Lifelong learning: A CMgr pioneer talks to CMgr newcomer

Hello! Can you introduce yourselves?

David Parsonage CMgr: I am a former project manager and senior management consultant – and I was one of the first six managers to become chartered back in 2003.

Ryan Venner CMgr: I’m managing director at recruitment specialists Premier Jobs, having started as an apprentice, and I became Chartered last year in 2022.

So, David, you’ve been part of CMI since the start – how did you end up as one of the first ever Chartered Managers? 

DP: I was 50 at the time, towards the end of my career but I was originally a member of the British Institute of Management. When they became CMI in 2002 and got the Royal Charter allowing them to award [CMgr] status, they got in contact with me to ask if I wanted to be a Chartered Manager.

What made you go for it?

DP: What really drew me to it was that I was going into meetings where people in other professions were Chartered and I got this feeling that they were looking down on me. I didn’t want that. So, I said yes.