James Thompson: from CMF design to creative leadership

What is your professional and educational background?

BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology: Menswear, London College of Fashion. Career in design across footwear, apparel, accessories and in the automotive space, specialising in colour, materials and finishes.

What is the most exciting thing about your work?

I get to deep dive into the world of design through touch. Everything has a colour, a material and a finish and it’s my job to define that across the whole of the interior and exterior of a vehicle. It’s something people take for granted but is a part of everyone’s experience with anything they see and touch.

What attracted you to Cambridge Judge Business School and the Executive MBA?

You very rarely see designers with any sort of business education. It is that unpredictability that drew me to a business-related masters. Everything I have learned about business has been through working – the programme at Cambridge celebrates industry experience as a key educational grounding to then build on academically. Cambridge Judge Admissions celebrates diversity, which means people like me from non-traditional backgrounds are considered for an Executive MBA, in my case, successfully!

What are you hoping to get out of the Executive MBA?

I am hoping to grow my leadership skills, my business acumen and meet other inspiring and diverse people from analogous industries.

What are your long-term career ambitions?

I would love to progress into a Chief Creative Officer role, ideally at a company that wants to grow and propel from start-up/scale-up to global success.