Can you tell us about your career journey?

In many ways (if born a little earlier) I could be the poster boy of the current drive for greater and wider participation in Higher Education. I was the fourth child of a typical working-class family, my father was a Builder and widowed when I was two years old. For various reasons, we had to relocate to a local council estate in a rough part of Bolton. Having said all of that I was fortunate in a lot of ways, I always felt loved and protected by my family, but none had been to grammar school nor university. When I passed my 11+ my dad wanted me to go to the local secondary school where my siblings had all gone. The primary school Headmaster called him in and read him the riot act about lifetime opportunity, self-betterment etc. My dad knew when he was beat and off I went on my two buses a day to grammar school, instead of the 15 minute walk to the local school. If I am honest, I am not the cleverest, but I have always worked hard – maybe to please my dad, maybe to prove the headmaster right – who knows? But that served me well at school and I was a prize winner a O-level and A-level, especially Maths, but never made a Prefect or Head Boy, when I asked why I was told that “I did not represent the image they were looking for”. The natural progression was university, but things were tough at home, dad wasn’t in good health so, with Maths as my best subject, I went to work in a bank (having attended the interview in my brother’s light blue “disco” suit). In my first week the Bank Manager sat me down and said “Right Peter (not the best start, my name is Paul) I have enrolled you at college for your banking exams. I wasn’t best pleased, but as I told the girl who started on the same day, I realised she had not been enrolled. A sign of the times, I guess, but still feels wrong all this time later.

Once at college I relished the academic side and on passing my banking exams my wife challenged me around my constant grumbles around the standard of tuition and I went to teach part-time at the age of 24. My banking career blossomed, despite my Bolton accent being constantly mentioned as placing a limit on my progression – indeed one line manager saying that I would never make Branch Manager sounding like a ruffian from the local council estate. Despite that I achieved my career goals far too early (were they set too low?), becoming a Branch Manager before my 30^th birthday and managing the largest branch in the country before I was 40. The academic side was also going well and I became Chief Examiner at The Chartered Institute of Bankers and an author of four textbooks. I started to seek out new challenges. I topped up my banking qualifications to a degree, completed a PGCE (all in the evenings, sometimes three evenings a week at college), then realised I had only taught students that already had a first or a 2:1 in their degree, so I started to teach at the Open University, where they have no entrance qualifications. This was great experience for me. At the age of 49, I decided to leave the bank and spend the last ten years of my career in Higher Education. I am still here at 61, perhaps I should go back to those maths lessons at primary school.

How did your degree prepare you for your current role? 

I am a Senior Lecturer in Banking. Without my banking qualifications, degree and PGCE I do not think that I would be anywhere near as effective or comfortable in my role. Studying part-time and working full-time helps me to empathise with our students, many of which must work part-time to supplement their full-time studies. That balancing of time and priorities is difficult and often I got it wrong, as many of our students do.

What are your greatest achievements so far? 

I feel that success in Higher Education, as in many jobs, is measured by the end product. So, when students and ex-students get in touch to tell me the role they have achieved, or the job they have just been awarded, that is the greatest achievement. Indeed, I had a student contact me not long ago telling me that he had looked it up and he was now earning more than I was. I am not sure what the rationale for the email was, or what he expected as a response, but I was delighted and told him so. In the department we are active in supporting students through to a successful career and I would like to think that I have played my part in that. Personally, being invited to meet Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace as a reward for my work with young offenders must rank highly. I am sure you don’t need to ask why this particular field is important to me.

What does diversity in Accounting, Finance & Banking mean to you?

From my earliest days, diversity of opportunity has been crucial to my moderate success and my life. If the Headmaster of my primary school had not stepped in, I would not have had the life I have been able to share with my wife and children. Everyone, regardless of their position, status, accent, gender, race or the colour of their skin should be given the same opportunity in life. I will still knock at doors when I see the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England without a balanced representation, or students (or others) feeling that they cannot progress in life due to reasons way beyond their control. Diversity is way beyond a human right, or even a legal right in some cases, it is an attitude of mind, a character trait that needs to be developed and challenged wherever it is absent.