Our CEO/Senior Executive Seminar Series is aimed at providing postgraduate students with an insight into what it is really like to be the CEO, President or Chairman of a large and complex organisation.
Each seminar will provide an opportunity to better understand how strategic decisions are made at a senior level as well as give a sense of the managerial challenges faced in implementing these decisions. Each speaker is also invited to reflect on their career experiences - outlining how their career has developed, its defining moments and any lessons they have learned.
Each seminar is restricted to postgraduate management students or staff only and is limited to around 60 students.
Past events
Wednesday 9 May 2012
Jim Prior
CEO of the Partners
Jim is a passionate advocate for the use of creativity in strategic thinking and is inspired by the pursuit of wholly original solutions to business problems. He regularly speaks about the need for creativity to form a more prominent role within business, and has been featured in The Times, The Independent, The Financial Times, The Guardian and Management Today, speaking about creativity and business issues. He is also a blogger on The Huffington Post and a producer and speaker at TEDx conferences.
His clients at The Partners have included some of the world’s leading business, such as Ford, eBay and Deloitte, with whom he has worked on brand consultancy programs that have brought about profound change, often in very complex circumstances.
In 2008 he was the recipient of a coveted D&AD Black Pencil, one of the industry’s highest creative accolades, for his work with The National Gallery in London. Jim is a regular commentator in trade and consumer media on brand-related matters where his challenging, straight-talking points of view often inspire much debate.
Jim joined The Partners in 2001 as a Strategy Consultant and became CEO in 2003. Previously, he has held roles as Director of Product and Marketing for Converse Inc., Head of Merchandise for Levis Strauss UK, and was a co-founder of fashion label Duck and Cover. His position as the head of one the world’s most creative agencies feels like a far cry from his graduation, in 1986, with a degree in Physics.
Wednesday 30 November 2011
Hakam Kanafani
CEO of Türk Telekom Group
Hakam Kanafani is Türk Telekom Group's CEO and member of Türk Telekom's Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Before that he was the Chief Business Development and Synergy Officer for Oger Telecom.
Kanafani is a member of the Board of Directors of Türk Telekom Group's mobile communications unit "AVEA" and Oger Telecom's South African subsidiary "CELL C." Kanafani is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Türk Telekom Group subsidiaries, namely; TTnet, Pantel International Group, Argela, AssisTT, Innova and Sebit.
Upon graduation he joined the Information Technology team based in Goddard Space Flight, NASA, in Greenbelt, Maryland. He then moved to the Middle East as the Business Development Director for Egypt's oldest running private holding company "MM Sons Conglomerate". He spearheaded the conglomerate's efforts to establish successful, rapidly growing ICT enterprises. Then he was appointed CEO of Jawwal, Palestine's first private cellular network. Later Kanafani became Chief Operating Officer of the PalTel Group, where he led strategy, acquisitions and synergy for the Group.
Kanafani is a University Trustee Scholar and holds Beta Gamma Sigma honors from the United States. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.A. in Economics and a B.Sc. in Management Information Systems. Kanafani holds an MBA with a 4.0 GPA and he continued his Executive Education at Harvard Business School. He is a founding member of Young Global Leaders for the World Economic Forum. Kanafani is in GTB's Power100 list for Telco executives worldwide and in the most powerful 30 members of the business world in Turkey as listed by Capital Magazine.
He is a founding member of Young Global Leaders for the World Economic Forum. Kanafani is in GTB's Power100 list for Telco executives worldwide and in the most powerful 30 members of the business world in Turkey as listed by Capital Magazine.
Wednesday 26 October 2011
Ian Powell
Chairman and Senior Partner of PwC UK
Ian Powell is the Chairman and Senior Partner of the UK firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Ian is also a member of the five-man Network Leadership team which leads the international network of PwC firms. He also leads the 'Central Cluster' of the PwC Network, which spans 97 countries (which include Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, Europe, Middle East, Africa, India and Pakistan) and accounts for half of PwC's worldwide revenues.
Ian joined the firm as a graduate trainee in 1977 and is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAEW). After joining the partnership in 1991, he worked in Manchester building a team which established a reputation for complex turnarounds. On merger, he developed the Continental European Business Recovery Services (BRS) Advisory practice and in 2000 was appointed Leader of the UK BRS business.
Ian is an Economics graduate. He has also completed the Advanced Management Programme at Insead Business School in Fountainbleau, France.
Wednesday 2 March 2011
John Pluthero
Chairman of Cable&Wireless Worldwide
John Pluthero was appointed as Chairman of Cable&Wireless Worldwide in January 2010 having served as an Executive Director of Cable and Wireless plc from November 2005. He served as Executive Chairman of the Cable&Wireless Worldwide Group from April 2006, having previously been its Executive Director since November 2005. From September 2002 until its acquisition by Cable and Wireless plc in November 2005, he was chief executive of Energis Group plc. He was founder and chief executive officer of Freeserve Limited (now part of Orange), leading it to its flotation, and prior to this, he held various strategy and operations positions within the Dixons Group Limited. Other experience includes senior positions with Holiday Inn Worldwide and P&O.
John is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and has a degree in Economics from LSE.
Monday 7 February 2011
Sir John Parker
Chairman of National Grid and Anglo American
Sir John became the chairman of Anglo American plc in August 2009. He succeeded Sir Mark Moody-Stuart as chairman and is also chairman of the Nomination Committee and a member of the Safety and Sustainable Development (S&SD) Committee. He is also chairman of the National Grid plc, a non executive director of Carnival Corporation, EADS and vice chairman of DP World. He was Chair of the Court of the Bank of England (2004-2009), Joint Chairman of Mondi plc (2007-2009), Chair of the BVT Joint Venture (2008) and he was a Member of the Prime Minister's Business Council for Britain (2007-2010).
Sir John is a Fellow and the nominated President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Chancellor of the University of Southampton and a Visiting Fellow of the University of Oxford.
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Sanjay Guha
President of Coca-Cola Great Britain & Ireland
Sanjay Guha is President of Coca-Cola's Great Britain & Ireland business unit. He has overall responsibility for all Coca-Cola's marketing activity in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland. Sanjay is also responsible for delivering Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Sanjay's talk will centre around marketing and leadership. He will tackle both subjects in terms of his own personal and career development; and also in the context of a large FMCG firm such as Coca-Cola.
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Sir Christopher Bland
Chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and former Chairman of both the BBC Board of Governors and British Telecommunications
Sir Christopher Bland is a Non-executive Director of Land Securities and chaired its property outsourcing subsidiary, Trillium, from 2008 until its sale in 2009. He became Chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2004 and is the Chairman, and a major shareholder, in both Leith's School of Food & Wine and Canongate Books. He is also a Senior Adviser to Warburg Pincus. He joined BT as Chairman on 2001 and retired from the board in 2007. He was also Chairman of the BBC Board of Governors from 1996 until 2001.
Sir Christopher was educated at Sedbergh School, Yorkshire and Queen's College, Oxford where he gained a degree in Modern History and is an Honorary Fellow. He was knighted for his work in the NHS in 1993
Monday 25 October 2010
Andy Bird
Chairman of Walt Disney International
As chairman of Walt Disney International Andy Bird is responsible for targeting new businesses, growing and increasing penetration of Disney's existing businesses in developed markets such as Western Europe and Japan, and leading the development of business and operations in emerging markets, including India, China, Russia, South Korea and Latin America.
Reporting to Disney President and CEO Bob Iger, Mr Bird works with all of Disney's business unit leaders around the world, coordinating and overseeing growth opportunities for The Walt Disney Company outside the United States.