ICMS Alumni Toast Success at Reunion

International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS) alumni from around the world enjoyed a reunion recently in Norway to reconnect and celebrate professional success since graduation.

Around 60 former ICMS students from countries as varied as Sweden, Indonesia and Finland attended the reunion held in Stavanger, Norway, with many alumni based in Norway joining in the festivities.

Many alumni were celebrating nearly 20 years post-ICMS, located in Northern Beaches, NSW, Sydney. The reunion was attended by Don Shiell, ICMS Associate Vice President – International Development.

Included in the celebrations was a bus tour and a boat cruise to take in the sights of the city. At the Saturday evening party, complete with DJ, a big screen showed a highlights reel from their time at ICMS, as well as a few “hellos” from alumni that couldn’t be present.

Alumni were able to share their career successes with each other, with experiences varying from Anne Beth Rottingen (Class of 2000) who is now the personnel manager with Norsk Offshore Catering in Norway, to Marjolein Grin (Class of 2001) who is in recruitment in the Netherlands, to Jesper Hammar (Class of 2005), who is a Business Development Manager with Education Link in Sweden.

Benedikte Koldingsnes (Class of 2002) is the owner and founder of Norway’s first vegan truck, Vegan Pop Up Cafe, which also offers catering. “My education at ICMS has helped me so much in my entire career,” he said. “It helped me understand the industry on so many different levels, which is why it has been so valuable. This education, together with the substantial industry training I had at Walt Disney World as a student, has been the perfect combination for me.”

Niels Christian Hancke (Class of 2001) is currently the CEO of Productionhotel.com located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Among other services, the company manages hotel bookings for production companies that create movies, TV shows and commercials. Hancke particularly enjoyed the diversity of cultures among the international and domestic students at ICMS during his study period, and believes this helped him in his career going forward. “I gained a very broad understanding of cultures which gave me the ability to adapt and work with anyone, no matter their age or nationality,” he said. He cited the friendships made on campus, combined with the beauty of the surrounding area and the fantastic climate, as aspects of his time as a student in Australia that were most enjoyable, “amazing” and memorable.

Alumnus Eva Dvorakova (Class of 2000) is currently working at the Ambassador Group in Prague, Czech Republic, where her role entails planning, coordinating and managing all business operations to achieve corporate goals. She said she was drawn to study abroad at ICMS in Australia to earn industry recognised and nationally accredited credentials that could open doors for her when starting her hospitality career. “I was looking for an opportunity to be taught by top professionals, for networking opportunities and local internships,” she said. “Studying at ICMS was one of the very first steps in order to start my career in the hospitality industry.”

For more information on ICMS, click here: https://www.icms.edu.au