IT Account Director Peter Clitheroe changed company after the first term of the Global MBA and was promoted after graduating in July this year.
Peter Clitheroe, Global MBA 2017
Current role: Account Director, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Pre-MBA role: Account Manager, Dell EMC
“I work as an Account Director for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), a multinational IT company. In this role, I am responsible for four large customers in retail and manufacturing globally. I also matrix manage teams based overseas in The USA and Asia.
“Before the MBA, I was working as an Account Manager for a different IT technology company and I moved to HPE after the first term of the MBA. I was then promoted a month after graduating. Studying the MBA definitely helped facilitate the move to a new company and role. While other candidates may have similar levels of knowledge and skills, I think having an MBA is a ‘rubber stamp’ that proves you have a certain level of intelligence and capability. I have no doubt that the MBA will continue to help as I look to progress further in this company.
“In my current role, I frequently draw on the courses I studied during the MBA. For example, once a month I sit down and review customers’ financial reports, which I can interpret using learnings from the Financial Management course. I regularly read up on customers’ markets and can apply knowledge from the Managerial Economics, Strategy Management and Advanced Strategic Management course. I also regularly refer back to other courses, for example, Operations Management and Supply Chain Management, which help me to manage customers’ expectations during client meetings. In fact, I’ve just finished a client call where I referenced what I learned during the Operations Management class!
“One of my favourite memories of the MBA is the amazing professors, who were extremely motivating and inspiring. I also met great people from different backgrounds and countries. I’m still in contact with many of them and now call some of them friends.
“My advice to anyone looking to study an MBA is to be clear what you want to get out of it. My personal goal was to study every course to the best of my ability and get the best possible grade. Some students had specific courses they wanted to excel at. It’s good to think about your end goal before you choose a school and begin your studies.”
