Newsletters

Seasons Greetings

December 2018 Edition

The Festive Season seems to have sprung upon us this year, and I am sure most people will be looking forward to taking some kind of break. However, before you do, please take a minute or two to read our article below on a Stem Cell Donor Appeal for alumna Meena Kumari-Sharma (New York, Sep 2000). Meena is in desperate need of a donor of Indian Punjabi descent, so please do get in touch (see details in the article) if you are able to help. Time is of the essence.

Please see the attached seasonal message, as is MNN tradition, from Dr Paul Beresford-Hill, CBE, to sum up the Mountbatten year, and a few thoughts to take us into 2019.

Very best wishes for the Festive Season, wherever you are in the world from all of us at MNN.

Seasonal Message from Dr Paul Beresford-Hill

Dear Mountbatten Alumni,

This has been quite a tumultuous year on both sides of the Atlantic, and in other areas of the world besides!! The economy, while it has strengthened in some areas and at some periods, seems right now in the throes of a 'correction'. We will have to see what the Russia investigation, a Democrat majority in the House and a resolution of Brexit will bring us for the New Year!! Making predictions in such a climate can be very risky, but I would hazard that 2019 will be another one of those 'Interesting Times' to live through. It is all the more encouraging, therefore, to read each month of the continued success of Mountbatten Alumni across the world. Although nationalist aspirations seem to be gathering support, particularly in Europe and America, it is refreshing to see how the experience of international living, and the friendships and networks that come with that, continue to exercise a positive influence on people's lives and their attitudes, long after they have returned home.

Read the full message

Urgent Stem Cell Donor Appeal

Meena Kumari-Sharma (New York, September 2000), a mother to five-year-old twins from St Albans, needs a blood stem cell donation in a critical fight against acute myeloid leukaemia. Register as a potential donor today.

Originally diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), Meena was responding well to treatment. However, a few months ago the family received some shattering news. Meena had now been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and a blood stem cell donation would be her last chance of survival. Meena is British-Indian (Punjabi), and as blood stem cell donations require a DNA match, she is looking for a donor of Indian heritage.

"Meena lights up the room. Her positivity and her energy is infectious. She is the most incredible mother and we’ll do everything we can to ensure she will be around to watch the kids grow up".

"Meena is a positive, strong, determined individual, always smiling and we all know she will fight this disease but at the same time we know how hard it has been for her - make this fight easier for her. Our personal plea to you - give this selfless gift to someone in need and sign up today".

See the flyer

If this is something you think you might be able to do, or know someone that could be donor, there is a simple DNA test that will determine a possible match. More details can be found here on Meena's page at the charity DKMS. You can also help by passing on the appeal with the above flyer or via Twitter or Facebook. For those outside of the UK, the match4meena flyer lists some of the donor programmes in other countries including USA, South Africa and Australia.

You can also check the WMDA (The World Marrow Donor Association) website.

Any donation could potentially come from anywhere in the world and be received in the UK within 72 hours. Meena has between 3 to 6 months to find a match, so her friends and family are desperately trying to help with her search.

Please do help if you can.

Alum
of the Month

Adrian Benjamin
New York, Sep 2009

"I am now a contractor and I work for Deloitte as a Relationship Manager for their biggest client HSBC…I am also on the committee for Black Young Professionals (BYP) www.byp-network.com and I would like to work with Mountbatten and other companies in working with our amazing young talent... BYP focuses exclusively on black talent because we believe that in order to improve diversity across the board we must have specialist organisations... by focusing on the black community, of which we have an intimate understanding, we can achieve better results."

Read the full article

Refer a friend

Know someone that would like to start their #MountbattenLife in London or New York?

Submit their information to our Refer-A-Friend program and, if they're placed, both you and they will receive an Amazon gift card worth £40/$50!

MBA August 2017 Completion Ceremony

On Saturday 1st December 2016, August 2017 MBA students were recognized at the Conrad Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand marking the end of the MBA Field Research in the Asia Pacific region.

All received the Mountbatten Institute Certificate as well as the International Business Practice Certificate from the College of Management, University of Phayao for their academic work toward the MBA qualification from St. Mary’s University.

The attendees were welcomed by Dr. Jeff Simcox, MBA Programme Director of the Asia/Pacific Region, and a Speech followed from Dr Geoff Paul, Academic Director for Business & Law at St, Mary’s University, Twickenham.

Dr. Melissa Willby, Academic Director (London) at Mountbatten presented the following awards: The Director General’s Award for Academic Excellence (Best Assignment) to Eric Williams; The Director General’s Award for Academic Excellence (Field Research & VIVA) shared by Anthony Prettitore, Jillana Knauft and Oliver Shirbini; and the William Ball Award for Entrepreneurship (Best Group Work) to David Thomsen, Kalveer Sandhu, and Oliver Shirbini.

Around forty guest, friends and parents attended the Ceremony in Bangkok, some travelling as far afield as the USA and the UK.

View the full album here

A Day In The Life

Lisa Vecchio

London, March 2006

Lisa graduated from Towson University with a Public Relations & Marketing degree before embarking on the Mountbatten London March 2006 intake. Fast forward a number of years and Lisa is now an experienced leader in B2B and B2C marketing strategy with a passion for #techforgood. She currently holds the position of Head of Marketing at Lantum, an innovative healthtech platform, with a mission to save the NHS £1bn. Lisa has also just done a podcast "with my two cents on what you need to consider as you grow as a marketer and important questions to ask along the way".

iTunes, Spotify, Website

Read the full article

Mountbatten Wedding

Drew Smith & Liz Ely-Kelso

London, August 2009 & 2008

We are delighted to announce another Mountbatten wedding. Drew Smith (London, Aug 09) and Liz Ely-Kelso (London, Aug 08) got married last month (Oct 27th) in Athens, Georgia. Liz describes explains; "I was a London Aug 2008 MB and Drew was London Aug 2009. We actually didn't know each other through the program but met afterwards when we both continued working in London. We lived in London for a few years, then moved to Singapore in 2013. In 2015 we moved back to the States and are now living in Seattle. I am a financial reporting accountant for a non-profit and Drew works for a solar investment company doing financial analysis. Our wedding was attended by mountbattens from both or our intakes".

From left to right: Joon Oh (Aug 08), Lindsey Bechner (Aug 09), Chieh Tung (Aug 08), Sam Eyob (Aug 08), Liz Ely-Kelso (Aug 08), Drew Smith (Aug 09), Eddie Alexander (Aug 09), Amy Krugler (Aug 09), Jeff Krugler (Aug 09), Darcie Dusek (Aug 09), Jon Murphy (Aug 09)

Many congratulations to the couple.

In The News

Obama Fellow Alex Smith (New York, September 2007) gave a speech at Number 10 Downing Street as part of The Big Give to talk about the difference networks can make.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6480819582016847872/

Zainab (Jenna) Bata (New York, March 2009), mediator and professional speaker delivers another speech at TEDx AlWaslWomen in Dubai.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zainub-jenna-bata-llb-mba-8b17b01a/

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Jo Harvey
jharvey@mountbatten.org

Vicki McCordall
vmccordall@mountbatten.org

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