Professional Networking Coordinator

CAreerinG AheAd Introducing The Professional John Hellinikakis (Murray 76-81) Networking Coordinator

I joined the school in the 4th form in the Autumn term of 1976, a year that was, if memory serves, significant for the school as the first four female students joined in the lower sixth. Despite being the obvious centre of attention for over 500 immature schoolboys, it did not stop them pluckily joining in the snowball fights on Top Field that winter.

On my first day at school as a boarder in School House, I arrived with my parents and was shown to dormitory 9, which overlooked the war memorial. My mother was alarmed, while my father compared it to a prison with its bare wooden floors, metal bed frames, and thin curtains that allowed the streetlights on the Ridgeway to bathe the room in yellow light at night.

Since, I lived locally, in my second year, I moved to Murray House, a day house. The move was bitter-sweet. While, I enjoyed a more comfortable bed and better food, I missed the camaraderie of the boarding house. In my last year, good friends invited me back to the School House Hog, awarding me a house scarf, which may have given me the distinction of being the only pupil to have been awarded a house scarf from two different houses.

Sports were an important part of my time at school. Coming from a soccer prep-school, it was speed, determination and size rather than any ball skills that resulted in a place as a Flanker in the Yearlings. Later, playing for the first team against the OM 2nds on Top Field is one of my treasured memories. My other sport was athletics, where I was relatively fast and particularly brave, which made me suited for running at hurdles at speed. A highlight was being part of the school’s 100m relay team, running the second bend, which beat allcomers at the Oxford Relays Meet in a games record time. After 5 happy years and 3 headmasters, I left the school with a set of indifferent ‘A’ levels to study Mechanical Engineering at Sunderland Polytechnic. Being a North London boy, it was a culture shock initially, especially during the 1984-5 miners’ strike, but the school had taught me to accept things as they come and the Wearsiders are wonderful.

Realising that engineering was probably not the vocation that I wanted to pursue, I studied for an MBA at CUBS (now CASS) in London. I then joined Scrimgeor Vickers, a traditional City stockbroker, recently taken over by the brash US bank, Citicorp in preparation for ‘Big Bang’, the introduction of electronic trading. A clash of cultures made it an unhappy place and after a year, I was gone and relieved.

I then joined an international steel trading company, Stemcor, in an industry that I was to work in for 30 years. After a few years based in the head office, I was transferred to a small office in Singapore. What I expected would be a three year posting ran for the next 27 years, alternating between Singapore and Hong Kong twice over.

While I was in Hong Kong, I reacquainted myself with the Club and in later years, became the local coordinator organising the dinner in honour of the Club President’s annual visit. Nick Priestnall, working to raise funds for the foundation, visited numerous times and introduced me to Better Chance Bursary for which I became an early supporter.

On returning to the UK, in 2017, I have taken a greater interest in the Club. Peter Wakeham, Club Chairman, asked me if I would take up a supporting role for the coordinators of the numerous OM professional networking events, when and if required, and to look at establishing new ones covering professions that are not represented. The ultimate aim is not only to support and create events that more OMs will look forward to attending each year, but to encourage students from the school to attend where they will able to gain insights into careers that they may be considering from their predecessors.