MBA – Paul Quinn, CEO Government Procurement Office

MBA – Paul Quinn, CEO Government Procurement Office

Paul Quinn, CEO Government Procurement Office & Government Chief Procurement Officer

We spoke to Paul Quinn about his decision to undertake the MBA here at DCU Business School and what that meant for his career.

Why did you decide to embark on an MBA when you did?

The driver for me doing an MBA was that I quickly realised that having an engineering degree wasn’t going to be enough to progress my career so I decided to undertake a business qualification as well and the MBA seemed absolutely suitable as an enabler to move into senior management positions.
I decided on DCU because when I reviewed the programmes on offer from other universities in Dublin and from Open University I like the programme in DCU – I felt it suited my needs for a number of reasons. It had an international element and it had a good broad range of business subjects that interested me.

Which elements of the MBA programme did you find most useful?

The programme really helped me move out of an operational mindset and it brought me up to a strategic level in terms of my thinking. But most importantly it gave me an approach and a thought process around how to solve business problems and working in a business environment providing cross business leadership.

It would be my view that in conducting an MBA it gives you an understanding as a senior manager that adds value and helps move the business forward. You have to have a good understanding of all areas, whether it be IT, HR, Finance or Strategy, it’s how they all come together that’s really important, and the MBA gives you that. That thought process and working to resolve business issues in that way, that you learn through an MBA, really helps you as a senior manager across business.

How do you think the MBA helped you to progress within your career?

Completing the MBA was a big catalyst within my career. It helped me get promoted within 6 months into my first truly autonomous senior management position. So it was a great enabler for me in terms of my career. It was the approach that I gained through doing the MBA – that stands to me today and I still use many of the same approaches and thought processes that I learnt on the MBA in the work I do on a day to day basis.

I would certainly recommend the MBA in DCU Business School. I think for managers coming through with functional specialisms, you need to have a broader business understanding to be successful. The MBA can act as a catalyst for your career – it really can move your career forward very substantially.
Through the MBA you gain an understanding of all those other functions within a business that truly helps you be the most effective you can be, and to add the greatest value you can add to a business.