A line-up of top drawer business leaders will feature at several speaking dates being hosted by the University of Otago's MBA programme this month.
Otago's School of Business has cheekily billed the line-up at its Super Speaker Series "because September 2011 is worth celebrating not just because of the Rugby World Cup".
However, despite the majority of topics and speakers being predominantly from business-oriented backgrounds, the series has not quite been able to avoid the all-encompassing nature of a certain international oval ball tournament which began on Friday.
Otago MBA lecturer Richard Higham, a former Oxford University rugby representative and Blue, will pitch his presentation about the Psychology of Winning - Varsity Rugby, accompanied by some of the local club's top talent.
Mr Higham's presentation on Tuesday will also include talks given by Dr Paul Hessian, a selector manager of the NZ Universities team, and Varsity club man, Otago captain and All Black Tom Donnelly.
Varsity A coach John Leslie, a former club centurion and representative of Otago and Scotland, will give a speech about winning coaching formulas.
Aside from winning a Blue for Oxford in rugby, Mr Higham's expertise lies in the area of corporate strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, and new venture management.
He is also an author and company director, pursuits which he fulfills alongside his lecturing commitments.
The Otago MBA Super Speaker Series includes presentations from managers at top New Zealand business firms, such as Fonterra, Deloitte and Sealord, while Ministry of Foreign Affairs negotiator Nigel Fyfe will provide an insight into the process behind international free-trade agreements.
The series concludes with a presentation about managing risk, by Natural History New Zealand chief executive Michael Stedman, on September 26.
The September Super Speaker Series is being hosted in the University of Otago's school of business MBA classroom in the Commerce Building.
MBA Super Speaker Series
Today
5.30pm: MBA lecturer and Oxford rugby Blue Richard Higham, The Psychology of Winning - Varsity Rugby.
September 21
9am: Sealord chief executive Graham Stuart, The International Fishing Business.
10.30am: Ministry of Foreign Affairs negotiator Nigel Fyfe, Negotiating a Free Trade Deal with India.
2pm: NZ Institute of Economic Research senior fellow John Yeabsley, New Zealand in the International Business World.
September 22
8.30am: Deloitte HR senior manager Hamish Wilson, Managing Human Capital Across International Borders.
10.15am: Fonterra group strategy and corporate finance manager Dan Brenninkmeyer, Decision-making Around Market Entry Modes.
September 26
2pm: NHNZ chief executive Michael Stedman, Managing risk at NHNZ.
