During the 32nd Commencement Ceremony, Ivo Tzenov (’03) was recognized with the HRH Princess Maria Luisa Distinguished AUBG Alumni Award for Civic Leadership and Change.
“At AUBG, we often talk about preparing students for the “real world.” For the man we are honoring today, the real world isn’t just a place to build one‘s own career, but a place to make a difference for others’ too,” said Provost and Interim President J.D. Mininger as he presented Tzenov with the award.
Ivo is a member of the Class of 2003. He is known among the community as the co-founder of SiteGround, a global success story that started right here on this campus. “But if you ask the people who know Ivo best, they won’t talk about IT or business growth first. They’ll talk about his heart,” said Dr. J.D. Mininger while presenting the award to Tzenov.
Tzenov is an example of a leader whose work reflects a strong sense of responsibility to both business and society. His exceptional generosity has helped AUBG secure last year’s million-dollar match challenge from the America for Bulgaria Foundation.
“Yet perhaps more impactful than the gift itself was your spirit,” said Dr. Mininger. “When asked to invest in AUBG your response was: “Thank you for asking me to contribute.” Those six words represent the very essence of civic leadership. They reveal a leader who seeks the opportunity to make a difference.”
Through his support, Tzenov has set a visionary example for future generations. By inviting students to SiteGround headquarters the past several years and demonstrating how to lead with purpose, he has shown our current students that success carries a profound responsibility to lift others as you climb.
“Thank you for the kind words, first of all. Twenty-three years ago, I was sitting here in one of the front rows. I don’t know how many of you were born back then, but I still remember that day. My parents were very proud. I was the first child, the first person in our family to graduate. They were very proud. I got the degree, and they got the bill.
The other thing I remember is my first contribution to AUBG. It’s something that numerous people told me not to share, but I still remember it because it was 23 years ago, on this same day. There was a rule back then that if you didn’t have any money, the university was very generous in giving student loans. If you could repay by the time you graduated, you would repay half of the loan, and the other half would be waived. So there was me, on the Saturday before graduation, going to the finance office and giving that cash to the cashier. They were pulling, and I wasn’t letting it go for some time. Eventually, they were stronger, they took it, and I was debt-free.
Then, for several years, I didn’t come back to the university. But the one thing they didn’t take, or I didn’t give, was my computer and my friends. Because the first thing I envisioned when I was graduating and saw myself in the next few years was that I would start my own company. I would be working with my friends, who, by the way, were my co-founders and the first people who worked at SiteGround in the beginning, and they were all from AUBG. I only wanted to be a 20-person company. I would be making 5,000 leva, and I would be super cool. That was my dream.
For those of you who know the story, it went a little bit beyond that. For those of you who don’t know the story, we discovered that instead of working, we could have a hobby. And that hobby drove everything. For many years, I thought I was so lucky. Back in 2003, it was the boom of the internet. I could do so many things together with my team. And I was convinced, probably all the way until COVID times, that nobody could replicate that because there were no other huge opportunities. I was totally wrong.
Today, we live in an environment where everything is changing. For me, the biggest challenge that I undertake, and something we possibly might not be thinking of, is global warming. And when we speak about global warming, it doesn’t mean only that the world will be hotter. Imagine it gets warmer, the ice melts, the oceans rise, the currents change, and then the Gulf Stream stops blowing in Europe. And then, instead of a “Welcome to Blagoevgrad” sign, it literally can be “Welcome to Blagoevgrad, the province of Alaska.” Because that might happen.
But global warming is not about fighting climate. It’s about new ways of discovering energy. It’s about manufacturing. It’s about agriculture. It’s about how we travel. So many things that you can undertake. And then, what’s hot today is AI. A lot of things will be disturbed by AI. One hundred years ago, 60% of the world was living in villages. From morning to late evening, they were in the field. And then automation came, and they had to change. Literally in a decade, people had to do something else. We are at this intersection at the moment as well.
But then there is quantum computing. There is space. And probably the best of it is the discoveries in science. We will be living much longer, and you will be living much longer. So you have plenty of opportunities to do something interesting with your life. Do something that will make your friends, your parents, and your future children proud. Be the next one who, in 23 years, can come here and share a great success. I wish you all the luck in the world, and congratulations.”
