It was not easy for the jury to select the winners among the 21 nominations from 15 institutions and nine countries (Austria, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Oman, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, and Ukraine) that were received this year. All the candidates were nominated because of their significant individual achievements and important contribution to their respective institutions and field of work. When deciding on the winners, the jury took into consideration a number of criteria, including quality of the content and nomination presentation; breadth of the achievement; relevance to and impact on practice; standing in international circles as well as locally; contribution to the development of CEEMAN and potential transferability of the achievement to broader CEEMAN community.
The following nominations were selected as winners this year:
- Iryna Tykhomyrova, MIM-Kyiv Business School, Ukraine, in the category of Institutional Management
Being appointed President in 2008, Iryna was the first female to lead a business school in Ukraine, facing a difficult situation in the country due to financial and political crisis, and without external backing of state or religious institutions. Under Iryna’s leadership, the school significantly strengthened its local, regional and international reputation, corporate partnerships (from three corporate clients in 2008 to 33 long-term partners including top industry leaders for whom tailor-made programs are regularly run), top international partners (including Carnegie Mellon, IMD, Harvard, CEIBS as well as several CEEMAN member institutions from Europe, Kazakhstan, South Africa), international accreditations (IQA, AMBA, on the way to AACSB), program portfolio expansion (new non-degree courses, industry-focused MBAs in healthcare, public administration and IT, geographical expansion to regions of Ukraine, distance education, DBA), alumni relations and activities, as well as contribution to social responsibility and state reforms. She is perceived as a respected leader concerned with continuous development and well-being of faculty and staff.
"I am honored to be awarded Championship in the Institutional Management category. My heart has always been with newness and innovations. I have strongly believed that teams and partnerships make great things happen. I am proud today that what I believe in is so highly recognized by this award. For me, it is an award to the School in the first place. Because MIM-Kyiv and its community have always been a highly innovative institution which has been changing my country for the better. The award is also recognition of all CEEMAN’s activities. I am IMTA graduate and many of the ideas were inspired by the IMTA academy program. Moreover, many of MIM-Kyiv’s executives and professors are IMTA graduates as well. It proves that partnerships work. September is also the month when we celebrated MIM-Kyiv’s 30th anniversary. Recognition by the community of high-class pros is of special significance for us. It proves that innovations, teams and partnerships are what we can count on in our unpredictable world for success."
- Vlado Dimovski, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in the category of Research
Vlado is a prolific researcher, high-profile public servant, and an active business consultant. The nomination attributes Vlado with more than 80 scientific papers in recognized journals, 7 scientific monographs, 15 textbooks (his latest book Advanced Management and Leadership Practice was published in 2017 by Pearson), 47 research studies, and 27 book chapters on Slovenian and international issues. His primary areas of expertise are knowledge management and leadership topics, including management security, information analytics, management in social institutions, age management, authentic leadership, and organizational design. He is keen on actively transferring his expertise and research findings into public sector and managerial practice, leading research programs and doctoral theses, and teaching in regular and executive programs both in Slovenia and abroad. He is also active is humanitarian work being a President of Lions Club Ljubljana Forum, and an advisor and volunteer to the association of deafblind persons Dlan.
"I am honored and proud to receive the CEEMAN Award for outstanding achievement by an individual faculty member in research. This award is a well-deserved recognition of the hard research work of the team, and the colleagues within our research group The Impact of Corporate Governance, Organizational Learning, and Knowledge Management on Modern Organization as well as the University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business. We look forward to continuing the research and dissemination to ensure that our research community is equipped with the knowledge to contribute to the challenges of the contemporary issues of our aging society. "
- Marcin Wardaszko, Kozminski University, Poland in the category of Teaching
Marcin has devoted his career to the implementation of simulation gaming and gamification into education, and created a large number of innovative learning and teaching programs with digital game-based learning at their core. Most recently, he and his team have created an innovative virtual reality game-based learning program for public speaking and business idea pitching skills, which is enthusiastically received by both students and teachers. The game system can be used for creating more sophisticated or industry-specific scenarios for new programs and training offers, serve as a platform for future research and development in the use of VR in education. The experience with production and implementation can be transferred to other departments and institutions, including possibilities for localization into other languages and contexts, and obtaining research and commercial access. Marcin’s teaching ratings across courses consistently belong to the top 3% of the courses at the Kozminski Executive Business School.
No award was given this year in the responsible management education category.
The award ceremony will take place at the 27th CEEMAN Annual Conference in Wroclaw, Poland on 26 September.
Read more about the CEEMAN Champion Awards and past winners at www.ceeman.org/awards.