![\"makingWaves\"](\"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/makingWaves.jpg\")
<\/a>wind direction.<\/p>\nLike most native Bermudians, Robbie Dickinson (`90) has been sailing since he was a boy, learning the vital skills needed to reach his goals \u2013 even when the prevailing winds were against him. Later in life, he found himself fashioning the opportunities he received into a career in information technology (IT).<\/p>\n
After completing high school, Dickinson said he lacked direction and confidence in his academic ability. But, while visiting St. Simons Island, Ga., he decided to enroll in then-Brunswick Junior College (now Coastal Community College) at the urging of his family. \u201cOnce there, I realized that I actually could succeed academically and pushed ahead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to continue my two favorite sports \u2013 soccer and rugby \u2013 neither of which were very popular in south Georgia. A friend who was a freshman at Georgia Southern told me about their soccer team and I visited Statesboro several times to watch them. I applied for admission at GSC the following summer.<\/p>\n
Once at Georgia Southern, Dickinson excelled in his study of finance, earning his Bachelor of Business Administration degree. \u201cMy finance degree was invaluable in getting me started with a bank here in Bermuda, where I ended up as an equities trader,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom there, I ran a small private mutual fund management company and later moved to a local brokerage firm.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll through these steps, however, the emergence of my other business focus and passion \u2013 technology \u2013 was gaining more and more importance,\u201d he said. It was then that Dickinson\u2019s company assigned him to train in IT to help create and improve computer applications for the firm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe light came on very quickly and I realized I had found my calling,\u201d Dickinson said. Now network administrator at Arch Insurance in Bermuda, he oversees IT for the international reinsurance company.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile soccer was my main impetus for applying to Georgia Southern, rugby became my sport of choice,\u201d he said. An internationally certified coach, Dickinson has been Bermuda\u2019s National Team youth rugby coach for several age categories and taken his team to matches in Bath, England and the Cayman Islands.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiving in Bermuda, you usually end up being either a fisherman or a sailor,\u201d said Dickinson, and the man who grew up in the Atlantic island nation has never lost his love for sailing. \u201cI\u2019ve sailed in many different classes of One Design boats, as well as larger yachts,\u201d he said. \u201cI have also done about 15 ocean crossings and races to and from Bermuda, including the Newport and Marion-Bermuda Yacht Races.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Dickinson will always be a rugger, a sailor and an IT innovator, today Dickinson\u2019s main focus now is his family \u2013 his wife, Davina, son, Tyler and daughter, Ashley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bermudian Got His Bearings at Georgia Southern<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-1213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-spring-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}