2012, Q1 E/MBA club report, "The Policeman, the Entrepreneurs and the Lawyer", 2nd Feburary 2012

The Policeman, the Entrepreneurs and the Lawyer

Our February MBA reception was held at Hogan Lovells’ wonderful Holborn Offices. With an immense sculpture in the central atrium surrounded by floors of large, well appointed glass fronted offices, it’s all very impressive.

Perhaps more impressive was the effective organisation of last night’s event. Hogan Lovells do corporate entertainment very well. Generously provided free drinks flowed, there were staff on hand to guide us to and from the event and HL even provided nifty magnetic name tags to avoid stabbing costly suit jackets with annoying safety pin backed badges.

If you’ve never been to an E/MBA Club event, or it’s been a while since you experienced one, I can highly recommend them. They are invariably held in impressive and convenient city locations. I have yet to hear a bad speaker. You are guaranteed to meet some new and interesting people. Additionally it’s a lovely way to arrange to meet up with cohort colleagues whom you “always intended to keep in touch with”.

Last night I was once again impressed with the variety of business areas represented by Cass MBA Alumni. From the senior policeman speaking on Fraud and Cyber crime, through a smorgasbord of entrepreneurs to lawyers, bankers and representatives from various technology areas. These events not only broaden your contact list, giving you access to professionals in areas you may rarely otherwise encounter, they also allow you to gather up-to-date knowledge on a wealth of industries. This definitely will make you more interesting round the water cooler/meeting table the following morning.

Last night I personally improved my understanding of the legal profession, gained fresh insights on China from an MBA who met his Chinese wife through an MBA colleague, met a lady with interesting plans to revolutionise the core structure of MBA programmes, and met for the first time a fellow alumni who previously posted a career opportunity on linkedin that I was able to help a friend get an interview for. So not only are these events interesting, they might even result in a new job!

Adrian Leppard, City of London Police Commissioner, gave a very interesting, and somewhat frightening, talk on the dangers of fraud and cyber crime. Economic crime is rising so rapidly that the Government are putting more money and resource into specialist resource, led by the City of London Police, even when cuts are being made almost everywhere else. I will certainly be hiding my pin with my other hand when using ATMs or retailers' card readers and being doubly alert for skimmers! It is reassuring banks, credit card companies and police work closely together, but businesses also need to put information security high on their agendas – both online and through staff.

(more events photos will be made available here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjytPKTF )

Adrian’s impressive and interesting career makes him a captivating speaker. Some of his stories sound like scenes from the Sweeney! Some how whilst accelerating through the ranks Adrian found time to also do an MBA at City. It was encouraging to hear that 12 years later he finds he is still practically using his MBA learning.

Hogan Lovells entertained us for nearly 3 hours, and Gareth had additionally sought out a very nice bar as an after event venue. A fair number continued socialising, and impressively one of the Cass Alumni staff (for whom this could fairly be described as work) was one of the last to leave the second venue.

If you like learning new things from talented people, want to catch up with old colleagues, broaden your network and have an interesting night out in a nice venue, I encourage you to put the next event in your diary.

The MBA experience definitely does not need to stop when you graduate. Thank you to Gareth Wong (EMBA04), Adrian Leppard (MBA00), Neil May (EMBA97) and the team at Hogan Lovells for a fantastic evening. For those of you still unconvinced, did I mention there were free drinks?

"This 2012 Q1 E/MBA club report, was kindly independently written by Andrew Ratnayake (EMBA10)"

More details on future E/MBA club, please contact Cass Alum office or via CassAlumni.org , this is exclusively for City/Cass MBA alumni only, and if you are one of us, do mark your diary, as Q2 E/MBA club is 16th May. details TBC.