Skip to main content

Management Meets podcast

Listen to the Management Meets podcast series, where School alumni tell tales of success, and failure, in the ever-changing world of business practice.

Listen to the podcast now

Management Meets: Xiaoyu Zhang - graduate outcomes

Steve and Katie are joined by Class of 2013 BSc Economics alumnus, Xiaoyu Zhang, Global Institutional Director and Head of China at AmplifyMe. Throughout his career, Xiaoyu has been committed to helping students achieve their career goals and enhance their employability skills. Currently leading AmplifyMe’s expansion into Asia, Xiaoyu shares his insider knowledge on the variances in the graduate job market internationally, including the cultural differences between working in a corporate environment and a fast-growing entrepreneurial setting and how these factors can change what a company is looking for when recruiting.

Management Meets: Dr Jane Ellis Brush - Community Inclusion

In this episode of Management Meets, Steve and Katie sit down with Senior Lecturer and Director of Teaching on MBA Programmes, Dr. Jane Ellis-Brush, to discuss her extensive career and impact on community inclusion in the South West. Jane completed her PhD in commercial relationships at the School of Management in 1999 and has held numerous leadership roles, formerly serving as Managing Director for Citibank.

We focus on Jane’s journey as co-founder of 1st Impressions, a community interest company empowering women through clothing and confidence. Jane discusses the challenges and successes of running a voluntary organisation, the importance of community inclusion, and her personal experiences leading in male-dominated industries. Listen for lessons on resilience, tenacity, and the transformative power of giving back to the community.

Management Meets: Harry Symes-Thompson - Company culture

(BSc Business) [https://www.bath.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate-2026/business-and-management/bsc-business-with-two-six-month-work-placements/] alumnus and US General Manager at sustainable personal care company, Wild, Harry Symes-Thompson, discusses how his placement student at HelloFresh led to becoming Wild’s first official employee, contributing to the company's rapid growth and leading their expansion into the US market.

Harry explains how Wild has maintained a strong company culture through hiring practices, positive leadership and employee engagement, even as the company scales. Listen and learn more about building and sustaining a thriving company culture, the importance of employee empowerment, and the future plans for Wild’s continued growth and innovation of sustainable products.

Management Meets: Hugo Adams - Business for good

In this episode of Management Meets, hosts Professor Steve Brammer and Katie Calvert-Jones welcome Executive MBA alumnus Hugo Adams. As CEO of sustainable packaging startup, Kelpi, Hugo shares his stories from his extensive career scaling innovative startups, including roles at The Body Shop, Kraft Foods, Dyson and SuperDry – working closely with entrepreneurs such as Anita Roddick and James Dyson.

Listen and explore Kelpi's ambitions to rid the world of plastic, not forgetting the importance of a leader’s passion, values-driven company culture and sustainable practices in driving business success in today’s world. Subscribe to follow the conversation.

The Management Meets podcast

Celebrating our alumni community
An advert for the podcast with pictures of the hosts

Hosted by Prof Steve Brammer, Dean of the School of Management, and Katie Calvert-Jones, alumni relations professional, Management Meets shares insight from leaders within our community on a variety of topics across a range of industries.

The School of Management has over 27,000 alumni in over 130 countries, including business founders, CEOs and Olympians. In this series, we meet some of these, as we dive into the ever-changing world of business practice and learn the latest academic thinking along the way.

From sport to the secrets of the boardroom, get inspired with tales of success, and some failures, in the Management Meets podcast.

Your alumni podcast

You can find Management Meets on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.