Dear AmCham Members,
In memoriam of Dr. Iván Völgyes, the American Chamber of Commerce is calling for nominations for our Dr. Iván Völgyes Award for Promoting Hungarian-American Business Relations. This annual award is aimed to recognize those individuals who have contributed significantly to the development of the Hungarian-American business relations in the following, but not exclusive, areas of US investment such as through FDI or technology or knowledge or charity.
I help, aggregate, articulate and comprehend mutual interests. The art is to be able to make sure that both sides' interests are clearly met."
- Dr. Iván Völgyes.
Dr. Iván Völgyes was a man credited by many as being the father of modern lobbying in Hungary. Born in Hungary, he moved to the United States in 1956, where, after getting a BA, MA and PhD in International Politics, he worked on John F. Kennedy's election campaign in 1959 and then followed him into the White House. After the fall of the iron curtain, he became instrumental in bringing many U.S. based businesses to Hungary including the Gallup Organization and Reader's Digest. As the chief advisor to General Electric in Hungary, Völgyes also aided in bringing six of GE's 10 global core businesses, along with more than $1 billion in investment. Dr. Iván Völgyes lost his life in an airplane crash in June 2001.
Nomination and voting process
Only AmCham members in good standing can nominate an individual for this award. Each nomination should be accompanied by a maximum one-page summary describing the achievements of the proposed individual. Applications will be reviewed individually and voted on by the AmCham Board. The award will be presented during the Annual General Assembly on December 8, 2025.
Deadline for nominations for this award is November 21st and should be sent to ildiko.takacs-berka [at] amcham.hu (ildiko[dot]takacs-berka[at]amcham[dot]hu).
Best regards,
Írisz Lippai-Nagy
CEO
AmCham Hungary
Previous recipients of the award:
2005 - Péter Hegedűs
2006 - Lajos Sápi
2007 - András Simonyi
2008 - Thomas Ramsey
2009 - László Czirják
2010 - István Gyarmati
2011 - Marcel Szabó
2012 - Charles Huebner
2013 - Robert Peaslee
2014 - Gábor Garai
2015 - László Metzing (posthumous)
2016 - Ambassadors Colleen Bell and Réka Szemerkényi
2017 – Joerg Bauer
2018 - Dr. László Ábrahám and Dr. Gábor Orosz
2019 – Fáth Péter
2021 – Péter Komáromi
2022 - Róbert Ésik
2023 – David Young
2024 – Jádi-Németh Andrea