Three Pall-Ex employees are celebrating having graduated from the Open University’s BA degree course in professional management.

Lauren Pullin, Joseph Murfitt and Nick Antill-Holmes combined their day-to-day roles with intensive studying to earn their degrees and accreditations and setting them up for a career in management.

Delivered remotely and funded by Pall-Ex, the graduates also benefited from one-to-one mentorship with business leaders within the company whilst undertaking their studies on the three-year course.

The degree was completed in conjunction with a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) standard, which provides a practical outlet for proving management skills alongside the academic component of the degree.

The professional management course covered a range of skillsets and competencies needed by those working in management roles across a variety of sectors.

Modules included effective people management, development and succession planning, marketing, improving stakeholder relations and project management.

Pullin, who is head of commercial analytics at Pall-Ex, passed her degree with first class honours, alongside a score of 99 out of 100 in her CMI standard – earning a distinction.

She said: “I’m so proud to be finally graduating and with first-class honours too. It’s been an intense three years, particularly combining our normal roles with the study programme, but it has definitely been worth it.

“I have learned so much from this course which is already directly benefiting my day-to-day working, and there’s so much that I’ll be putting into practice in the future.”

Open University graduates Lauren Pullin, Nick Antill-Holmes and Joseph Murfitt.

Open University graduates Lauren Pullin, Nick Antill-Holmes and Joseph Murfitt

Murfitt, who also achieved a distinction in his CMI standard, said: “The course was so useful and informative, because it touched on so many different aspects of a business’s daily running – from hiring to financial management.

“Bringing all of that together in my dissertation was challenging but rewarding, and resulted in my Road Ahead strategy – a scheme to support people from difficult economic backgrounds to pursue a career in logistics by helping them obtain their forklift license or HGV license with paid training support from Pall-Ex.”

Kevin Buchanan, CEO of Pall-Ex, added: “We are incredibly proud of what Lauren, Joseph and Nick have achieved.

“Taking on a degree whilst working full time is no mean feat, and we have been consistently impressed with the hard work, dedication and commitment they have shown throughout their studies – I am sure there have been a few late nights along the way!”

Topics