Ildikó Szüts of OTP Bank: the woman who won the golden pumps

Ildikó Szüts won the 2011 Best Female Leader award of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary (AmCham). Ms Szüts, who is the communications director and the chairman's advisor at Hungary's largest bank, OTP Bank, was chosen from 52 entrants.

The award, which was given for the second time in Hungary, is meant to call attention to successful, inspiring women whom many consider their role models. In addition to a golden shoe figure, Ms Szüts will receive a hand-crafted pair of shoes from Hungarian designer Réka Vágó as her prize.

Ms Szüts worked for state postal services provider Magyar Posta as a human resources manager in the 1990s. She introduced human resources management models and organization methodology previously unknow at one of Hungary\'s largest employers – and did this in an empathic, humane manner that allowed communication with the trade unions and workers to proceed smoothly, the award panel said.

The award panel was headed by Andrea Jádi-Németh of bpv Jádi-Németh and comprised of last year's winner, Csilla Vízvári of IRMÁK Nonprofit, Péter Dávid, CEO of AmCham, Kornélia Vass, HR director of Citibank, Lajos Palásti, CEO of Jabil Circuit Magyarország, Zsolt Mayer of MARS and Norbert Fogarasi of Morgan Stanley & Co. International.

The runners up for the award were Júlia Király, deputy governor of the Hungarian National Bank, Réka Matheidesz, founder of design fair WAMP, Éva Patzauer, founder of the Csodalámpa Foundation, which grants the wishes of terminally ill children, and Éva Sándorné Kriszt, the only female rector in Hungary, who heads the Budapesti Gazdasági Főiskola, a business college.