From the military to an Oxford MBA

Thu, 1 August 2019

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Four MBAs with military backgrounds discuss their career journeys and why they came to Oxford.

Each year, a small but consistent percentage of MBA and Executive MBA candidates will come to the School from the military, security and defence sectors. But what makes a soldier decide they need lessons in business, and can an MBA really be as useful in NATO as it is in the corporate boardroom?

2018 MBA Oliver Ormiston served for 17 years in the British Army. He rose to the rank of Major and was deployed on five operational tours, including Helmand province, Afghanistan. ‘My service coincided with a time when the British Army was running pretty hot,’ he said.

Oliver Ormiston briefs Gavin Williamson — Ormiston briefs former defence secretary.

His experiences during these tours encompassed everything a civilian might imagine of army service: action, excitement, danger and loss.

This wide breadth of life experience allows Ormiston to bring a unique perspective to the MBA classroom. ‘While my experience of work might in some ways be narrow compared to the other candidates, my experiences in life have been extremely broad,’ he said.

However, a potential disadvantage of army service is a lack of exposure to diverse work forces. ‘To put it in perspective,’ said Ormiston, ‘at the peak of my service I commanded 116 men and one woman. I was conscious that there are other thoughts and opinions out there that I just wasn't being exposed to.’

In contrast, Ormiston is now studying for his MBA within a cohort that encompasses 62 nationalities. ‘The greatest learning experience for me has been working with people with completely different viewpoints,’ he said. ‘And I don’t mean simply disagreeing over something, but the fact that, because of differences in cultural backgrounds or experience, someone might see an entirely different problem to me. It’s a challenge, but that’s why I am here.’

2016 EMBA alumna Juliana Mardon has worked for NATO for almost a decade after serving seven years as a French Navy Officer, and now holds the position of Budget Officer for the civilian alliance’s Science for Peace and Security Programme. ‘I enjoy working in defence because you can see the results of your actions very quickly – it’s very rewarding in that way,’ she said.

Mardon believes there are both strong parallels and distinct differences between an organisation like NATO and corporate companies. ‘At NATO we still have budgets and are subject to financial regulation, in the same way a company would be,’ she explained. ‘But unlike a corporate company, we are an organisation that is governed by consensus between our member countries. We also have to be mindful of the geopolitical environment, which as we have seen in recent years, can change very rapidly.’

Like Ormiston, Mardon enrolled at Saïd Business School because she had reached a crossroads in her career. ‘I needed to make a decision – whether to look for a higher position in finance, or to branch out,’ she said.

‘The way the EMBA is setup, you are exposed to many new ideas and fields, and it helped me discover some areas of business that I would never have known about. Now I’m very interested in moving into cyber security in relation to finance, which is not something I would have considered without coming here,’ concluded Mardon.

Christian Nattiel is a 1+1 MBA student, Rhodes Scholar and an Infantry Officer in the US army. Enrolling at Oxford and studying amongst cohorts that contain a diverse mix of backgrounds and opinion has been both enriching and challenging for him. ‘I had to reintegrate into civilian life,’ he said. ‘And once you’re outside the US military, you find that not everyone believes in the same ideals. I’ve met people at Oxford who strongly disapprove of my country’s actions, and people who are pacifists and reject even the idea of a standing army altogether.’

On the MBA programme however, the lessons Christian has studied have helped him to view military organisations from a new perspective. ‘Our Global Strategy module with Dr Marc Szepan has been particularly helpful, and I have a much better understanding now of the relationship between free markets, the rule of law, foreign policy, and where the military fits into this careful balance,’ he said.

One thing the army does not teach you is a commercial mindset. That’s what I found most challenging, initially.

Jane Wainwright

2018 Executive MBA

2018 EMBA Jane Wainwright served the British Army as an Intelligence officer for over a decade, during which time she supported the closing down of Operation Banner in Northern Ireland – a historic moment for the British Army. ‘We would look at physical and protective security – such as ensuring our soldiers were protected in operational theatres. There was also the “spooky” element of our work: intelligence gathering and so on,’ explained Wainwright.

Wainwright stated that although many army veterans move into the security sector, the Intelligence Corps is the only regiment that handles security as part of its full-time duties. At the end of her service, the private security industry was therefore a natural fit. Wainwright now holds the position of Director - Security & Data Protection at PwC, the world’s largest professional services firm.

The close links between the military and private security firms meant the transition was relatively straightforward for Wainwright, but it was not without its challenges. ‘One thing the army does not teach you is a commercial mindset,’ she said. ‘That’s what I found most challenging, initially. It’s not that you don’t understand the aims of the business, it’s that you must transition quickly from an authoritative, hierarchical organisation to something quite different… To put it another way: you need to learn how to go gently round to the back door, and not just kick the front door in.’

While Wainwright quickly adapted to civilian organisations, she was wary of becoming ‘siloed,’ and wanted to gain a greater understanding of the mechanics of business. After enrolling on the Oxford EMBA, she found the programme both confirmed her instincts on best practices while expanding the options available to her.

‘When it comes to topics like leadership, the EMBA has taught us that there are many alternative approaches that we might have been previously unaware of,’ she said. ‘Learning about these different routes to success is exactly what I came here for.’

Oxford Saïd offers an application fee waiver for military applicants.

More about the Oxford MBA