AT THE age of 58, Ian Hunter, a Lancaster MBA student, is about to embark on his fourth major career change, Stephen Hoare writes.
After serving as an army officer, he joined a large publishing group as product-development manager, ultimately rising to board-level positions in both electronic publishing and production.
His classmate Terry Clarke, a mere 55, is a former finance director of Reebok UK. Both are looking for senior roles and have ambition way beyond supplementing their pensions with a bit of consultancy or part-time lecturing.
The average age of business-school students is on the increase, a phenomenon dubbed “the grey MBA”. Ian and Terry may be oldest on their course, but Lancaster University Management School has a fair sprinkling of students in their early-40s and the average age of its students is mid-30s.
Keen on skiing and golfing, Hunter is an energetic man who has absolutley no intention of slowing down. “I enjoy working too much and I don’t see myself stopping much before I reach 70,” he says. “I’d really like to work in a change-management role — preferably for a smaller-growth company. I like the challenge.”
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Meanwhile, Clarke sees the need for an MBA as a way of prolonging his employability. “My pension’s not bad but it could do with bolstering. I was with my past employer for 15 years but who knows what the next 15 years will bring? Will pensions that are based on share prices hold their value? “I see my MBA as a great opportunity for me to get on board some new tools and new thinking before I move on,” he says.