FEATURE INTERVIEW
Q: If you think back over the last ten years, what have been your proudest moments?
When the Hult sign went up on the Boston building definitely stands out. We started out occupying just half a floor, and virtually every student asked us why our name wasn’ t displayed outside. Unfortunately, due to local regulations, there could only be one sign up on the exterior façade. As the rest of the building was used as EF’ s American headquarters, it, of course, made sense for their name to be up there. But to be able to oversee the growth of the school to the point that we were able to justify taking over the entire building, and then to get our Hult sign up there, was a very proud moment. Every time I look up at it, especially at night when it’ s lit up, I am incredibly humbled by what we have managed to achieve over that last ten years. It really was the culmination of a decade of hard work by everyone involved.
What else? I am always super proud when we host the Hult Prize finals in New York with President Clinton. It is such an inspiring evening that leaves everyone with a renewed sense of hope and optimism. Whilst obviously much of the work in creating the prize has been down to Ahmad Ashkar and his team, the competition just wouldn’ t be possible without the support of the entire school.
I’ m not quite sure if pride is the right word, but I do feel very privileged every time I’ m up at Ashridge. It is such a beautiful campus that I can’ t help but think that I’ m very privileged to be able to work at such a location.
Q: Why should alumni stay connected? What would be the value to them to maintain the network that they built as students?
Hult is unique in giving lifelong learning opportunities through electives and executive education programs. What you will increasingly notice, and certainly as you get toward my age, is that in the old days, you went and took a degree and that was enough to last you for the rest of your career. But life isn’ t like that anymore. Things are changing much, much quicker than they used to. My father didn’ t have to reinvent himself. He was an engineer, and he was an engineer for the rest of his life. But I think people from my generation have to reinvent themselves once or twice. You will probably have to reinvent yourself three or four times, or at the very least learn to adapt.
What we’ re trying to do at Hult, and I don’ t think we’ ve managed to package it very well yet, is to fundamentally keep providing education to our alumni after they graduate in order to help them with their careers. I think the number one reason why alumni would want to stay in contact with the school is to simply take advantage of those opportunities for their own development. You probably don’ t see this within the first five years of starting your career, but I guarantee that by the time five or ten years have passed, you’ ll need some skill-refreshing. Life could be taking you in a whole new direction that you simply hadn’ t foreseen, so you will likely need some further education to stay relevant in the workplace. We want Hult to be able to provide all of our alumni with exactly that focused help.
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