'Personality of the Year' Gala Dinner 2012

15 May 2012

 

  

The Personality of the Year Awards Dinner, which has been organized annually by the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain since 2001, honours two outstanding leaders who have been particularly instrumental in forging closer ties between the two nations. Each year over 500 leaders from the international business, financial, legal, academic and diplomatic communities convene in London at the traditional gala event to pay tribute to the honourees.

As London hosts the Olympic Games in 2012, our event focused on the privilege to live through the fortunate conjunction of the British hand-over of the Olympic Games to Brazil and the seemingly limitless and uniquely exciting business opportunities for both countries with all the added bonuses that the Games bring to our citizens.  The awardees were chosen for their instrumental roles in the strengthening of cooperation between the UK and Brazil in organizing and hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which contributed to promoting business partnerships between the two nations.  This year’s two awardees were Carlos Nuzman and Lord Sebastian Coe.
 

Lord Sebastian Coe is Chair of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, having previously been Chairman of the London 2012 bid company.  He is a double Olympic Champion and 12-time world record holder in athletics, having also won gold in the 1500m and silver in the 800m at both the Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 Games. He retired from competitive athletics in 1990 and became a Conservative MP and Private Secretary to William Hague. In 2002 he was made a Peer – Lord Coe of Ranmore. He received a knighthood in the 2006 New Year’s Honours List.  Seb is also a Vice-President of the International Association of Athletics
 

Carlos Nuzman is the president of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games after leading the successful Rio de Janeiro bid.  Nuzman is a former Olympian volleyball player and was part of the first Olympic Brazilian male volleyball team, later becoming President of the Brazilian Volleyball Federation for 20 years.  He was awarded the Olympic Order in 1993; was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2007.  Carlos Nuzman is a lawyer and was a member of the Brazilian Bar Association and of the Board of Directors of the Rio City Strategic Plan and of the National Sports Council of Brazil from 2002 to 2008.

 

The Governor of Rio, Sergio Cabral, and the Minister for Sport, Hugh Robertson, presented the awardees with the awards.  As Sergio Cabral had to cancel his trip at short notice he presented the award via video and the Secretary of Sport for Rio, Marcia Lins, handed over the award on the night.

Hugh Robertson is the Minister for Sport and The Olympics.  He started his career as an officer in The Life Guards where he saw active service in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, The Gulf War and Bosnia where he commanded the British detachment in Sarajevo and The Household Cavalry on the 1993 Queen’s Birthday Parade and Opening of Parliament. He won the Armourers and Brasiers prize as the top young officer on his course and the Sultan of Brunei’s Special Order of Merit. After leaving the army, he worked at Schroder Investment Management first as Head of New Business Development and later as an Assistant Director.  In 2001, 2005 and 2010 he was elected to Parliament for Faversham and Mid Kent becoming a Whip in 2002 and then Shadow Minister for Sport and the Olympics. He was appointed Minister for Sport and The Olympics in May 2010.

Sergio Cabral is the Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro.  He graduated with a BA in Communications Studies, Journalism from Faculdade da Cidade and initiated his political career at the age of 24 as Operations Director of TurisRio (State of Rio de Janeiro´s Tourism Company). Three years later, in 1990, he was elected State representative.  During his second term he was elected President of Rio de Janeiro´s State House of Representatives.  Mr. Cabral was reelected and during his third term at the State Parliament, he was reelected president and succeeded in consolidating reforms, which gained national attention and as a result of this recognition was elected Senator in 2002.  In 2006, and then again in 2010, he was elected Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

The awards were presented at the Brazilian Chamber Gala Dinner ceremony held on 15th May 2012 at the Hilton Park Lane Hotel.

Photos and videos of the event will be added at a later date but if you would like to purchase some of the pictures please click here .  

 

To see a list of past awardees, the Gala Dinner magazine from 2011 or the programme from 2012 click on the files below: