Alumni in the Spotlight

When we heard Ryan Georgiades (‘95), Nick Cole (‘95), Dan Dove (‘99) and Grant Georgiades (‘99) were all working together at family-owned insurance firm, The Plan Group, we caught up with them to find out how their time at Trinity led them to where they are now.

Were you all friends at school, I can see two of you are brothers?

Ryan: Nick and I were 4 years older than Grant and Dan, so our interaction at school with them was limited. But Nick and I shared the same group of friends.

Dan: Grant and I were close friends all the way from the 1st year when we met in Mr Judge’s class.

Grant: I had the honour of being Dan’s best man 7 years after leaving Trinity.

What bonded you as a group?

Ryan: We share the same outlook on life and sense of humour. Trinity filled us full of confidence, thanks to the fantastic education and access to tremendous facilities that we all benefitted from. It also achieved the difficult, but vitally important, balance of producing grounded individuals, despite the privileges we enjoyed.

Ryan Georgiades

Were there sports teams or societies that you were all involved in together?

Dan: Sport was key as you had diverse groups of friends through the different sports. Despite our diminutive size Grant and I played rugby together throughout our time at Trinity.

Grant: Seeing Dan swallowed up by future England prop Andrew Sheridan (who was 18 stone even then) in a 1st team game against Dulwich, is a favourite memory of mine. We also enjoyed playing in Trinity’s first-ever football team when it was introduced in around 1997.

How do you feel Trinity fostered your friendship?

Grant: There were so many activities be it drama or table tennis clubs, sports teams, or school trips that you always had an opportunity to interact and enjoy each other’s company. It also helped that Dan and I lived in the same area, so we often travelled to and from school together as well.

Nick Cole

What life skills did Trinity give you?

Dan: The expectation levels teachers placed on you meant exacting standards had to be kept. Also, sport plays a significant role in understanding that teamwork is needed to succeed.

Nick: Most importantly, the confidence to communicate with all levels in a workplace, the school really encouraged self-sufficiency and independent thinking. There was little handholding which is essential to get on (or it was) in a business environment.

Grant: Trinity enabled me to pursue a variety of interests and that helped make me a highly confident, sociable, and motivated individual. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do in the future, but I felt ready to take whatever opportunity presented itself in my stride.

What challenges did you face once you left school and entered the big wide world?

Nick: I didn’t find the transition too different, the high expectations of my first employer were similar to that at Trinity.

Ryan: After university I went to work in the City at a large financial institution. I learned a great deal and realised I wanted to go back into the family business where I could be more influential.

Grant: University was quite a big culture shock. I quickly realised just how much encouragement the teachers provided. The sink or swim/laissezfaire approach of lecturers as to whether you passed or failed was eye-opening. I stuck with it and ended up with a 1st Class degree.

Dan Dove

What are the challenges you face working so closely with friends and family?

Ryan: No matter the size of your business there are going to be times when you encounter significant challenges, and you feel the strain. We’ve been surprisingly good at keeping the

family and business aspects separate over the years. We try to avoid talking about work outside of the office, but I can’t lie; there is fiery, Mediterranean blood in the family!

Grant: When you work with friends, and you know each other’s personalities, habits, and quirks so well, you often instinctively know the best way to approach tackling an issue together. On the rare occasion that there’s a difference of opinions we talk things over and find a way to move forward. The mutual respect and trust that comes from deep-rooted friendship really helps.

Nick: The positives of working with colleagues and friends you have known for so long outweigh the challenges. The fact we have remained together so long shows that each of our strengths and weaknesses are complimented or covered by others in the team.

Dan: We are extremely comfortable after all these years saying what we need to say to get things done.

Grant Georgiades

What advice would you give your 18-year-old selves?

Ryan: Sleep on those big decisions. It can take a lot longer to back out of a bad one.

Dan: Other than buy shares in Tesla? If you’ve got an itch, scratch it. Give things a go.

Nick: Don’t worry about the future. If you are committed and apply yourself to everything that you do, you will come out on top.

Grant: Concentrate a bit more during Mr Radford’s IT classes as that’s the way the world is going!