My name is Eric Bowler, I am an alumnus of SDA Bocconi – MBA 2018. I chose to do an MBA because I was looking to make a career and geographical change and I believed than an MBA would equip me with the skills and experience necessary to attempt such a transition. I am an engineer by background and my prior experience was working in the durable consumer goods industry but after some years, I discovered my real passion is in energy and infrastructure. I believed that I could make a substantial contribution to society by helping to allocate capital to sustainable infrastructural projects and therefore I wanted to break into infrastructural finance. I am also American and married to an Italian and after a few years of living in the United States we decided that we would try living in Italy. SDA Bocconi was an easy selection. The school offers the top ranked MBA program in Italy and one of the highest ranked in Europe. The school is also particularly known globally for its strong background in economics and finance and the MBA Director at the time, Prof. Stefano Gatti, is a world-renowned expert in infrastructural finance. Through my studies, I was very impressed with the availability and attention that professors such as Prof. Gatti gave to students as well as the mentioning and support that I personally received. Furthermore, the brand recognition of SDA Bocconi in Italy is superb and I find the Alumni network (which after more than 43 years of operations, is quite extensive) to be very open and supportive. Today, I work for F2i SGR which is an Italian Investment Management firm that specializes in infrastructure investments in the Italian market, in fact it is the largest private investor in Italian infrastructure. Infrastructure brings enormous benefits to society; indeed it enables the modern life that we live. The companies that F2i SGR has invested in provide healthcare services, transportation for passengers and goods, energy, water and internet to millions of individuals. This value is tangible and, in this case, local – as both SDA Bocconi and the investments of F2i SGR serve Italy. I can say that looking back, I was rather naïve about such a radical transition in career and geography and it is in no way an embellishment to state that this transition would not have been possible without SDA Bocconi.
Eric Bowler
- American