As of July 2015, a Hungarian lady is to chair Mensa International, the society which brings together the most intelligent people of the world, with over 130,000 members worldwide. Bibiána Balanyi (42) will serve as Chair of Mensa International for two years, until 2017.

Bibiána joined the Hungarian chapter of Mensa, in 1994. Having been chairman of the national organisation for about 10 years, she was elected Director of Development at Mensa International in 2009 and held the position for 4 years, gaining sufficient experience and insight to successfully compete for the position of International Chair. Her campaign was focused on shaping the organization to become more attractive for the younger generation; she promised to pay special attention to understanding cultural differences and to fully re-design the structure, content and layout of the mensa.org website.

“It is a great honour to receive the majority of individual votes coming from more than 30 countries. Having earned the trust of members worldwide – not to forget that two-third of them are smart men – and coming from a smaller country, I am overly delighted to represent and guide Mensa International, a truly colourful community, and an organisation overarching many nations and cultures” – commented Bibiána Balanyi upon her election.

Bibiána took over the role and responsibilities as of July 1, 2015 from the previous Chair Elissa Rudolph (USA); her term expires in 2017. Since the foundation of Mensa in 1946 she is only the 3rd lady to fill this position, and the youngest Chair ever.

The official press release is here.