Seventh annual Think Tank MBA adds immediate value to participants
The 7th annual Atlas Leadership Academy Think Tank MBA program concluded during last week’s Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner, adding 23 promising leaders of liberty to the Think Tank MBA alumni roster of over 140 free market leaders worldwide.
This year’s participants represented 18 different countries. Participants spent 11 intensive days in Fairfax, Virginia, drafting a strategic plan that includes strategies for fundraising, communications and human resource management. Highlights of the Think Tank MBA include the one-day issues campaigns, the special dinner at the home of Atlas Network’s Board member Curtin Winsor, the special dinner at Atlas Network’s Board member Dan Grossman’s home, and the shared experiences and bonds made with fellow classmates throughout the program.Jasmin Guénette of the Montreal Economic Institute remarked that it’s rare to participate in a training with colleagues from like-minded institutes, and it allows for participants to open up about struggles and learn from others with a similar background. Ruzica Stojanovska of the Ohrid Institute in Macedonia provided similar feedback, saying, “I gained so much practical knowledge from the shared experience with my peers and colleagues. We learned so much from each other and that is priceless.”
At the conclusion of the coursework stage in Fairfax, the class attended Atlas Network’s Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner. All participants competed for the John Blundell Elevator Pitch Award, with Jonathan Isaby of the UK’s TaxPayers’ Alliance winning first place. Christian Zaens of the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (Phillipines), and Ximena Ramirez, of Libertad y Desarrollo (Chile) won second and third place, respectively.
Benefits of this training are already making themselves evident. Three participants have already capitalized on opportunities to raise funding for their work, including Baladevan Rangaraju who won the Think Tank Shark Tank’s $25,000 prize for the India Instiute’s i-torney mobile app project, and Candelaria de Elizalde from Argentina’s Libertad y Progreso, who, as runner up in the competition received a $10,000 grant from the judges.
A special thank you to the primary facilitator of the 2014 Think Tank MBA:
Rainer Heufers, SIAP Solutions, Singapore
Here are the participants of the 2014 Think Tank MBA:
Zineb Benalla, Arab Center for Scientific and Humane Studies (Morocco)
Fred Birnbaum, Idaho Freedom Foundation (United States)
Rory Broomfield, The Freedom Association (United Kingdom)
Candelaria de Elizalde, Libertad y Progreso (Argentina)
Jasmin Guénette, Montreal Economic Institute (Canada)
Christiana Hambro, Institute of Economic Affairs (United Kingdom)
Jonathan Isaby, The TaxPayers’ Alliance (United Kingdom)
Zohrab Ismayil, Public Association for Assistance to Free Economy (Azerbaijan)
Eric Kohn, Foundation for Economic Education (United States)
Paul McCarthy, Mannkal Economic Education Foundation (Australia)
Guillermo Peña Panting, Fundacion Eleutera (Honduras)
Ximena Ramirez, Libertad y Desarrollo (Chile)
Baladevan Rangaraju, India Institute (India)
Patrick Reasonover, Taliesin Nexus (United States)
Mateusz Sabat, Civil Development Forum (Poland)
Marni Soupcoff, The Canadian Constitution Foundation (Canada)
Ruzica Stojanovska, Ohrid Institute (Macedonia)
Nathan Tjirmuje, Chevauchee Foundation (Namibia)
Juliano Torres, Estudantes Pela Liberdade (Brazil)
Matthew Tyrmand, OpenTheBooks (United States)
Tricia Yeoh, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Malaysia)
Christian Zaens, Institute for Solidarity in Asia (Phillipines)
Vytautas Zukauskas, Lithuanian Free Market Institute (Lithuania)
Testimonials from 2014 Think Tank MBA participants:
What we do back in the Philippines is something that makes me get out of bed every morning. After the Atlas experience, I will be getting up with more sprite and spunk knowing that I have powerful tools in my freedom arsenal.
-Christian Zaens, Institute for Solidarity in Asia, Phillipines
[The events] proved a wonderful success and I thoroughly enjoyed what was a highly useful and insightful selection of porgrammes put together by Atlas.
-Rory Broomfield, Freedom Association, United Kingdom
The program helped me to create a document which I will use in my office from today on. More importantly, I gained so many practical knowledge from the shared experience with my peers and colleagues, we learned so much from each other and this is priceless.
-Ruzica Stojanovska, Ohrid Institute, Macedonia
Atlas Leadership Academy is Atlas Network’s training and development program. Think Tank MBA is offered within the Atlas Leadership Academy, and all participants earned five credits of the necessary 12 credits to graduate from Atlas Leadership Academy.
The next session of Think Tank MBA will be held in fall 2015. Find more information about this and other Atlas Leadership Academy programs here.