Upcoming Events in London

Various dates in September & October
Niki Psarias (March 2010 - New York) is part of Conflict Café, a London pop-up restaurant project. Throughout the autumn they will be serving cuisines from regions that have experienced conflict, bringing you authentic food and fascinating stories from Syria, Nepal, Colombia and more. Full details & tickets.

Thursday 24th September 2015
Your last chance to sign-up for Robert Walters bi-annual Mountbatten registration evening at their Offices in London. It's a great opportunity to discuss job options over drinks & 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. Book your place now.

Social Entrepreneurial Update

Dave Hutchison (March 2013 - London) is leading the pack in the field of social entrepreneurship, and he recently got in touch to tell us about his company "Sexy Socks" and their latest Sock Drop in Cape Town. He explains: "Sexy Socks is not just another sock company. We are a sock company with a social mission. Our mission? To warm the toes of every child in South Africa. With every pair of socks we sell, we give a pair of school socks to a child in need in South Africa.

South Africa needs entrepreneurs. South Africa needs young people who are willing to put their heart and soul into starting a business and effecting change in their communities. South Africa needs people to give back. Sexy Socks' mission is to warm the toes of South Africa's most vulnerable. But in so doing, we are placed in a unique position to educate young people on the virtues of entrepreneurship and hopefully inspire them to start something themselves one day. The video clip speaks for itself, but it sets the scene of our latest Sock Drop where we gave away 1472 pairs of school socks to learners at Marconi Beam Primary School in the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Cape Town. This is why I started this business." Check out Dave's inspiritational video.

Mountbatten Weddings

Lyndsie Park and Phil White both from the New York September 2009 intake were married last week in Nerja, Spain, 6 years after meeting in New York on the programme.

Nick Christoforou, one of the alumni guests recounts "it was one incredible weekend with several alumni in attendance. Another fantastic example of how the programme creates strong, successful relationships". Other alumni in attendance were Henry Sage, Stuart Tipton, Jack Kay, Andrew Triggs and Jack Jones.

We would like to congratulate Phil and Lyndsie, and wish them well in their future together.

And 10 Years On...

Nia Jones and Andrew Beer both from the New York September 2005 intake were married on July 4th 2015 (a nice American connection) in Crickhowell in South Wales, and thankfully the sun was shining.

Nia describes how they met on Mountbatten, "we were both part of the September 2005 intake (officially 10 years since we flew out this week), and it will be 10 years for us as a couple in November, so it didn't take long for us to get together once meeting. We were part of the same friendship/social group, my work colleague Catherine O'Keefe lived with Andrew and they lived 2 floors below me. We also got engaged in New York in April 2014 at the Top of the Rock".

Also, within Nia and Andrew's intake year there have been 5 marriages in total including theirs, Kate Pool & Gordon Smith, Faye Leighton & Martin Hughes (met in New York), Nick Viney & Morna Baird (met in New York) and Catherine O'Keefe & Tom McKay (met before New York), All couples are in the picture attached, along with Marcus Jordan, Alasdair Gaston, Ben Gill, Andrew Wren, Sonali Mehta, Matthew Walker, Kajal Patel and James Woodbridge.

Nia goes on to say "as an intake we are still very close friends as you can tell by the amount of people in this photo on the day. Its just a little picture to show you that even after 10 years we are still the closest of friends and without Mountbatten we would never have met; so thank you!"

We would like to congratulate you all on your marriages and long lasting close friendships, and thank you for sharing this with us.

A Day in the life of...

Caroline Adams (September 2011 - London) is a graduate of the University of Texas - Austin. She is now a Bespoke Stylist at Knot Standard, a New York based custom menswear company. Inc magazine has just named Knot Standard as the #10 fastest growing retail company in US, and the #9 company overall in New York (out of 357). Check out the article.

Morning: My mornings start out differently depending on whether or not I'm meeting a client. If I have an appointment with a client, I will meet them at the Knot Standard Showroom HQ overlooking Madison Square Park to walk them through our fabric selection and product offering. If I have no client appointments, I start my morning out at the Marlton Hotel in their lobby cafe to go through previous client orders, respond to emails and do any catch up work.

Afternoon/Evening: If I work remotely in the morning, I will head into the showroom for the afternoon/evening. Our operations, production and social media/graphic design teams are all located in the NYC showroom. Although I work in direct sales, Knot Standard as a company is very collaborative, so I meet with the other teams on a daily basis. Since we are growing so quickly, we are constantly hiring and training new employees. I usually have a training session with a new employee each afternoon. I have some flexibility with my hours and will often work late in the evenings to accommodate my clients' busy work schedules.

We are HIRING! NYC, DC, Chicago, California, Texas. If interested, please send your resumes to hr@knotstandard.com.

Fundraising Alumni

Lindsay Meloy (August 2011 - London) is participating in the Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's. Lindsay explains "my great grandmother died of Early Onset Alzheimer's and my beloved Grandma Jolly has been suffering from this terrible disease for the last 15 years. In addition there are over 5 million Americans suffering from this terrible disease!". If you would like to show your support for Lindsay, please go to her fundraising page. We wish them both the best of luck with their charitable efforts, and look forward to hearing from them afterwards.

JP Pietropaoli (March 2013 - London), will be running in the 2015 NYC marathon this year on November 1st to raise funds for Fred's Team charity. Fred's Team is a charity that supports cancer research and care provided by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This will be his first marathon and he would greatly appreciate any support from fellow Mountbattens who are passionate about supporting the fight against cancer. If you would like to support his run you can donate to his team page.

British Council Education UK Alumni Awards 2016

• Are you currently residing in one of these 10 participating countries: Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and USA? (UK alumni are not eligible)


• Did you complete the Mountbatten Programme within the last 10 years (i.e. 2005 or later)?


• Do your career achievements fall into one of 3 alumni award categories:- social impact, entrepreneurial and professional achievement?

If so, you could be eligible to be nominated for this prestigious alumni award run by the British Council.

If you would like to apply, and you fit the eligibility criteria above, Jo Harvey would like to hear from you. You can also tell us about another alum you think should be nominated. Please email Jo directly (jharvey@mountbatten.org), and she will give you further details and forward your nomination.

Universities in the Spotlight

Our Alum of the Month Miriam Nwosah studied for her MSc (Econ) in International Business & Finance at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Indeed the University of Aberdeen has provided the programme with a constant flow of over 40 candidates over the years. Other prominent alumni of both the university and the programme include Nicola Nolan (January 2007 - New York) founder of Blackbook Communications, who was also a guest speaker at the recent August 2014 Award Ceremony in London; and Niall Gordon (September 2003 - New York) who is currently the Head of the Consumer & Industrial Goods Team at UK Trade & Investment in New York.

Jobs

"Just had a quick update for you guys - got my (second!) job through the Mountbatten jobboard, with Appex Mobile! " quoted by an alum of the New York August 2013 intake.

Reminder of the upcoming Robert Walters event, to be held at their Head Office in London for the graduating class on 24th September (see our Events Section).

There are plenty of other job opportunities on our alumni website, especially suitable for more recent alumni. As well as vacancies at Knot Standard in different locations throughout the US, Accenture is rapidly expanding and recruiting staff in India, US and UK. Investis Limited is advertising for a Digital Client Services Associate in New York, whilst for more experienced alumni Bloomberg are seeking a Newsletter Editor in London. For full details of all these positions and plenty of others, plus how to apply, please go to our alumni website.

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