John Krijgsman
MA Economics, 1974
Following graduation, I moved to South Africa and worked with the Association of Chambers of Commerce of South Africa in Johannesburg, acting as Secretary to the Transportation and Economic Affairs Committees. Here the very strong skills at critical analysis that Edinburgh gave me met the real world interaction of policy-advocacy, politics, and business.
Eighteen months later I joined the Economic Consultant’s Office of the Anglo American Corporation, a major South African mining house, and was introduced to the joys of applying economic theory to forecast metal prices and exchange rates.
After offering my seat to an Irish girl on the Johannesburg to Pretoria bus, and wisely accepting the invitation to dinner (critical analysis skills again), I married and returned to Canada to start a family.
In Toronto I joined the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) as an economist and subsequently stayed 27 years, mainly as the head of the country risk analysis section at CIBC’s Economics Division. Highlights included seeing the world conceptually shrink with improved communications and computing power, using economic tools to successfully evaluate relative creditworthiness of countries, supporting risk management strategies, anticipating significant changes in market trends and conducting on-site analyses of business opportunities. I have concluded that, for me at least, economics and finance turned out to be a great fit.
In 2002, I took early retirement from the bank and now act as an independent economic consultant. This has allowed me to do a little teaching (international business management and intercultural business communications), volunteer work (currently preparing for my first half-marathon walk for the Leukemia Society), help the Edinburgh University Alumni Club in Toronto (EDUCT) as its Treasurer, and travel.
A final preoccupation I should mention is watching our two daughters grow up. To date this has provided a constant source of entertainment. However, with the youngest off to university later this year, and the eldest about to be married, one is conscious that 40 years go by in a flash. Nice that technology and the Edinburgh Economics Alumni Network have enabled us to compare notes after such a period.