Meet the Warwick MBA Class of 2018

Dan Boardman-Weston

Warwick Business School

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Country chap through and through. Tennis, Real Ale, Derbyshire countryside. Passionate about stock markets.

Hometown: Grangewood, Derbyshire

Fun Fact About Yourself: Many people would inaccurately describe my hair colour as ginger. It is actually the lesser known shade of ‘Moroccan sunset’…

Undergraduate School and Major: N/A. I left school at the age of 18 and started working in the financial services industry.

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: All roles with BRI Wealth Management in the investment department:

Head of Portfolio Management

Senior Portfolio Manager

Investment Analyst

Trainee Investment Analyst

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far:  The biggest accomplishment in my career so far was winning the West Midlands Institute of Directors Young Director of the Year Award in 2016. To be recognised by your peers and influential business leaders was a fantastic feeling.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in the program so far:  Working with my initial syndicate group and conducting a strategic analysis on General Electric. This was for the strategy module and our presentation was well-received and we achieved very pleasing marks and feedback.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? When I was applying for the MBA, I consistently thought that I wouldn’t be good enough to be admitted, let alone successfully manage my way through the MBA. I think it’s important to put yourself in the mindset that you are capable of doing an MBA.

If you are invited for an interview, then you have clearly demonstrated some of the right skills and achievements from your essays, CV and recommendations from peers. Try to be calm and composed in the interview and be ready to be questioned on anything you have written in the application process. It might be worthwhile getting a friend or colleague to do a mock interview with you and getting them to ask the most difficult questions they can think of. The interviewers are not trying to trip you up, but want to understand more about you and your achievements.

Try to strike the right balance between modesty and being proud of your achievements. Also, come armed with questions about the MBA and the wider university; it is important that the course suits you along with you suiting the course.

What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you?  I chose Warwick for my MBA due to the quality of the teaching staff and the focus not only on academia but on real business.

All the lecturers that we have had have been incredibly knowledgeable about their subject and have been able to deliver content in an interactive and engaging manner. It’s important to understand the theory behind the different topics. Unless it is framed in a way that relates it to the real world, then it will be hard to put into practice once you’ve finished the MBA. In each subject, we have lively debates about how theories relate to the real world and analyse numerous case-studies. This is complemented by having guest speakers in each module from the business world, which teaches us about implementing what we’ve learnt.

What would success look like to you after you graduate from business school? Success after leaving Warwick would be moving back into the financial services industry. My medium-term goal is to become the Chief Investment Officer of a medium-sized firm. I would also view success as performing more executive level jobs and utilizing the skills I’ve learnt from Warwick to make a meaningful impact on different areas of the business world.