Maurie van den Heever

Profile

Masters Business Administration (MBA), 2020

Current job title and employer: Currently employed as an Information Management System Coordinator at GoodX Software.

What appealed to you most about Heriot-Watt? I was drawn to Heriot-Watt's international reputation & Scottish heritage. What appealed to me the most was its world-class education programmes, professional faculty and embrace of technology, especially with regards to its online MBA.

What's your favourite memory of your time as a Heriot-Watt student? Attending graduation in person at the Heriot-Watt Edinburgh campus for my Bachelors along with my family. We travelled to Scotland specifically for this event from South Africa, which for us was an experience we will always remember and cherish.

Tell us about your career since graduating from Heriot-Watt? At the time of my MBA graduation I was unemployed. Shortly thereafter, I found employment at GoodX Software, a software development company specialising in customised practice management software solutions for healthcare practitioners.

Here I worked as a software project manager where I planned, coordinated, and managed various software projects aimed at enhancing practice management software for healthcare practitioners. In addition I conducted risk assessments on projects and identified the appropriate mitigating actions for the identified risks.

Currently I work as an Information Management System Coordinator, where I work on maintaining and improving the company’s Information Management System (IMS), alongside the IMS team for ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 9001 certification compliance. I work with the IMS Team in preparing and conducting internal audits of information security policies and standard operating procedures. I identify and make suggestions for improvements on the IMS to the IMS Team, and ensure that company policy book structures and the required documentation are organised and updated.

In addition I conduct access control audits at planned intervals on the company's internal personnel platforms on the IMS to ensure employees only have access based on their roles to information required to perform their job functions.

How has your Heriot-Watt education contributed to your success? My MBA has provided me with extremely valuable knowledge that has tremendously broadened and improved my outlook and perception on economics, industry and corporate culture. It has taught me self-discipline, critical thinking and team collaboration skills, all skills which are of critical importance in my line of work.

What advice do you have for current students or anyone considering studying at Heriot-Watt? Heriot-Watt is a world-class institution based on excellence. I would recommend studying at Heriot-Watt it to any prospective student. For current students I would advise them to always have a positive mind set, no matter the difficulties and challenges that they may face in their studies Always work hard and exercise self-discipline, as success in your studies and career only comes with hard work and self-discipline

What are your aspirations for the future? For your career? I want to stay on a continued career growth path, learning both new skills whilst enhancing existing ones. I also seek continuous improvement in interpersonal collaboration with my coworkers, as I enjoy working with people, hope to inspire others and have a deep passion for my work.

For your local and wider community? As a person with disabilities, my aspiration is to continuously look for opportunities to assist those in my wider community with disabilities by providing them with guidance and mentorship in advancing their education and transitioning into employment, based on practical experiences I’ve learned during my education and through my career journey.

In this regard, I have contributed to the life of Heriot-Watt University by volunteering for alumni podcast interviews and student information sessions with the Watt Club and Careers Service, where I provided both guidance and advice to students and alumni with disabilities on advancing their education, transitioning into employment, and learning critical employability skills.

I hope to be able to continue doing such volunteer work for Heriot-Watt in future when such opportunities arise.