GE taught me a great deal, it is a great company with people that really believed in themselves and each other. I love working with people who are energetic, who really want to grow and who believe that by working together, including the customers, that as a team we can achieve just about anything…and least?The commitment and time required to establish, grow and lead a business is considerable. I am conscious of the time I spend working and of the need to spend time with my young family. I hate spending too much time away.Would you do more OU study?I’m in the second year of a diploma with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and have always been a believer in life long learning.I would be very surprised if I don’t enrol on another OU course in the medium term.What are your goals for the future?Clearly, I have a business to grow which is my prime goal. However, I have a personal business mission, to take out the mystery and high cost of software services and make such services affordable not just for large multi-nationals but for the small and medium sized companies that have a real opportunity in the increasingly virtual economy.At a personal level, I would like to become more involved with a global cause, not just supporting by charitable donations but physically.I always believed, from an early age, that I would make a difference but I don’t as yet know what that will be.
I just know that I haven’t found it yet.To what do you attribute your success?Very simple Energy and drive.. Honorary degrees are the academic equivalent of peerages – the highest praise for achievement to the great and the good that a university can bestow. With the emphasis on recognising the advancement of openness, they recognise extraordinary service to the university, to society, or to both
Even so, it may be argued that they are an anachronism. But, as graduating students appreciate, they have another function: they enliven the proceedings of a graduation ceremony at which each attending graduand has otherwise to sit through several hundred other awards of degrees. Honorary Grads are invited to speak, and (hopefully) to entertain. They are therefore elected only after considered selection…
Fiona Shaw is best known for her theatre work – having won three Best Actress Olivier awards, an Evening Standard Award and a London Critics’ Award.
On Saturday, she adds the honorary degree of DUniv (Doctor of the University) for her services to theatre and education.Born and educated in Cork, she received a BA Honours degree in philosophy in 1979. She studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has lived and worked mainly in England since.Throughout her career she has pushed the boundaries of theatre. Her performance in the title role of Shakespeare’s Richard II for the National Theatre in London, for example, demanded that the audience look afresh at the action of the play.For several years she has worked as Artistic Associate with the OU/BBC Shakespeare Multimedia Research Project, where she has approached the teaching of drama through new technology with enthusiasm and commitment.She has appeared in such films as My Left Foot, Jane Eyre and The Avengers. Television appearances include: Fireworks for Elspeth, Sherlock Holmes and Hedda Gabler.As David Sheppard, Lord Sheppard of Liverpool was a world-class cricketer who became one of Britain’s best-loved bishops. On Saturday he will be awarded a DUniv degree for his contribution to the cultural well-being of society, particularly for his efforts to tackle problems of social exclusion and injustice.Sheppard played for Sussex when he was just 18 and was awarded a county cap the same season.