Alum of the Month

Elena Kanaeva

January 2014

London Program

March 2012 Intake

What and where did you study before your Mountbatten internship?
I studied medicine at Chelyabinsk State Medical Academy and Marketing at St.Petersburg State Polytechnic University (all in Russia)

What made you apply for the Mountbatten programme?
I had a strong desire to continue my education within the International Business field, expanding my career beyond Russia. I wanted to experience another market (Financial world).

Describe your sponsor company and your role within it.
I interned at Deutsche Bank, and was lucky enough be placed in the Event Management, Corporate Actions team (Asset Services).

What was the highlight/most memorable moment of your working experience during this year?
My first presentation to the Global Business Director (even though I had conducted more than 200 before, but not in the financial world, this was the first).
Also, my first business trip to Deutsche Bank in Moscow with my first solo risk review of their corporate action team. I felt a bit like a friend among foes in London but a foe among friends in Moscow, as I was bound to report all mistakes of the Russian team to the Global office. Which is a tricky issue!

What was the social highlight/most memorable moment during this year?
Finding friends from different continents!!! I can travel all over the world now.

Please share a little wisdom/philosophy that you acquired during your internship.
Meet people, go globally! Do not miss any kind of social (business in particular) events, many of them are free and priceless for your private and business networking.

If you could change anything about your internship, what would it be?
Probably going out a bit more with other interns, as I didn’t do it that much.

What happened after completing the year - what did you do next?
I came back to Russia with a signed contract with one UK company (big pharma). But later on changed my mind (due to both business and private reasons) and landed on my feet in St.Petersburg, Russia (joined the Domestic full cycle pharmaceutical company, with extended international business expansion planes).

Where are you now in your working life and what do you do?
After completion of this programme with Mountbatten, I joined BIOCAD (a leading Russian pharmaceutical company) as a Senior International Product Manager (oncology portfolio, 12 products). After a few months I was promoted to the Sales Force Director of Russia and CIS region. I manage more than 160 people in 4 countries and we as a team lead sales of 16 products. By the end of 2014, the pipeline of our promoted portfolio would be extended by 21 products, which is going to be even more interesting!

Do you have any future plans that you would like to realise & what are they (career & social)?
I am going to apply for MBA this year (in Europe), and achieve a better balance between business and social life.

Is there any other information that you would like to be included?
The worse thing that happened to me within the last few months was my Mother's e-mail. I was at my parents house the day before this e-mail, after another long work meeting, so I was late, came back, quickly had my dinner and then returned to my work e-mails for 2 more hours or so. It felt like I had seen my folks, but in reality, I was involved in my business that night. The next day I received an e-mail from Mum, who asked me some simple things, such as my plans for the New Year celebration, about me coming over to their house the upcoming weekend, and some other stuff about family matters. It was out of the blue as we normally talk over the phone or face-to-face. But 2 months ago I become a busy business-lady with so little attention to the role of caring daughter in my schedule! You cannot make it up by sending simply money to your parents, they need you!
So, my advice is "please always find time for really important things in your life - your family, friends and true soul-mates. This is important! I wish all of you success & luck this year and the right life-work balance!

Proudly the First Mountbaten kid from big Russia, Elena