In challenging times, an Executive MBA makes the difference
Anastasia Bougesis, like many others, climbed the corporate ladder before enrolling in an Executive MBA. The foundational knowledge she’s gained has seen her move even higher and strengthen her employer, Disaster Relief Australia.
Studying an Executive MBA from Adelaide Business School at the University of Adelaide was invaluable for Anastasia Bougesis as she took on successive executive roles at Disaster Relief Australia.
For Bougesis, the ability to apply critical thinking to work situations and move away from existing beliefs and biases was extremely useful.
“It’s helped me to look at the organisation with a business lens and analyse the wider landscape or context within which we’re working,” she said.
Disaster Relief Australia (DRA) is a veteran-led not-for-profit using the skills and experience of volunteer Australian Defence Force veterans and current members, police, paramedics and firefighters to help communities recover after disasters.
Bougesis, a paramedic by trade, volunteered for DRA’s first disaster relief mission in April 2017 to Proserpine, Far North Queensland after Tropical Cyclone Debbie.
She rapidly progressed to a paid role as the Chief Development Officer and, in 2022, led the win of $38.1 million in federal funding for the establishment of DRA’s National Veteran Volunteer Service initiative.
“Because of the level that I was working at, I really wanted some further education and foundational knowledge,” she said.
“We were looking at making all of these strategic decisions and exploring different scenarios in that growth period.”
Bougesis said studying an Executive MBA had been on her radar for a long time and her only regret was she had not started sooner.
“I’d look into an Executive MBA, then get distracted…then one day I said, ‘right, if I’m going to do this, I just need to bite the bullet and enrol,” she said.
“It’s been an experience that’s definitely enriched my life, not just professionally, but personally as well.
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“Having that underpinning knowledge has definitely given me the confidence to keep moving forward, and feel like I was in the right place and capable of doing what I was doing.”
Bougesis is in the final stretch, yet even early on she was able to immediately apply the learnings to benefit her employer.
“I think volunteer organisations can develop quite strong biases, and doing the MBA has helped me separate that out and look at things more objectively using the MBA’s tools,” Bougesis said.
Faced with challenges in volunteer recruiting and retention, Bougesis applied her newly acquired knowledge in data analytics to improve the recruitment strategy.
By analysing the trends in demographics, engagement levels and retention rates, she was able to create profiles of their ideal volunteers.
DRA now uses tailored recruitment campaigns to attract people who reflect the target profile, and has built up a reliable volunteer pool of around 4500 to provide relief efforts to communities in need.
Following the funding win, Bougesis took on the newly created role of Head of Government Relations until the birth of her first child this year.
The strategic management principles she learned in the Executive MBA have proved effective in guiding RDA’s responses and submissions to government.
They have enabled DRA to align its project with the government’s priority on climate resilience and address both political and economic factors, highlight its strong disaster response track record, differentiate its offering and showcase its key advantages.
Bougesis said this gave the organisation an edge, with a Senate Select committee report in August this year recommending the funding for DRA be extended beyond 2026 and the government consider how to further incorporate DRA into its own national disaster relief arrangements.
Learning how to draw on data and research and present a strong business case has enabled Bougesis to better articulate to others the ‘why’ of her decision making.
The Executive MBA has honed her critical thinking, taught her to ask incisive questions – a skill she applies when managing teams – and significantly developed her leadership abilities.
“There’s a lot of self-reflection on the MBA journey and topics that really dig into your leadership style,” she said.
“It’s certainly made me reflect on not just things I’ve done well, but on those I could have done better, and how I could have been a better leader in moments that were challenging.
“The MBA gives you a big toolkit that you can draw on to fit the right tool to whatever challenge you’re facing…and it’s definitely done that, especially in context of leadership.”
One factor in Bougesis’ choice to study the Adelaide Business School Executive MBA was its face-to-face ‘Harvard style’ delivery, with class sizes kept small to encourage conversation, debate and peer-learning within the cohort.
The chance to expand her personal networks was another factor.
“I’ve made some good friendships through the time, and maybe in the future those networks will also translate into business or personal opportunities.”
Bougesis said what she learned in the Executive MBA was as relevant to the not-for-profit sector, as it was to the private and public sectors.
“There’s not a topic that I didn’t find useful,” she said.
“In a not-for-profit, you’re doing good for a part of the community, but at the end of the day, you have overheads, expenses and want to perform at your best.
“The same theories apply, it’s just that you reinvest that money back into the organisation, rather than into a shareholders pocket – it’s still relevant, it’s still running a business.”
Her cohort has come from a mix of industries.
“I’m always putting the not-for-profit or disaster lens over something,” she said.
“Sitting in class, listening to people talk about the sector they’re working in and how they translate what we’re learning in class, it’s opened my mind quite a bit.”
The Executive MBA is one of Australia’s only MBA programs where 100 per cent of staff have current business experience, ensuring valuable, applicable knowledge for career advancement.
The school’s advisory board is comprised of senior leaders in business, such as KPMG, Morgan Stanley, Wealth Management, Microsoft and Adelaide Airport, who provide valuable insight to ensure the school’s research and educational activities are responsive to industry needs.
Bougesis has only two topics left to complete Adelaide Business School’s Executive MBA program and is considering her next move.
With a young baby, she has stepped down from the Head of Government Relations role, which required her to travel to Canberra every sitting week, and is currently second-in-charge of South Australia’s operational disaster relief team.
Her ambition to continue to achieve at executive level and explore other industries burns bright.
“I’m at a bit of a crossroads and my biggest issue is that there’s so much opportunity in the world,” she said.
“My first degree was a health sciences degree in the paramedic stream and there’s only one thing you can do with it – you can be paramedic.
“Going from that into an MBA that translates across into so many sectors, so many industries, it’s a huge difference.
“It’s definitely something that I was looking for – it just opens up all those opportunities”.
