NEWSLETTER I S S U E O C T - 2 9 D E C M A L T A U N I V E R S I T Y H O L D I N G C O M P A N Y L I M I T E D 2 0 1 6 CEO'S Corner MUHC takes on Lovin Malta's 'Milied Challenge' Team Building Activities Presenting the BRND WGN & University Ring Road Races 2017 edition Raising funds for a cause Meet Mario Cachia Our latest publications
CONTENTS Inside this issue: 02 CEO'S CORNER what the company got up to recently as told by company CEO, Joe Azzopardi. 04 MUHC TAKES ON LOVIN MALTA'S 'MILIED CHALLENGE' an incentive supported by numerous employees to help the less fortunate over the Christmas period. 05 TESTIMONIAL feedback from one of the participants of a recent team building activity. 06 SAVE THE DATE presenting an annual running event organised by the company. 07 RAISING FUNDS FOR A CAUSE an overview of the funds raised throughout the year to help support research in ALS through collaboration with RIDT. Book your pitch today +356 79797075 08 FOCUS ON PERSONNEL meet the newest addition to our team - Mario Cachia. 09 RECENT PUBLICATIONS check out our latest books available for purchase. Newsletter 01
CEO'S CORNER Slowly getting back to normal We are almost through the second week of the new year and, as I write this, slowly returning to normality at the office. Although we have some remnant events linked to the festive season still pending such as the MUC drinks for our consultant academics and clients on the 12th January by and large we are now looking forward with hope and fortitude towards 2017. This promises to be a significant year for the Group as we continue to gear up for the fundamental changes coming our way not only with regards to the physical location of our operations but, most importantly, to the necessary developments in our service portfolio. The Festive Season I hope you had a fantastic Christmas break. Mine was a mixed bag. From an MUHC perspective things ran quite smoothly. The Staff and Guest Drinks of the 14th December were well attended. Besides our usual collection of funds (where many chipped in with contributions in favour of RIDT and specifically ALS Research), the Company also participated in the national Lovin Malta's 'Milied Challenge'. A number of our staff donated shoeboxes stuffed with gifts aimed at categories of less fortunate members of our Community. Twelve such boxes were handed over to the organisers of this philantropic campaign. It is by now customary for MUHC to hold the staff dinner in the first week of January. However, this year we decided to hold it at the Residence itself (3rd January). This was done so that we could also organize a Karaoke session near the Bar/Pool area. The event was a roaring success. Time literally flew as we had two hours of non-stop fun. I never thought we had so much singing talent in this Company. Being the CEO has its responsibilities and one of these is to reluctantly take the stage, shrug off any stage fright, and kick off with the first number. My opening rendition of the Vola Lazio Vola anthem complete with scarf waving brought on a mixed reaction from the audience though. So why a mixed bag? A sudden extremely uncomfortable eye allergy ensured that I spent most of the Christmas and New Year period either confined to barracks or shuttling to and from home, clinics and hospitals. Moreover, my home MCB decided that that was the right period to start tripping at every occasion, rendering almost all the electrical sockets useless together with our Christmas decorations of course. But as the venerable Forrest Gump once said Life is like a box of chocolates. You take whatever it hands out to you and move on. Newsletter 02
The backup generator has finally arrived! We finally have a brand new fully functional backup generator at the Residence in Lija. Well done to all involved for making this happen. It was not an easy task to complete due to technical and structural constraints identified during the planning stage and successfully addressed during the execution of the project. The Sports and Leisure Website This new website will soon be up and running in line with our initial projections. We can expect it to be rolled out around the end of January. Our new look Newsletter I hope you like the new format of the Newsletter. A big thank you to our two coordinators behind the scenes Mary Ann and Hannah. As I informed you in the last edition, the Newsletter will now continue as a quarterly publication. We would appreciate any feedback to help us make it better. A new Group Chief Operations Officer Through these few lines I wish to congratulate Chris Schinas on his recent appointment as MUHC s Group Chief Operations Officer. For Chris, who already has quite a number of years experience as Operations Manager of our two accommodation facilities, this will represent a step up into a similar yet wider Group role. As Group Chief Operations Officer Chris will need to ensure the consolidation of current operations, monitor any regulatory and licensing requirements and coordinate/supervise group projects, amongst others. I am sure he will live up to expectations. Cheers, Joe Newsletter 03
MUHC TAKES ON 'LOVIN MALTA'S 'MILIED CHALLENGE' The festive season is always a colourful time at MUHC, jam-packed with events and Christmas gettogethers to celebrate yet another great year with our amazing team. As the saying goes, Christmas is also a time for giving and our employees decided to do something different this year to truly embrace the festive spirit. Secret Santa is definitely becoming a trend amongst offices but we took things a step further by taking on Lovin Malta s Milied Challenge. Instead of buying small gifts amongst employees which often tends to be more of a laugh rather than anything else; we decided to use this money to prepare gift boxes for people who would truly appreciate them. In an article published a few weeks ago, the popular website, Lovin Malta reminded us that not everyone is so lucky during the Christmas period and encouraged people to give a helping hand by preparing gifts for the less fortunate. We are extremely proud of our employees for showing so much support towards this incentive and are certain that the gift boxes that we have donated definitely made someone s Christmas! Newsletter 04
TESTIMONIAL straight from the horse's mouth Team Building Events "For the first Team Building session organised within a new directorate with new staff I opted to use the services of Malta University Sports and Leisure. Being the first one I had to make sure this would be a success. The team building session was truly a good experience for all the staff and reached the goals I had visualised. The activities planned were perfect for the mix of people with different background and academic levels. The staff at Malta University Sports and Leisure were very helpful throughout the planning of the Team Building and made it very easy for me to have everything as I wished it to be. On top of this my budget was pretty limited and yet they managed to come up with a full package including lunch with top notch service." Bernadette Ellul Felice, Director Corporate Services MINISTRY FOR EU AFFAIRS Newsletter 05
SAVE THE DATE Newsletter 06
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WELCOME ABOARD Mario Cachia Mario Cachia joined MUHC in October of last year after a 34 year career with one of the leading telecommunications operators in Malta. During this period he formed part of the senior management team with both Technology and Commercial roles and negotiated agreements for and project managed several capital projects on a national scale. For a number of years Mario was also responsible for training and led the Core Business Development Team and the International and Wholesale Business. Mario is married and has two children. He is employed with MUC focusing on consulting projects, coordination of the University Steering Committee for Infrastructural Works and the regulatory and strategic aspects of the University Child Day Care Facilities. His hobbies are trekking, following Man United, winemaking and watching documentaries and films. Mario received a first degree in engineering from the University of Malta in 1982, an MBA from Henley Management College in 2002 and is in possession of a Teaching and Engineering Warrant. "Coming together is a BEGINNING Keeping together is PROGRESS Working together is SUCCESS" Henry Ford Newsletter 08
RECENT PUBLICATIONS Newsletter 09