Dr Chris Martin, associate director of Strategic Alliances at Pfizer, is The Open University Business School's 20,000th MBA graduate.
Martin combined full-time work with part-time study to earn the MBA. He began his career as a scientist with AstraZeneca, moving to Pfizer in 1999. He later found he enjoyed the project management and people side of his work more than the pure science and during a restructuring seized the opportunity to take up a business role. After initially completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration with the OU, he decided that its practice-based MBA would be a perfect fit with his lifestyle and new responsibility. "Throughout the three years of study I really challenged my way of thinking," he says. "The course gave me new ideas that I could feed into my daily work as well as developing me as a person and as a manager."
Martin's current role provides business support to the Pfizer's Research Units when working with external partners to create intellectual property.
Professor James Fleck, dean of The Open University Business School, said: "Chris's story highlights just one of the many thousands of successful MBA graduates who've studied our practice-based MBA."