Page 13 - Quadrangle: 39th Edition

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huge importance of rugby: I will never forget the
comradeship and shared endeavour, and the pride
in representing my school. As a Prefect for two years,
I also learned something about responsibility.
How has life progressed since you left the gates
of Lauriston Place?
On leaving Heriot’s I completed an MA (Hons.
Economics) at Edinburgh University. I participated
in extra-curricular activities notably the Economics
Society, where I became President. In the summer
of 1962, I went on a live/work student exchange
programme to the US where I visited leading
Business Schools; this experience determined my
decision to apply to the Harvard Business School.
Undoubtedly thanks to the crucial support of my then
Professor, Alan Peacock, I was admitted. Since I had
no money, I was fortunate to win scholarships from
the Saint Andrew’s Society of New York and from
Shell International, which covered the very high costs.
How wonderful to benefit from scholarships at
both school and university. How did life pan out
after Business School?
I joined Xerox, Boston as a Marketing Executive,
before moving to London as Executive Assistant to
the Chairman of Pergamon Press, Robert Maxwell.
Thereafter, I was invited into the world of executive
search consulting, becoming first a Partner at Egon
Zehnder International and later at Heidrick&Struggles
Inc. - working out of London, New York, Brussels and
Tokyo. I founded my own management consulting
firms based in the Middle East and in New
York/London.

In New York during the 1990’s I was involved in
business and investment banking linking the U.S.,
China and the Far East. I helped to set up a Chinese
merchant bank with a former Chinese American
colleague. Returning to London, I worked with an
American group to set up a private equity fund
specialising in high technology ventures. Later, I was
involved in a project to offer business re-engineering
consulting services to telecoms and retail groups
seeking to monetise their broadband field service
forces in the UK and China.