On July 16, Andrei Postelnicu (A 98, J 99) of Romania, Ondrej Socuvka (A 01, CSS 04, E 04) of Slovakia and Anna Stumpf (A 07, E 08) of Hungary spoke to AIPES students at the alumni career panel in Prague.

Throughout the panel, alumni discussed how their own TFAS experiences influenced their careers, which factors motivated their career decisions and what the students could do in order to advance their job searches.

The alumni panelists also commented about the current path of U.S. foreign policy in the region and how it compares to when they were AIPES students.

This panel was a first for AIPES, as in the past the only alumni-to-student interaction was through guest speakers. Based on its success, program director Matt Kwasiborski hopes to continue this program in the future.

“It was great being able to expose our students to 3 very prominent and successful alumni from the Central European region,” said Kwasiborski. “I would love to be able to make this an annual tradition.”

The panel was not just beneficial to the students, but also to the alumni.

“It was such a pleasure to meet this year’s class and it reminded me of the great times I had while in Prague!” said Stumpf. “I have even kept in touch with some of the students after the panel [to give more career advice].”

In addition to alumni serving as panelists, AIPES graduation also boasted a record number of alumni attendants.

Nearly 15 alumni attended graduation on July 28, where Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk spoke.

The ceremony gave alumni the chance to catch up with one another and met the class of 2010.

Alumni Panelist Bios: 

• Andrei Postelnicu has worked for the Financial Times, Bloomberg and recently served as communications director for the President of the Romanian Senate who ran for President of Romania in November 2009, Mr. Mircea Geoană. Currently, Andrei is a communications consultant and is earning his pilot license.
• Ondrej Socuvka has served in the offices of former Slovakian Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda and Finance Minister, Mr. Ivan Mikloš. Ondrej is now working in the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava.
• Anna Stumpf is now working as an officer at the American Desk within the Hungarian Foreign Ministry and is co-founder of the Common Sense Society, a Hungarian debate organization dedicated to exploring the political and economic affairs of Hungary and surrounding region.