F ID I AC A D E M Y A group sharing ideas outside the classroom at a recent LiM seminar held in Switzerland CHANTAL FERA, ACADEMY MANAGER ACADEMY TRAINER PROFILE: ALEXANDRA SCHMIDT ALEXANDRA SCHMIDT, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT MEXPACK INTERNATIONAL Alexandra Schmidt, Business Development Manager at Mexpack International, has been an Academy trainer since 2016, bringing her experience working within a second-generation family business in Latin America to the table. I think all the trainers have very diverse backgrounds and we all have new and dierent challenges to bring forward to help tackle issues, she says. We bring these common problems into the training, learn best practices from each other and pass this information on to the FIDI Academy students. I love getting to know the students, and have stayed in contact with many throughout the years. I love to see them develop in their career and catch up with them at conferences to see how they apply what they have learned in the real world. Mexpack sees sending its own sta on Academy programmes as a win-win, she says. Training students helps the industry as a whole, she says. It makes us a more interesting industry to attract and retain talent and for me it is a very fulfilling experience. I think the Academy oers the best training because it was developed by industry leaders, people who are involved in the day to day, who see the changes in the business and update the training frequently. Academy students during an EiM brainstorm session in the Hague, in 2016 The Academy offers the best training because it was developed by industry leaders who update the training frequently 72 FF300 DecJan21 pp70-72 FIDI Academy.indd 72 Students at the EiM in the Hague, the Netherlands, in 2016 WW W. F I D I FOC U S . OR G 24/11/2020 15:34