Welcome to the Alumni Newsletter February 2013 Romance has definitely been on our minds during the month of February here at the Mountbatten Institute Alumni Society and it's not been just about St Valentine's Day! It seems that wherever we look at the moment, we are discovering Mountbatten relationships / weddings and babies. This is a little talked about fringe benefit of participating in the Programme! In this issue, we are delighted to feature 4 weddings, 3 from one intake. There are more for future issues, but the challenge will be to find more than 3 weddings in an intake. In this issue, we have a new feature which we are hoping will act as a catalyst to launch a new section, Entrepreneurial Alumni, where we aim to showcase every month an alum who has changed career, set up a new business, or taken on a new entrepreneurial venture. If you would like to be featured in this new section or you just wish to share your new ventures with us, please get in touch as there are many ways we can help. Please also get in contact with us regarding any other features you would like to read in future issues of the newsletter. Graduation Ceremony at SMUC Laura Alejandra Garcia and Diana Chan (August 2011 - London) attended their graduation Ceremony earlier this month at St. Mary's University College, Twickenham, where they also met three New York programme alumni, Andrew Austin, Will Vaughan and Hanel Gir (August 2011 - New York) who had completed their year at the same time. Congratulations to all of you!

Alum of the Month Benjamin D'Innocenzo August 2010 MBA - London "I had volunteered to stay a bit later one evening... I got a phone call that a trade was failing, a rather large trade... I managed to push the trade down in our systems and successfully aided my colleague in not failing, what would prove to be a very large win for his team." Read full story. Benjamin received the Director General's Award for Scholarly Achievement on his thesis, entitled "The Shared Value of the Dive Industry: A Qualitative Exploratory Study on the Application of the Shared Value Model in the Peripheral Dive Tourism Industry".

Mountbatten Alumni Weddings

It appears that the Mountbatten experience doesn't just enhance your professional life! Here, we are delighted to share with you 4 Mountbatten wedding stories (in their own words) to turn your attention to the other benefits of participating in the Programme. It's worth a mention that the September 2002 New York intake seems to have been a bumper one for romance - 3 out of the 4 following weddings are from this cohort!

Please read on to get the full details of how each couple met, got together and developed their relationships whilst on the Programme. Weddings featured in this issue are from the September 2002 intake in New York: Michelle McLaren and Alexander Munro, Jamie Williams and Simone Ruffin, Sarah Farrar and Gordon Johnson, and from the August 2007 intake in London: Steve Arnold and Hartley Kurtz.

Fundraising Alumni

Mary Walker Baus (August 2011 - London) photographed during her Mountbatten year in London when she was at the Olympics with a British co-worker.
"Hello, I wanted to share with Mountbatten what I am doing now post-programme. The Mountbatten experience definitely helped me land my new job with Travelzoo is Los Angeles. I learned to love travel while living in London, and now I get to write about travel daily in an amazing, new city. Just as I joined various clubs at UBS in London, I am also getting involved with Travelzoo's philanthropy. I am running my first half-marathon in June 2013 as part of Travelzoo's Team in Training. We are raising money for The Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society and its mission to cure cancer. A link to my page is below. Even my old coworkers at UBS have been kind enough to donate to this goal of mine, and I'm hoping the Mountbatten network will as well. Thanks so much!" Support Mary in this great cause.

Mary goes on to say, "One of my favourite experiences / memories from my internship with UBS in London was when I joined the UBS swim team. We only competed in one meet (and we came in 3rd out of 4 teams), but it was a great way to meet other UBS employees from different divisions. It was also a great way to work out. In order to get that same experience with my new employer, I signed up for Team in Training as soon as I heard Travelzoo was participating with LLS to raise money for cancer research by participating in the San Diego Half-Marathon in June. I'm almost 50% of the way to my fundraising goal... I loved my Mountbatten experience and all the people I met along the way" Good luck to Mary, and thanks for sharing this with us.

Entrepreneurial Alumni

Kate Finburg (September 2005 - New York) whose name is under the programme credits for Dancing on Ice as Production Assistant, shares her latest project with us, her own production company!
"Working with another TV professional, my commissions so far have included publicity videos for some big West End shows, and I have helped a BAFTA nominated Director with a short film which went onto be long-listed for another BAFTA. This year I am looking to expand so I would love to hear from any alumni with filming needs! Perhaps your company needs testimonials for its website or maybe you have also launched a company and looking to promote yourself with some video content.
I've got a huge network of TV professionals who can film, edit and even front your content. I would be happy to create a budget and ideas treatment and am fully adaptable to schedules and cost constraints - 5% discount for MB alumni! I would also love to hear from other alumni who are in the creative industries, especially those in graphic design."

Kate’s career in the TV industry spans 10 years now, and she has had a number of highlights: "I have been fortunate enough to capture some great moments on camera; for instance, I was there at the start of the Olympics to film (for the One Show) the flame arriving in Cornwall to start its Torch Bearer journey; I got a presenter half way round the world to swim in a sea trench as deep as Everest is high (for Blue Peter), and helped one lucky child design the emblem for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee last year (we even got to meet HRH!)". Also, Kate was featured in a previous Alum of the month.

To get in touch with Kate: Email: kate.finburg@gmail.com Tel: +44 (0)77094 955 570 Twitter: @katefin

We would like to wish Kate well in her endeavours, and look forward to keeping in touch as her career blossoms.

Jobs

Check out all the current vacancies we have on our website, including a Business Development Associate for UK Trade & Investment in New York, a London based administrative role in the Investment Managment sector and an opportunity to get a foot in the door into the world of advertising in London.

Alumni Committee Updates & Announcement

The London based Mountbatten Institute Alumni Committee met on Tuesday 19th February at 6.30pm in the Mountbatten London Office to discuss our programme of events for the next six months and review Alumni Newsletter content. Some animated discussions were had, and fun and interesting ideas put forward.

email: vmccordall@mountbatten.org
web: http://alumni.mountbatten.org