HSE Alumni Awards Laureates Announced

HSE has held the latest Alumni Awards ceremony, presented awards to the best alumni and organized the auction to benefit HSE Endowment.

HSE alumni start their own businesses, work in charity, media and public service – in short, they are employed in various fields, and each year HSE celebrates their achievements. For this purpose the university administration established HSE Alumni Awards, conferred in six categories.

Maxim Oreshkin, current Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, graduate of the Faculty of Economic Sciences, who was nominated even before his appointment, is this year’s winner in the 'Public Service' category. 

Alexey Karaniuk, graduate of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, owner and ideologist of the popular 'Jeffrey's Coffee' cafe,  was the winner in the ‘Beautiful Debut’ category.

Yury Saprykin, founder of the public group Suffering Middle Ages was awarded the prize in the 'Fourth Estate' category for his popularization of historical knowledge in Russia.

Alina Mialo, ICEF graduate in 2015, won the 'Philanthropy’ category for the development of the ICEF evening school.

Dan Lifshitz, ICEF graduate in 2014, was the winner in the 'Corporate Business' category.

Dan was awarded his prize for ‘the extraordinary success that changed the perception of student career opportunities.’ Dan started his career during his second year of studies as an intern at Strategy Partners Group. He then worked at McKinsey, and now holds the position of Chief Operating Officer at Gett. Dan was able to combine work with studies, staying in the top 5/10% of the student rating. In addition, he took an internship in the Netherlands.

The winners in the ‘Private Business’ category are Dmitry Levitsky, owner and managing director of the bar network ‘Darling, I'll Call U Later’ and ‘Dolls Pistols’, for his contribution to the development of the restaurant business of Russia, and Petr Shchekochikhin, co-founder and head of ‘Work-zilla.com — Your personal assistant’, who was given the award for his contribution to the development of remote working in Russia.

At the awards ceremony, a charity auction to launch the ‘Target capital of HSE outstanding alumni’ was held for the first time in the university’s history.

Successful bidders had the opportunity to become members of this capital’s Board of Trustees, who will decide which university projects should receive the fund's annual income.

The most expensive lots were an inscribed classroom and inscribed ‘smart’ bench, each of these lots cost half a million rubles. The lots were bought by Petr Zhukov (graduate of the Faculty of Law in 2004), who is already a member of the Club of donors, and Anastasia Karpova (graduate of the Faculty of Applied Political Science in 2003) respectively. Dinner with the HSE Rector, the most popular lot, was bought by Sergei Ivashkovsky, graduate of the Faculty of Economic Sciences.

In total, the auction raised over RUB 1.8 million. 1.2 million rubles of additional capital is required to complete the formation of the target fund. HSE Endowment administration plans to complete the formation of the ‘Target capital of HSE outstanding alumni’ by the end of 2016. After that the capital will be placed in a management company chosen by the Board of Trustees. Further, the endowment will organize a public fund collection among all interested graduates.