Launching the start of the new Fire up the Future webinar series, former pupil, Iain Anderson (Class of ‘86) delivered the first virtual meeting of the Gordonian community together with fellow Gordonians from across the UK and the US.

As the Executive Chairman of Cicero/AMO, the UK's largest political lobbying and communications business, Iain is familiar with online debates and interviews so was the perfect host to launch the series. He was joined by a panel of former pupils including:

• Ann-Marie Parry (Class of ‘07) Producer at Sky News

• David Carry (Class of ‘99) Former Olympic Swimmer and CEO of Track Record Coaching

• David Milne (Class of ‘66) Director of Global Shop Design at Krispy Kreme

• Ellie Chalmers (Class of ‘07) Senior Project Manager for Afghanistan at BBC Media Action 

We welcomed an audience of pupils, staff, parents, former pupils, former staff and former parents, who tuned in live to enjoy the event. All panelists described their journey’s since leaving RGC and how the pandemic has impacted their career over the last year, giving advice on how we can adapt to the new world as we come out of the curve. They debated the topic “Are we going to live in a more global world post pandemic?” followed by a live Q&A session with the audience which rounded off the event.  The full recording of the webinar is available to view below. 

Natalie, (S6) and Gordonian Student Leader, was in the virtual audience and said: “I found the webinar really interesting as it had a great mix of panelists from the Gordonian community who shared their career journey’s since leaving RGC. It was fantastic to see that there are truly no limits to what we can achieve with a Gordon’s education.”

Laura Presslie, Director of Development, Marketing and Admissions shared "We have created this new series of webinars with the help of Gordonians across the world who have been in touch to volunteer ideas and offer support to senior pupils and alumni to help with key decisions about their future. I am thrilled to see former pupils together online to recreate Gordonian gatherings in this new format and appreciate hearing their insight and experience from across the world. The Gordon’s community is full of generous and talented people and we are very grateful to our host and panelists for participating in these webinars and sharing their experiences. 

The next webinar takes place  on Tuesday 20 April and will be hosted by Steve Parkinson, Class of ‘85, Managing Director at Bauer Media discussing “Changemakers of the future”. Steve will be joined by Olivia Attwooll-Keith (Class of ‘15), David Rintoul (Class of ‘66), Dexter Fawcett (Class of ‘17), and Joe Reid (Class of ‘17). The panel will discuss how they developed their sense of purpose, how they created career plans without a roadmap, and how the pandemic has changed the way they view the world. To find out more and to register for future events, visit the Fire up the Future events page.