Greg Clark
BA International Business 2001
Greg works as a Director of Vehicle Individualisation at Jaguar Land Rover's Special Operations division in the Midlands. His main responsibilities include taking their strong product lines and developing a product and branding strategy to create the maximum appeal and flexibility for their current and future customers when ordering a vehicle tailored to them.
“It’s a tricky job, given the divergent tastes, trends and requirements around the world,” he says.
Originally from Stratford-upon-Avon, Greg spent 12 years working for Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-AMG as the global marketing manager in the US and Germany.
The 39-year-old says: “The University opened the door to many more possibilities than I otherwise would have had; having a good international degree from a reputable and growing university was a big plus.
“The fact that the course I chose featured an international element was crucial to me. It also opened my mind to new possibilities, broadening my horizons and studying with a diverse student base from around the world.”
Greg adds: “I still have two overriding memories from my time at Sunderland: the friendliness and feeling of community that I got from the local people and the sound of seagulls. To this day I can't hear a seagull without recalling extremely fond memories of my time at the University.”
The Sunderland graduate is very clear about what it takes to be successful in any career.
He says: “I think that what's most important is not to expect a 'dream job' right away. However I believe there is always something valuable to be learned and good perspective to be gained from every job - even if it's to learn "this isn't for me".
“What separates successful people from those less successful is attitude - be positive, constructive and take as broad a perspective as possible in order to understand your situation from start to end and the situations of everyone involved.
“Bring your sense of humour with you! Getting a foot on the ladder is often hard - identify a selection of companies or areas that you're interested in and READ. Learn as much as you can about the area of interest, and then when you finally have the opportunity to talk to someone from that area you will be impressive, convincing and memorable.”