MBA Student Profile: Neri Askland, BI Norwegian Business School

Executive MBA student Neri Askland has found his time in the business school classroom to be invaluable. Askland has participated in many professional training and leadership programs during his time with Statoil, a leading energy company in oil and gas production, but the Norwegian says his EMBA is very important to him.

"The internal programs I’ve attended have been good programs, organized in cooperation with internal academies and external organizations," Askland says. "Attending a full external program [the EMBA] though has enabled me to participate with students from different industries and backgrounds and I’ve learned different ways of approaching issues. That is why I would recommend senior experienced persons attend an EMBA."

Askland is the country representative for Statoil in Abu Dhabi, with responsibility for the Gulf Cooperating Council region (GCC). The father of two enjoys learning new things and says when he read about an EMBA in Energy, he saw an opportunity to ‘refill’ his competencies.

"The continual learning is what impacts on a career. In my experience, always stay in a learning modus, with an open mind set, and the career will follow," says Askland. However, there was one area of his EMBA studies Askland wished he’d known more about before starting. "The finance and control parts were the areas I had the least experience in and I wished I had done more pre-study prior to class. But these have been the most important areas I’ve had the pleasure of updating myself in."

Askland also enjoyed the opportunity of participating in an environment where both students and professors have experience in a variety of industries and multicultural settings. He believes the greatest advantage of an EMBA is being able to demonstrate capabilities.

"By embarking on an Executive MBA, you have demonstrated to yourself and your employer that you can multitask, managing education at the same time as high workloads."