisco acquired WebEx (www.webex.com), which is a marketleader in on-demand collaboration applications in March2007 and I changed my role in August 2008 to become theWebEx Channel Manager for Middle East and Africa, Centraland Eastern Europe, and Russia based out of Dubai in theUnited Arab Emirates.

WHERE ARE YOU LIVING IN DUBAI?We are living in a villa next to a 20m pool and play area forchildren. The villa is located near to the Emirates Hills gatedcommunity and the Montgomery Golf Course. The Ciscooffice is located just 10 minutes away.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT THE PLACE? It is fast moving place and there is a huge investment ininfrastructure. The weather is fantastic and it is an amazingplace to bring up young children. Of course, it is also tax free.

HOW EASY WAS THE RELOCATION? Relocation was easy as it was a Cisco organisedinternational transfer.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO LIFE IN EDINBURGH? I have always been a believer that wherever you live it isyour interaction with customers, colleagues, friends andfamily that are the most important things and the locationdoes not really make a major difference.

The main difference compared with Edinburgh is that theweather is awesome and we do not really have to worryabout frosty or rainy mornings.

IS IT A PLACE TO PUT DOWN ROOTS? Increasingly, yes. Instead of viewing Dubai as a two to three-year assignment or a place to quickly earn a tax-free salary, more and more people are looking ata longer five to ten-year plan.

However, as with elsewhere in the world given thecurrent economic conditions, this has clearly beenchallenging for some sectors and individuals.

We have no plans to ever move back to Scotland or tothe UK. I am a proud and passionate Scot who loves mycountry dearly, but it holds no strings to pull me back.

JAY JAYASEELAN (CLASS OF 2001) OFFERS A PERSONAL GUIDE TO SINGAPORE

An insider’s view

of Singapore

Did you know?

You can find an extensivehotels directory within thegovernment-maintained

website www.visitsingapore.com

Singapore is not just oneisland but a main islandwith over 50 surroundingislets. Sentosa, Singapore’sresort island getaway, offersbeautiful sandy beaches,rustic nature trails, anoceanarium and dolphinlagoon, historical sites and

great entertainment. Other islands, such asPulau Ubin, which is less developed, offers awindow into Singapore 30 years ago with thatched huts, backyardorchards, dirt tracks andinteresting wildlife.

HIDDEN GEM: ISLAND HOPPING

Tourists often enjoyvisiting and walkingaround shop-housedistricts because of thevariety of colours used intheir façade decoration.

Often dating from thelate eighteenth centuryduring the colonial era,they consist of shops onthe ground floor whichopen up to a publicarcade. These shops also have residentialaccommodation upstairs.

Hotels will help you identify the areaswhere they are located.

COLOURFULSHOPPING

| ABOVE: Dubai has benefited from huge investment

ABOVE: Singapore is an ultra-modern city of soaring skyscrapers and efficiency



professional developmentprofessional development


Given the difficult economicclimate, we are aware that anumber of you are facinguncertainty over your own jobsand/or potential redundancy.Others are perhaps looking tomove into a different sector orrole. With this in mind, thereare a number of ways in whichthe School can help you if youare facing this type of situation.

Our career and personaldevelopment staff who supportthe current MBA students, arealso happy to assist alumni.This can range from one-to-onecareer advice, through topsychometric testing anddiagnostics. The School hasbuilt up a market reputation inthe latter area, havingconducted several hundredtesting and feedback sessionswith individuals and groups, inboth academic and corporatesettings. This includesCareerLeader for which we areoffering a discount for MBAalumni (see below).

The School also provides a range of careerinformation online (www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/careers), including access to two international job-posting platforms provided by MBA-Exchange and TopMBA.

During 2002, John and I were both made redundantat the same time from different companies. Wedecided that it was an ideal opportunity to take a

career break, so rented our house out, transferredour redundancy payments and savings into ourcurrent account, and purchased our six-month around the world tickets.

As well as taking the minimum werequired in our rucksacks, I also took one ofthe most valuable of all my assets for thejourney in my head – the password to myemail account which holds the list of mycontacts, including people I had done business with,both colleagues and counterparts. I wrote to a group ofthem before we left, informing them of our adventure. Icarefully withdrew from ongoing recruitment processesbut not without informing them that I would be backwith recharged batteries.

From time to time during the journey, I sent shortemails with anecdotes or a simple hello to some of mycontacts, including recruitment consultants. We had awonderful time and the trip was soon to take anunexpected turn. Two months after leaving Heathrow,after completing the four-day challenging Inca trail inPeru, we found out that we were expecting a baby!

After adjustments to our plans, including prioritisingaccommodation over cost and spending money on doctorvisits, our cash dropped on a steep curve.

It then crossed our minds that at some point (soon) wehad to find a job. With one month of the trip left, we

started to make phonecalls. From Australia, Icalled the recruitment agencies and found out

that the jobs I had been applying for weregone. John did his part, with news of the jobmarket being ‘very quiet’ and rates very low.

We arrived back in the UK and quickly setup our home office, dedicated to look for a

permanent position for John and a two-monthconsultancy project for me. I regained contact with

those who I had been corresponding with while travellingto let them know I was looking for work but also sharedthe news of my pregnancy. Although only a few werehappy to meet with me, and none offered me a job, I felt Ihad not lost any time or effort. At least they remembered

VICTOR LOEWENSTEIN, FORMERLY WITH EXECUTIVESEARCH FIRM EGON ZEHNDER INTERNATIONAL, SAYSWHEN IT COMES TO NETWORKING…

• Participate in external events within your industrysector or product range• Become active in Chambers of Commerce• Offer to be a guest speaker• If approached by a headhunter for advice – even ifyou aren’t interested now – spend time with them faceto face or over the telephone. You may need to contactthem in the future• Executive search firms tend to evaluate individuals on their career progression. Should the progression beachievable within the current employer, it will be betterperceived than if through employment change.

CAREER HELP IS ON HAND

We are delighted to offer Edinburgh MBAalumni the chance toundertake CareerLeaderat a $20 discount. Theusual individualpurchase fee is $95 butfor alumni it is $75,payable directly viawww.careerleader.com/alumni/edinburgh.html A guided tour isavailable to give youmore information aboutthe service and althoughthe results are selfexplanatory, there is theoption to discuss themfurther in order to takeconcrete action toachieve your career goals– contact the AlumniOfficer on [email protected] for details.

HOW WE CANHELP YOU...

Keepingin touch

FOLLOWING THE LAST DOWNTURN IN 2002, DIANAAND JOHN HIGGINS (BOTH CLASS OF 1996) TRAVELLEDTHE WORLD BUT KEPT UP THEIR NETWORKS WHILEAWAY, HELPING THEM TO SECURE POSITIONS ONTHEIR RETURN. DIANA TELLS THEIR STORY

my name, the job I used to do, and understood that eventhough I was expecting a baby, I still meant business. Imade sure I thanked them for their time and also let themknow that I would contact them when I was ready to goback to work. From their perspective, I think they at leastwelcomed the story of our trip.

Antonia was born and being busy in my new role as amum, all I managed to do was to send an email to my ex-colleagues sharing the news. A few months down the line,my ex-manager replied, mentioning that he would like tomeet me. His company was investing in a new venturewhich required a consultant with my skills for atemporary, part-time position. I contacted my ex-colleagues to let them know that I was on a temporarycontract, but was ultimately looking for a permanentposition working flexible hours.

A few months on, I had been through the recruitmentprocess in a different company. One of my ex-colleagueswas now working there, spotted my application andrecommended me for the position. As a result, I wasoffered the job on a part-time basis. It just goes to showthat even when out of work, it is vital to maintain one’snetworks, even from the other side of the world.

Did you know?

Becoming a speaker atthe School can help raiseyour profile and extend

your network

TOP TIPS: NETWORKING

To help with networking among the Edinburgh MBAalumni community, don’t forget that we now have agroup on LinkedIn, the online network of more than 35 million professionals from around the world,representing 150 industries.

Launched in 2008, the University of EdinburghBusiness School MBA Alumni group now has more than 650 members.

It allows you to contact each other and expand your own personal and professional networks, potentially leading to new business, job opportunities and knowledge exchange.

To join the LinkedIn group, visitwww.linkedin.com/e/gis/3858

REMEMBER TO GET LINKED IN

TACKLE YOUR CAREER ‘ACHILLES HEELS’

CareerLeader is a comprehensive and integrated self-assessment programme used by more than 300businesses and universities worldwide.

It focuses on identifying the ‘ingredients’ for yourcareer. Research shows that a person’s pattern of interestsis the single most powerful predictor of success andsatisfaction in a career.

Three self-assessment tests identify your unique patternof business-relevant interests, values and abilities.

The results are integrated to provide ‘career beacons’,specific career paths that are likely to be your best careerpath matches. CareerLeader helps you recognise and cureyour career ‘achilles heels’, which might unwittingly limityour career success.

It also provides profiles of key MBA business careerpaths, including information about the interests, rewardsand abilities associated with each one.

Finally, CareerLeader provides links to discover moreinformation about developing your career strategy,undertaking more research and preparing for interviews.

ABOVE: One traveller keeps connected to the job market back home like Diana

Did you know?

Giving feedback tosomeone who is not

receptive to it can do more harm

than good


professional development


W hich leadership tasks other than givingeffective feedback can better help employeesunlock their potential? The answer is few. Yet,

only a handful of leaders and managers master it. Onething is sure: giving effective feedback is anything buteasy. However, it is a skill that can be learned and honed.

For us, feedback is effective if it helps the receiver feelvalued, respected, capable of reaching new heights andencouraged to do so. Anything else is destructive, addsnothing to the potential unlocking process and shouldtherefore be avoided at all costs.

The main problems usually encountered by leadersare rarely with the technical aspects. Most, if not all,leaders have received extensive training in this area andare aware of the basic guidelines to follow (see right).

Rather, the challenges that leaders routinelyencounter have to do with the soft-factor side of givingfeedback. One of the most common mistakes is sharingfeedback with someone who is not ready to hear it.Another error is using a feedback session to tellsomeone all the areas that they must address. The truth

is that most people are only capable of changing slowlyand cannot focus on more than a couple of areassimultaneously, which means leaders must carefullychoose their battles.

In deciding which areas to address during a feedback session, ensure that they pass the followingtwo simple tests:• Is the employee capable of changing his behaviour in the area that they need to address?• Can a behavioural change in the targeted areasignificantly impact the performance of the employeeand/or of his unit?

If an area fails the first test, but passes the second one then the challenge is not about giving feedback, but instead on determining whether we need to dosomething about this situation and what are the changecatalysts needed.

Our employees are often not aware of the behaviouralissues that are impacting negatively on theirperformance or their working relationships. In thesecases, our main objective is to help them become aware

of those issues. The best way to do this is to allow themto discover the problem themselves.

This can be done in a number of ways. For instance,ensure that they receive feedback in this area frompersons other than ourselves (eg via employee/customer surveys) or we could put them in situationsthat will require them to address the area concerned.Also, you can help them come to a better understandingof the area to address, how they can change for thebetter (helping them identify the action steps that theymust take) and realise that they can change and that wefirmly believe that they can be successful.

WHAT DOES THE IDEAL FEEDBACK SESSION LOOK LIKE?We need to ensure that our words will not trigger anegative emotional reaction. Here the golden rule ‘noopinion, just facts and analyses’ will pay off, as well asshowing empathy at all times. For instance, instead ofsaying: ‘Why haven’t you reached your sales figuresagain?’, we could mention: ‘I noticed that you areencountering difficulties; I know that your sales teamshave worked hard lately and would like to help.’

Too often, feedback is given as a personal attack and directed at the individual rather than as anobservation of behaviour.

Mastering the art of giving effective feedback is also

all about saying the positive and uplifting things that wethink. Leaders should not wait until the annual reviewdate to give feedback, especially when it is positive. Asimple ‘that was a terrific piece of work’ can do wondersin keeping people engaged and on track to unlockingtheir potential.

As leaders, we should remember that for every singlenegative feedback we give, we should give at least fivepositive ones. Negative comments have a more powerfulimpact on receivers than positive ones, so below this 1:5ratio, employees will only hear the negative ones andnever be sufficiently nurtured by the positive ones.

WHAT ABOUT GIVING NEGATIVE FEEDBACK?Any negative feedback must be given timely, privately,face-to-face (never by email) and within the 1:5 ratio. Itshould be fact-orientated (ie not based on the he-said/she-said type of information) and not be given when we areunder the control of our emotions. We should be evenmore specific when we make positive comments and usethe power of questions to trigger insightful discussions.

Moreover, we should be prepared to give details onhow the receiver can improve and ensure that they seethat we do believe that they can change. We shouldrefrain from using ‘you’ phrases such as ‘you didn’t dothis’. They always sound like an attack and put thereceiver into the defensive.

It is therefore important that we are clear as to whywe want to give a negative feedback and what outcomeswe are looking for. Unless the feedback is an investmentin the receiver’s growth and shows that they are apriority for us, then we should consider not giving it.Managers tend to focus too much on all the smallweaknesses of their employees, when in fact many arenot worth correcting.

A point worth noting is that far too many managersseem to accumulate negative observations for too long.They then end up giving negative feedback more in the‘I am tired of this behaviour’ mindset. Constructivefeedback is not judgemental, negative-orientated,labelling or accusing. It is collaborative, informative,specific and actionable. We need to do our homeworkfirst, otherwise we won’t be able to support ourarguments with concrete observations and facts. Finally,we must check our attitude and ensure that we have notalready judged and sentenced a person before he hashad the opportunity to share his side of the story.

As leaders, we also have to set an example anddemonstrate that we are open to receiving feedback. Weshould aim to create an environment where regularfeedback is sought after and welcomed. We should showby our attitude and behaviour that we do not makeexcuses or blame circumstances or other people for ourown failings whenever we receive a negative feedback.

Feedback can be a great tool to help our staffmembers improve and grow. It is not to be abused ormisused and it requires that we develop great peoplejudgement and body-reading skills. Every leader shouldset aside at least 15 minutes a day to give positivefeedback to all those people who do a great job everysingle day. The truth is that each day, in every company,many employees do go the extra mile to get the jobdone and deserve to receive positive feedback.

Feedback should:• Be of value to thereceiver and not befocused on meeting thegiver’s needs• Be delivered in a non-threatening andencouraging, as well asuplifting manner• Be clear and specific (ie avoiding anygeneral comments orgeneralisation termssuch as ‘never’ and‘always’ as well as anybroad issues that cannotbe easily defined)• Focus on behaviourrather than the person• Refer solely tobehaviour that can be changed• Be descriptive ratherthan evaluative orjudgemental• Be given in a thoughtfulmanner (and not in animpulsive way or whenwe are controlled by ouremotions• Be timely.

FEEDBACK: THE BASICS

SERGE ROUX-LEVRAT (CLASS OF 1993) AND ANDREAS MÖLICH SUGGEST THAT FOCUSING ON THE SOFTER SIDE OF FEEDBACK WILL BENEFIT YOUR STAFF AND YOUR BUSINESS

The art of givingeffective feedback


special feature


US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld oncenoted: ‘There are known knowns. There arethings we know that we know. There are

known unknowns. That is to say, there are things thatwe now know we don’t know. But there are alsounknown unknowns. There are things we do notknow we don’t know.’

He was widely mocked for his convoluted assessmentof the military situation in post-invasion Afghanistanduring a briefing he held back in 2002. But in fact, hisanalysis is something that anyone in the business of riskmanagement should be able to relate to.

And he wasn’t the first to tackle the issue of‘unknown unknowns’. The term originated with theaerospace engineering industry, with reference toproblems which could not possibly have beenanticipated.

It was adopted by the military, and in an articleabout war games in 1984, Lieutenant GeneralRaymond Furlong wrote: ‘Participants in a war gamewould describe an unknown unknown as unfair,beyond the ground rules of the game. But real war doesnot follow ground rules, and I would urge that gamesbe “unfair” by introducing unknown unknowns.’

The military analogy is useful in looking at thetreatment of risk in the financial services industry and, ifthe combination of circumstances which has wreakedhavoc on the global economy could be classed as in anyway ‘unfair’, then should they at least have been betteranticipated? What lessons can the industry take fromthe current situation? And what can companies do tosafeguard against the ‘unknown unknowns’?

According to Carolyn Williams, Development Managerat the Institute of Risk Management, recent events shouldact as a wake-up call for the industry.

‘Some businesses get so engrossed in the mathematicsof trying to model what their risks might be, particularlyin the financial services side, that they don’t look up at thewider things going on in the world,’ she said.

‘It’s a matter of opening your eyes to what’s going on andapplying common sense, as well as the detailed crunchingtype of risk management which everybody has to do.

‘I think there’s a whole rethink of the risk managementprocess going on. People are certainly going to try to do itbetter, and they’re going to be more in the spotlightbecause of what’s happened. So they have to be veryconfident that what they’re doing meets the best industry standards.’

But even if the risk manager is doing the job to the bestof their abilities, is there any guarantee that their messageis getting through to the appropriate level?

Paul Moore, the former Head of Group Regulatory Riskat HBOS, gave evidence to the Treasury selectcommittee’s hearing into the financial crisis in February,having said that: ‘Being an internal risk and compliancemanager… felt a bit like being a man in a rowing boattrying to slow down an oil tanker.’

Moore said he told HBOS it was ‘going too fast, had acultural indisposition to change and was a serious risk to

financial stability and consumer protection’. He wasdismissed in 2005 and sued HBOS. His claim was settled,but he was subjected to a gagging order, which he onlybroke in order to give his evidence to the select committee.

HBOS bosses Andy Hornby and Lord Stevenson deniedMoore’s claims at the hearing. But the allegations led toHornby’s predecessor at HBOS, Sir James Crosby, quittinghis position as deputy chairman of the Financial ServicesAuthority, though he also said Moore’s allegations had nomerit. The FSA said it had had concerns about riskmanagement at HBOS dating back to 2002.

Crawford Paul (Class of 1981), Director of the insurancebroker Coverall Worldwide, said that it’s clear from suchexamples that the area of risk management needs to begiven more respect.

‘There has to be a broader appreciation of what riskactually is and its status should be elevated to thecompany board room, be more broadly defined and not,as has traditionally happened, left to the insurancemanager,’ he said.

‘Businesses need to revisit risk and build it more intotheir business plans. They should take a look at theirskill sets, in each of the different areas of their business.They need to have people talking across the company,rather than just up and down it and look at totalenterprise risk and the interdependencies.’ Dr DavidHillson, Director of the international risk consultancy

COMPANIES LARGE AND SMALLWILL HAVE TO REASSESS HOWTHEY BALANCE RISK ANDREWARD WHILE PLANNING FORTHE ‘UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS’

special feature

1992: The Financial Aspects ofCorporate Governance,otherwise known as theCadbury Report, is publishedand applies to all listedcompanies reporting theiraccounts from 30 June 1993.

1999: Internal Control: Guidance forDirectors on the CombinedCode, known as the TurnbullGuidance, is issued andupdated in 2005.

2002: Sarbanes-Oxley Act comesinto force for US-listedcompanies, in the wake ofthe Enron and WorldComcorporate and accountingscandals.

2003: The Combined Code onCorporate Governance isintroduced by the FinancialReporting Council for listedcompanies in the UK, and iscurrently under review.

A TIMELINE OF RISK REGULATION

‘THERE’S A WHOLERETHINK OF RISKMANAGEMENTGOING ON. PEOPLEARE GOING TOHAVE TO DO ITBETTER AND AREGOING TO BEMORE IN THESPOTLIGHT NOWCarolyn Williams

Riskybusiness


Being on the edge could spell dangerfor companies, particularly if they are

not prepared for potential catastrophe


special featurespecial feature


and if it is catastrophic, you need to live with it, no matterhow unlikely it is.

As Lord Turner, the head of the Financial ServicesAuthority, noted recently: ‘One in a thousand year eventsseem to be happening annually, and one in a hundred yearevents are occurring weekly at the moment. All our riskmodels need to be reviewed, updated and re-applied.’

One of the key areas for companies to consider is instress-testing, to determine how robust their businessmodel is. At a recent seminar looking at risk andcorporate governance, Frank Blin, Senior Partner inScotland with accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers,said: ‘Every board must be looking at risk managementand risk assessment. They will need to “stress test”assumptions and look at how the business can deal withscenarios that a few months ago seemed unimaginablypessimistic or even completely unrealistic.’

At the same meeting, Norman Murray, Chairman ofCairn Energy, said: ‘Business risks have changedsignificantly in the past six months and there’s no hopingthey will go away. The big risks facing the company needto be out on the table. Risk should be the number oneitem on the board’s agenda.’

The fear for industry is that events of the past yearcould lead to a re-think in regulations when it comes torisk and corporate governance. The Financial ReportingCouncil has already announced a review to its CombinedCode on Corporate Governance, which sets out bestpractice corporate governance standards for UK-listedcompanies. One of the specific areas being looked at iswith the board’s relation to risk management.

Ultimately, said Dr David Hillson, risk should be seenas creating positive opportunities, when it is managedappropriately. There was a view of the risk managementprofession as the ‘business prevention department’,because they were saying ‘you can’t do that’, he said.

‘I think it’s important to view risk as an opportunity, arisk representing a positive chance. The future is uncertainbut risk in future possibilities is linked to innovation,creativity and competitive advantage.’

Just as long as you’re trying to know as much as you canabout the unknown unknowns.

The study of statistics and the use of sophisticated modellingsoftware can tell us a great deal about risk and how we canpredict what may happen in the future, based on a detailedunderstanding of what has already gone before.

But how do you account for the truly unexpected?That’s the subject of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s 2007 book,

‘The Black Swan: the impact of the highly improbable’. Thetitle comes from the discovery of black swans in Australia inthe 17th century, which destroyed the prevailing assumptionheld up until then that all swans were white.

Taleb wrote, prior to the collapse of the banking system, that the financial services industry was vulnerable to unanticipated ‘black swan’ events, and companies were exposed to losses beyond anything predicted by their risk managers.

He has criticised widely used measures in the riskmanagement industry such as Value at Risk as giving traders afalse sense of confidence in their transactions.

His study of the impact of unforeseen events is being taken on board by the risk management industry, said Carolyn Williams, Development Manager at the Institute ofRisk Management.

‘Stress testing scenario analysis is something that I thinkwe’re going to see a lot more of, because we’re seeing somany “black swans” flying around,’ she said.

‘Taleb has a focused way of dealing with the unexpected,in his case by putting money into a fund every year to dealwith unanticipated situations. Translating that into corporateterms isn’t as easy as it sounds, but we need to develop newtools and techniques for dealing with that sort of uncertainty– and accepting that it can happen.’

One of the key messages from The Black Swan is that tomanage risk and uncertainty, you have to look beyond the statistics and the mathematics.

Taleb’s example is of two characters, Brooklyn-bornwiseguy Fat Tony and the former engineer Dr John, who’snow an actuary for an insurance company, where he runscomputer programmes in risk management.

The scenario is that you toss a coin 99 times and it comesup heads every single time. So what are the chances of itcoming up tails for the 100th toss?

Dr John dismisses it as a trivial question, and logically saysthat there’s a 50 per cent chance of the coin coming up tailsthe next time.

Fat Tony says the chances are one per cent. ‘You are eitherfull of crap or a puresucker to buy that 50per cent business,’ hesaid. ‘The coin gotta beloaded. It can’t be afair game.’

Taleb also imaginesTony whispering in hisear: ‘I know these guyswith nerd examples fromthe bank days. They thinkway too slow. And they aretoo commoditised.’

MSc IN FINANCE AND RISK

Risk management has never beenmore relevant, which makes theUniversity of Edinburgh BusinessSchool’s decision to launch a newMasters programme on the subjectparticularly welcome.

The first MSc of its type inScotland begins in September thisyear, and is expected to attractan initial intake of 25 students.

The full-time one-year coursewill look at the theory andapplication of risk management

models, including the use ofsophisticated risk management modelling software.

The course will prepare students for a range of finance-related professions, such as in risk analysis or professional riskmanagement, and will be of interest to those intending topursue careers in banks, insurance companies, assetmanagement, corporate finance, accounting or regulation.

The course director is Dr Gavin Kretzschmar, a specialist inthe area of financial sector risk and applied corporatefinance research.

He said that if Scotland’s reputation for financial serviceshas come under attack, it’s time that we recognised the long-standing excellence of the country’s educational institutes.

‘Whatever the case with the country’s financial services is,what has seen Scotland through hundreds of years has beenits education, so right now we see a huge opportunity forrisk education, in this area of finance,’ said Gavin. ‘Out of this mess comes a big opportunity for us to specialise infinance and risk.’

It was the gathering storm of the economic crisis in the firsthalf of 2008 which prompted the Business School to startthinking about expanding its offering to concentrate on risk.

And despite the economic downturn, there should beplenty of opportunities for graduates from the programme,as companies restructure to incorporate more relevantrisk positions.

‘These financial institutions have tens of thousands ofpeople employed, but extremely few qualified individualsin the field of risk,’ said Gavin. ‘That’s precisely the gapthat we’re targeting – we’re going to supply qualified risk professionals who can go out to the financial services industry.’

If this is a growth area for academia, though, theUniversity of Edinburgh Business School is at the head of thequeue in terms of making it an offering, with only Universityof California Berkeley, MIT and Imperial College Londonamong the top-level institutions offering similar programmes.

‘The fact that there are not many places offering this kind ofprogramme is the upside,’ said Gavin. ‘The challenge is you dorequire a fairly quantitative mindset to actually do thesecourses – you’ve got to deal with probability, you’ve got todeal with statistics.’

For a copy of the MSc in Finance and Risk brochure, visitwww.business-school.ed.ac.uk

Risk Doctor & Partners, agreed thatcommunication and hierarchy are key areas.‘In the financial sector it was the business lines

which ruled, and they had the ability to disregard oroverrule the advice of the risk function,’ he said. ‘So wewere waving the red flag saying “here’s the danger point”,and the business lines were saying, “okay, but we’re goingto do it anyway”.

‘We’ve got to give some attention to communicatingmore appropriately, and that doesn’t mean we have to givelots and lots of risk geeks’ views. You have to speak tosenior management in their language but we have to keepour integrity of the message. Also the balance of powerwithin the organisation needs to be changed because riskmanagement needs to be given more say.’

Peter Dalziel (Class of 1994) has recently takenredundancy from the financial sector to set up AicouteConsulting, which offers practical risk assessment andmanagement as a service.

He believes best practice process can be easy tounderstand and essential if you are going to understandyour business and see it prosper, no matter what size it is.

‘We get people to understand the risks in their business,or likely to emerge with new projects and ventures, andactually own them,’ he said. ‘It’s not for us to say to people,this is the right way. We help business owners to bring out the right options and find the appropriatecountermeasures to put in place.

‘Sometimes it’s just about asking simple questions.When people are very close to their business, especiallysmall business owners, it can be quite hard for them totake a step back and say, hold on, there are different waysto do things.

‘There is an operational benefit from understanding therisks and putting in place suitable measures in advance.These can be used to emphasise advantages overcompetitors, and there is the added benefit of being ableto sleep better at night.’

Peter also warned of the risks of success. If things workout better than you think, he said, you need to be able todeal with higher volumes, otherwise your reputation cansuffer. Equally, remember that the unlikely can happen

Did you know?

For a range of riskmanagement jobs currently

available, visitwww.theirm.org

‘REMEMBER THATTHE UNLIKELY CANHAPPEN AND IF ITIS CATASTROPHICYOU NEED TO BEABLE TO LIVE WITH IT, NOMATTER HOWUNLIKELY IT IS’ Peter Dalziel

DEALING WITH THE UNEXPECTED


Like a gamble on the roulette table,taking a business risk can be a good

opportunity, if managed appropriately


business developmentbusiness development


One of my elective subjects during my Full-timeMBA between 1996-97 was ‘Entrepreneurship’.That course gave me the insight into building

business cases and plans along with much of the theoryassociated with being an ‘entrepreneur’.

What I do not remember the course exploring, at thattime, was the piecing together and presentation ofcorporate deals for would-be investors.

Recently, along with another alumnus, Derek Smith(Class of 1997), we established Independent FinancialAdviser business Melville Hutchison FinancialManagement Ltd. As part of our business proposals wewere looking to raise finance to acquire similar businesses– to accelerate growth through gaining economies fromconsolidation. This then sent us on an adventure into theland of the business angel and business investment clubs.

We had pulled together what we thought was a rathernatty looking presentation that covered off ‘everything’.Well, nearly everything. One thing that we wereuncertain about was how to present the investment dealto those who may wish to back our business expansionwith their money. We recognised that these deals areusually more complex than the ‘Dragon’s Den’ approachof being grilled by the prospective investors and thenoffering a percentage of the business in return for therequested funding. Thinking on where to go for advice,we contacted Jane Crawford at the Business School and

she put us in touch with Gavin Don, the BusinessSchool’s Professor of Entrepreneurship.

I had never met a Professor of Entrepreneurshipbefore and I was slightly nervous that he might take an‘academic’ approach that perhaps did not recognise thepracticalities of what we wanted to achieve. However,my fears were ill founded. Gavin could not have beenmore helpful. He gave us a crash course on how tostructure a potential deal. This included practical adviceon how to word and present the deal.

In particular, he highlighted that any would-beinvestor would want:• An equity holding that is fair in relation to the amount invested• Their money back by an agreed future date• A return on their money while it is invested• To deal with people who had a well-thought-throughapproach which was presented professionally.

Following our discussion with Gavin, we were better

Perfectpitch

WHEN MALCOLM GOOD (CLASS OF 1997) WAS LOOKINGFOR THE BEST WAY OF CRAFTING A PRESENTATION FORPOTENTIAL INVESTORS, HE TURNED TO THE SCHOOL

able to meet these requirements and toarticulate them in our financial projections andinvestor presentations. This included detailing:• The amount of ‘hard equity’ that the investor wouldreceive. These ordinary shares shown as a percentage ofthe funds we were looking to raise.• The number of preference shares the investor wouldreceive. These shares represented the balance of thefunding that we were looking for (the balance of funds nottaken as ordinary shares). In addition, these shares were tobe Convertible, Cumulative, Redeemable and PreferenceShares or, as they are known, CREEPS (see below).

Thanks to our alumni connection, plus Gavin’s expertknowledge, we were better able to articulate the offeringto investors and what we were looking for in return (inmonetary terms, knowledge and time commitments).

This insight improved our presentation of the material,our level of professionalism and gave us greater confidence,which is now paying its own dividends.

CREEPS shares are:• Convertible: from preferenceshares to ordinary shares. Ifrepayment of the initial amountinvested plus yield is missed

then the preference shares‘explode’ into an agreednumber of ordinary shares, thusgiving the investor a largerpercentage of the ordinary

share capital in the business• Cumulative: a yield is attachedto the shares (a set percentage tobe paid annually). This gives, ineffect, an interest return on theinvestor’s funds. And cumulativebecause if one year’s yield

Entrepreneur in Residence Gavin Donprovides tips on how to make apresentation to potential investors asuccess...• Remember that you are beingassessed from the moment you walk in.Everything matters – how you look,does your laptop work, are youorganised, are you flexible andresponsive. Half of your presentation isnot what you say, but how you say it.• If you can’t sum up your businesspitch in less than ten slides then youhaven’t got your ideas properly inorder. A good starter is ‘Who we are,what have we achieved, what do wewant, what are we going to do foryou’. Use very few words in the slides,and lots of pictures. • Each minute of your presentationshould take approximately an hour ofpreparation and rehearsal. • Business angels live on numbers.Make sure yours are clear, and add up.Use key numbers only (if you can’tidentify what those are then youhaven’t prepared enough). • Think of the proposition as an

‘input-output’ plan. Theangel’s input is ‘xxx’.The angel’s output is‘yyy’. Part of ‘yyy’ willbe the dilution factor –on average expect 35-45per cent dilution at eachround of finance. Offerless and your credibilitywill evaporate (unlessyou have anoverwhelminglyattractive proposition). • Businesses live on theirsales. The presentation isa selling exercise. Youraudience is looking forevidence of sales skills. Ifyou can’t sell your ideato them, then what hopehave you of selling yourproduct or service tosomeone else? • A presentation to angels is a one-shot-kill

exercise. If you lose them at thepresentation stage don’t expect to winthem back later.

PREFERENCE FOR CREEPS?

TOP TIPS FOR AWINNING PITCH


‘DEALS AREUSUALLY MORECOMPLEX THANTHE DRAGON’SDEN APPROACHOF BEING GRILLEDBY THE INVESTORS’ Malcolm Good

Did you know?

The Entrepreneurship Clubruns regular introductorypitching workshops and

competitions

payment is missed it rollsforward into the next year• Redeemable: a set-date isagreed by which time theamount of money that theinvestor bought the preferenceshares for must be repaid

(along with the associatedyield). Failing that thepreference shares becomeconvertible• Preference Shares: they holdno voting rights, unlikeordinary shares.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?Malcolm Good is the author of Self-Helpfor the 21st Century and is a Director ofMelville Hutchison FinancialManagement Ltd.

ABOVE: Practice makes perfect for Derek Smith (left) and Malcolm Good

Gavin Don suggestsspending one hour of

preparation andrehearsal for every

minute of your pitch


researchresearch


Glitnirreverts toold name

The October 2008 issue ofAluminate included afeature on the rebrandingof New Glitnir, but just asthe issue went to print,Iceland’s banking systemhit turbulent times. Inlight of the changes in theexternal environment,much of Iceland’sfinancial undertakingshave been reshaped.

As a result, New Glitnirhas reverted to the nameÍslandsbanki, literally‘Iceland’s bank’. Today,their objective is to builda new, robust bank,which can play an activerole in reconstructing the economy.

Íslandsbanki wasalready a very strong andwell-known brand, andreflects the changedemphasis in the bank’sactivities. It offersuniversal banking servicesfor household andcorporate clients, intenton furthering the interestsof both its customers andthe community.

With the reversal backto the original name,Birna Einarsdóttir, CEO(Class of 1993),commented: ‘This is onemore step along the pathtowards building a newbank. We realised rightaway that a change inname would be necessary,both in order to rebuildconfidence once more andto eliminate thecontinuing risk ofconfusion between Oldand New Glitnir.

‘We are also very fondof this name and it hasbeen clearly demonstratedthat our customers arevery much in favour of it.’

A case study authored by MarkusPudelko, Reader in InternationalBusiness, was among the winners at the ecch European Case Awards 2009.

Awards are made in up to ninemanagement categories, plus oneoverall winning case for each year. Thisis the first time in the 19-year history ofthe awards that the University ofEdinburgh Business School has won acase award.

The case by Markus Pudelko was thewinner in the Human ResourceManagement/OrganisationalBehaviour category and was entitled‘Expatriation: An American working inJapan from the perspective of theexpatriate, headquarters and theforeign subsidiary’. The case coversvirtually every important aspect ofexpatriation, exploring it from thepoint of view of the expatriate, the

management of headquarters and themanagement of the foreign subsidiary.

The largest single source ofmanagement case studies in the world,ecch has more than 58,500 items in itscatalogue, available to all throughwww.ecch.com

The ecch European Case Awardshave been presented by ecch annuallysince 1991, to provide formalrecognition and exposure for successfulcase authors and their institutions, andto raise the profile of the case methodof teaching.

Professor Richard Taffler, MartinCurrie Chair of Finance andInvestment, has been awarded a

grant from the Research Foundation ofthe CFA Institute (USA) to write amonograph on the new discipline ofemotional finance, to be published bythe foundation (www.cfainstitute.org).

Emotional finance is an emerging areathat Professor Taffler has been workingon for a number of years. It explores therole of unconscious needs, drivers,fantasies and fears in driving investorjudgements and the associated emotionsand feelings that help determine their

behaviour. It builds on our existingunderstanding of behavioural financewith very practical implications forprofessional fund managers, andinvestors more generally.

Professor Taffler is working withProfessor David Tuckett, adistinguished psychoanalyst fromUniversity College London, on acontinuing research programme in this area, which promises to be offundamental importance topractitioners and also constitutes aninteresting and original perspective onthe behaviour of financial markets.

NEW PUBLICATIONS

WHY JAPAN CAN’T REFORM - INSIDE THE SYSTEMWritten by Dr Susan Carpenter,Lecturer in InternationalBusiness at the School,this new book looks at Japan’s failure toeffectively recover from a decade-longrecession that began at the start of the 1990s.

The book, published by Palgrave, examines elements explicitto the Japanese post-war governing system that have served toparalyse the decision-making process. It prevented the systemfrom adapting to the ever-changing demands on the domesticfront and the global political economy.

The analysis is based principally on the Japanese perspectiveof their system and their continuing dilemma to stabilise theireconomy. During the past 18 years, the Governmenthas had ample opportunity to implement structural reforms,particularly of institutions that serve to rigidify the administrative system.

However, due to the impact of the global financial crisis,reforms have been put aside in favour of short-term, fix-it fiscaland monetary policies that mimic policies used throughout the1990s that are being embraced in the US and UK.

SOFTWARE AND ORGANISATIONS: THEBIOGRAPHY OF THE ENTERPRISE-WIDE SYSTEMOR HOW SAP CONQUERED THE WORLD

Neil Pollock, Senior Lecturer in E-businessat the School, and co-author,

Robin Williams, havepublished their latest book

‘Software and Organisations:The Biography of the

Enterprise-wide System or howSAP Conquered the World’. The modern enterprise-wide

information system has become asoftware package. A small number of

software suppliers, of which the softwaregiant SAP is the clear leader, have apparently succeeded indeploying their enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutionsacross many different organisations, sectors and countries around the globe.

Large organisations now appear to be dominated by a new breed of standardised software packages. These are notthe locally specific, tailor-made systems that experts hadpredicted would prevail, but the most highly generic kind ofinformation system.

This book seeks to overcome this gap in our understanding ofthe origins of this kind of software and its extension to allsectors. It analyses the sophisticated strategies developed bysuppliers to develop generic solutions, focusing on the ways inwhich they manage their relationships with their current andpotential customer base.

It is the first book that addresses the genesis and career of the modern day enterprise system in a comprehensive androbust manner.

Delving intoemotionaldecisions

Winning’san open andshut case

Improved population health andreduced health inequalitiescannot be achieved by the NHSalone, and rely on the ‘wholesystem’ of public services,voluntary sector services andcommercial provision.

There is an appetite in Scotlandto sharpen performancemanagement and improvementprocesses. But a key problem hasbeen different performanceregimes across these sectors.This has been alleviated with therecent move to outcomes-focusedpublic sector accountability.

In early 2007, NHS HealthScotland was commissioned bythe Scottish Government’s PublicHealth and Wellbeing Directorateto develop an outcome-focusedperformance framework forhealth improvement and healthinequalities. NHS HealthScotland is currently completingthe second phase of this work

and has created a performanceframework and approach.

From July 2009, the School willbe hosting Dr Erica Wimbush,Head of Policy Evaluation at NHSHealth Scotland. She has beenappointed as an Economic andSocial Research Council ReversePlacement Fellow for 12 months.

Mentored by Professor SandraNutley, Chair of PublicManagement, Erica will beworking on a project entitled: ‘Are we making a difference? –

developing outcome-focused,evidence-informed processes intohealth improvement performanceassessment’.

The aim of the fellowship willbe to write-up some of this workfor publication, placing it in thewider context of public sectormanagement and public servicereform, and to develop Canadianwork on Contribution Analysis forthe UK context, and explore thepossibility of publishing an editedvolume of case studies.

Health improvement fellow appointed


special featurespecial feature


Amid-life career change is hardly unusual. Morethan ever before, people have two or even threecareers in their working lifespan. Although I have

already had at least three careers before this one, themoves have been more evolutionary than revolutionary.

To go from marketing global high net worth investmentproducts to providing psycho-social support services topeople living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa cannot becalled a career evolution by anyone’s definition. On theother hand, are the skills and competencies employedreally that different?

When I started my MBA I was in advertising sales. Oncompletion, I made a career move into marketing lifeinsurance and investments, reaching the level of SeniorMarketing Manager at Scottish Widows before I decidedI’d had enough of corporate life. I then became a freelancecopywriter, editor and marketing consultant,predominantly for financial services clients, with a ‘hobbybusiness’ as a personal chef on the side.

For a while, this seemed to tick all the boxes for me,but something in me was bored and dissatisfied. I feltthat, apart from raising my children, I hadn’t doneanything with my life that would make a blind bit ofdifference after I’m gone. Volunteering in the developingworld had crossed my mind when I first left corporatelife. I enquired about VSO then, but it was to be anotherfour years before personal circumstances allowed me topick up and go overseas for two years.

When I started work at the Reproductive Health andHIV Research Unit (RHRU) of the University of theWitwatersrand in Johannesburg, initially the hardestadjustment was working to an organisational timetablerather than my own. RHRU is one of the pioneers in HIVresearch and management in the southern hemisphere.We have been at the forefront of anti-retroviral (ARV)roll-out in South Africa and produce evidence-basedresearch that informs and influences government policy.

Last year, we provided voluntary counselling and testingservices to about 60,000 people, and initiated nearly12,000 people on ARVs. That’s 12,000 lives saved, putbluntly, because without ARVs, people die of AIDS-related illnesses. My role is to run our Community CareCentre, a hub of NGO activity in a deprived inner cityarea providing psycho-social support to people affectedand infected by HIV.

This job is radically different from anything andeverything I’ve done before. I was recruited for mymanagement experience: in an organisation full ofresearchers, doctors and nurses, social workers andpublic health experts, basic organisational andmanagement skills are in short supply. Specifically, the Community Care Centre was in need ofprocedures, systems, and capacity-building. So where on earth was I to start?

I soon found that I wasn’t as out of my depth as Ithought. Chairing meetings, taking minutes, developing

action plans, event management –these were all things I knew. Public

health and HIV I didn’t know, but I hadthe wherewithal to find the information

and do the self-briefing necessary. Then it was a case ofdetermining goals, setting objectives, and garnering theresources required. The ‘product’ is irrelevant, becausethere are qualified specialists to deliver the actual product.

For example, in one recent week I organised twocommunity workshops, one on migrant and refugee rightsand one on nutrition. I don’t know much about migrantrights in South Africa and I’m not a nutritionist, but apartner NGO has a Refugee and Migrant Health andRights Programme and another partner supplies us with anutritionist. I do the marketing and sort out all thelogistics (and come up with the idea in the first place).Not such unfamiliar territory.

Another example is data management. South Africa hasa register mentality. At every meeting and event a paper

Making a big change CHALLENGES OF VOLUNTEERING

Volunteering is a never-ending process of learning andadapting – learning about a new field, a new culture, anew country, new languages, and learning about yourself.However willing you are at the outset to do whateverneeds doing, to share your skills wherever they can beutilised, eventually the ego does assert itself.

Once you are accepted by VSO you are offered aplacement, and based on the placement description youeither accept or reject it. If you accept it, you complete avery detailed form matching your skills and experience tothe placement description and then the employer says yesor no to you (they rarely say no, as VSO is very good atmatching suitable volunteers to placements). You don’tapply for placements in the way you apply for jobs athome, so you have less control over what you will bedoing, but most volunteers are open minded about theprocess, wanting only to be put to good use. This is verynoble in theory.

I was initially due to go to Nairobi to work with agovernment department on disability rights. I was excited,but then disappointed when VSO suspended its programmein Kenya due to the political situation. But I was thrilledwhen I was offered the placement in Johannesburg – mydream had been to come to South Africa.

I love my job, but sometimes I find myself resenting notbeing more senior in my organisation. In career progressionterms, I have stepped down a rung or two on the ladder. Iwant to contribute at the level I did in my previous career,and to be more involved in the organisation’s strategicdirection. I forget that I am a volunteer and my role iscapacity-building, not strategy development.

If I stay here permanently will I have to climb thatladder all over again or will I be able to move into a rolemore suited to my abilities once I complete my placement?I have to remind myself regularly that I came as a volunteerwilling to do whatever needed doing, and specifically toshare my skills. My own ambitions are irrelevant. I wasn’tprepared for this, and humility and patience are just someof the things I am having to learn.

register of attendance is taken. Service delivery in theCommunity Care Centre is captured in separate registerbooks. So the end-of-month statistical report is anightmare to compile, involving a trawl through thevarious registers to come up with numbers of clientscounselled, number given information, given nutritionalsupplements, etc.

And of course because each register is discrete andthere is no de-duping, we double- and triple-count,measuring services rendered but not clients. We have noidea how many clients use the centre in any given month.I have been slowly encouraging electronic record-keepingand have taken it one step further and written arequirements document for a client register to be built inMS Access, so that we can track each client’s journeythrough our service provision and over time. Then we’llhave intelligence we can actually use, both with fundersand for our own management and planning purposes.

Hard to get used to and often a source of great

ELLEN CRABTREE(CLASS OF 1995)TALKS ABOUTHER DECISIONTO BECOME AVSO VOLUNTEERTO SUPPORTPEOPLE LIVINGWITH HIV, ANDHOW THE MBAEQUIPPED HERTO MAKE SUCHA RADICALCHANGE

‘I AM LOVING MYJOB SO MUCH,AND FIND IT SOFULFILLING THAT I HAVE ALREADYCOMMITTED TO A THIRD YEAR’ Ellen Crabtree

Did you know?

By 2010, the numberof children orphaned by

AIDS in South Africa isexpected to reach

2.3 million


| ABOVE: Gender-based violence is a major factor in the spread of HIV in South Africa

special feature

frustration are the cultural differences. ‘Africantime’ translates as wasted time and I despairof a meeting ever starting promptly. I’velearned to take my laptop and 3G with meand work while I wait for everyone to turnup. Alternatively, the time is spent in what seems like idle chit-chat but is in fact vital relationship-building.

African culture tends to be ‘collectivist’ whereasEuropean culture is individualist, and as such,relationships have an importance they don’t have in ourexperience. Asking after colleagues’ health and family isobligatory before any business can be conducted. Africansalso display tremendous patience that is at timesadmirable but can also manifest itself as resignation or atbest a lack of urgency. Planning is very last-minute andpeople often don’t confirm their actions.

Although RHRU specified an MBA-qualified volunteerin the request to VSO, in fact the job I’m doing doesn’trequire an MBA. Anyone with good organisational skillsand some creativity could fill my shoes. However, coming

WANT TO KNOW MORE?If you are interested in supporting the work of VSO, go towww.vso.org.uk/giving or if you would like tocontribute to RHRU’swork in fightingHIV/AIDS in SouthAfrica, email Ellen [email protected] formore information on howyou can help. Or visitwww.rhru.co.za

into an alien environment both professionallyand culturally, my MBA is a security blanket.Not only does it give me credibility which Iwould otherwise lack given my inexperiencein the field, it also gives me broad

organisational knowledge and understanding. Another advantage of the MBA is the multi-

disciplinary experience it gives us. Public health isall about statistics and I am very glad I understand them.

Thanks to the International Marketing course, it is notas hard working in a different culture as it might havebeen. A business background has come in particularlyhandy with our income generation projects and assistingbusiness start-ups. I never particularly enjoyed theobligatory accounting courses but I’m very glad now that I can draw up a cash flow projection.

The exposure to all the disciplines involved in running asuccessful organisation means that whatever new tasks Iencounter, I usually have a reference point and someresources to fall back on.

Finally, my networking skills have come in very handy,particularly as we are always on the scrounge fordonations. Networking ability is hardly limited to MBAs,but the opportunities we enjoyed just by mixing with somany other professionals on the course means we are allpretty proficient in the art!

I am loving my job so much, and find it so fulfilling thatI have already committed to a third year and am startingto look at work permits and residency. I don’t feel like avolunteer ‘implant’ but rather completely at home, as ifthis is where I am meant to be and what I am meant to bedoing. I have the MBA to thank in part for the ease withwhich I have made this transition. Never underestimatethe transferability of your management skills.

INTERNATIONALVOLUNTEERING

Whether it becomes apermanent life changeor just a temporarydetour on your careerpath, internationalvolunteering willenhance and enrichyour life.

The VSO programmeworks throughinternational volunteerswith professional skillswho can share thoseskills and build capacityin the developing world– in government, NGOsand other organisations.

A successful volunteeris one who makes theirrole redundant. If youhave skills in health,education, engineering,agriculture, managementand a host of other areasand are interested inchanging not only others’lives but your own.

Contact VSO atwww.vsointernational.org/how/volunteering

| ABOVE: Chatting about family and health at meetings in Africa is an important part of building business relationships

Did you know?

South Africa has one of the highest rates ofpeople living with HIV

and AIDS in the world

| ABOVE: RHRU educators during World AIDS Day activities

www.alumninet.man.ed.ac.uk30 | aluminate | april 2009 www.alumninet.man.ed.ac.uk april 2009 | aluminate | 31

people

Keeping your eye on the ball is somethingwe all try to do in juggling our careersand home life, but in Crawford Allan’s

case, it is closer to the truth than most.Working as a part-time professional footballreferee for the Scottish Premier League onSaturdays as well as managing a full-time jobas a Senior Change Manager with RBS,achieving a work-life balance is vital to Crawford.

There are many parallels between the two roles, and heis able to draw on what he has learned from refereeing tohelp in his day job, not least that he currently manages 25staff in his day job, and 22 on Saturdays on the pitch.

Having previously worked as a management trainer,Crawford feels that there are many similarities betweenthis and refereeing. ‘The core skills and competencies arethe same, such as communication, influencing andinspiring,’ said Crawford. ‘I need to have confidence in myabilities and as with training, if facing a confrontation onthe pitch, it’s important to take a calm, measured and firmapproach, especially in such a highly charged atmosphere.’

In terms of the qualities he needs to be a referee, heneeds to be a strong people manager and communicator– with a quick ability to read people’s feelings and get afeel for the game. Knowing the law doesn’t make you agood referee, admitted Crawford. As with the MBA, it isall about knowing how to put the theory into practice.

Crawford believes that his involvement in refereeing has

a positive affect on his wellbeing andperformance at work. ‘It’s a bit of a release,

and gives me an outside focus, helping me tode-stress,’ said Crawford.

‘Given the intensity of each game, theconcentrated period of focus requires you to

shut out what you see around you.’The refereeing is time consuming, with the

commitment of training sessions during the week,but he said that this has the added benefit as it keepshim focused at work rather than staying late.

Crawford admits that there are sacrifices made by hisfamily but that it’s important to share the benefits withthem. For example, he tends to use the income fromrefereeing for weekends away,and if the refereeing takes himoverseas, then he tries to ensurethe family also enjoy thebenefits, such as a recent trip to Milan.

So how does he cope withmanaging two jobs? ‘Settinggoals and targets is important,’said Crawford.

‘And learn to say no when thediary is full. Accept you can’t doeverything and be everything toeverybody.’

A LIFE IN MANY PARTS

Crawford tends to viewhis life in silos andargues that you have toaccept that you can’tsucceed in everything.In his case, he couldhave aimed to be aWorld Cup Final refereeand a Managing Directorat work (in addition tobeing a good Dad andhusband). He hasaccepted that he can’treach all of those goalsand that instead, hesets small goals for eachof his silos.

‘I keep focusing onthe next small step ineach silo – you neverknow where you mightend up, and you won’tbe disappointed if youdon’t quite make theWorld Cup finals,’ he said.

An example of notbeing content withexisting goals, and toprove he is always onthe new lookout fornew challenges,Crawford has competedin a number of 10kraces. He also decidedhe needed an extrachallenge and he hasrecently progressed ontofull marathons,including the London,Venice and New Yorkmarathons – all in thelast year.

Did you know?

Since Crawford became areferee in April 1991, hehas been appointed to

five international competitions

CRAWFORD ALLAN (CLASS OF 1999) COMBINES A FULL-TIME JOB WITHPART-TIME REFEREEING. JANE CRAWFORD FINDS OUT WHAT THE BENEFITSARE AND HOW HE MAINTAINS THE ALL-IMPORTANT WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Crawford Allan believes it isimportant to take a calm, measuredand firm approach when facingconfrontation on the pitch

On the ball

Pict

ures

: SN

Spix

.com


peoplepeople


Class of 1988

T wenty years on, and the Class of 1988 arescattered far and wide, but that didn’t determembers of the class

organising a small reunionfor those based locally.

Doug Hyslop, MikeBaillie-Hamilton, GrahamThomson and John Kennedymet at the School on theFriday evening, where theywere welcomed by the MBADirectors and myself. Thiswas then followed by a pub-crawl where they visited some of their old hauntsincluding the Pear Tree, Greyfriars Bobby’s Bar, Doctors and the Beehive. Mike departed early as he wasshooting in the Scottish long range rifle championshipthe following day (where he finished a credible 4th and received confirmation that he is the new Scottish captain).

The remaining three alumni and their families met upon the Saturday morning. After a brisk walk up Arthur’s

Class of 1993

The Class of 1993 rekindled theirfriendships and took a trip downmemory lane in September.

The pull of the MBA was still strong,with alumni travelling from as farafield as Hong Kong, Iceland,Germany and Canada for the event.

Organised by Sehr Ahmed andSimon Lyons, the event was attendedby more than 20 alumni at the Schoolon the Friday night. This included aslide presentation of photos takenduring their time at the School and attheir 10-year reunion. They then metfor dinner on the Saturday evening atBrown’s restaurant for good food,good company and lots of laughs.

The Class of 1998organised a 10-yearreunion, with an event at the School and a dinner on theSaturday evening atThe Magnum restaurantin the New Town.

Alumni travelled from a diverse range of countries for theevent, includingAustralia, Iceland, South Africa, Germanyand Turkey.

AUTUMN PROVED TO BE THE TIMEFOR REUNIONS WITH THREECLASSES CELEBRATING 10, 15 AND 20-YEAR REUNIONS. JANE CRAWFORD REPORTS

Together again

Seat, they visited Our Dynamic Earth, a visitorattraction which tells the unique story of the planet’spast, present and future – ideal for the five children intow. In the evening, they then regrouped for an Italianmeal in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, and toured theMuseum of Scotland on the Sunday.

A great time was had by all and they agreed that theywouldn’t leave it another 20 years before getting backtogether again.

Class of 1998

‘A GREAT TIME WASHAD BY ALL ANDTHEY AGREED THATTHEY WOULDN’TLEAVE IT ANOTHER20 YEARS BEFOREGETTING BACKTOGETHER AGAIN’

LEFT: Mike Baillie-Hamilton, Doug Hyslop, John Kennedyand Graham ThomsonABOVE: Members of the Class of 1988 with their familiesoutside the Museum of Scotland

ABOVE AND LEFT:Members of theClass of 1993enjoy catching up over drinks atthe School

ANNE LOUISE DOWNIE 1962-2008(Class of 2002 Part-time)

Born in Edinburgh, Anne grew up in a close family,with her parents, two sisters and her grandparents.

In the late 1980s, she studied Maths andStatistics at Aberdeen University before working forScottish Widows in Edinburgh. While there, Annestudied the Part-time MBA at the School,graduating in 2002.

In 2004, Anne went to work in Birmingham,initially with Saint Gobain, followed by SevernTrent Water and laterally National Express. Duringher time in Birmingham, Anne transferred from theRoyal Naval Reserves to the Territorial Army. MajorDownie commanded her artillery unit with greatpride and enthusiasm, and was certainly a force tobe reckoned with.

The TA provided her with the opportunity tocombine her love of the outdoors with seekingchallenges and having a great social life. Her lasttrip with the TA was as a watch leader, sailing toGreenland through the icebergs.

During her time at the School, she became oneof the most recognisable characters in her class.Despite holding down a very demanding job, Annethrew herself into all aspects of the MBA

experience, be it study or ‘networking’ withclassmates in the pub after lectures.

Anne loved the outdoors and enjoyed manytrips to the outdoor centre at Firbush where sherelished competitive challenges. Whetherskippering a boat or leading an orienteeringteam, she was always in charge and always (inher view) right!

Anne was loyal and committed to her friendsand established many new and enduringfriendships during her time at the School.

She will be remembered as a vivacious, fun and intelligent woman who lived life to the full.She is a great inspiration to all of us to pack asmuch as we can into each day and focus on what’s important.

Anne was ill for a very short period butdisplayed immense courage and dignitythroughout.

She passed away on 31 December 2008. She willbe greatly missed by her family and friends but willalways be remembered.

An event will be held in the summer to celebrateAnne’s life which will combine her love of hillwalking and the outdoors with an evening ofmusic and dancing. More information will becirculated to the class shortly.

BRYCE STEWART MCCALL-SMITH 1966-2008(Class of 2001 Full-time)

With great sadness, we announcethe sudden loss of Bryce onSaturday 6 December 2008, at

the end of a glorious day spent withfriends in the countryside.

A dedicated family man, Bryce was thedearly loved and loving husband of Rowanand adored daddy of Struan and Drew. Hisnamesake, Bryce Roderick, was born on 25 January 2009.

Born and brought up in Aberdeenshire,Bryce attended Strathallan School (1979-1984), studied Agriculture at AberdeenUniversity (1984-1988), qualified as a RuralPractice surveyor in 1995 and graduatedwith an MBA from the University ofEdinburgh in 2001.

He was a hard-working and respectedprofessional, whose former employersincluded Bell Ingram, Smiths Gore, TheNational Trust for Scotland, Savills, andmost recently Rettie & Co, Glasgow wherehe was a Director.

Like so many others during their time atthe School, Bryce worked hard butprobably played even harder, loving as hedid fun, social occasions. His ability to engage with people and strike up a lastingfriendship was always impressive.

Bryce was a successful sportsman whoenjoyed not only the physical nature ofsport but also the competitive rivalry,which as captain of Aberdeen University’shockey team he relished. Golf was themost recent sport of choice where hefrequently resembled a hockey playerleathering a ball out of defence! A keensports spectator as well, few of us whohave watched a Scotland rugby matchwith Bryce will be able to forget thebellow of ‘rubbish’ if things started to goawry during a game.

In a fitting sporting tribute to Bryce,who departed us far too early, his familyand friends will be participating in theEdinburgh 10k in May to raise money inhis memory for Sistema Scotland. Fordetails, visit https://scf.workwithus.org/Fundraising/Donate.aspx?page=4797

Obituaries

‘FEW OF US WHO HAVE WATCHED ASCOTLAND RUGBY MATCH WITH BRYCE WILLBE ABLE TO FORGET THE BELLOW OF‘RUBBISH’ IF THINGS STARTED TO GO AWRY’

‘ANNE LOVED THE OUTDOORSAND ENJOYED MANY TRIPS TOTHE OUTDOOR CENTRE ATFIRBUSH WHERE SHE RELISHEDCOMPETITIVE CHALLENGES’



peoplepeople


ALISTAIR GRANTHaving spent 26 years in the electronicsindustry, Alistair has recently changed sectorsto join Bombardier Transportation asProcurement Director for the UK passengersbusiness, based in Derby, England.

In his new role, he is responsible forleading and managing a team of 65procurement professionals who manageproject commodity sourcing, contract

negotiation and supplier management. Hisfirst challenge has been to restructure theorganisation to improve operationalperformance and hire 12-15 people externallyto support the significant growth inBombardier’s UK rail business.

Alistair is now based in Derby andcommutes one or two weekends a monthback to the family home in Crieff, Perthshirewhere his wife and three children still live.

Class of 2006 part-time

MARK TOCKHe is enjoying the challenges of beingInnovation Manager at the 110-acreLiverpool Innovation Park on behalf ofSpace North West (an Ashtenne IndustrialFund Partnership). He is still involvedwith science and now getting an extrabuzz from engaging with entrepreneurs,academics, stakeholders and investors.Mark believes that the confidence of aresurgent Liverpool helps too.

FIND OUT WHERE THE SCHOOL’S MBA HAS TAKEN YOUR CLASSMATES...

Where arethey now?Class of 1990 part-time

SID PATTEN ‘Following graduation, I became ChiefExecutive firstly with Scottish Building (1994)then with Scottish Salmon (2005). I set upmy own consultancy company in 2004, andin 2005, I graduated with a BSc (Hons) inPsychology. In late 2008, I decided to leave

full-time employment and “reinventmyself” as a psychotherapist. I am now inthe process of launching my psychotherapypractice (www.thepattenpartnership.co.uk).I am currently Chairman of a leadingrelationship counselling charity in Edinburgh.’

Class of 1991 full-time

KEN SCISLAW‘I am currently finishing my PhD in Finance at the University of St Andrews. I plan to return to the US and onceagain lecture in financeat a universitybusiness school.’


IAN WILSON‘In 2009, the year of theHomecoming, I am moving on from myrole as Chief Risk Officer for GE Money UK, based in London, and returning toEdinburgh to take up the role of Chief Risk Officer with Tesco Personal Finance.’


PETER DALZIELHe has left the Royal Bank of Scotland to set

up Aicoute Consulting Ltd with two businesspartners. Aicoute (www.aicoute.com)

specialises in early stage consultingto help clients understand andplan new developments and putin place effective quality, riskand project plans for complexdevelopments.

Class of 1995

full-time

TOMOKOKANAMARUStill a party girl asyou can see fromthis photo from theGreen Carpet 2008UBS Charity Ball.

Memorylane...

Hector Grant remembers thegreat weekends spent at

Firbush: ‘The food and companywere excellent and the

challenges set for us werestretching and very

rewarding’


CHARLES BARBER‘I was recently appointed as Director of Operations for HabitusnetConsulting AG (www.habitusnet.ch), a business technologycompany headquartered in Zürich. We facilitate operations forinward investors to Switzerland, providing project managementfor design and installation of office and informationinfrastructures, including secure off-site hosting and worldwidenetworks. If you are interested in Switzerland as part of yourbusiness network, please get in touch.’


JIM DRUMMOND He and his wife, Jana, recently returned from a two-week visit toAustralia. Jim’s company, Minelab USA Inc, was purchased in March2008 by Codan Ltd, a highly respected commercial electronics companybased in Adelaide. While Jim spent most of his time in corporatemeetings, Jana was able to see much of the countryside including a dayat Adelaide’s famous game park. As a couple, Jim and Jana spent a dayin the Barossa Valley (wine country) returning to the USA with manyfond memories and several bottles of fine wine.


JOANN ROCKWELL MACMASTER Joann is entering her fourth year as the President of the CortivaInstitute in Tucson, Arizona, an innovative health and wellnesseducation company. She teaches business and entrepreneurshipcourses at both Cortiva and Prescott College. Joann now lives with herfamily in the Santa Rita Mountains in south-eastern Arizona, on theSycamore Canyon Preserve.

SEBASTIAN SHEPPARD‘I am still living in Spain with Belinda, Alexandra (six), Emma (four)and Tim (two) and working with Airbus in Seville.’


BETH JOHNSON‘Umbrella Risk Management celebrated itsfifth anniversary this year. What started asa two-man operation now has nine peoplein the UK and an office in Sydney. As weprovide risk management for marketingcampaigns, our clients, Unilever andDiageo, are starting to bring us into theirEuropean marketing channels. Very exciting(but busy) time for us, but we love whatwe do. Bring on the next five years!’


CASSIO DE FIGUEIREDO-AZZE‘Since I left my previous position as Manager atRenault UK in November 2007, I have beenliving and working in Marseilles as AccountExecutive for DirectIndustry.com – a virtualtrade show for the industry. Life has beentreating me well in the beautiful Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of France. Should anyof you ever come to Marseilles, I would bedelighted to meet up. Please contact me [email protected]’

BARBARALINGLE ELLIOTT‘In early 2008,we decided to set up our ownrecruitmentcompany(www.ironhorsesearch.com). Weare so lucky –Samia Ahdal (alsoClass of 2000)agreed to join usin the middle oflast year. Grayson (pictured) was three inFebruary and he is the light of our lives. He is afunny, clever little man with a huge heart andlots of girlfriends. I would love to hear fromeveryone and can be contacted [email protected]’

CHARLIE SYKES‘I have relocated with my wife and children toOxfordshire where I took up a teaching post lastSeptember. Unsurprisingly, I teach Business Studies– A level (some geography and lots of rugby). It isa huge change from Scotland but it is a fabulouschallenge and great fun. Do get in touch.’

VICTOR VAZQUEZHe and his family moved back to the USA inJune 2008 after spending two years in SouthAmerica. He is the Resort Director of the newInterContinental Resort and Spa in Scottsdale,Arizona that opened in November 2008.


GRAEME SNEDDON‘I started a home repair and maintenancecompany in 2003 after a career as MarketingDirector and Business DevelopmentConsultant. I now employ 15 people andspecialise in insurance repair work in anestablished all-trades business withprofessional reliable tradesmen who turn up when they say they will. Business booming in the recession as floods don’t stop!’


peoplepeople


MEMORY LANE

Ivan Sandrea remembers the School trip to themountains where he helped build an igloo.

John Clinkenbeard says of histime on the MBA: ‘The full-time class were a greatbunch of people and I reallyenjoyed getting to knowthem. I particularly enjoyedthe strategy classes withProfessor Marco Protanowhich were just fantastic.’

Mark Tock recalls‘bizarrely laughing, stuckhalfway up a snowy BenLawers with a frozen peanutbutter sarnie in handwondering which part of theorganisation behaviourcourse would justify theexpedition.’

IN FIVE YEARS…

Sid Patten will berunning asuccessfulpsychotherapypractice employinga team of therapistsand counsellors tobe able to offer anexpanded range oftherapies to clients.He also intends to develop abusiness psychology servicefor organisations.


MARK MCSHERRY

He has become Professor of Journalism at three universities in New York – City University of New York (CUNY),Pace University and St John’s University. He continues towrite for selected news organisations and is completing a book ‘How to Find News’. He can be contacted [email protected]

Mark’s painter wife, Catriona Herd, recently had successfulexhibitions in New York and Edinburgh – her work can beseen at www.catrionaherd.com

IVAN SANDREA

‘My family and I have been in Vienna for nearly four yearsnow. We have a son who is three years old and a lovelydog called Gala. I am back in the oil and gas industry,working for StatoilHydro as VP of International Explorationand Production Strategy. I travel between London, Oslo,Vienna and the rest of the world quite regularly.’


HECTOR GRANT After 17 years of commuting from East Kilbride to Edinburghon the M8, Hector started his own consultancy firm,Hallburn Ltd (www.hallburn.co.uk) and waved goodbye tolong commutes. He is relishing the new challenges alongwith his non-executive positions and as an interviewer forthe Chartered Director qualification awarded by the Instituteof Directors.


MICHELA MAIOLINI AND AURELIO POLITANO They had a minireunion with formerMBA class membersMauricio Solana, SteveLacelle, Carlos Romeroand their wives AdaSolana, EmmanuelleLacelle and MilaRomero, on theMayan Riviera,Mexico. This reunion

was extra special as the group’s six childrenalso participated. Unfortunately, Andreas and Teresa Mansercould not make it, but they were in their thoughts andhearts. Previous reunions have taken place in Rome, LasVegas and The Netherlands.


CHARLES HAY

After a 20-year career, he has retired from the US Departmentof Labor where he was a supervisory investigator responsiblefor enforcing federal health and pension law. He nowconsults to disabled rights NGOs.


MARTIN VONTOBEL‘In September 2008, Icelebrated my 40th birthdaywith Etienne Rumo and HansMueller by going for acouple of drinks and dinner.This photo was taken of thethree of us together withthe Pfäffikersee, nearZurich, in the background.’


MARK HOWELLS Mark has now completed his first year as Finance Director forthe Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, following astint as Director of Corporate Services at the Scottish PublicPensions Agency in Galashiels, Scotland. His MBA has beenkey to securing and succeeding in both posts.

Class of 2005 KPMG EMBA

CSABA REMENYI‘I was promoted to Technology Sales Director at OracleHungary last year and since June 2008 I have been thecountry leader and Managing Director of Oracle Hungary.These promotions and my management career are clearlylinked with my attendance on the MBA programme.’


JOHN CLINKENBEARD‘Since I completed myMBA, I have changedcareer – I started withErnst & YoungConsultancy, Edinburgh,in January 2008,working mainly in thefinancial services sector.It’s been a busy time asour son, Lewis (pictured),was born in the samemonth as starting withthe firm. Lesley, my wife,has given up work to focus on raising our family. My long-term career aim is to start my own business and we areconsidering working abroad for two to three years.’

LINDSAY KEITH‘Up to my eyes in new digital work for RAPP, creating greatdata-based digital marketing campaigns for global clients.No wife (offers accepted). No children (yet).’

Weddingbells

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE HAPPY COUPLES

LEFT: Omar Chai (Classof 2008 full-time) and Tanja were married on 6 December 2008 in FortWilliam, Scotland, where itdidn’t rain although it was-5°C that day. Omar said:‘This was probably not thebest of combinations – toplan a wedding and do anMBA at the same, but withthe friends I made and theconstant support fromfaculty, I made it. What ayear – a new vision, newfriends, new wife, new life.’

ABOVE: Sinead Guérin(Class of 2002 part-time)and Andrew Feltoe weremarried on 30 May 2008 atSt Margaret’s Church,Montrose, Angus,Scotland.

RIGHT: Masayoshi Imai (Classof 2004 full-time) and Chinatsuwere married on 29 November2008 in Tokyo. They met whileworking for the same company.Chinatsu has played the violinfrom the age of three years oldand Masayoshi started playingthe piano only last year. Theyplayed Amazing Grace at theirwedding ceremony which madeit a very memorable time forthem both.

ABOVE: Puneet Sachdev (Class of 2005 full-time) and Katewere married on 24 November 2008 in New Delhi, with 300guests in attendance. They met in Edinburgh when Puneetwas studying for his MBA and Kate from Adelaide,Australia, was doing her Masters in English Linguistics.MBA classmate, Declan Harnett, attended the wedding.

BELOW: Dorothea Rank(Class of 2005International) and AndreasMahrholz (Class of 2005full-time) were married at Reinbek Castle nearHamburg, Germany on 20 September 2008.Alumni attendees includedBenjamin Hughes, PeterWilkinson and LisbethSneve Viker.

ABOVE: Innes Cradock (Classof 1993 full-time) and Helenwere married in SouthQueensferry, Scotland, on 28 November 2008.

people


BELOW: Jenny Boyd (Class of 2006 Part-time) and Rory are delighted toannounce the birth of their son, Robert Logan, who was born on 11 October 2007.

RIGHT: Karen Jervis(Class of 2002 part-

time) and Stuart wouldlike to announce the

arrival of their babydaughter, Lily Sara

Elizabeth Jervis, whowas born on 14 August

2008 at BordersGeneral Hospital,

Melrose, Scotland.


people

INTRODUCING THE LATEST ADDITIONSTO THE ALUMNI FAMILY...

New arrivals

LEFT: Andrew Bond(Class of 1994 full-time) and Camillawere joined by HarryBond at HerefordHospital on 13September 2008.

RIGHT: Claus Döerfler (Class of1996 full-time) and Sabrina areproud to announce the birth oftheir daughter, Sarah, who was

born on 28 June 2008 in Munich.

LEFT: Eileen Wandeler-Abueg (Class of 2003full-time) and Rolandwelcomed a little babygirl, Anouk Isabel, intotheir family on 1November 2008 inMunich – a sister for André.

ABOVE: DanMcGilvray (Class of2005 full-time) andClaire are proud toannounce the birth of baby KatieMcGilvray who wasborn on 31 October2008 – Halloween!

RIGHT: Marco Truffelli (Class of2003 part-time) and Morag areproud to announce the birth oftheir baby son, Rocco KennedyTruffelli, who was born on 5 September 2008 – a little brotherfor Michael (11) and Nicholas (9).

ABOVE: John Ralph (Class of 2003 part-time)and his wife, Lorraine, now have a beautiful babydaughter called Caroline Ann who was born on 7November 2008 – a sister for Gregor.

BELOW Michael Wright-Smith (Class of 2004 full-time) and Kat moved backto Australia in February2008 after spending fiveyears in the UK. Francis(Frankie) GrosvenorWright-Smith was born on1 July 2008 in Sydney.Mick is currently workingfor CBA in leveragedfinance and Kat isenjoying being a mum.

ABOVE: Atif GhafoorMirza (Class of 2004full-time) and Kinzaare delighted toannounce the birth oftheir daughter,Alishba, who wasborn on 23 August2008, in Aberdeen.

RIGHT: Jaime Martinez(Class of 2005 full-time) and Priscilla

welcomed their thirdbaby boy, Eugenio, on5 September 2008 – a

little brother forAndres and Diego.

LEFT: Shima Moeller(Class of 2001International) andRené Moeller (Class of2002 full-time) areproud to announce thebirth of their son, KaitoHasegawa Moeller,who was born on 22 December 2007.

RIGHT: Francis Laird(Class of 2001 full-time)and Laura are thrilled toannounce the arrival of

Evan Alexander deWinter, born on 8

August 2008 inMonterrey, Mexico – a

brother for Ian.

BELOW: Ariel Rogers (Class of 2001 full-time)and her husband, Blair Kendall, welcomed theirbaby daughter, Harper Lee Kendall, into theworld on 9 August 2007.

LEFT: CharlotteShort (neé Curle)(Class of 2002 full-time) and Ryan aredelighted toannounce the birthof their new son,Robert, who wasborn on 5 December2007 in South Africa.

RIGHT: Tory Manning (Class of 2003 International)

and Graeme Manning (Class of 2003 full-time)

celebrated the arrival of theirnew baby daughter, Poppy

Isobel Manning, on 29 December 2008.

LEFT: Steven Murray(Class of 2005 full-time) and Speree aredelighted toannounce the birthof their daughter,Eleni, who was bornon 30 September2008 in London.

BELOW: Darren Sidnick (Classof 2003 full-time) and Jennyare delighted to announce thebirth of their son, JamieWilliam Sidnick, who was bornon 12 January 2009.

ABOVE: Juhyung Scott Lee(Class of 2006 full-time) andhis wife, Jeeyoung, would liketo introduce their newdaughter, Jaeyi, who was bornin July 2007 in South Korea. This photo was taken at Jaeyi’s first birthday party.

ABOVE: Ignacio Gomez-Dazaand Alexandra Stamou (bothClass of 1999 full-time) aredelighted to announce the birthof Pablo on 27 May 2008 inMexico City – a brother for bigsister Anna.

RIGHT: Luis Soler (Class of 1999full-time) and his wife Paula

Vigneaux welcomed their babyson, Luis Felipe, into the world on

23 April 2008 in Santiago, Chile.

BELOW: Geoff van Klaveren(Class of 2003 full-time) andHenrietta are proud toannounce the birth of theirbaby daughter, Georgina,who was born at the QueenCharlotte Hospital in Londonon 30 October 2008.

LEFT: Robert Davidson(Class of 2005 KPMGEMBA) and Camillawould like to announcethe birth of their babyson, Oliver (Ollie)Davidson, who was bornon 22 January 2009.

BELOW: VishalBhargava (Class of2007 full-time) and hiswife, Pallavi, welcomedtheir new son, KrishBhargava, into theworld on 30 May 2008in London - a littlebrother for Pratham.

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Partners are welcome at £109 per person. A non-refundabledeposit of £25 is required toconfirm your place.

to the great outdoors

For more details or to book, contact the Alumni Officer on [email protected]

Aluminate April 2009 edition

Documents

Transcript of Aluminate April 2009 edition