22 Oct 2017

Decide about the CEMS Alumni of the Year

Dear CEMS Alumni,
Take part in the CEMS Alumni of the Year Elections and decide, who are going to be two CEMS Alumni of the Year 2017.

For the first time, the Czech Republic has candidates in both categories:
Petr Smid nominated for CEMS Alumni Senior Leader and
Tomas Laboutka nominated for CEMS Alumni Junior Leader.

What makes Petr and Tomas truly inspirational leaders?
Both share an incredible passion for what they do, are innovative, have amazing leadership skills and business expertise, yet stay humble and modest.

Don't miss the chance and vote in the CEMS Alumni of the Year.

Category: CEMS Alumni Senior Leader

Petr Smid: Head of Consumer Marketing, Central and Eastern Europe @Google



Petr is a 2005 CEMS graduate. He is now working hard to bring the best of Google’s consumer technology to users in Central & Eastern Europe.
Being a CEMS and INSEAD MBA graduate himself, he’s passionate about education - leading frequent workshops for students, professionals, startups, and other businesses. He has always enjoyed travelling, skiing & ice hockey ... for the past 3 years all of this with his little daughter.
Petr’s Interview,  Petr on LinkedIn  Vote for Petr

Category: CEMS Alumni Junior Leader

Tomas Laboutka: CEO & Co-Founder, Board Member @HotelQuickly

Tomas is a 2010 CEMS graduate. He has been is CEO & Co-Founder at HotelQuickly and recognised by Forbes in the category 30 under 30.
His sharings - "Learn to make great decisions and develop the courage to follow them through. Embrace the CEMS network: the friendships you make and insights you gain from fellow students, alumni, partners, and colleagues fuel us for life. So make the most out of them and say “yes” to success!"
Tomas’s Interview   Tomas on LinkedIn  Vote for Tomas

Pavlína
on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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19 Oct 2017

CEMS Talk on the topic Going the Other Way: Are you living the life You want to live?


Alternative career choice as the main topic, three amazing speakers, no slides, informal atmosphere, beautiful venue, engaged audience: unique CEMS Talk with unique findings.


Our October CEMS Talk took place in an art gallery, a perfect location to discuss Going the Other Way choices. A key question of the evening was simple: Are you living the life You want to live? 

We are extremely happy that this topic raised a lot of interest among CEMS students and alumni and thank all for all the rich discussions that arose during and also after the CEMS Talk.

Although all three speakers have started their career in the corporate environment and until today they are managing projects and people, their career paths have been all but ordinary. It was such a refreshing experience to spend an evening with these extraordinary, smart, courageous and humble people, who do really create an impact on the society and world around us. 




What is the key take away from this CEMS Talk?

  • Explore what is truly important for You in Your life. Once You find it, do it.
  • Pushing does not work. Be open and let things, people and situations come to You.
  • Slowness brings answers to key questions in life.
  • Follow Your intuition first, before making any decision think it properly through  (not the other way around)
  • Have good friends, who will help You to come back on Your path, when You are wobbling. 
  • Have great teachers, who will inspire You. 
  • Leave your comfort zone & take a break from your normal life.
  • Follow Your personal values in Your life as well as in Your career without compromising them.
  • Follow the signs
  • Give back


CEMS Talk concept:

  • Every CEMS Talk is dedicated to a unique topic related to life and career in today’s world. 
  • Speakers are chosen based on their level of experience and relevancy for a chosen area. 
  • The audience is built from CEMS students and alumni, both Czech and international. 
  • The main purpose of CEMS Talk is to share real, authentic and honest stories and thereby inspire members of the CEMS Community in their future life and business choices

Who were our three speakers?


Dagmar Goldmannova: Philanthropy consultant and project manager


Dagmar has left her corporate career in order to do what she loves - helping others in a meaningful way. She was working on projects in many countries in Africa, Asia and eastern Europe. Since December 2016, she is leading a philanthropic consultancy company back in the Czech Republic.

Her main advice for others: Be the one, who is deciding about Your life. Let things come to You. 

 

Jakub Stransky: Spontaneous and inspiring financial expert


Jakub's dream was to serve a local community. He has been working in a local Czech production company, studied PhD, lived in Lyon, taught CEMS subjects at the university, joined the Institute for the examination of totalitarian regimes and recently is enjoying his sabbatical - i.e. parental leave. 

His main advice for others: Live the life that you want to live. Have great people around you.



Valerie Kozelska Schafer: Socially conscious entrepreneur


Valerie has managed to combine her great business talent with the deeply rooted wish to help and support others. During her MBA studies in Taiwan, her and her husband, have started to build their social enterprise. Living in a small Moravian village, Valerie is managing their own company and at the same time is renovating a historical building in the center of Znojmo.

Her main advice for others: Be open, opportunities will show up. Do what you believe in. A life is too short to waste it. 

  


We thank to our exceptional speakers for their time and effort as well as to all attendees for joining this great evening.
We are looking forward to seeing you at one of our next events.
Pavlina
on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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PS: Thank You for Your positive feedback shared during and after the event :)

E.g. One of the many reasons why CEMS is a great choice: The frequent and insightful events with Alumni. Shoutout to the Alumni Team for organizing this talk! 
Florian, current CEMS Student

15 Oct 2017

Membership benefits

Dear alumni
Have you ever thought of becoming an official, paying member of the association or renewing your membership?

The benefits

There is a number of benefits which you can get by doing so:

  • You get access to the CEMS Student & Alumni Directories currently consisting of 11 000 alumni and 1 000 students.
  • You get access to all global events - e.g. the Annual Events, Career Forum, Waltzing Days, or events organized by professional groups.
  • You get access to online and in-person mentoring as well as the online job market.
  • You will receive the CEMS magazine and eNewsletters.
  • Last but not least: By paying your membership fee you allow the local committee (yes, it is us :-)) to organize more and better events. And - you somehow give back what you get from CEMS.

If you want to know more please let us know or check the CAA website.


Our plan for the next year

In the upcoming year our goal is to increase the number of paying members and thus improve our activities and also re-gain our right to take part and vote at CAA Assembly.

Vojtech
on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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10 Oct 2017

Impressions from the General CEMS Alumni Assembly 2017

What an impressive team of dedicated, smart and mature people, who can not only discuss, share best practices and brainstorm about future direction of the CEMS Alumni Association but also create a clear strategy, split responsibilities and motivate each other to act upon them.

This is the very first impression that comes to my mind when reflecting on the General CEMS Alumni Association (CAA) Assembly held during the first October weekend in Warsaw.



The General CAA Aseembly 2017 was hosted by the LC in Poland and the Warsaw School of Economics. The participants were CAA global board memebers, CEMS Alumni global team and presidents of LCs. 

The Czech Republic did not take part in this event for several years. Nevertheless it seemed as if we were always represented considering the very warm welcome from all other attendees and the immediate inclusion into the future strategy setting. 




The CEMS Programme is very well known for the highly engaged community of CEMS Students. 

Yet seeing the same level of dedication and commitment among experienced CEMS Alumni reminded me again how unique the CEMS Alumni Community actually is and that CEMS is without any doubt an amazing life-long learning journey.
  


Apart from the intense official programme, there was also space for social gathering and informal get-together. After the weekend in Warsaw I again understood the full meaning of the unbelievable Polish hospitality



What are the key updates from the Warsaw meeting?
  • We have a new CAA Board with Alberto Constans as the new CAA President. There is tremendous amount of experience, expertise as well as the dedication among the team members of the new board team and LC Presidents. 
  • Thanks to the broad CEMS Alumni sruvey held recently, we have objective in-depth insight into the preferences of CEMS Alumni all around the world
  • CAA Board has defined a clear global strategy:
    • Getting the basics right
    • Building strong and unique value proposition of CEMS Alumni  


Which global projects will be Czech Republic contributing to?
  • Delivery of the CEMS Alumni LC start-up package 
  • Driving Thoughtleadership and CEMS Social Partnership
  • CEMS Talk to become a global concept


What are the goals of the Alumni Community in the Czech Republic after the Warsaw event?
  • Increase the number of active CEMS Alumni and work pro-actively with fresh graduates
  • Expand the CEMS Alumni Board Team
  • Continue with regular CEMS Talk and bring them also online
  • Deliver one flagship social event per year
  • Intensify the collaboration with CEMS Club Prague 


What do we need?
  • We need Your help and support. If you are interested in the CEMS Alumni Community and want to join as a new member of the CEMS Alumni Board or rather offer a hand on an ad-hoc basis - please let us know at cemsalumni@seznam.cz
Stay tuned. There is a lot coming in the CEMS Alumni Community :)
Warm regards from Warsaw,





Pavlína
on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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9 Oct 2017

CEMS Breakfast: connecting CEMS Alumni and Students

On Friday, October 6th, CEMS Alumni and current CEMS Students got together for a delicious CEMS Breakfast at Secret of Raw in Prague. 

The official topic of the day was Digital transformation and its implications on the future career of CEMSies




The whole event was held in an informal atmosphere, so the open discussion between graduates and soon-to be graduates was covering as broad topics as career opportunities, hiking and exotic vacations.

Key take-aways from the event:

  • If you are not 100% sure of what you want to do, choose a career that allows you to experience different functions.
  • CEMS is just the beginning of a truly international experience.
  • Stay connected with the CEMS community after graduation :)


Feedback we have received:

It was great to discuss new ideas accompanied by a delicious breakfast! Kate, CEMS Student

What I found very nice is that Alumni are still interested in meeting CEMSies. Also it was really nice to hear about their experiences from studying and working and career paths. Personally, I was lucky to have met a person from my future exchange university and I got really useful tips. All in all the unique value of being a CEMSie was proven and it was an inspirational morning. Monika, CEMS Student

We are looking forward to seeing you on other CEMS events co-organized by CEMS Alumni Association and CEMS Club Prague,

Florian Brezina (CEMS Club Alumni Representative)
and Pavlina Simurdova (CEMS Alumni President)

on behalf of your CEMS Alumni Board Team
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