Alumni Service Award

Martin Rigby (MBA 1986)

Founder and Managing Director, ET Capital Limited and Chair, FSE CIC & FSE Fund Managers

Martin formally joined the Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship Advisory Board in 2006 and since that time has been actively supporting the development and growth of the Centre. In particular, over the last three years, he has played a pivotal role in establishing the Cranfield Seed Fund. Martin devoted a significant amount of time to drafting and finalising the terms of reference for the Cranfield Seed Fund - this was an integral part of professionalising the pilot version of the fund, ensuring that it would remain sustainable as an expendable philanthropic endowment. Martin now participates in the monthly meetings of the Seed Fund investment committee and provides valuable insights to RIO regarding Cranfield spinouts.

 

Additionally, Martin has served as a judge for the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) over the past seven years, regularly mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs and contributing to classes and events upon request. He has supported Investor Day and given valuable feedback to growth businesses about their pitches.

Martin has been described as, “an exceptional advocate for the School, the Cranfield MBA programme and the Bettany Centre, and he does so tirelessly”.

Evbusogie Osojie (MSc Finance and Management 2005)

Managing Partner, L'ecole Consulting

Evbusogie Osojie is a Learning and Development Consultant with over 24 years’ experience in banking, training and consulting, and is currently the Founder/Managing Partner of L’ecole Consulting Nigeria Limited. She is skilled in developing learning frameworks and is a specialist in the areas of sales, business etiquette, brand enforcement, service excellence, personal development and leadership. Evbusogie has experience facilitating and consulting for individuals and corporate organisations.

She is a Certified John Maxwell Coach, Teacher, Trainer and Speaker, as well as a Certified Professional Trainer having qualified from the Institute of Leadership and Management UK.

Previously Evbusogie worked with Guaranty Trust bank for over 13 years and garnered vast experience and knowledge in key functions around the bank, having worked in a variety of roles including commercial, corporate and retail business development, operations, energy, strategy and training.

Evbusogie is also passionate about community and charity work and has helped raise funds for the purchase of life-saving equipment at local hospitals.

She is currently the International President of the Cranfield Nigeria Alumni Community. Over the past three years, she has spearheaded activities that have transformed the alumni community into a cohesive network. She has been instrumental in keeping the alumni community active by organising activities to foster bonding amongst members, build connections, and create a vibrant networking and social platform. She has also instituted initiatives to keep members informed and abreast of happenings in the economy and contributed to developing the local ecosystem by bringing investors and budding entrepreneurs together.

Under Evbusogie’s leadership, the alumni community now has over 250 active members collaborating across Nigeria, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Africa and Middle East.

Michelle Ziling Ou (MSc Strategic Marketing 2011)

Consultant and Business Development Manager, Luxuries Committee of China General Chamber of Commerce

Based in Paris, working with industry experts and former diplomats in trade and commerce in China, Michelle helps connect European SME’s and academic institutions with the Chinese market through senior stakeholder management and marketing communications. She also offers an expatriate coaching service, empowering executives to realise their full potential during their international experience, achieving meaningful personal and professional goals. Prior to that, Michelle worked at Imperial Brands, a global FMCG company in their highly competitive International Graduate Trainee Programme and gained expertise in diverse areas of sales and marketing.

Having lived and worked in China, England, Australia, Hong Kong and France, Michelle has always appreciated connecting with Cranfield communities in different parts of the world. In 2015, she worked with other enthusiastic volunteers to establish the France Alumni Community, today a network of 250+ alumni across the country. As the International President of the France Alumni Community, Michelle is proud to represent Cranfield as part of the United Kingdom Alumni Network (UKAN), bringing together France-based UK graduates via successful social and professional networking events both online and offline.

Hui Zhu (MBA 2012)

Co-founder, Bridge 2088UG

Hui Zhu is an entrepreneur, speaker, coach, branding strategy and an expert in Europe for businesses on all topics relating to retail in China – helping leading companies to connect with Chinese and Asian markets. Prior to studying for her MBA at Cranfield, Hui also studied at the Humboldt University of Berlin and completed her Bachelor’s degree at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Growing up in a small town in the Zhejiang province of China, Hui held a childhood fantasy of becoming a diplomat. Her studies and career path have taken her on an international journey which she would never have considered possible. Her role as an entrepreneur allows her to act as a ‘connector’, connecting people and international brands with the Chinese market. Her philosophy is that real connections matter and emerge over time. She enjoys building personal relationships, and holds connections with various Cranfield alumni around the world.

Hui enjoys helping people to understand each other better and helping them to solve challenges with perseverance and creativity. She truly values the power of an interconnected world, and actively encourages people to reach out and create a community for one another.

Hui has been the International President for the Cranfield alumni community in Germany since January 2018, organising a wide range of events to help alumni to stay connected. Since graduating from Cranfield, Hui has endeavoured to connect with alumni from across the world and even organised an alumni event during a business trip to Chile in 2019, as part of Cranfield’s Worldwide Alumni Celebration.

On being named as the winner of this year’s Alumni Service Award, Hui said: “Thank you for the award for my insubstantial doing for the Cranfield alumni community. For me, to stand among those who have achieved such impressive work – it is a call to accomplish more. Thanks for the motivation and the message to other fellow graduates that every little helps.

Christopher Ballnath (MSc Finance and Management 2006)

Director Business Development, ALPE Consulting

Christopher Ballnath is an international business development professional with 20+ years of experience having graduated from Cranfield School of Management in 2006 with an M.Sc. in Finance & Management and also holding a B.Sc. in Business Administration & IT from the University of Oregon (USA). Chris is currently a member of the management team for one of the leading SAP Gold Partners in Russia responsible for all international clients. Prior to that, he was the Co-Founder of Syngas Solutions, a unique Austrian/German Technology in the waste-to-energy business, Associate Director at UBS AG in Switzerland and Germany and Account Manager for EMC² (now DELL) and Allianz AG. Chris considers himself a “true cosmopolite” having lived/worked in Australia, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Switzerland, UK & the US.

In 2013 Chris started and lead the official Cranfield Alumni Network for Russia, bringing together 80+ alumni for regular social & networking events thereby making Russia one of the most active alumni groups worldwide. In 2014 he founded and lead the organisation “Alumni of Leading Graduate Schools of the World” in Moscow, connecting alumni of the world’s leading business schools with quarterly events focused on cross-networking between all alumni while inviting high profile speakers and business leaders to present on current business & geopolitical topics.

Chris was also part of the “Russia Coast to Coast” world record team where Austrian extreme sportsman Wolfgang Fasching bicycled 10,000 km through Russia from Vladivostok (East Coast) to St. Petersburg (West Coast) in only 21 days (» 480km/day).

Getting to know you with Christopher Ballnath

Christopher Ballnath answers questions from staff and students.

Quick questions

Christopher Ballnath answers some quick questions.

• Christopher Ballnath (MSc Finance and Management 2006)
• Andy Hunter (MBA 1987)
• The Zurich Alumni Committee
• Robert Wright (MBA 1982)
• Shanghai Alumni Committee
• Paul Zaman (MBA 1988)
• Alex Chapman (MBA 1988) and David Thompson (MBA 1969)