Upcoming Events in London

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
Chris Dreyfus (September 1997 - New York) would like you to know that his charity, the national charity Soldier On! is announcing an Evening Concert to spotlight new military music compositions on Wednesday 2nd September, 7pm at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks in London. The concert is free, and all are welcome, but you need to book online. Full details & ticket booking.

Thursday 24th September 2015
ROBERT WALTERS has great pleasure inviting you to the bi-annual Mountbatten Registration Evening at Robert Walters Head Office, overlooking the breath-taking London skyline. This is a fantastic chance to interview with a specialist consultant, network with your fellow Mountbattens' and discuss potential job opportunities over drinks and canapés. Book your place now.

Thursday 29th October 2015
Mountbatten Institute London intern and Alumni Halloween Party at Gilgamesh Camden. What can we say, it's become an institution and with, this venue, it's bang on trend! Watch out for full details soon. Make sure to save the date!

March 2014 MBA Completion & Awards Ceremony in Bangkok

On Saturday, 18 July 2015, 11 students were recognized at the Radisson Blu Plaza, Bangkok marking the end of MBA Field Research in the Asia Pacific Region.

Amanda Boggiano, Amy Allshouse, Eamon Willard, Jeanette Ortiz, Matthew Tobin, Megan Moody, Nicole Crawford, Ryan Smith, Ryan Caudelle, Stephen Carlin and Sterling Lirot received the Mountbatten Institute Certificate as well as the International Business Practice Certificate from the College of Management, University of Phayao for their academic work toward the MBA from St Mary's University Twickenham. The attendees were welcomed by Mr Jeff Simcox, MBA Programme Director of the Asia/Pacific Region and followed by an address from Captain Kajit Habanananda, Director of Management, University of Phayao and Chairman, Orient Thai Airlines.

In addition, the Guest Speaker was Mr Tom Poldre, Training and Development Director, Aziam Burson-Marsteller. The Mountbatten Institute Provost Dr Ronald Kovach was on hand to address the students, present them with their completion certificates and give the William Ball Award for Entrepreneurship to Ryan Caudelle as well as the Director General's Award for Academic Achievement to Amanda Boggiano. Dr Kovach was joined on the platform by Dr David Twigg, Academic Director (Europe).

Full Details and Photo Album.

Mountbatten Wedding

We are delighted to announce that Nilofar Kacha Idris Haroon and Adam Jaques both from the New York August 2011 intake were married on May 24th 2015. The wedding was held in Stapleford Abbots, Essex, and was attended by a group of fellow alumni including; Chris Currie, Ben Meacham, Katy Hanby, Martin Parker, Elly Lacey, Michelle Jones, Shella Palmer, Emma Austin-Carol, Elidyh Whyte, Misha Gondhia, Alison McGirr, Jatinder Mohan, James Emmanuel, Sam Roberts, Nicky Masters, and Ben Meacham.

We wish them well, and thank them for sharing their news and photos with us.

Entrepreneurial Alumni

Kanika Khurana (August 2012 - London), is a graduate of the University of London International Programmes and resides in South Delhi. She is currently launching her own business KlosetEdit, an online market place for resale of designer womens wear. Kanika explains, "We resell never been worn and gently used clothes, shoes, bags & accessories. We swear by collaborative fashion and sharing economy is the heart of our startup! As a Co Founder, I am involved in everything from marketing to logistics! My expertise lies in client relationship management, I go above and beyond to build strong relationships with our customers to ensure long term loyalty. As a people person, I absolutely love talking to prospective customers, educating them about the concept and getting them on board! Basically, I convince women to Edit their Closets!"

What inspired you to set it up?
Having done the Mountbatten Programme, I learnt so much from my peers and seniors that I felt I could take on any challenge! The idea was an outcome of a long conversation between my friend and I, which revolved around 'I have nothing to wear but there is no space in my closet!' Especially in a country like India, where weddings are such an integral part of our lives, women spend lavishly on gorgeous yet very expensive Indian ethnic wear, which they don't wear more than a few times. Thinking of all these things, we realized that solving this problem would not only increase the utility of womens wear but also such recycling is very eco friendly! I can confidently say that only because my manager groomed me professionally and gave me the opportunities to live up to my capabilities, was I able to believe in myself to lead this startup. I am sure that my mountbatten year is and will be the defining year of my career! Read Full Story.

A Day in the life of...

Heather Guttersohn (March 2005 - London) a graduate of the University of Colorado - Boulder, spent four years working in finance in London before returning to Colorado. When she moved back to Colorado, she was looking for an opportunity with more flexibility than the traditional American workplace. As a CFA Charterholder, managing assets was the most obvious option; however not exactly flexible. Instead, she started DiabeticShoesDirect.com, an online retailer specializing in orthopedic footwear and hard to fit sizes with the goal of helping to educate customers on how to maintain their health with properly fitting shoes.

Morning: I normally wake up around 6:30 and check my phone for the list of orders received overnight so that I have an idea of what's in store for the day. Our inventory is partially managed internally and partially managed by wholesalers, so oversight of orders is critical. I get up, have my ritual cup of tea (a relic from my days in London) while watching the Today Show, and answer emails before the office/phone lines officially open at 8:30. Throughout the morning, I process return requests, track shipments, and answer emails. Tying the order process to my phone really allows the core business operations to be mobile, so I sneak away at 10:30 for a coffee break at a shop down the road.

Afternoon: There isn't really a typical afternoon. The thing about running a start-up is you really do have to take on a ton of roles and responsibilities! This afternoon is filled with marketing planning (SEO, paid search, social media, and blogging) - the art of online marketing is a big learning curve for me that I'm still perfecting. Fortunately, my husband (whom I met while on the programme in London!), is a digital marketing manager so he helps me a ton. I write a yet to be published blog on diabetes management and try to find a website who will syndicate my work. I also research additional products to expand our offering (I'm looking to add quality products that are more focused on style), speak with one of my wholesalers, and I track our inventory. On occasion, I attend trade shows, but today I'm office bound. As always, I am learning how footwear can improve various health conditions, and staying on top of the latest research.

Evening: I make dinner at home and make time for a work out. Taking time out is definitely important because I usually have my best ideas while doing something completely unrelated to the business. Before bed, I make a few tweaks to the websites content while watching TV and reflect on the day's orders.

The best part of my day is being empowered to make decisions on how the business runs and having a real impact on something. Obviously, there is a huge learning curve when starting a business and I have made plenty of mistakes, but I love the challenge and am excited to expand our orthopedic offerings.

You can reach Heather or follow her at:
hguttersohn@diabeticshoesdirect.com
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Universities in the Spotlight

Our Alum of the Month Jimmy Miguel is a graduate of Seton Hall University, New Jersey. Seton Hall University also sent us one of our first trainees on the London programme in September 2000, Marc Chmielewski, who is currently based in Hong Kong as a Director, Portfolio & Programme Management for Pearson plc. Over the years we have had a steady trickle of candidates from Seton Hall University and intend to continue building on this connection.

Heather Guttersohn CFA, our Day in Life of article this month is a graduate of the University of Colorado - Boulder. The University of Colorado has been sending us a number of candidates since March 2002 and continues to refer graduates to us up to the present day. One of these candidates was Charlotte Kohlmann (August 2000 - London), who featured in a previous edition of our alumni newsletter as an Entrepreneur of the Month (issue April 2014 on our alumni website), and is currently the CEO & Co-Founder of Cake Technologies. We look forward to receiving more quality candidates from this university over the forthcoming years.

Jobs

With a lot of our students currently finishing the programme, the great news is, it seems to be a good time to be looking for a job. We have been given lots of current vacancies which are all on our alumni website, and a lot of them are actively seeking newly finished Mountbatten alumni.

David Marshall (September 1997 - New York), the owner of Marshall ACM Ltd is currently looking to recruit a Digital Production Assistant/Project Manager for his busy e-learning consultancy based in Central London. He says "it is really quite a nice role for a graduate where they would learn account management and digital project management. I'd like someone who could represent us at meetings sometimes, so good interpersonal skills (with the focus on being a good listener) would be an asset." All the details and full job description are on our alumni website, and if you are interested, David would like to hear from you.

Other positions include University Recruiting Associate for Grant Thornton in Greater New York, and Buying Category Associate for Wayfair in London amongst many other positions available.

In addition, Robert Walters are hosting an event at their Head Office in London for the graduating class on 24th September (see our Events Section). They offer a personalised service that includes a face-to-face registration, information on the market, current vacancies, advice on CV writing, and preparing for an interview. Since September last year, Robert Walters has successfully placed 26 Mountbatten graduates across Operations, HR, Legal and Marketing. They have helped them secure both permanent and temporary roles with reputable employers such as Barclays Investment Bank, RBS, Markit, Bluecrest, Goldman Sachs, RBI and London Metal Exchange."

We would also like to announce that White & Case LLP in New York recently advertised and filled a Recruiting Assistant position via our website with a London programme August 2012 alum. Congratulations!

To view all the open vacancies we have at the moment, please go to our alumni website.

Jo Harvey: jharvey@mountbatten.org
Vicki McCordall: vmccordall@mountbatten.org
web: http://alumni.mountbatten.org