The 2015 BMI Alumni Gala was different. As in the past, executives from all the BMI International Executive MBA cohorts to date were on hand for an evening of fine dining and pleasant interaction. And as in the past, awards were presented and live music was performed…

So what was new? Instead of an outside ‘celebrity’ main speaker, this 10th annual gala dinner on April 9 at the Artis Centrum Hotel in the Vilnius Old Town focused on star contributors to the creation of the BMI Alumni Association itself! Going “back to our roots” is how BMI Alumni President Vaiva Tylienė described it.

And participants indeed got an exclusive picture of how the BMI alumni family was born as well as the values it embodies and horizons for further development in remarks by key founding members of the association: Rolandas Valiūnas, Giedrius Steponkus and Dalius Butkus.

The three were officially inscribed as the first “Members of Honour” of the BMI Alumni Association – a new title that will also be given in the future to members who make great contributions to the association, according to BMI Alumni Council Chairman Tadas Karkalas.

The other highlight was of course the presentation of the annual BMI Alumni Awards:

This year’s CAREER OF THE YEAR award went to Giedrius Voveris (EMBA VIII), who is now Head of Administration and Member of Board at Citadele Bankas. The other finalists were Sergej Butov (EMBA XIV), who became a Partner at SORAINEN law firm, and Tomas Deržanauskas (EMBA XI), who became Managing director at Moller Auto.

The award for ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR was presented to Margarita Abraitė (EMBA XI), co-founder and shareholder of Energy LT LLP which is developing wind-energy projects in the UK. The other finalists were: Martynas Kandziarauskas (EMBA VIII), who businesses include Pažinimo Medis, Parxis and mParking, and Biuro Baltic; and Arūnas Babrauskas (EMBA XIV), General Manager at Mediafon.

Visit the GALA photogallery to get more impressions from the event:

https://goo.gl/photos/zXytxidNJPcvrfS29

The BMI Alumni Association and Gala Dinner organizing committee is especially grateful to main sponsors of the event: