If you don’t want to do it for your career plan, do it for lifelong friendships, personal, and leadership development. INSEAD GEMBA is more than an MBA, besides gathering knowledge, you will also understand yourself better.
Tom Jansen
Tell me about yourself, and how you go to where you are today both on a professional and personal level?
I am Dutch, and have been living overseas for over 10 years. I am married to Sandra (US diplomat) and have two boys. I think we can be labeled as global citizens. We met in Jakarta (both worked there), both moved with our jobs to the Philippines. After that, we relocated to Kenya. As a family, we decided to experience working and living on another continent, Africa. We moved with my wife’s job as I wanted to explore greener pastures.
A little bit more about myself professionally:
An approachable, decisive, innovative, strategic finance leader with over 20 years’ experience, mainly in multinational FMCG companies. A Certified Green Belt in LEAN who has built and led teams and cross-functional project teams of up to 250.
Alongside my function, I successfully led business transformations to gain market share, increase efficiency, and improve profitability by process redesign, continuous improvement, and turning insights into actions. I possess extensive knowledge of SAP, strategy development, financial and management accounting, and I thrive in multi-cultural environments.
What made you decide to pursue the INSEAD GEMBA, and why INSEAD in particular?
After my previous Executive Master in Finance and Controlling, I decided that I wanted to do an MBA. It was long on my to-do list, and I was waiting for the right time. Why I chose INSEAD is because of two reasons:
1) INSEAD has a global presence (France, Singapore, Dubai, and USA) and that benefits your network. Other business schools I looked at didn’t have that presence. Because of my job and my wife’s job, we can end up everywhere in the world. INSEAD was and is the right choice for me.
2) A colleague I worked with in Indonesia and the Philippines did his INSEAD GEMBA. The stories and experiences he shared made me want to pursue INSEAD’s GEMBA programme.
What expectations did you have before you started the GEMBA?
Gathering more knowledge and making lifelong friendships.
Could you tell us about your experience with the Career Development Centre (CDC)?
The CDC helped me a lot, as I wanted to make a career change.
Specifically, the CDC helped with:
- Improving my resume (coaches, peer groups)
- Connecting with the INSEAD network to discuss potential next moves
- Structuring the search for my next company and job
- Learning how to use my and the INSEAD network in job search
Has the INSEAD GEMBA helped you in your career?
After my move to Kenya, it was the INSEAD network who helped me to secure my Managing Director role.
I got in touch with an INSEAD EU cohort member. He had many connections in Kenya and he connected me with the investors behind my current company.
Has the experience helped you remain relevant even after graduation?
Absolutely, I was able to fast-track my career.
Initially, I was looking for a CFO role in the short term and wanted to move to a MD / CEO role in the long run. Due to my EMBA degree, I was able to take on an MD role immediately.
What advice will you give to prospects who are still considering whether an INSEAD GEMBA should be part of their career plan?
If you don’t want to do it for your career plan, do it for lifelong friendships, personal, and leadership development. INSEAD GEMBA is more than an MBA, besides gathering knowledge, you will also understand yourself better.