Worlds largest brewer recruits from its only Australian source of MBA talent

The world’s largest brewer, AB InBev, was on campus Thursday to recruit for its Global MBA Internship Program, the company’s first visit to the School since choosing us last December as the only Australian business school from which it sources MBA talent.

“The culture at MBS is fast paced and challenging, and our Global MBA program is all about challenge because we know MBAs want more -- more responsibility, more challenges and to achieve more,” said Jean-Philippe Richer, AB InBev’s Senior Director Talent, Asia–Pacific South.

Before choosing MBS as its exclusive Australian supplier of leadership talent, the company assessed all the major MBA programs around Australia in search of a program that matched its culture.

“Melbourne Business School's one-year program is more challenging than others in terms of how much you do in such a short time. That kind of intensity totally reflects my day, which is very busy and fast paced. It very hard to find that in other programs.”

AB InBev operates in over 150 countries and has more than 500 brands – from the 600-year-old Stella Artois to the Carlton and United stable to its latest acquisition, the boutique Adelaide brewer Pirate Life – which means about one in every three beers consumed in the world is an AB InBev beer.

Richer said before adding Melbourne Business School to its list of 20 other top global business schools from which it recruits, it had to convince the company’s global team in New York that we were the right pick.

“When we presented and said, 'Look at all those schools where we are currently recruiting from – Harvard, MIT, Kellogg – and look at the type of candidates we can get form Melbourne Business School,' they were very excited,” Richer said.

“You can find the right skills set in other programs but to find the right attitude and culture is very difficult. When you look at a great program like the Melbourne Business School MBA, you know it's going to be a good fit for us.”

While our School is new to the AB InBev list, we already have several graduates working for the company, including Emily Griffiths (MBA 2012) and Elliot Scott (MBA 2015), who are enjoying stellar careers at AB InBev’s Australian subsidiary CUB.

Emily, who began her career as a business strategy manager in 2013, has just been appointed a global brands director, and Elliot, who joined CUB in 2016 as an operations manager, is now a senior service and operations manager.

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