This year Corvinus University established a new award to recognize outstanding alumni who have achieved professional excellence while continuously supporting the university community. The award was presented at Corvinus’ annual alumni reunion in June. You were the first to receive the Alumni of the Year Award. How did it feel to accept this recognition? 

I was very happy, and at first I could hardly believe that I could be the first alumni award recipient. Knowing who and how many people have graduated from Corvinus, it is an especially great honor for me that out of such a prestigious alumni community, the very first choice fell on me. 

Why do you personally think it is important to stay actively connected with your alma mater after so many years and to continuously give back to the university community as an alumnus? 

A long time ago, during my studies in Los Angeles, I was struck by how strong alumni networks were in most U.S. universities and how naturally former students stayed connected to their institutions. I attended many useful lectures given by alumni who were further along in their careers, such as company executives. In Hungary, back in the 1990s, most students thought that after graduation they might stay in touch with a few university friends at most. But in America, alumni communities already had a strong tradition, and this had a great impact on me.

 
Already at the start of my career, I became aware of how much I owed to Corvinus and that it would be good to give something back to current students. Since then, I’ve given commencement speeches, participated in professional events, and regularly hold guest lectures. These sessions actually energize me as well, because I receive excellent questions from students. After decades in a banking environment, you develop a certain perspective and mindset about the profession. And then suddenly ten students come along and show you completely different viewpoints—for example, about how younger generations perceive banking services. 

Thanks to the OTP-Corvinus mentoring program and your own guest lectures, you have good insight into the abilities of today’s Corvinus students. What advice would you give to a student preparing for a career in finance—what skills should they develop, and how and where should they start on the job market? 

A Corvinus degree is a very solid entry point to the job market, as the university provides strong professional foundations and good language skills. When I was starting out, these were enough to begin a career. Now, prior internships and confident computer skills are also among the basic expectations. In job interviews we always ask candidates what they think sets them apart from others. It’s worth developing such a distinguishing skill, knowledge, or characteristic already during university years, as it provides an advantage at the start of a career. The first five years on the job market can still be about experimentation, and several changes may fit into that period, but afterwards it’s worth finding a specific field and digging deeper into it.

I often see impatience among young professionals—they want to advance very quickly on the career ladder but are not so keen to put in the extra work during the early years. In my opinion, dedicated, persistent work and loyalty to one’s workplace always pay off in the long run. A Corvinus degree gives you the luxury of not having to compromise, of working in the field you truly want. It’s worth combining this with conscious career planning in the first years, and then I believe one can build a successful career in finance. 

You were a student at Corvinus in the 1990s. What was it like to be a student there back then? 

I studied at Corvinus at a very good time. I started university five years after the regime change, during the heroic age of stock exchange listings, when not only we were learning about the stock market but practically the whole country was. By then, the first modern finance textbooks had been published in Hungarian, so unlike earlier cohorts, we didn’t have to study from poor-quality photocopies. To their credit, the professors modernized their knowledge very quickly after the transition, adapting to Western curricula. Western European and American universities also started connecting with Corvinus, which opened up international scholarship opportunities for us. That’s how I got to study in Los Angeles, and through CEMS in Cologne. At that time, practically everyone who wanted a career in finance came to “Közgáz” (Corvinus), so many of my professional and personal friendships that last to this day were formed at the university. 

Perhaps less known about you is that you actually started your career as a financial journalist while still at university.  

Almost everyone had to work during university; otherwise, most of us couldn’t have supported ourselves. At the time, there were two options: either you worked for a brokerage firm, or, as a finance student, you wrote analyses for the business or stock market sections of what were then predominantly print newspapers. The former was harder to reconcile with university schedules, so I chose journalism and regularly wrote articles and analyses for the business weekly Figyelő. So during the day I was at university, from three to seven I wrote articles, and in the evening I met friends—we went down to the Pinceklub or somewhere in the city. That’s what my student days looked like. 

After graduation, you gave up journalism and deliberately started building your career in the financial sector. What opportunities were available to you and your peers back then? 

After the regime change, large multinational companies began entering Hungary, and brokerage firms were being founded one after another. The finance students who graduated a year or two before us, around 1995, perhaps had even more opportunities than we did; they often became the leaders of these newly established brokerages. Those with language skills could quite quickly get into the first ranks of foreign brokerages as well. 
Five years later, when we graduated, the job market was not as abundant, and by then foreign language proficiency and solid knowledge of modern finance and IT had become basic requirements for better positions. These were the qualifications that got me hired at McKinsey, where my financial career started. 

Looking back at your own university years and career beginnings, what message would you give to today’s Corvinus finance students? 

Make the most of studying at one of the best universities in the country. Build relationships and use the professional network offered by Corvinus: apply to specialized colleges, student organizations, and take part in mentoring programs. Learn at least two foreign languages to a high level at university, and of course apply for international scholarship opportunities as well. If you can truly take advantage of and channel the opportunities offered by the university into your own development, then with a Corvinus degree you can start your career from a very strong position on the job market.