Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

Honoring Cyril Camus ’91 and 2017 Rising Stars

To kick off this year’s Back to Babson weekend, the college hosted the Celebrating Achievements in Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® awards gala. During this event, Babson recognized alumni entrepreneurs who create economic and social value everywhere. Attendees included members of Babson’s governance, faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

This year’s Rising Star Honorees were Leon Logothetis ‘99, author and world traveler; Emily Levy ‘16, Yousef Al-Humaidhi ‘15, and Maria Del Mar Gomez Viyella ‘16, co-founders of Mighty Well; and Daniel Dalet ’03, co-founder of SoloCoco. President Kerry Healey took the stage to introduce the Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame award. Established in 2008, this award celebrates individuals who have distinguished themselves in entrepreneurial endeavors by creating great social & economic value.

The 2017 Rising Stars and Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Inductee with faculty, staff, and President Kerry Healey.

This year’s honoree, Cyril Camus ’91, epitomizes Entrepreneurial Thought and Action®. Cyril is the Chairman and CEO of the House of Camus, the producer of an international brand of cognac that has been run by five generations of the Camus family since 1863. Cyril’s strategic vision and leadership have significantly enhanced the brand’s reputation. Since 2003, when he took leadership of the family business, Cyril has launched several new initiatives to strategically grow the House of Camus and further expand its global reach. Today, Camus Cognac is distributed in more than 140 countries and has received numerous accolades. For the company’s exponential growth and the subsequent impact on local economic development, Cyril was raised as a Knight of the Legion of Honour by the French government earlier this year. In addition to his professional and personal accomplishments, Cyril has been a tremendous partner and supporter of Babson. Cyril serves as a Global Advisory Board member and has become a leader in revitalizing alumni activity in France.

Cyril joined President Healey onstage to accept the award. He began by sharing how flattered he was and credited his father and the generations before him for providing the knowledge necessary to make a good cognac. However, the skills that allowed him to grow this 150-year-old company as a viable and profitable business were learned at Babson. He recalled the confidence he felt after every semester that he had learned skills that could be applied to his business right away. The amazing faculty and the practicality of the skills he learned really stood out to him.

When Cyril came to Babson as the fifth generation heir of a family business, he lost his sense of entitlement and acquired instead a taste for achievement. He thinks that if Babson can do this for other students with family businesses, this proves how amazing of an institution it truly is. Whenever he returns to campus, Cyril is continually surprised at the international diversity of the student body. This is something about Babson that he cherishes. It is an amazing gift that the school gives its students to learn to work, think, act with people from so many different cultures and nationalities.

As a student, he learned the skills to be an entrepreneur and grow his company. As he has remained involved with Babson after graduation, he has seen how the curriculum has adapted to emphasize values and principles while remaining entrepreneurial. Today, his company is a value-driven company that focuses not only on creating economic value but also environmental value. This is by far his proudest achievement and he has the Babson community to thank. He finished by saying that he is grateful to Babson both for what it gave him as a student and what it continues to provide him today.

We are excited to see what the future holds for Cyril, Leon, Emily, Yousef, Maria, Daniel, and all of our alumni entrepreneurs!