CEMS Celebrated 20 Years at VŠE

On Thursday, April 19, 2018, a celebration of „20 Years of CEMS at VŠE“ took place on the premises of the University of Economics, Prague. Moreover, CEMS Alliance celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

The official program started in the early afternoon with various sessions dedicated to Corporate Partners, Alumni, current students, as well as the prospective ones. Moreover, a CEMS stand where CEMS students answered questions and provided information to the prospective students was available during the whole day in the Rajská Building Atrium.

Regarding the afternoon program, participants could choose from “CEMS Talk: Mentoring” or “CEMS Mock Assessment Centre”. Active participants of the CEMS Talk were Pavlína Šimurdová, President of the CEMS Alumni Association Prague, Partner Development in EdTech, EDU Enthusiast, Vojtěch Opleštil, Vice-President of the CEMS Alumni Association Prague, Management Consultant at PWC, and Jan Gemrich, CEMS alumnus, exGoogler and Partner at Focus Design. During the session, the concept of mentoring through the CEMS alumni experience (mentors) together with the experience of the CEMS students (mentees) was introduced. CEMS Mock Assessment Centre was as usual dedicated to prospective students willing to experience the atmosphere of a real Assessment Centre, which is part of the admission procedure of the programme.

Later in the afternoon, the main part of the program started. It was opened by an inaugural speech by Hana Machková, Rector of the University, member of the CEMS Strategic Board, who talked about the history and path of the programme at VŠE. The panel discussion among 5 CEMS Alumni from the years 1998 – 2016 followed. The discussion was moderated by the CEMS Academic Director Ladislav Tyll and the CEMS alumnus Petr Šmíd, Head of Consumer Marketing CEE at Google, and it concentrated on the career path of the Alumni after graduation, as well as the importance of CEMS network and possibilities available thanks to the programme. Alumni participating in the discussion were:

  • Tomáš Hruška (graduation in 1998) – General Manager at L’Oréal Czech Republic / Hungary / Slovakia,
  • Michal Sládek (graduation in 2003) – Restructuring and Growth leader, recently at OKD, a.s.,
  • Matouš Michněvič (graduation in 2006) – Vice President at Merchant Loyalty & Partnerships,
  • Marie Vyskočilová (graduation in 2010) – Head of Category Management & Trade Marketing CZ/SK at Henkel,
  • Dominik Novák (graduation in 2016) – Senior Consultant, Strategy at Deloitte Czech Republic.

The celebration was wrapped by a Soirée in the university restaurant Academic Club. Over 150 CEMS Alumni, Corporate Partners, students, and academics gathered to celebrate the anniversary of CEMS at our university in a relaxed atmosphere of the summerlike evening. Hopefully, this great attendance of all CEMS stakeholders will contribute to the future CEMS alumni activities in the Czech Republic.

Photo Gallery from the event.