The Annual Dinner is an occasion for reunion, celebration, inspiration, and networking that brings together graduates, students, and faculty from ORT’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Executive MBA (EMBA) programs —including the blended-learning Executive MBA— each year.
The event—organized by the Graduate School of Business—took place on Thursday, October 26, at the Uruguay Golf Club. Awards were presented for Academic Excellence, Best Business Plan, Most Engaged Class, and Distinguished Alumni.
Celebrating Achievements
Magalí Da Silva, academic coordinator of ORT’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, opened the event by saying: “This is a very significant milestone for our community. It is a time of year that brings us together with great joy. We are here to honor those who have gone the extra mile and, through their dedication, have managed to excel.”
Inspiring excellence
The Academic Excellence Award was presented to Claudio Más.
"I'm surprised—I didn't expect this. I worked hard and put a lot of effort into the race, and this was the result."
Innovating as a team
The Best Business Plan Award, given to the team that stood out for its results and entrepreneurial spirit and had the highest grade point average over the twelve months leading up to the dinner, was awarded to Victoria Lafluf, FernandoRodríguez, and Virginia Recoba.
Enrique Topolansky, director of ORT’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, expressed his honor at presenting this award, noting how gratifying it is to see the participants grow and apply what they learned during the graduate program. “It is a pleasure for me to see a scientific startup receive this recognition.”
Natalia Moreno, the team’s advisor, added that they received this award after a great deal of dedication and hard work. She noted that the biggest challenge of this project was communicating complex and technically difficult concepts in a way that everyone could understand.
For her part, Victoria Lafluf stated: “It has been a long journey. Our goal was to develop a method for performing virtual endovascular diagnostics of structural pathologies, minimizing invasive procedures that pose risks. Even with the techniques available today, we cannot reach the diagnoses we want, or we can, but only at a risk.”
2023 Outstanding MBA Alumnus Award
Next, awards were presented to the Distinguished Alumni. “We are proud to recognize those graduates who have taken our values a step further, demonstrating exceptional commitment, innovation, and the ability to make a positive impact in their respective industries,” said Da Silva.
Amanda García —Director of People and Culture at Megalabs—said, “Simply being nominated is a recognition of my career. I never imagined I’d be where I am today, and I want to thank the teachers who helped shape my path here.”
Magdalena Raffo —Enterprise Agile Coach & Partner at Peregrinus—said: “What an honor. This recognition means so much to me. At one point in my life, I had to reinvent myself professionally. That wasn’t easy. Although I had the tools, it was a challenge that led me to look inward, to discover what my true passion was. I tried to follow that path, to take a leap of faith, but always staying true to myself and pursuing what I felt made a difference. I began to find my path through a lot of hard work. Today, I can’t believe where I am. I feel very fortunate, and this recognition continues to fill my heart even more.”
Mauricio Topolanski —a manager at SC Johnson & Son Uruguay—said: “The MBA program helped me reach a new professional level. ORT supported me every step of the way, helping me balance my professional life with my work life. Now I’m a professor, on the other side of the classroom. It’s a pleasure to share this experience with new generations, who continue to enrich us. I want to express my gratitude for this nomination, which serves as motivation moving forward, but I especially want to emphasize the importance of the entire process.”
Double Recognition from the Community
Amanda García also received the MBA Alumni Community’s Double Recognition Award, as she was the alumna who received the most votes from her peers.
The Participation Award
There was a tie for the Most Engaged Class Award, so it was decided to award it to two classes: the MBA Class of 2022 and the MBA Class of 2023.
Video of the event
https://youtu.be/damNMbXYT6Y