The power of people: The Insider meets entrepreneurial alumnus Alexander Robertson

Suave, clubbable, proficient in polo and Real Tennis… to meet Alexander Robertson has the feel of encountering a quintessential English gentleman.

As is so often the case, however, perception does not reflect reality. And the reality for this particular Glion alumnus goes way beyond such a parochial persona.

“My step-grandfather was French and lived in Paris with my grandmother; plus I have a Cuban-American godmother and spent time in Miami and New York when I was younger. As a family we traveled a lot due to my parents’ business interests… so I’ve always loved the notion of internationalism and experiencing different cultures,” he tells The Insider.

This was one of the big attractions of Glion for Alexander, who particularly appreciated the multicultural perspectives that came from being in classes packed with different nationalities.

“You couldn’t help but meet interesting people with interesting backgrounds,” he remembers. “On one occasion we were in a class focused on geopolitics and the discussion turned to a conflict then occurring in a particular part of the world. One of my classmates basically challenged us that what we thought we knew about that conflict was not the reality on the ground, because their father was in the army and knew what was really going on. That sort of thing happened all the time and it was so engaging to be part of.”

Today Alexander is based in London, perhaps the most culturally diverse of all capital cities, having founded and co-founded three highly contrasting businesses that span the worlds of luxury, professional services and finance.

Creating lasting value

The venture with the highest public profile is RM Media, a relationship-driven marketing consultancy Alexander co-founded with business partner Anete Genca.

“Essentially we are a sales, marketing and events company, with a focus on helping brands reach private clients in the high net worth and ultra-high net worth segments,” he says.

“We have our own proprietary methodology for this, which we call the Trident Approach. This is a blend of strategic marketing, relationship management and extraordinary events. We always begin by gathering all the founders and senior executives in a room and asking them what their company’s purpose is. It’s amazing how we’ve never yet had complete agreement in the room and that’s what makes it such a powerful place to start.”

Using these insights, the firm can deploy what Alexander calls “good old fashioned marketing principles” to rebuild and refresh brands to inspire the necessary levels of emotional engagement, while also sharpening up the sales and customer relationship management practices – areas that often fail to keep pace as a business scales.

He is quick to acknowledge the part played by his co-founder Anete, who serves as Brand Director for the agency. “As well as being a wonderful person Anete is one of the most phenomenal business practitioners I’ve ever seen. Not only that, but our skillsets dovetail extremely well – Anete is a genuine marketing guru who is especially strong on digital marketing, while I tend to focus on the networking, sales & marketing and leadership side.”

Where Alexander’s incredible network really brings home the results is through the unique and impactful events RM Media is able to create on behalf of its clients.

These events employ levels of ‘off market’ discretion that mean we cannot disclose many details about them in The Insider; however, Alexander offered a few tantalizing glimpses involving helicopter fleets, sporting stars, otherwise unobtainable locations, vintage wines and much more.

“The trick is to come up with things that people cannot do for themselves, no matter what their net worth"

“The trick is to come up with things that people cannot do for themselves, no matter what their net worth. That takes a mixture of imagination and great contacts!” Alexander notes. “I firmly believe in that line from Shakespeare that ‘all the world’s a stage’ and that we’re only here for a short minute so let’s make it fun.

“I’ve worked in the private client industry for a large proportion of my career after Glion and yes there are big budgets to play with, but you’d be amazed at how little imagination goes into the events that money pays for. Nice though they are, if you’re in a Mayfair private dining room unless you look out of the window you could be anywhere. Events need to be impactful to be engaging.”

The family ‘fixer’

The post-Glion career that Alexander refers to is as varied and fascinating as you’d expect from such a polymath. Although he tasted life in the hospitality industry during his Bachelor’s degree internships, Alexander began professional life as a relationship manager in a family office for one of Germany’s long-established industrial dynasties. He describes that role as being a “problem fixer” and it provided experience which has proven highly valuable since.

This was followed by with a stint at the UK branch of the international serviced office provider Regus Group, during which he helped to develop that company’s managed office solution as an answer to the challenge of the then-new WeWork.

Staying in London, a spell as a lobbyist to the UK parliament was Alexander’s next career step, after which he was head hunted by a firm specializing in international debt for high net worth private clients.

“I helped to launch their private client team globally, with offices in Switzerland, Dubai and the Channel Islands alongside our headquarters in Mayfair. It was our job to build the trusted relationships that would secure the debt financing business, so discretion was paramount. I met so many interesting people and it was absolutely fascinating to work with them and solve their problems.”

That experience paved the way for Alexander’s first entrepreneurial endeavor, which predates RM Media by around a year. The business is called XENIA and Partners and it offers a range of discreet services of the type that you won’t typically find in the telephone directory.

“Those who know their Greek mythology will recognize xenia as being the ancient Greek concept of hospitality, which derives from the god Xenios. So there’s a nice callback to my time at Glion. The element of xenia we’re focused on is the principle of protection and mutual respect; and that means we work with clients to protect them and their businesses. It’s about standing in the client’s corner and solving problems that the more generic concierges cannot.

“I absolutely love being part of that business and I’m extremely lucky to work alongside some very special people, including someone who was formerly part of the close protection team for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”

Keeping the money flowing

Not content with being a double-handed entrepreneur, Alexander has recently added a third string to his bow, by establishing Dunmor Private Office, which specializes in offering full cycle family office services with a specialization in supporting clients with international banking needs and issues.

“Financial jurisdictions are constantly changing their rules and for individuals and family offices who move money globally that leads to constant problems of funds being frozen. Our approach is not to try and pull the wool over the eyes of local regulators or hide this money; we use a relationship approach to get things moving legitimately and above board.”

As we’ve discovered numerous times with our alumni profiles, a busy professional life is no barrier to a fulfilling life outside work. Alexander certainly fits into that category, with hobbies including the aforementioned polo and Real Tennis – the latter being a particular passion.

For those who don’t know about Real Tennis, it is the original racket sport from which tennis was derived. A genuine ‘sport of kings’ (Britain’s Henry VIII was a notable exponent) it is played exclusively indoors, using a court with high walls on all four sides and a high ceiling

According to Wikipedia there are just 45 sites where Real Tennis can be played throughout the world; Alexander’s ambition is to ‘collect the set’ by playing a match at each one. The next step in that globetrotting journey takes him to the United States and the legendary New York Raquet & Tennis Club, with has two active Real Tennis courts.

Thanks to a chance meeting with a club member in Kenya a little while back, Alexander also has the opportunity to tick a very special court off his list: the one still in operation at Tuxedo Park, a historic private community that evokes the Gilded Age of America characterized by novels like The Great Gatsby.

“I love social history and so the opportunity to visit places like these is something very special to me. I’m lucky enough to have quite a few reciprocal club memberships and so when I’m traveling I’ll stay somewhere like the Yale Club in New York or the Muthaiga Club in Kenya, where you can feel the history behind the establishment.”

Another establishment that remains dear to Alexander’s heart is Glion. Indeed, between our interview and the publication of this article he and Anete helped to organize an alumni event in London (see photo left), hosted by The Queen’s Club, a private sporting club of which he’s a member.

He was also quick to offer some sage words of advice to current Glion students and other young talents embarking on their higher education or early professional journey.

“In a world where the constant talk is about digital footprints, we must never lose sight of the fact that the power of people is unmatched. It’s extraordinary the amount you can achieve through a well curated network; and what I would add is that the way I developed my network was primarily around helping people solve problems.

“You never know who you are going to meet, nor whether they are going to add value to you or your business. You may not even be able to deduce what sort of value that might look like. But if you help them there will often come a time when you can pick up the phone and they’ll pay back that help you gave.”

• To discover more about RM media, visit the website