This is a programme for senior managers who do not come from a finance background. Participants have typically progressed through a function such as marketing, operations or engineering and are now in a general management role.
Job titles of participants are typically across the range of C-level, Director, Senior Vice President or Head of Department or SBU and have included:
Chief Executive, President, CEO, Managing Director
Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Operating Officer
General Director, Commercial Director
Director of Business Development
Director of Strategy
Director of Customer Service
Head of Climate & Energy
Head of Global Offering Management
Head of Policy & Commercial
Legal Director, Marketing Director, HR Director, Operations Director
Partner
Regional Manager, Country Manager
Senior Project Leader
Vice President
Participants come from a diverse range of sectors and regions, with peer groups carefully selected to enrich the experience. Recent organisations who have benefitted from this programme include:
Bayer Material Science AG
BBC
Council Of Europe
De La Rue Currency
Deutsche Telekom
Enel
Halfords
Hyatt International
John Lewis
LSL Property Services
Millward Brown
Nokia
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Oxford University Press
Royal Mail
SabMiller Horizon Ltd
Saudi Telecom Company
World Bank
Yorkshire Water
Sabin Brooks
Marketing Director , Leisure Industry
I come from a marketing background and finance is the area of business where I had most gaps in my understanding. I felt that I had to bridge some of those gaps, but didn’t want a programme which was too academic. The structure of the week was really good because it started with theory and became highly practical, with coverage of slightly softer, more behavioural issues. The pace allowed us to distil some complex issues and I found it really valuable to mix with such a diverse group of people. You never know who you will meet at the Saïd Business School.
This programme was perfect for marketing people. It’s unrealistic to think you will walk away and start doing complex financial calculations, but you will clearly understand the principles behind them so that you can go through valuations and ask those fundamental questions. For a senior marketing director this is extremely important.