On Friday the 12th of January 2024, for the first Nicholls Lecture of the year and of the Lent term, the Sixth Form was honoured to welcome James Maxwell, an Old Birkonian, to give his lecture ‘An Introduction to Mergers and Acquisitions’.
By Aaron M, Sixth Form Student
Mr Maxwell has made a career in financial management through over 15 years of work. He attended Birkenhead School from 1992 up until in 2003, he attended the Sixth Form where he studied Chemistry, Biology, and Latin, he then continued with his higher education, obtaining a degree in Finance from Lancaster University. Since then, he has risen through the ranks of the financial world, starting as an associate at KPMG finance, and now having become the Chief Financial Officer of the company Bioscript Group.
Mr Maxwell has extensive experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, and was able to communicate this to the Sixth Form effectively and informatively, he ran over the basics of his job processes, showing us the different ways an entrepreneur may choose to sell their business, and the risks and rewards of doing so. He explained how he is able to help these entrepreneurs maximize the money they are able to sell their businesses for.
Although he has had a successful career, it has not come without its challenges. Mr Maxwell explained how he had to stay up working way into the night when working with a company relatively early into his mergers and acquisitions career, he stated that in his line of work, long working hours are common, and gave an insightful piece of advice to the sixth form, telling us to treat ourselves as commodity, our salary is just the price we sell our time for, and it is up to us how much of that time we sell.
Mr Maxwell brought the lecture to a close by stressing the importance of working for a job we will enjoy, his advice embodying the saying “Find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
On behalf of the whole of Sixth Form, I would like to extend my thanks to James Maxwell for giving up his time to share such an informative lecture. For myself and many others hoping to enter financial service industries, his experience and advice proved invaluable and deeply inspiring.
