Introduction
Gavin Nelson is the Managing Director of Third Sector Connect, a Northern Ireland based consultancy business, specialising in fundraising and capacity building support for third sector organisations. Graduating with an Executive MBA from Ulster University in 2021, Gavin discusses his experience of the programme and the impact it has had on his career.
What has your journey been like since completing the Executive MBA?
I undertook the Executive MBA to give me a greater level of knowledge and to build my confidence when dealing with senior leaders while working on large scale projects and to undertake a board level position.
Since I completed the programme in 2021, I've changed roles twice. First, I secured a promotion with my employer at the time, the Irish Football Association. Through that promotion, I was working directly with the Chief Executive and the Chair of the Board. Then I joined Third Sector Connect in September 2022. Through my work with Third Sector Connect, I oversee a variety of different projects while leading a team of consultants engaged in strategic development with our clients.
What I learned through the Executive MBA has been a brilliant preparation for that, equipping me not just with theoretical knowledge but strategies I can apply in practice. The programme really gave me that confidence to seek out those challenges.
I’m also now a member of two boards, Groundwork NI and Royal Yachting Association NI, which I'd always wanted to do. The Executive MBA helped me in terms of getting across my ideas, to be succinct. Also when we're discussing high level topics and projects, I'm able to add an extra layer of knowledge and expertise because I've been through that theory side and I've been able to put it into my work or different projects and see how it's either failed or succeeded and how you can adapt to challenges and innovate.
What drew you to the Executive MBA at Ulster University?
I did my degree in England but I'd always heard about Ulster University and how great it was. The Executive MBA stood out to me because you're getting to study with people who had actually been out there with the real-world experience.
I think that is one of the greatest things that I took from Ulster. The content and knowledge from the lectures were great, but actually the course team created an environment where the students learned from each other in the room, sharing real life scenarios and situations.
For me that was the key for the Executive MBA. The students had experienced the real world and they were able to bring those experience and scenarios, link them to the lecture content and assessment and share those experiences to develop each other on the course.
What was your first semester like?
I think it was tricky to start. I worked full-time and with the Executive MBA, we usually studied six hours in class per week during each semester, so I was making up my own work at nights and then picking up the university work at the weekend. It was a case of adapting and being disciplined.
But if I look back to the first semester, it was helped by the fact that you had a cohort that were going through this together. I think what the university did really well for that first semester was to focus on group projects.
Through those group projects, we were able to develop that dynamic, that learning environment amongst ourselves. We developed a support network where we were able to help each other, talk about how it was going and see what we could do to try and link in as much as possible.
Part of the legacy of the Executive MBA is that as a group, we're still close. We still meet regularly, a few of us have actually linked together on work projects and that's worked really well because we had that working knowledge of each other and we're able to go out there and support each other and see how we can link in.
What is next for you?
When I chose to do the Executive MBA, I'd been out of full-time education for about 14 years. The programme really ignited a desire to continue developing. Whether that be through taking up different voluntary roles on boards or that I've been lucky enough to be selected as part of the Ulster University 25@25 leadership programme. That's another fantastic experience that Ulster University has made available to me.
Over the next five years, I'd like to use the skills that I learned on the Executive MBA to develop Third Sector Connect, for us to innovate and to establish ourselves as a market leader around third sector consultancy in Northern Ireland.
I'm always keen to work on new projects that are diverse, learn new skills, but also linking in with different people to see what I can take from them and the Executive MBA really did that for me. It put me in a room full of people who were from different backgrounds and equipped us to learn from each other.
We didn't know each other going into the course, but we were able to bond over our shared love of education, but also wanting to find out what we can do to develop ourselves, our own organisations and Northern Ireland as a province.
What advice would you give someone thinking about joining the programme?
Prior to looking at the Executive MBA, I was a bit worried about whether I would be able to cope with it on top of my workload.
I contacted Ulster University and they were great. I went for a coffee with the Course Director and we chatted it over, talking about what the process would look like, the commitment and whether it was doable around working full-time. During the induction, we sat down and thought about how I could build the programme into my life and the sacrifices I may need to make at times. But for me, the reward was worth it. At the end of the day, I was happy to make those sacrifices to develop myself, but also to look at career progression.
So if I had to do it again, I'd 100% make the same decision and do the Executive MBA.