It was through a role at SA Water that Geoff Regester was first introduced to the idea of pursuing an MBA at the University of Adelaide.

Regester was running a number of large internal projects for the organisation, and he saw the need to further develop his skills.

“I guess part of the thinking there with SA Water was to get on board perhaps more of those leadership people skills,” he says.

“The MBA was certainly a course that offered a range of opportunities around stakeholder management, and I guess managing large teams and the like.

“Some of the key subjects within the MBA at the time were aligned. Things like fundamentals of leadership was one, knowledge management was another one, strategic engagement was another that had direct applicability to my role at SA Water.”

By the time Regester had completed the program in 2016, he had moved from SA Water to his current role at Inside Infrastructure as Senior Program Advisor. It was through the skills he had acquired and the confidence he’d gained through the MBA that Regester says he was able to move into this role and further his career.

“Having been at SA Water for eight years, I was ready for a change, so in fact the MBA, finishing last year, gave me the opportunity then to go out and seek some new opportunities… It gave me a bit of a push in the back to get out and do something else,” he says.

“All the skills from the MBA are related and applicable directly to my current role, [which] interfaces with people very heavily; so it’s being able to communicate well with people, it’s being able to explain situations, and certainly to be able to report and prepare an outcome for those companies.”

As one of the top MBA programs available in the country, the University of Adelaide also brings together the best and brightest, and provides opportunity to create important social networks.

“I still carry some very strong relationships from the MBA. I deal with people from the MBA regularly, both socially and professionally here in Adelaide,” Regester says.

“A lot of Adelaide leaders in business have gone through the Adelaide MBA, and certainly ones that I went with through myself, we keep in close contact.

“From my personal experience, I would have no hesitation in recommending to go forward with [an Adelaide Uni MBA].”

To find out more about the University of Adelaide’s MBA program, head along to their upcoming information session on Tuesday, 5 December, from 6pm-8pm at the Adelaide Museum, or visit the Adelaide University website.