Celebrating 15 years of LBS with Ambassador Lauder

In the presence of our Founder and President Ambassador Ronald. S. Lauder, our Vice President Prof. Jacob I. Biderman, the Executive VP and CEO of The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation Rabbi Joshua Spinner, the LBS Executive Director Alexander Zirkler, as well as many distinguished guests, faculty members and students, we were delighted to celebrate 15 years of Lauder Business School!

Founded in 2003 as a Jewish initiative, LBS has seen constant growth and has developed into one of the leading and renowned business schools in Europe. The anniversary ceremony celebrated more than 800 successful alumni, 360 current students, numerous fruitful co-operations, partnerships, friendships and marriages that have taken place at Lauder Business School throughout the years. Together we reminisced over the founding years, including the first cohort consisting of 5 students, and proudly looked at the great achievements so far as well as future goals.

Moreover, we are extremely pleased to announce that this ceremony was initiated and planned by two very proactive LBS bachelor students, Paz Barsky and Elizaveta Shchapova. This is exactly what Lauder Business School stands for, excellence, proactivity and leadership potential of our students to influence the business world of today and to lead the changes of tomorrow.

Paz and Elizaveta explained how it all started: “We are standing here today, speaking about a dream that became reality. We are here today because 9 months ago, filled with hope, we were crazy enough to think that we could just send a letter to Ambassador Lauder and actually get not only a response, but the acceptance of our invitation! Ambassador Lauder, today we would like to show you how much influence this place has on us and will have on our future!”

LBS’ Vice President Prof. Jacob I. Biderman gave a speech remembering meeting the young and passionate Ronald S. Lauder for the first time with a clear vision in his mind, “to bring together Jewish youth after the fall of the Iron Curtain and to give them an opportunity for education”.

In his address Ambassador Lauder explained his motivation for founding Lauder Business School: “[…] looking back 30 years ago, we didn’t really understand how to do business in Eastern Europe. I knew that a new generation of leaders has to be exposed to a new form of business education and I thought Vienna, which was a traditional crossroads between East and West would be a perfect location. […] And it goes back to some of the oldest teaching, “It’s better not to give a person a fish. It’s more important to teach them how to fish.” That is what we wanted to do here and with all your help we’ve made this a reality.”

He concluded the ceremony with:

“[…] If there is one thing I want you to know when you leave this school, is that success comes with responsibility. There are more than enough rich people in the world today, but the question is what do they do with their wealth? Do they help their communities grow stronger, do they educate the next generation so that they can improve the world? That is what I want to see for graduates of Lauder Business School. I want to see great successes for every one of you. But also, I want to see wonderful new ideas on how to improve everything around you. My dream was always to create Jewish life in Europe again and this school and all of you have helped me see this dream come true. I cannot thank you enough. You’ve all made me so proud.”