Dear Friends and Colleagues
The saying really is true – time DOES fly when you are having fun! I had the very great honour of being appointed Regional Director for Europe in February and have finally paused long enough to put fingers to keyboard to share this news formally with you all. I wish to express my thanks and appreciation to Ben Glover who left GMAC at the end of 2015 after four great years in charge of GMAC’s European and Middle Eastern operations.
Many of you will know me already as I’ve been with GMAC for seven years. I have a business school background and also dipped my toe into the world of investment banking before joining GMAC’s London team in 2009. And talking of team, we are a small but perfectly formed group of five (one to be appointed). Those of you who have been on the road at recruitment fairs recently are likely to have come across Sara Strafino or James Barker as they promote the value of graduate management education and demystify the GMAT to candidates throughout Europe. They are also out and about on-campus helping schools get the most from working with GMAC. Rasmus Buchholz is our newest team member and will be with us throughout 2016 as he provides maternity cover for our head of marketing, Tina Peswani who recently had a baby girl.
So what of my priorities for 2016? One thing right at the top of my list is making sure we do an even better job at serving you, our school community. This means taking the time to listen more, to really understand your challenges and needs, and also communicate more about what we are doing so we can ultimately better represent and serve you, our wonderful European business schools.
This piece in Connections is my first step towards starting a better dialogue with you. I will aim to post several updates throughout the year. Please do let me know what you think and if you ever have any questions, comments, suggestions I’d love to hear from you. So don’t be shy – you can reach me at dsomers@gmac.com.
Here’s to a great April!
Deborah Somers