Current Alumni of the Year recipients

Anne-Laure Kiechel

Anne-Laure started her inspiring career at Lehman Brothers, where she headed the DCM practice for France and Benelux, before co-heading ‎the bank’s Global Finance practice. After this, she became a Partner in the Financing Advisory group at Rothschild & Co, where she created and headed Rothschild's Rating Advisory practice and developed and headed Rothschild’s Sovereign Advisory group. Between 2016-2019 Anne-Laure served as Advisor to the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Following this experience, Anne-Laure decided to create Global Sovereign Advisory (GSA). GSA is dedicated to advising States and State-owned entities around the world. GSA is in particular active in macro-fiscal and policy matters, economic strategy as well as financing and debt strategy, issuance and management. Additionally, she is a member of The Committee for Development Policy (CDP), a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), where she advises the Council on a wide range of issues that are relevant for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. On the side, she is a Chairman of the Foundation's Strategic Committee at the renowned Sorbonne University.

As founder and CEO of Global Sovereign Advisory (GSA), Anne-Laure promotes an holistic approach to public sector problematics, addressing policy as well as financial issues, across the globe. Moreover, she contributes to reviewing and monitoring the less developed countries (LDC), resulting in recommendations to ECOSOC and the UN General Assembly. This clearly highlights that as a global citizen, she attains much importance to the integrity and excellence she is striving for in her pursuits, promoting inclusiveness for all countries. Additionally, she continues to contribute to the institutions that gave her the empowering environment to grow, by providing strategic advice.

Lawrence Gimeno Sierra

Lawrence completed his Bachelor' degree at WU in International Business Administration and then completed his CEMS MIM at WU and LSE. During this time he gained the idea for his business the Austrian College Sports League, due to his love of basketball and being unsatisfied with the sports club system in Austria/Europe. He always had a passion for athleticism and creating a better future for student generations by creating fulfilling jobs. At the end of his studies, Lawrence decided to become a sportswear designer and engage with sports business. Currently he is the founder of ACSL (Austrian College Sports League), a sports organisation that aims to make the student life of Austrian students engaging and helps in growing their identification with their university and self.

Lawrence continues to be a role model for young people around the globe. His company, ACSL, has managed to grow substantially over the last years going from a bedroom operation into the biggest college sports league in attendance in Europe and having basketball and football games broadcast on national TV. With this idea, Lawrence has especially had a massive impact on new students that are in a new city and seek new connections - sporting events are the perfect stage for this and bring those together from all walks of life. His dedication to college sports, health and self-development highlights him as a global citizen and his impact on society as a whole while breaking down barriers for those around him. 

Mie Dahl

Mie did her BSc in International Business & Politics at Copenhagen Business School and then joined the CEMS MIM Program at CBS and FGV EAESP in São Paulo. During her CEMS MIM, she was the Student Board Representative for CBS and led the Corporate & Social Partners team. She did a Master’s in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School of Government while working as a research assistant at the Arctic Initiative, investigating blending of scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems, and as a teaching assistant in Adaptive Leadership. She did an internship with Gartner and worked as a research analyst on the crisis in Venezuela. She then joined McKinsey & Company as a management consultant. Mie’s passion for development, combatting corruption, improving public health, and connecting with marginalized communities persuaded her to change career path and become a freelance journalist in Colombia where she covers politics, economics, environmental issues and conflict.

Mie’s spark for journalism and focus on the environment and democracy have shaped her to shine brightly in her field. Her dedication to addressing systemic inequalities, conflict and environmental crime have shown in international media how such topics do not only affect locals, but the environment and human rights for all of us. She documented e.g. the peace process in Colombia, migration crisis in Latin America, the crisis in Venezuela and the consequences of illegal gold mining (Mie went to remote gold mines to understand the human and environmental impacts). Her impact highlights several CEMS values: from global citizenship to professional accountability and responsible leadership.