Uncategorized | Graduate Business Forum

PRESS RELEASE

Prestigious 2016 GBF Leadership Awards bestowed upon student leaders from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business and London School of Economics and Political Science

April 8th 2016 (St. Gallen, Switzerland) – Student leaders from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) received top honours for their contributions to the areas of responsible leadership, sustainability and student government at the 2016 Graduate Business Conference (GBC2016) of the Graduate Business Forum (GBF) hosted by the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Over 100 elected student government leaders and alumni drawn from the top 50 global business schools and MBA programs around the world and distinguished leaders in business and academics met at the University of St. Gallen campus from April 6-8 to share best practices on student government, global views on responsible leadership and learn from global business, industry leaders and each other. Dr. Christoph Franz, Chairman of Roche Group, opened the GBC2016 by sharing his insights on the conference theme Giving Back: The Responsibility of Future Leaders.

The 2016 GBF Leadership Awards, in honour of this years’ student leader achievers across the top business schools around the world, were presented by Jim Deveau, GBF Founder, Wieteke Dupain, GBF CEO, and Prof. Dr. Kuno Schedler, Vice President Research & Faculty at the University of St. Gallen.

Vaibhav Agarwal and Jason Burchard from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) were presented the GBF 2016 Student Leadership Award for their vision and achievements increasing networking opportunities and community building between current students, prospective candidates and alumni of their program. Vaibhav and Jason founded the “Student Ambassador Programme” to communicate the aims and culture of LSE to prospective students by matching candidates to an ambassador based on nationality, background and work experience; this initiative helped reach over 150 LSE offer holders and generated 10% more applications despite a decreasing trend. They secured a commitment of school-level funding to organize the programme going forward each year. The team instituted annual student conferences for LSE students at Oxford and Cambridge. Moreover, the LSE student team reached out to alumni to increase their participation in school activities like mentorships and alumni-only events.

Abby Schwartz from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business received the GBF 2016 Responsible Leadership Award for successfully spearheading diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives at McDonough. Abby identified the need to make D&I a priority in the MBA program and worked together with the Dean, students, administration, admissions department and faculty to create consciousness about the subject and gain support. The legacy that Abby leaves at McDonough is apparent. She influenced the Student Government Association to create a new Vice President for D&I position and achieved a 400% increase in women leadership positions in the newly elected student government. In addition, she created a D&I workshop for students and staff, influenced admissions to consciously reflect on D&I in the admissions process, to increase the number of women in the program from 31 to 40% in the next few years, to add questions in end-of-year surveys to measure inclusiveness in the school culture and to even create a lactation room for students and staff who are also parents.

Runner up and finalist Rohit Gupta from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was recognised for his outstanding leadership in creating a co-learning environment and help students build a strong professional network in the Hong Kong community. Using the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) model, Rohit managed to gain the support of students, alumni and professors to participate in this initiative and look for mentors willing to share their knowledge and experience. So far the initiative has been a great success with sessions devoted to Finance, Consulting and Marketing, helping students to explore different industries and expand their network. Rohit is looking to expand this idea and adapt it for the Hong Kong unemployed youth in collaboration with the HK International Finance Center.

Graduate Business Forum CEO Wieteke Dupain says: “The theme of this years’ conference is “Giving back: the Responsibility of Future Leaders”. The GBF vision and mission is to inspire student leaders, during their time in office, to envision and drive initiatives that lead to transformational change for their program, community or society at large. This years’ winners are a true inspiration for future student leaders to idntify and consciously focus their efforts on one area of change where they can create substantial change and leave a lasting legacy as a student leader.”

Photos
Credits to Robin Bertschinger ©2016

Jim Deveau, GBF Founder; Prof. Dr. Kuno Schedler, VP Research & Faculty University of St.Gallen; Rocio Perez Jimenez, VP GBF Leadership Awards; Dr. oec. Jurgen Brucker, Dean External Relations University of St.Gallen; Rohit Gupta, GBF Leadership Awards Finalist 2016, CUHK, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Prof. Simon Evenett, Dean of the MBA Program, University of St.Gallen; Abby Schwartz, GBF Responsible Leadership Award Winner 2016, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business; Dr. Sascha Spoun, President of Leuphana Universität Lüneburg; Vaibhav Agarwal and Jason Burchard, GBF Student Leadership Award Winners 2016, London School of Economics and Political Science; John Plender, Senior Editor of Financial Times and Columnist for The Economist; Wieteke Dupain, GBF CEO; Corey Dortch, Director MBA Program Emory University Goizueta Business School; Stephan Chambers, Director of International Strategy at Oxford and Chair of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship; Niall O’Hea, GBF Chairman

Acknowledgement Speech Vaibhav Agarwal and Jason Burchard, GBF Student Leadership Award Winners 2016, London School of Economics and Political Science at the GBF Leadership Awards Commemorative Banquet and Gala 2016

From left to right. Wieteke Dupain, GBF CEO, Vaibhav Agarwal and Jason Burchard, GBF Student Leadership Award Winners 2016, London School of Economics and Political Science; Jim Deveau, GBF Founder

From left to right. Jim Deveau, GBF Founder; Rocio Perez Jimenez, VP GBF Leadership Awards; Rohit Gupta, GBF Leadership Awards Finalist 2016, CUHK, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Abby Schwartz, GBF Responsible Leadership Award Winner 2016, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business; Vaibhav Agarwal and Jason Burchard, GBF Student Leadership Award Winners 2016, London School of Economics and Political Science; Wieteke Dupain, GBF CEO; Niall O’Hea, GBF Chairman

Jim Deveau, GBF Founder; Stephan Chambers, Director of International Strategy at Oxford and Chair of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship; Vaibhav Agarwal and Jason Burchard, GBF Student Leadership Award Winners 2016, London School of Economics and Political Science; Wieteke Dupain, GBF CEO at the GBF 2016 Leadership Awards Commemorative Banquet and Gala

Prof. Dr. Kuno Schedler, VP Research & Faculty at the University of St.Gallen at the Leadership Awards Commemorative Banquet and Gala 2016

GBF Responsible Leadership Award Winner 2016 Abby Schwartz from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business at the GBF Leadership Awards Commemorative Banquet and Gala

About the Graduate Business Forum

Established in 1983, the Graduate Business Forum (GBF) (www.graduatebusinessforum.com) is a global organization dedicated to developing responsible leadership and global citizenship, with influence, through an exclusive network of student leaders and alumni from the world’s top 50 business schools.

The GBF runs a number of activities to support the development of leadership skills for business school students through newsletters, shared knowledge platforms and networking events including the annual Graduate Business Conference (GBC), hosted by one of the GBF member schools, drawn from the top 50 business schools and MBA programs globally.

Over the last 30+ years, the GBF has seen:

3,000+ student leaders participating in GBCs
30+ countries with participating business schools
400+ forums and workshops helping inspire future leaders by the exchange of leadership initiatives, improved organizational approaches for student governments, implementation of new student initiatives, and an increased consciousness towards social responsibility and ethical leadership.
300+ corporate executives, government officials and other leaders who have contributed time and inspiration
Countless projects around the world fueled by inspirations from GBF participation that made a positive difference in the world

About the GBF Leadership Awards
Every year the GBF selects two exceptional student leaders or teams to win the global Student Leadership Award (SLA) and Responsible Leadership Award (RLA).

The winners are role models for student leadership and responsible leadership at the global level and have succeeded in making a significant impact within the graduate business community or society.

The Student Leadership Award was introduced in 1991 by the Board of Directors of the Graduate Business Forum to recognize outstanding leadership, innovation and a commitment to the greater community at the graduate business level. The Responsible Leadership Award and Fund Grants were introduced in 2010 to honor, fund and support contributions of Business School students to society at large.

The Awards are open to full‑time graduate business students of GBF member schools participating in the annual Graduate Business Conference. The award is presented at the GBF Student and Responsible Leadership Awards Commemorative Banquet and Gala at the annual Graduate Business Conference. Previous presenters of the Awards include HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, CEO of Bayer Greater China Celina Chew and Ken Morse, serial entrepreneur, Professor and Member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship supporting Barack Obama’s innovation strategy.

Further Information

For further information on the criteria and how to be nominated, as well as a list of previous winners, please visit: http://graduatebusinessforum.com/awards

For further information on the award winners or GBF or to receive more pictures of the Graduate Business Conference or Award Night please contact us at:

leadership@graduatebusinessforum.com

Main Contact Persons:

Israel Roman Cortes, VP Leadership Awards, Graduate Business Forum
E-mail: israel.cortes@graduatebusinessforum.com

Rocio Perez Jimenez, VP Leadership Awards, Graduate Business Forum
E-mail: rocio.perezjimenez@graduatebusinessforum.com

Wieteke Dupain, CEO, Graduate Business Forum
Email: wieteke.dupain@graduatebusinessforum.com

Jim Deveau, Founder, Graduate Business Forum
E-mail: jim.deveau@graduatebusinessforum.com

Student Leadership Award 2015

The winner of the 2015 GBF Student Leadership Award was Alexander Brown from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). During his tenure as President of the Tepper Graduate Business Association his team developed two initiatives called CMU Idea Market place and CMU Idea Space to increase the amount of collaboration and knowledge transfer among graduate schools at Carnegie Mellon.

The first initiative, CMU Idea Marketplace, was to develop a committee of two students from each graduate program. The committee acts as a graduate student think-tank, focusing to identify broad student and administrative level institutional changes that need to be put into place to increase interactions across programs, help implement cultural change and encourage collaborative behavior. Main goal is to develop a series of informational events throughout the year whereby student organizations and faculty are openly invited to present subject matters to the whole student body (grads and undergrads) at CMU.

The second initiative, CMU Idea Space, was to develop a campus-wide competition that brought together graduate students to compete by developing socially-motivated solutions to emerging societal issues. Teams had three days to form interdisciplinary teams and fully develop and present their issues and proposed solutions. The competition was judged by local professionals, government officials and university representatives. Winners won monetary prizes and an opportunity to partner with the Forbes Fund, a local non-profit incubator.

Main challenges during the implementation of these projects were the funding, recruitment of team members in the graduate school and leadership. Funding was covered by a grant received from CMU President’s office; team members were actively recruited by Alex and his team among the other Graduate schools, with a special focus on the initiatives continuity and legacy; and the leadership challenge was solved by Alex himself who developed his leadership skills with help of his mentor and introduced an innovative management style based on Project Management philosophy. Nevertheless Alex did not lose sight that it was a campus collaboration and made sure that decision making was shared and vetted.

Alexander Brown and his team showed that cross-collaboration is possible in a top University like CMU, and create a more enriching experience for MBA students who learn how to form successful multidisciplinary teams and help to transform ideas into reality.

Responsible Leadership Award 2015

The National University of Singapore (NUS) MBA Social Impact Club received the 2015 GBF Responsible Leadership Award for their efforts to provide a sustainable water source for victims of Typhoon Haya in the Philippines, in partnership with the local NGO SIBAT.

The NUS MBA Social Impact is the primary avenue for members of the MBA cohort to make a difference in society. Rooted in its core values of Awareness, Sustainability, Education, and Empowerment, the club strives to create events and initiatives that advocate these ideals, in line with the skills and capabilities of aspiring future business leaders. Current members Julian Ragragio, Marco Alfonso Ordonez, Ashima Chadhary Wadhawan and Adrian Moses Albano, took the challenge and decided to work in conjunction with SIBAT in the small municipality of Tolosa, in the Philippines; to provide reliable, safe and adequate access to clean water.

Within the municipality, six towns have been prioritized for water supply system rehabilitation. Of the sites identified, one town, comprising of 150 households, has been selected to spearhead the overall project. The proposed solar water supply system will utilize a submersible pump that is capable of producing upwards of 20,000 liters of water per day through a solar generator. Aside from the solar water pump system, other components such as piping and tap stands will be installed. This system will have sufficient capacity to deliver water for all 150 households, Once the team has succeeded in implementing their pilot project, they will move towards implementing similar solar pump systems for five other sites.

One of the main challenges the NUS Social Impact Club team had to face was to gain the trust of the NGO SIBAT in order to establish a cooperation framework between both partners. Through their first meeting, the team was able to articulate their backgrounds, business know-how, and most importantly, their passion to make a difference. In the end, the team gained their confidence to proceed with the partnership and worked towards raising funds. The new partners won the Sky Grant last March, which is sponsored by the French oil giant TOTAL, through a very challenging process and without actually being present in the final project pitching in Paris!

The NUS MBA Social Impact club found a winning formula to partner students with an NGO, in order to develop in conjunction a social project where they can use their knowledge and skills to make a difference and give back to society.

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Prestigious 2016 GBF Leadership Awards bestowed upon student leaders from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business and London School of Economics and Political Science

Leadership Awards 2015