Gideon Ratnerss Quantium leap via a Part-Time MBA
By the time he came to Melbourne Business School to study his part-time MBA, Gideon Ratner’s career had progressed from software engineer to strategist and marketer at NAB in a little more than six years – then it took a Quantium leap.
Gideon had made it to NAB via a management consultant role at Accenture when he began his MBA in 2012, but he was keen to broaden his business skills.
“For me, the MBA was a great platform to take my technical knowledge and apply it across marketing, consulting and business, where you need to be familiar with contracts, accounting and a whole range of things,” he says.
Not surprisingly, given his software background, Gideon admires innovators. While working at NAB, Gideon met the very innovative Adam Driussi, CEO of Quantium, then a Sydney-based data analytics start-up that is now expanding internationally under Gideon’s guidance as Group Executive – International Markets and Strategy.
“I knew Adam from negotiating an agreement with Quantium at NAB,” Gideon recalls, “and I realised that he was a very impressive guy. I liked his philosophy on business and analytics, and when I was looking for other opportunities, he said, ‘Come join our business.’”
Quantium’s Pui-Ching Lee (left) and Gideon Ratner
Gideon later joined Quantium after graduating and spending a semester at top Spanish business school IESE. Since then, the company has grown from 120 to 500 people, with its Melbourne office expanding from just a handful of staff when Gideon joined in 2013 to 60 now – and more to come, he hopes, including some of our current Master of Business Analytics students.
Accompanied by Quantium colleague Pui-Ching Lee, who graduated from MBS with her Master of Business Analytics degree in 2015, Gideon was on campus recently to pitch Quantium as a great place for our Master of Business Analytics students to work or undertake a practicum as part of their studies.
Gideon says his MBS experience really helped him cope with the pace and uncertainty of a fast-growing business.
“I had no idea what I was stepping into. Effectively, my role was to start up Quantium’s Melbourne analytics and insights practice and drive growth. It’s just been an absolute rollercoaster but phenomenally satisfying."
