About
Name: Brian Nolan
Nationality: Irish
Programme: MBA 2017
Education: BComm Banking and Finance, University College Dublin, Ireland
Current role: Co-founder & CEO, Finteum, UK
Pre-MBA role: Director, Liquidity Management, Regional Treasury Americas, UBS
What stood out about the academic learning experience for you? I.e, what were your favourite courses, what impact did they have on you etc?
I put a lot of effort into the academic side of the Cambridge MBA, and felt I gained a lot in return. Some courses have stayed with me. I apply the paradigms in running my company, Finteum, such as from the Strategy course with Lionel Paolella and the Management Praxis courses. Some courses were practical, and I gained knowledge that I was able to put into use immediately when I started Finteum, such as Design Thinking with Simon Stockley, New Venture Finance with Bob Wardrop, and Managing Big Data Analysis with David Stillwell.
Everyone probably thinks their cohort is the best cohort ever. I’m no exception! The class of 2017/18 is an admirable group of people. Even now, I’m so impressed by what they are achieving post-MBA and it’s a great group to be connected with.
What aspect of the MBA learning/experience would you say you find most useful now in your professional life?
It’s difficult to pick out one aspect and say it is the most useful now. I prefer to think of the Cambridge MBA holistically. The MBA gave me relationships, connections, knowledge and life experience. All of those are interconnected. They arrived simultaneously during the programme, and they are all useful now.
Tell us about your post-MBA career journey.
I was lucky to switch job function, industry, and country. I switched from working in treasury in a large bank in New York to starting a software company, Finteum, in London in 2018. Finteum sells software to bank treasury teams. The factors that enabled me to make the switch were closely related to the MBA. The people that I met during the MBA, both in the programme and outside, greatly supported the transition. Many of those people still support Finteum. The skills and knowledge I gained during the MBA have also played a big role. Over the years since the MBA I have been continuously working on combining these factors gained in Cambridge with my previous career experience.
How has the MBA influenced your career journey in general?
If I hadn’t met the people that I did during the Cambridge MBA, then I believe I wouldn’t have been able to get Finteum off the ground as a company. It is as simple as that. I wouldn’t have been introduced to our brilliant technical co-founder Zbi, and we wouldn’t have met our partners and investors. I believe we wouldn’t be where we are today, working cohesively as a growing team of nine people.