Claudio A. Rivera, PhD
Educator, Writer, Social Innovator
RTU Riga Business School Associate Professor in Leadership and Director of the University of New York at Buffalo/RBS Bachelor’s Programs in Business and IT. He is also the Lead of Education for the Foreign Investors Council in Latvia. As such, he is one of the leaders in the design of one of the most significant reforms in higher education since the regaining of the independence.
Claudio has a long track of experience in public speaking, consulting, and research. He has also successfully founded several social ventures connected with education and innovation. As a professor, Claudio has developed several leadership programs and has been teaching in many countries in Europe, Latin America, and Africa. He has published extensively, including five books as author and coauthor.
His main areas of interests are youth development, social entrepreneurship, interdisciplinary education, servant leadership, and social innovation.
Elza Priede, MBA
Educator, Connector, Youth Mentor
RTU Riga Business School Community Manager. Elza has spent most of her career working with the current and the next generation of Baltic civic and business leaders—Riga Business School’s Executive MBA, MBA, and BSc students. During her time at Riga Business School, Elza has played an integral role in the development and execution of the BSc programs. One of Elza’s career passions is helping to guide entrepreneurs-to-be through the thought process involved in integrating social responsibility and entrepreneurship, for example, building their study and career roadmaps, developing an entrepreneurial attitude, enhancing their leadership capacities and confidence, self-awareness, social awareness, and responsibility. Elza holds an MBA in Marketing and IT from Riga Business School; she is a Baltic-American Freedom Foundation Professional Internship Program Alumna and Riga Business School MBA Programs Ambassador. As a youth mentor, Elza has been a part of the development of multiple mentorship programs for business school students, disadvantaged youth in Latvia, and worked within the Council on International Educational Exchange, in the United States.
Her professional interests include youth development, mentorship, transformational leadership, social progress, meaningful educational exchange, social and educational innovation.