Vilnius, Apr 11, 2013. Despite well-overdue snow in the streets, a dressed-up crowd of business people, public servants and academia united by their common Baltic Management Institute background, and a handful of honoured guests were greeted by BMI Alumni Association to its traditional annual GALA Dinner. 

GALA 2013 was dedicated to this year‘s Lithuanian presidency of the European Union, and this constituted a major theme in the colourful and lively keynote address delivered by Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Linas Linkevičius. The Minister emphasised challenges and opportunities Lithuania is to face in the light of upcoming presidency.

„GALA evening is the most important annual event in the calendar of BMI Alumni Association, because it serves a good purpose of bringing all BMI graduates together at least once a year for a face-to-face gathering. I am glad that our efforts have been rewarded and we are hosting the representatives of all fourteen BMI Executive MBA classes in GALA tonight. It is a big step forward in reviving and uniting the entire BMI Alumni community“, - said Vaiva Tylienė, the President of BMI Alumni Association.

The Annual BMI Alumni Awards this year have attracted 16 nominees for two Association Awards. By vote of about 100 alumni and the special awards committee, the Career of the Year award went to Mr. Giedrius Bandzevičius, the CEO of Statoil Fuel & Retail Lietuva, while Mr. Tomas Andrejauskas, the co-founder and CEO of Probiosanus, won the title of the Entrepreneur of the Year. 

„I cannot call myself a microbiologist, even though the usual terms of trade I‘ve used like „loan“ or „investments“ were replaced by words „bacterium“, „salmonella“, „E.coli“, and similar. Actually, I finally realised that management principles are exactly the same in any kind of business, no matter if it is high-tech firm or a bank.“ – said Mr Andrejauskas, adding that this award has not only endorsed his choice but also made him assume more personal responsibility for successful future results of the business.

For the first time in the history of the event, GALA hosted the photography exhibition. The photographs of alumni Jonas Iržikevičius (BMI EMBA VI), Greta Urmanaitė (BMI EMBA X), Tadas Karkalas (BMI EMBA X), Lina Paukštė (BMI EMBA IX) and Jonas Grincius (BMI EMBA VI) were collected and displayed under one common title „BMI Alumni. Lithuania in my sight“.

This year, unprecedented number of alumni, through their respective companies and personally, sponsored or in any other way supported the GALA Dinner. The Association is proud and thankful to its supporters for their selfless contribution, and hopes for a continuing beneficial cooperation in the future.

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

https://plus.google.com/photos/106727897261956628368/albums/5866995581295750433?authkey=COzCppGOiqz89QE

The Council of BMI Alumni Association and GALA organizing committee is especially grateful to: