Pericles proud to announce Selma Ribica and Antoine Sallé de Chou as our November, 2010, students of the month. Selma and Antoine, our Pericles power couple, will be starting INSEAD Singapore in January; they personify the cosmpolitan nature of business today today in Russia, as well as the international aspect of studying for an MBA.
Selma's life has always been international in nature. After growing up in Bosnia, she studied international economics in Prague, completed a master's degree in marketing in Paris, and spent her early career working on various Real Estate projects in Italy and the Czech Republic. In 2007, she joined Jones Lang LaSalle Moscow as a Director, responsible for major projects in the Moscow Real Estate market. She stayed in that position until 2010, when she decided that she would like to enhance her business knowledge by obtaining an MBA. We at Pericles first met Selma at that time, and we are proud of her achievements: she scored a 690 on GMAT, and will start INSEAD (together with Antoine) in January, 2011.
If all of this was not enough, Selma also loves to travel and cook, and she is fluent in five languages (Russian, English, Czech, Bosnian and Italian). She is currently using her last few months before her MBA program commences studying French in Paris.
Antoine's career has already spanned three continents. After graduating from La Sorbonne in 2003 with a Bachelors in History, he workedin New York for a year before being inspired to pursue a carrier in international public affairs. He joined the Science Po Paris International Affairs Master in 2004, which gave him many exciting experiences, ranging from being the Assistant of a former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, to representing France at a United Nations negotiation in New York. In particular, a seven-month assignment at the French Embassy in Kiev introduced him to economic diplomacy and the CIS economies. This experience convinced him to shift away from security issues and to apply as a junior economist at the French Embassy in Moscow, where he started in September, 2007.
This switch to economics proved very challenging, as his primary education was not in macroeconomics. Nevertheless, the quality of his work and his very fast progression led to a promotion after only one year. On the eve on the financial crisis, and following a demanding selection process, he was offered the position of the French Financial Attaché for Russia & CIS, an enriching experience with a specific work focus on global financial governance and regulation, one of the most important issues on today's international agenda.
During his assignment in Moscow, Antoine has also had the opportunity to lecture on Russian economy at the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), in parallel with his Embassy work.
Antoine’s international exposure has been the driving force of his personal development. He has lived in China, UK, USA, Austria, Ukraine and Russia and has regularly traveled in the CIS region on business trips. For the last eight years, Antoine has spent less than two years in France, his native country.
Both Antoine and Selma have thanked Pericles for helping them with their MBA preparations. We at Pericles are proud of their success and happy to make them collectively our Students of the Month. Antoine and Selma represent the truely global nature of obtaining an MBA today, and we look forward to their success at INSEAD and beyond.
