Get to know three of our student Veterans as they reflect on their Oxford Executive MBA experience and what it has meant for their personal and professional development.
Clarke Cooper: Arriving at Oxford with over two decades of diplomatic and US military service, including combat experience and posting worldwide, I was immediately drawn to the global nature of the Oxford Saïd curriculum, and the geopolitical diversity of the student body. I was especially pleased to participate in study abroad opportunities such as the Business in Emerging Markets module in India and the Inclusive Business in Africa module in South Africa.
The Global Rules of the Game module particularly allowed me to step out from my usual national capacity as a diplomat or a military officer, enjoy the opportunity to place myself in other stakeholders’ positions, and derive a better appreciation for the parochial perspectives and various conditions that influence negotiations.
Capitalizing on the global posture of Saïd Business School, three fellow cohort members and I launched a consultancy focused on identifying opportunities for economic growth and community development while concurrently addressing the drivers of instability, chiefly water scarcity and energy transition. The aim of World Water & Power, LLC (WWP) is to become the preeminent management consultancy that advises on public-private partnership implementation in water and energy infrastructure and sustainability sector transformation projects.

As a veteran, one appreciates the constant need to develop their mental and physical strength. Taking advantage of the greater University of Oxford ecosystem, including rowing for St. Hugh’s College, provided professional growth opportunities to reflect, sharpen my business acumen, develop a broader worldview, and expand a network of purpose-driven colleagues, all while forging a potential new career path with the launch of WWP.
Patrick Constantino: I arrived at Oxford with approximately 15 years of active and reserve service in the US military, including service as an Infantry and Civil Affairs Officer, deployments to Afghanistan, and experience in the US tech sector. While I recognized the immense opportunity before me when I entered the School’s stone cloisters, I scarcely anticipated the profound personal and professional transformations that would subsequently occur.
For example, the Global Opportunities and Threats: Oxford (GOTO) module challenged us to research, and then develop solutions for existential challenges at the intersection of industry and humanity. We worked closely with industry representatives to dig into these issues and develop workable solutions. This forced us to think about issues in global terms, skills necessary for effective business leaders.
Taking these lessons to heart, in October 2023, family members and I launched a US-based non-profit foundation dedicated to helping facilitate equitable access to educational opportunities, particularly for non-traditional students returning to the classroom. I credit Oxford Saïd with providing the tools and environment to translate my ideas into meaningful action.
These experiences have profoundly shaped my personal and professional career path for the better. Oxford Saïd has challenged me to think beyond myself - to use skills honed during classroom debates, and projects, to affect meaningful change on a global scale.
Rowland Corr: Coming to Oxford, I’ve often been reminded of the quote attributed to W. B. Yeats that, 'the place is so beautiful, one almost expects its inhabitants to sing instead of speaking.' Now nearing the end of my Executive MBA and my third program at the University, it’s the other part of that Yeats quote that comes to the fore for me: 'I wonder if anybody does anything at Oxford but dream and remember.'
Being here prompts you inescapably to think of the people who came before you, but also those who brought you where you are, and those especially who made you who you are. Mentors in military service come to mind, but more fundamentally, family and forebears. When completing my first part-time program in English Literature at Oxford in 2016 while still a soldier, it was fully 100 years from my grandfather’s own time in service. A remembrance wrought with the astonishment of a dream for me.

Being at Oxford astonishes and inspires. It not only transports you, it transforms you. Studying at Saïd Business School is transformative, and not by virtue merely of the environment but of the endeavour of staff and faculty, and the energy of what I’m quite convinced is the most remarkable cohort of classmates in any such setting anywhere in the world. We dream, and we remember indeed. We also aspire, and inspire each other to such a degree that, sometimes, I think we could well be found to be singing instead of speaking.
More stories from our student veterans

Lieutenant General (retired) Tom Bostick is another one of our Oxford Executive MBA alumni. In this episode of The Application, a podcast celebrating 20 years of the programme, Tom talks to Kathy Harvey, Associate Dean at Saïd Business School, about his leadership experience first in the military and later in business.
Tom served in the US Army for 38 years, from Iraq to Afghanistan to The Pentagon. As the leader of the Military Command Center during the events of 9/11 he carried the key to the nuclear codes for then President George W. Bush. But none of this would have happened if, decades earlier, a retired general hadn’t visited his school. He encouraged the young Tom to apply for a presidential nomination to secure a scholarship to West Point Military Academy. This podcast is a tale of chance encounters, the role of mosquitoes in his second career in the business world and how an empathetic spirit is such an important part of leadership.