"I attended school and university in Switzerland, studying first economics, and then business administration, at the University of St.Gallen. During my time at university I also worked for a number of companies in the banking industry in Switzerland, including the Credit Suisse group, where I spent some time in the trading and payments traffic departments. Plus I also worked for Egon Zehnder, the international executive search group.

My first job after finishing my studies was as an auditor at accountancy firm Ernst & Young in Zurich, and it was while I was working at Ernst &Young that I was contacted by a headhunting firm – they were in the process of recruiting an assistant CFO for McKinsey, Switzerland. 

So, in 2004, I joined McKinsey as deputy CFO - with responsibilities that included finance, logistics, and transportation. And then in 2005, only a year after I had arrived at the firm, my boss left, and so I was promoted to CFO.

My decision to take the Executive MBA came after spending time thinking about how I could improve some of my business skills, such as my entrepreneurial and communication skills.

I've been very lucky, as my company is particularly supportive of employees that want to improve their education. If you come to McKinsey with an undergraduate or graduate degree to start working as a consultant, the company will often push you, at some point, to take a break and do an MBA.

Saïd Business School has turned out to be good choice, I was keen to come to England, and Oxford has a great reputation. Some skills, like effective communication can be difficult to learn, but it is a lot easier at a business school like Saïd, when you are in a learning environment with a group of like minded professional people, focusing on specific issues and problems."