UPEI alumnus honoured at Lancaster University

MacKenzie graduated from Lancaster with his Master of Business Administration, a triple-accredited program that ranked 7th in the world for 'best non-US one-year MBA programs' in Forbes 2011 MBA rankings. The Forbes' ranking uses Return on Investment as the main criterion, which is particularly relevant to MBA candidates in the current tough global economy. By the same measure, Lancaster is third in the UK among one-year MBA programs.

Upon graduation from UPEI in 2011, MacKenzie went directly into the MBA program at Lancaster and was the youngest student in the class. During his time at UPEI, he was a member of the first case competition team in 2010-11 and leveraged the experience gained in that class to great benefit during his post-graduate studies.

'Jeff is a shining example of the quality of business students here at UPEI,' said Alan Duncan, UPEI's Dean of Business. 'He demonstrates how the foundation knowledge obtained at UPEI can be leveraged highly successfully at the premier post-graduate business schools internationally.'

Through his studies at Lancaster, MacKenzie most recently worked on his final project, the Corporate Challenge, with international sporting giant Reebok (part of the adidas group) in a consulting role, working with senior management to develop future strategic direction for the company.

MacKenzie credits UPEI's School of Business for preparing him for Lancaster's MBA program. 'I first made the decision to do my MBA at Lancaster from the encouragement I received from the great faculty at UPEI,' he said. 'If it were not for the help and support I received, I would not have had the will or confidence to undertake an MBA at this time.'

He's also thankful for the case competition opportunity provided by UPEI as he continued to compete in case competitions at Lancaster. This year he was awarded first place at the Proctor & Gamble MBA Case Competition in Newcastle and a second place finish at the Marks & Spencer MBA Sustainability Challenge in London.

MacKenzie was honoured to be voted by his peers as Lancaster's Student of the Year. 'Most of my colleagues in the class had many years of impressive work experience behind them and were very well educated from some of the top schools around the world. To receive this recognition despite being the youngest in my class and directly entering the program after my undergraduate degree goes to show the quality of education one can receive at UPEI.'

UPEI congratulates Jeff on his recent successes and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours!