Australian Alumni profiles
PAUL H MASON (Full-time MBA 2002)
Director, Partnerships – ANZ
What was I doing when I decided to do the MBA
Prevaricating about doing an MBA! Throughout my 20s I had been thinking about doing an MBA but at 32 took the decision it was now or never – so I applied, and the rest as they say….
Career wise, I had been in banking 10 years working in Europe, Asia and the Middle East across a number of different areas. I had though reached a point where I wanted to broaden my learning and experience, and open my mind to the business world beyond banking.
Why I chose Cranfield
It was actually a very easy decision. I looked at INSEAD (France) and LBS (UK) but felt that Cranfield better served me as someone who already had 10 years work experience. Also, its strong reputation, course structure and emphasis on personal development were compelling.
What I got out of it
For me, the Cranfield MBA really is an experience rather than simply a qualification. So, yes I have the useful three letters, but more importantly the year broadened my horizons and experience, enhanced my functional skills, helped me learn about myself as a team member and a leader, and allowed me to meet in a unique environment a great set of people.
The year is not without its stresses, tensions and frustrations, but for me it was a unique year, one of the most enjoyable and developmental of my life.
STEPHEN WOOD (Exec MBA 1994)
Founder & Director – Success Enterprises Consulting Pty Ltd
What was I doing when I decided to do the MBA
As a 27 year old, I was working for Ford Motor Company as a Manufacturing Engineer at a car components factory in London, England. I found I was more interested in people, projects and money than the engineering content itself.
Why I chose Cranfield
I looked at applications for INSEAD (France), Harvard (USA) and Warwick (UK), but in the end chose Cranfield, because it has a great reputation, offered the best course for me at a price I could afford to pay and was relatively close to where I lived.
What I got out of it
The MBA enabled me to move out of engineering into the commercial side of the business and to win a series of promotions and pay rises.
My MBA skills then helped me to change companies, negotiate a 50% pay rise, and move into a Corporate Strategy Manager role working on Strategy and M&A work.
Later, the people and high level business skills gained from the MBA were invaluable in setting up my own Strategy Consulting Business. I ended up having more control, more spare time, and in my second year of business, take home more money than when I was a highly paid employee.
At Cranfield I made some great friends. We are still in contact today, and still rely on each other for objective help and guidance.
Emigrating to Australia from the UK in 2005, I have found that the Australian Alumni Association has made me very welcome – it is good to be mixing with so many like minded, talented people!
GRAHAM BAWS (MBA 1979)
Principal: Mosaic Management & Financial Services
What was I doing when I decided to do the MBA
I was working in Port Hedland, in the far north of Western Australia, for an American company. We produced salt by the solar evaporation of sea water and it was far cry from my working life as a chartered accountant in London eighteen months earlier. After six years in Port Hedland, the final three as General Manager, I was convinced I needed to take formal studies in management!
Why I chose Cranfield
Even without the internet I was able to research business schools of choice, and Cranfield stood out in several respects; its reputation and one year MBA programme being two important factors.
What I got out of it
In terms of benefit, it’s in the mind. It gave me the confidence to take on a number of GM roles and eventually start and grow my own business which we (with my wife) ran for eleven years until we sold it three years ago. Now I consult to a portfolio of small and medium businesses on a wide range of issues, oftentimes calling on the principles I remember from my year at Cranfield. One wish for the future is to have Cranfield and its MBAs continue on a life-long programme of learning.
MIKE SPARK (MBA 1976)
Discipline Leader – Marketing, Swinburne University of Technology
What was I doing when I decided to do the MBA?
In 1975, I was 30, single and in need of a change.
Why I chose Cranfield
I went to Cranfield after I heard about it from a friend who was undertaking a Masters there. It seemed a great environment in which to study and see some of the UK. The one-year MBA sold itself to me because only one year of salary was foregone.
What I got out of it
The MBA enabled me to move successfully from sales into business development/marketing when I returned to my former employer in Australia and then enabled me to start my own Marketing/management consultancy a decade later. The Masters qualification then allowed me to undertake university teaching from the early 90s to the present.
The knowledge and insights gained while studying the MBA have greatly enhanced my business and personal life. Studying solidly in syndicate groups for a year, with students from all over the world broadened my business and international outlook and my interpersonal skills tremendously. I’d do it all again if I could! The year spent studying still ranks as one of the best of my life!
COLIN SQUIRES (MBA 1976)
What was I doing when I decided to do the MBA?
I was in London in 1975 working as a contract engineer designing a mine in Australia when the development was aborted due to economic/political events. I decided then to do an MBA to move my career closer to the heart of the decision making process in business.
Why I chose Cranfield
I did the research and Cranfield fitted the bill; one year, concentrated. My wife and I lived on campus and she helped support the year by working in the library.
What I got out of it
I returned to Australia in 1976 and joined (the predecessor of) Macquarie Bank in corporate finance. Twenty years later I left investment banking as a director of UBS having advised some of Australia’s biggest companies on their major transactions through the 80’s and 90’s. Since then I have embarked on a career as a non-executive director.
Cranfield opened my eyes to the world of business and facilitated my move from engineering into corporate finance at a level I could not previously have imagined.
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JOHN MCFARLANE(MBA 1975)
Former CEO, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
Inaugural Cranfield Distinguished Alumnus Awardee
What was I doing when I decided to do the MBA?
Having graduated from Edinburgh University 5 years earlier, I had spent 5 years with Ford in UK in manufacturing. I wanted to move into Finance or Marketing and felt that an MBA would be the best way of doing this. Unlike in the US, in those days the MBA was less recognised than an accounting qualification, and it felt somewhat pioneering.
Why I chose Cranfield
Although the US was more attractive, cost drove the decision to study in the UK. I applied to LBS, MBS and Cranfield and was accepted by all. I chose Cranfield as it seemed the most pragmatic, and was 12 full months rather than two academic years. Interestingly when I joined Citibank on graduating in 1975, they sent me to the London Business School just to make sure. It is easier the second time round.
What I got out of it
In essence it allowed me to change career and to move up a gear in career terms. The MBA in those days was more knowledge-building than skill-building, but set me up with the language of business, and a basic understanding of the key disciplines in business. There is no doubt it advanced my career and, of course my income, and was a great foundation for things to come. I was later on Cranfield’s Advisory Board for some years while it existed, and have remained in touch over the past 32 years, lecturing there on occasion.
DAVID CORKINDALE (MBA 1965)
Professor of Marketing Management
The University of South Australia, Adelaide.
What was I doing when I decided to do the MBA?
I had been working in a pharmaceutical company, in the early sixties, in a small department that did special projects for the general manager. I came to the belief that there would be great scope in the world for people who could employ ‘scientific management’.
Why I chose Cranfield
I looked around and Cranfield seemed ideal as it seemed to be working with and for industry and commerce and I gained a grant from Cranfield to do the Operational Research course there and subsequently discovered that the MBA course was just beginning.
What I got out of it
I was then fortunate enough to be able to do much of it. The Cranfield experience enabled me to gain a couple of wonderful jobs as an internal management consultant, first in the engineering industry and then in the advertising agency business in London. Some years later I returned as a member of the staff of the School and was able to give something back and contribute to another generation of MBA students, during my time there.