Profiles
Juan Roberson
Jesus College 1963, PPE
Born in 1944, I grew up in North London and was educated at Highgate School. My father was a lecturer and my mother a journalist.
I initially applied to study mathematics. This was not successful but a teacher at school recommended I apply to read PPE instead, since the analytical thinking skills of mathematics would be useful for the logic of philosophy and the numeracy skills for economics. This proved correct and I was accepted to read PPE.
I developed skills, particularly through the tutorial system, which were to stand me in good stead for the rest of my life
There were challenges in switching to an arts subject, insofar as my peers, typically from an arts background, were better able to cope with writing three essays a fortnight. However, at the end of three years I had a degree and had developed skills, particularly through the tutorial system, which were to stand me in good stead for the rest of my life.
Living in college provided the basis for both my academic and social life. Jesus was then a smaller college (some two hundred undergraduates) so there was always someone you knew in the quad, the library, the dining room, the junior common room or the bar. And whilst not likely to get a Blue for anything, I could still participate in several sports at college level.
Reading PPE at Oxford is an excellent springboard - but one still has to jump from it! I chose to become a Chartered Accountant. Thereafter, via an MBA from INSEAD, my career took me into banking for ten years. It was during this time that the importance of being able to write a soundly based, cogently argued, numerically supported and wide ranging paper became part of life and the benefits of PPE were then very evident. The internal confidence when presenting ideas and analysis to colleagues and superiors was a bonus – to which Oxford had undoubtedly contributed.
After banking I set off to Hong Kong as Finance Director in a trading company and, some years later, emigrated to Australia. Based in Sydney, I worked first in project finance in the water industry and finally as CFO of a theatre company.
I have worked in large and small companies, in various industries, at home and abroad. At almost every turn the experience of reading PPE at Oxford has given me something extra. I have now retired, but, among other things, I am a volunteer telephone counsellor on a crisis helpline, where the moral philosophy part of that PPE degree is still proving useful to me!
