Martin Cowan
Consultant
As a History graduate courtesy of the University of Birmingham, I chose to follow a career in consultancy; everybody else was choosing Accountancy or Law, and I was determined to do something different! In the intervening 14 years this decision has been vindicated, my work experience taking me across utilities, pharmaceuticals, the civil service, telecoms, financial services, energy and, most recently, the retail sector. I take it as a good thing that I have rarely worked in the same sector more than once...
The work that I do at Berkeley is extremely varied. Having landed in the firm in 2002, I was thrust into supporting the reorganisation of a manufacturing firm, followed in short order by a project turnaround, then a systems review piece which led to a supplier selection and a delivery role for an underwriter in the City of London. I've worked with organisations ranging in size from 150 people to over 100,000, and have roamed across the globe from Birmingham to Bermuda. Life here is rarely dull.
I am an avid film buff and have a head chock full of useless cinematic trivia. What little space is left is taken up by the vestiges of flying as a hobby, although real life has tended to get in the way of this of late...in my idle moments, I ponder why my career as a fighter pilot was so easily cast aside by my incredibly bad eyesight and cack-handedness.