The MBA Speaker Series aims to give our MBA students and graduates a chance to hear from a diverse group of leaders from different industries who share insights and experiences from their careers and provide valuable new perspectives.

The sessions will be in the form of industry specific panel discussions featuring MBA alumni in certain industries and senior alumni presentations. The MBA Speaker Series also aims to connect our current students with alumni, who once stood in their shoes, and create a strong MBA community for students and alumni to come together and share stories, exchange memories and further support each other.

Next Speaker Series  

17 October 2024 – Digital, Tech and AI Panel discussion

Dennis WalkerDennis Walker (MBA 1996)
EMEA Branches Technology, JP Morgan

Dennis spent the first 10 years of his career as a hand-on technologist, gaining significant experience across all aspects of financial markets. Post MBA, he initially moved into Management Consultancy before returning to work directly for Financial Institutions, where he progressed through the ranks to senior roles managing global teams of over 500 staff.

He has lived and worked in the UK, US, Australia, and Europe, and spent substantial time in Asia including setup of a development centre in Beijing. He currently works for JPMorgan, based in Bournemouth, working with JPMorgan’s smaller Branches across Europe and into the Middle East and Africa.

He first joined JP Morgan in 2004 as Global Head of Program Trading Sales and Middle Office Technology, then worked for seven years at Thompson Reuters in the US in technology focused roles, before returning to JP Morgan in 2014.

As a Financial Markets technology leader, Dennis is strongly focused on transformation at scale; specifically, how to combine and transform client requirements, business vision and technology strategy into executable deliverables.

He has expertise in unifying and coaching globally distributed teams, including the design and global rollout of talent development initiatives such as Gender Diversity, Autism at Work, and Hidden Leaders.

Linda SummersLinda Summers (MBA 1990)
Former Global Marketing and Product Marketing Director, Meta and Skype

Linda found her career home leading Marketing for global tech brands, working across B2B, SaaS and B2B2C markets. To get there, she has charted a winding course from mechanical engineering through smart manufacturing, sales and business development, corporate strategy, customer experience, product marketing, eventually settling into the broad and ever-changing world of brand and marketing across manufacturing, mobile, digital, and tech sectors.

Whether working in listed, VC, PE, or privately owned businesses, all have had the common theme of driving growth through new products, new markets or through building new businesses, whether at O2, Skype, interactive investor, Workplace and Meta. Linda is a self-confessed new tech nerd and has been fortunate enough to be part of teams that have launched brand and product ‘firsts’, pioneering innovations in mobile, digital, media, and more recently VR and AR.  Where marketing has been able to create the greatest business value and where she’s found she’s been able to make a difference has been in roles where product and technology, brand and customer experience intersect, always in close collaboration with product and sales.  

Linda loves travel and has been fortunate in that all her roles have allowed her to indulge this passion, building and leading teams across EMEA, NA, LATAM and Asia. It’s also a feature of her home life too, along with a love of the sun, the sea, cinema, history and books. Having grown up in the north of England and the Caribbean, she now lives in London and has two sons who are by far her greatest personal achievement!


Upcoming Speaker Series  

7 November 2024 – Senior Alumni Presentation

5 December 2024 – Management Consulting Panel

6 February 2025 – Senior Alumni Presentation

13 March 2025 – Financial Services Panel

10 April 2025 – Senior Alumni Presentation


Previous Speaker Series