Two dedicated leaders have been announced as winners of a prestigious ORT award.

Mikhail Libkin, Director of ORT Russia, and Hadas Grumet, joint CEO of World ORT Kadima Mada in Israel, receive the 2021 Robert Singer Award for Outstanding Senior ORT Professionals after years of service to the network.

This annual award recognizes those who have attained high levels of achievement for ORT, for the institutions in which they work and for their beneficiaries.

Announcing this year’s recipients, Robert Singer, Chair of the World ORT Board of Trustees, said: “This year’s award recognizes two of the ORT network’s most dedicated and passionate team members. I have worked with and known both Mikhail and Hadas for many years and they are truly worthy winners.

“Hadas’ work not only in Israel but worldwide for ORT during this past year has been vital in ensuring we respond to the Covid crisis in a way that protects our organization now and in the future. She has spent countless hours battling to help others, and we are all indebted to her for her contribution. Hadas is an outstanding Chief Finance Officer both for World ORT and Kadima Mada and is always there to help each staff member and lay leadership of both organizations.

“Mikhail is arguably one of the most passionate ORT advocates in the world. His own story, rising from ORT student to national director, is inspirational – and he is now leading from the front, ensuring our educational provision in Russia is world class.

“The work done by Mikhail and his team is regularly acknowledged by others, so it is only right that we record our own appreciation for his contribution in this way. I have no doubt he will continue to serve ORT for many years to come. He has a huge role to play in the future of our organization.”

As joint CEO of World ORT Kadima Mada and also Chief Finance Officer of that organization and World ORT, Hadas Grumet has overseen the network’s financial response to the challenges of the pandemic in the last year.

She manages the global finance teams based in London and Israel, oversees the development and implementation of all major projects and partnerships in Israel and the implementation of WOKM’s strategy. Before joining ORT in 2014 she held several senior finance positions in Israel.

Hadas Grumet said: “I would like to thank everyone who has had faith in my abilities to take on my roles. In what has been a particularly challenging year of managing the changes caused by the Covid pandemic, the additional roles have provided me with the invaluable opportunity for my own career growth and development.

“I am especially grateful to Robert Singer, Dan Green, Conrad Giles, Yorai Linenberg, Simon Alberga, David Benish and Moti Dotan who have all supported me during this last year and believed in my ability to perform my additional duties.

“Of course, it would be impossible to have taken this new step without the continued support and teamwork of the finance teams in both Israel and London.”

Mikhail Libkin has worked for ORT Russia for 21 years, joining the professional team immediately after graduating from an ORT school in Moscow. He has worked his way from part-time IT technician to national director, overseeing all aspects of the organization’s work in the country.

He said: “Here at ORT we are the luckiest people because we can see the impact of our work in real time. We make our students’ lives better, we make local Jewish communities stronger and bring the highest standards of education to the countries we work in.

“I’m very happy to be a part of the ORT family, and I thank World ORT for this award. Your recognition of our work and my role in it is a great honor.

“ORT is a big and very close community of people supporting each other. I want to thank our professional team, my colleagues from ORTs around the world, our students, teachers and the parents who trust us with the most precious thing in life, and of course our donors and partners who invest in the future by supporting us.”

Previous winners of the Singer Award include Professor Charlotte de Grünberg, CEO of Universidad ORT Uruguay; Vladimir Dribinskiy, World ORT’s Chief Program Officer; and Adrián Moscovich, Executive Director of ORT Argentina.