A lot of work goes into preparing the gala. As I write this, the final final touches (that’s a highly technical event planning phrase) are being made. The equivalent, if you like, of dotting the eyes and crossing the tees before signing an agreement. The gala will progress like an elegant swan gliding across a lake if all goes well. Should you get a glimpse of how quickly (and inelegantly) the legs are paddling below the waterline, I will have done something wrong indeed! Spare a thought for our organizers. Theirs is a thankless, often unheralded task working behind the scenes, but the success of the CEO Gala, now in its second decade, is proof of how well they have done their job. Spare a thought also for our two sets of shortlisted candidates. You can see the complete list of names in my editorial from the Feb. 21 issue, but for now, all you need to remember is that their enjoyment of the evening will be viewed through a very different prism than everyone else.
I think the gala works on several different levels. For a start, it gives business leaders from both the expat and Hungarian communities a chance to mix and mingle with their peers without the need for any competition (unless they are in the running for an award, of course). But our guests also get the chance to bring their significant other, and with plenty of diplomats and representatives from the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency also thrown into the mix, it makes for quite a heady brew.
For us, that collective whole is the crucial ingredient, and that’s why we added the CEO Community award a couple of years back. This isn’t a dry and dusty business event. We try and keep things light and entertaining, and you know the food and drink will be good. The setting of the Grand Ball Room at the Corinthia Hotel Budapest doesn’t hurt, either. I think the proof of the pudding, or the party, is that people seem so unwilling to go home. Hang around long enough, and there’s sometimes a point early in the morning, when the technicians have started to strip down the ballroom, the waiters are packing away the tables and chairs, and the guests have begun to drift away, when you will see a group of high powered business executives heading purposefully toward a bar with a cheese plate in tow.
To all of our candidates, congratulations on being shortlisted. I say it every year, and I often think nobody believes me, but the winners will only be picked in the minutes before the gala starts. As I write this, I have no idea whose names will be called out on Friday. But I do know they will have earned the accolade. Enjoy the evening, everyone.
Robin Marshall
Editor-in-chief
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of March 21, 2025.
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