Portsmouth Business School
Business development expert brings 30 years of know-how to classroom
Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:30:00 BST
A former businessman turned lecturer who grew a multi-million, market-leading business from a few ideas sketched on a single sheet of paper is bringing his expertise to the classroom at the Portsmouth Business School.
Kevin O’Brien worked with leading brands BOC Gases, Kimberly-Clark and ICI before entering the academic world to share his knowledge with the next generation of business executives.
He worked as a Product Manager, Market Manager and Business Development Manager travelling all over Europe and spending four years working in the US, before joining BOC Gases to set up a new business venture, which resulted in his promotion to Director of Sales and Marketing for the core Industrial Business.
He said: “My first challenge at BOC gases was to establish a new business supplying pubs, clubs and restaurants with gas to dispense drinks. When I joined BOC I inherited a concept defined on one sheet of paper. Within five years we achieved market leadership with high customer focus and several hundred specialist staff.”
Kevin has also worked as a roving consultant for BOC businesses in Canada, Brazil, Asia, South Africa and the United States. He specialises in marketing strategy, having worked with many of the leading global consultants in this area and also has extensive experience of key account management.
“The students enjoy hearing anecdotes and stories from the business world and it’s great to be able to say ‘the theory says X but in practice Y might happen’ – it gives the students a well-balanced perspective,” he said.
“The Business School has an excellent blend of practitioners from the world of business and academics with leading edge theoretical knowledge. The two together provide a very good mix of teaching.”
Kevin teaches product management and innovation management, marketing strategy and strategic sales planning at Portsmouth. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.