Sports insiders graduate from Loughborough’s new MBA
Industry veterans Mark Davis, a Sussex County Cricket Club Coach, and David Monkhouse, Director of Leisure-net Solutions, have graduated from Loughborough University’s inaugural International Sports Management (ISM) MBA programme.
The new Loughborough ISM MBA was created in 2012 to help blend the outstanding sporting history of Loughborough University with the world-renowned management education at the School of Business and Economics.
The programme, which is set to be re-launched later this year at Loughborough’s new London Olympic Park campus, covers the traditional MBA topics of finance, marketing and operations management, but in a sports context. There are also sports industry-specific modules. Students on the inaugural course represented a rich mix of professionals from the National Governing Body of Sport and County Sports Partnership, international sports lawyers and players of professional sport, including England cricket player Monty Panesar.
The ISM MBA is directed by Andy Reed OBE, Chairman of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, who said: “The course brings together the academic rigour you would expect from an MBA with relevance to the sporting sector. We wanted an MBA that would create the qualified people we need to manage and lead the industry into the future, taking on board the changing nature of the workplace and the increased leadership and management skills we’ve come to expect.”
David Monkhouse, who has this week also been announced as a new trustee of The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA), said: “I thoroughly enjoyed the programme, both as a way to further my career, and for the opportunity to prove myself within an educational context. The subjects were challenging and thought provoking, and the course has proved invaluable to the organisations I work with. I have gained a better understanding of why I do what I do.”
Mark Davis, who graduated with a Distinction, said: “I have only ever been involved in sport from a playing and coaching perspective, and I wanted to gain an understanding of the business of sport. The ISM MBA programme was the perfect for helping me to enhance and develop an understanding of the global sports business industry. The subjects on the programme were extremely challenging, and I have already transferred information learned back to my organisation. The MBA degree, above everything, has enhanced my confidence, and I now feel I have a future, not only in coaching, but in a far wider area of the sports industry.”
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For further press information contact:
Wendy Golledge at Big Fish Public Relations
Tel: 07921 319517
Email: wendy@bigfishpublicrelations.co.uk
Editor’s note:
Leisure-net Solutions is the leading provider of Customer Insight, Business Intelligence and Consultation services to the active leisure, fitness and cultural services industries. Leisure-net works helps leading industry organisations, local authorities and Trusts, as well as private sector operators and suppliers, to understand their customers’ and clients’ needs and aspirations, and to deliver innovative service and health improvement initiatives.
