The Hungarian edition of Forbes magazine named CEU alumna Borbála Czakó (IMC '90), global partner at Ernst & Young, one of the 50 most influential women in business in Hungary. Czakó earned an MBA from CEU Business School in 1990, and won CEU’s 20th Anniversary Alumni Hero award in 2011.
Czakó, who is now responsible for regulations and government relations in 140 countries at Ernst & Young, said she’d “never had conscious career plans,” in an interview with Forbes. Nevertheless, she began a long career at the World Bank.
“A friend of mine asked me to go, so I only went out of courtesy. I was even late,” she said, but she ended up spending 10 years in her first position at the World Bank. She left for Ernst & Young in Hungary, where she worked as Country Managing Partner. In 2006 she was named Hungarian ambassador to the U.K.. “It is probably the most complex and beautiful job I’ve ever had,” Czakó said.
Czakó is also is the president of the Hungarian Business Leader’s Forum, which initiated the 20-20-20 Klub with the aim of raising the participation of women in Hungary’s business leadership to 20 percent.
Czakó is an active and generous member of the CEU alumni community, organizing events, contributing to student scholarships at the University and facilitating alumni involvement.