Ðorde Vukotic

Djordje Vukotic, born in 1963, is the head of the Legal Team to The Regulatory Review Unit for the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Principal Legal Adviser to the Council Secreteriat for Regulatory Reform Council for the Government of the Republic of Serbia          
Educated in Belgrade Law Faculty and College of Europe in Bruges and trained in World Bank Institute Washington, Vukotic has more thean 17 yeras of professional experience in the policy, practice, and legal drafting of commercial and corporate law, financial law, foreign investments law and privatization.
He was the key Legal Expert for the Regulatory Reform in Serbia project, financed by the Swedish Government and implemented by the World Bank, the key Legal Expert for Serbia in the European Commission funded project European Network for Better Regulation within the Balkan Center for Regulatory Reform in Serbia (2007/2009), and the key Legal Expert for preparation and implementation of the strategy for development of Serbia’s new business-friendly commercial registry, one of the reforms which led to Serbia being identified as Top Reformer within the World Bank Doing Business Report 2006 (2003-2005).

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Marko Blagojevic

Marko Blagojevic is the Director of Office for Reconstruction of Flooded Regions, appointed by the Serbian Prime Minister in 2014 when catastrophic floods took lives and destroyed thousands of homes in Serbia, totaling over a billion euros in damages.

Born in 1974, Marko is an expert in social marketing and communications, campaigning, strategic planning and tactics and election monitoring. Marko is the founder of the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), since August 1997, Member of the Board of Directors and Communications Director of the Center and its Director of Operations. CeSID is a top public opinion poll and market research agency in the region.

Marko is also Lecturer at the Department for Political Marketing of the Faculty for Media and Communications, Singidunum University in Belgrade and PR & Communications Consultant for the SVA/Luna advertising agency, Serbian partner of TBWA.

Marko was since 2000 to 2008 the Campaign Director of supporting election campaigns (motivation and recruiting campaigns) and from January 2003 to January 2008 member of the Board of Directors of the Fund for an Open Society, Serbian branch of the Soros Foundation. In his rich career Marko has worked as a contracted consultant for OSCE, NDI, Soros Foundation and Freedom House, on projects in Serbia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Russia and Montenegro. He was very active as student leader in the anti-Milosevic struggle: in 1997 he was the founder and spokesperson of the first Students' parliament of the Belgrade University, member of the Board of the Students’ Protest (as a representative of the Law Faculty), and also of the Legal board of Students' protest.

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Giles Keane

Giles Keane , a PR and PA expert, runs the Diplomacy practice group at Hill & Knowlton International, Belgium. 

Since joining Hill & Knowlton in October 2002, Giles has represented a wide range of clients in communicating to media and public officials on issues including public diplomacy, international trade, sustainability, food safety and technology.

Current and recent clients include the states and government, interest groups from Europe, Africa, Caribbean and Pacific  regions, and others like the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Gates Foundation, Statioil, Visa Europe, and Hewlett Packard. 

Giles’ strength lies in his ability to combine his knowledge of policy making and media relations to provide strategic integrated communications counsel. 

Prior to joining Hill & Knowlton Giles worked as a trainee in DG External Relations of the European Commission and completed a Masters in European Politics and Administration at the College of Europe, Bruges.

A native of Dublin, Giles' mother tongue is English. He also speaks fluent  Spanish and French as well as conversational  Italian.

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Professor Milan Vujanic

Milan Vujanic, born in 1948, is the foremost Balkans expert in traffic safety, with a PhD in technical sciences, specialty in traffic and communication safety. Milan is currently a Professor of Traffic Safety at the Belgrade University, faculty for Traffic and Communication and head of its Traffic Safety Department. He has been teaching hundreds of students since the early 70s. He is also a member of the Commission for Expert Exams at the Serbian Institute of Technology.

Professor Vujanic is also the president of the assembly of shareholders and the board of governors of the Yugoslav Airlines, the Serbian national carrier. Milan is also a top forensic expert. He was a member of the Belgrade city government in charge of traffic issues and made a valuable input into the latest Bill on Traffic Safety. He is a member of the regional Association for Traffic Safety, the Association of Traffic Forensic Experts, and Association of Driving schools.

Vujanic has been key to the overhaul of the Serbian legal and technical traffic and driving system and bringing it into line with EU standards. He has published seven books on traffic forensics and traffic safety, 41 studies on the related issues both at home and abroad and taken part in almost 100 various seminars or research projects in Serbia and abroad and published relevant studies. He has authored numerous campaigns for traffic safety awareness and strategies to promote traffic safety and behavior of participants. Married and lives in Belgrade.

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Jakša Šcekic

Jaksa Scekic, a journalist with more then 35 years experience in Serbian and International media, is the TV producer in the Reuters bureau in Belgrade. After graduating the Law School at Belgrade University, Jaksa started his journalistic career as a print journalist but soon moved to Radio television Belgrade, as a reporter and producer of Belgrade city programme and then on to 1st Channel News.

Jaksa founded the popular 3rd Channel and was editor and chief of the first ever Satellite TV programme in the region. His expertise also included satellite and cable TV technology.

In 1993 he later joined Sky news as the East European Bureau chief based in Belgrade. He covered war in former Yugoslavia, NATO operations in the Balkans, war in Iraq, and traveled through Europe for Sky News.  He spent most of his time in Iraq, heading the Sky operations there during and after the Saddam Hussein regime. He also worked in Sky Bureaus in Moscow, Washington, Brussels.

Jaksa  is one of the most prominent bloggers on the web site of a popular independent TV and radio station B92, and he has been a guest on several panels on International politics  and Serbia. Jaksa, married with two grown up sons, has been teaching TV and war journalism in Belgrade.

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Branko Radulovic

Branko Radulovic is an economics expert from Belgrade. He graduated at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade and holds a master's degree in International Economics from the University of Birmingham and a PhD in Economics of Law and Institutions from Collegio Carlo Alberto, University of Turin. He was also a visiting scholar at the Cornell Law School. His professional interests include the economic analysis of law, public policy analysis, international economics and econometrics. Mr. Radulovic is presently a lecturer at the University of Belgrade Law School and works as a consultant in the field of the regulatory reform. He has nearly 15 years of experience and prior to his current positions he served as a private and financial sector specialist with the World Bank and as a research fellow in several Serbian think-tanks.

For the past seven years, he has led or provided key inputs to several drafting committees responsible for business-related laws including the new Bankruptcy Law and has published and presented papers at several academic and policy-oriented conferences.

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Elaine Cruikshanks

Ms. Cruikshanks has over 25 years of public diplomacy and strategic communications experience. Having worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London and in Brussels, she then joined Hill & Knowlton International in Brussels. She built the public affairs client base there over a time period of 21 years to being the biggest consultancy on the Brussels scene.  In addition, she had the role of Head of Hill & Knowlton’s global public affairs practice bringing together public affairs practitioners from all over the world.

Elaine has worked for a number of governments and international organisations such as the Global Fund, the Gates Foundation, Temasek (Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund), the governments of Botswana, Republika Srpska, Dubai, Maldives and Turkey.

Ms Cruikshanks served as a Board Member on the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU from 1998-2008. She was also a founding member of the European Public Affairs Consultancy Association. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Euractiv Foundation.

Since January 2010, she is the owner and managing director of Elaine Cruikshanks Consulting, an independent consultancy specialised in providing strategic advice and public affairs and public relations support to governments, associations, corporations and NGO’s.

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Ambassador Ludvik Toplak

Ludvik Toplak, born in 1942, Slovenia, married with two children, is a University professor of International Business Law, a Rector, an Ambassador, a Manager and a Politician, rolled into one. Ludvik is currently the President of the European Centre in Maribor, Slovenia, since 2007. His education includes University of Maribor and Ljubljana, Slovenia, University of Belgrade and Novi Sad, Serbia, New York University, NY and State University of New York Potsdam, USA. He specialized in Oslo, Seattle and San Francisco, Atlanta, London, New York, Strasbourg. His professional experience includes: University Professor, University of Maribor, Faculty of Law, Vice-President Iskra Delta Computers (IDC), Ljubljana (1980 - 1987), Vice-President of the Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia (1990 - 1992), Rector of the University of Maribor (1993 - 2002) and Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to the Holy See (2002 - 2006)

Ludvik is a member of the European Academy of Science and Arts (since 2000), member of the Steering Committee of the I.C.H.E. (International Conference on Higher Education), member of Pan-European Union, member of the Board of European Rectors Conference, Magna Charta Universitatum, member of Collegium, member and President of the Danube Rectors' Conference (1996-1999), member of the international committee European Forum Alpbach (1999- ) and Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovenia (1999-2001). His main activities and focus of interest lie in social reforms, political parties, human rights, diplomacy and his major fields of expertise include Law, Economy, Environment, Management, Small Businesses, Cooperatives, Professional Ethics, University Management, Foundations, Charity.

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Nenad Lujic, Mr sc.Med

IN MEMORIAM 1963-2023

Well known Serbian orthopedic and oncology surgeon, head of the general medical department head of the Belgrade Orthopedic Hospital Banjica.

Born in 1963 in Belgrade Nenad opted for medicine as his profession already in his teens when he enrolled in the Medical High School in Belgrade. He graduated from the Medical College of the Belgrade University in 1988, did a stint in ER, worked in Athens City Hospital, Greece, and also found time to work as a lecturer for the Yugoslav Red Cross. Nenad specialized orthopedic and trauma surgery in the Banjica Clinic in Belgrade and spent a year in the SHANDZ hospital, in Gainesville, Florida.

His masters degree focused on the oncology angle of his orthopedic work and he has maintained a leading position in this field in the country. Nenad was also a consultant trauma surgeon in the Tirsova University Children Clinic and oncology trauma surgeon at the Oncology and Radiology Institute in Belgrade. Outside the hospital and medical circles, Nenad was a very active member of several charity organizations and chief of the Member Admissions Committee of the Serbian Lobbyists Association. Married, he had lived in Belgrade.

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Boško Jakšic

Serbia’s leading daily Politika’s Foreign Desk Editor, Bosko Jaksic is a journalistic thoroughbred, a frank and unfailing critic of foibles of authorities in Serbia and elsewhere – for the balance. He started off in Politika way almost 40 years ago, first as a junior reporter with the Metro Desk, moved up the world to the foreign desk  and then down to the destruction, carnage and misery of wars. He covered the killing fields of Kampuchea, Lebanon’s civil war, Islamic revolution in Iran, Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran-Iraq war, First Gulf War,  the hunger in Ethiopia, Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For R&R, Bosko also covered European affairs, including Belgrade OSCE conference, OSCE Stockholm and Helsinki summits, Carter-Brezhnev Vienna summit and number of other European and world events.

Bosko was Politika’s Middle East correspondent in Cairo, 1987-1992  Politika’s Foreign Editor,  1992– 1993, Politika’s Editor in Chief, 1994-1994, Politika’s  Italy correspondent in Rome, 1994–1998, Politika’s Secretary General, 2000 – 2001, its Senior columnist,  2001-present and Foreign Desk editor since October 2010. He regularly contributes to BBC, Radio Free Europe, Al Jazeera TV and number of Serbian and Balkan region radio and TV stations.

He has interviewed scores of notables across the world including  Benazir Bhuto, Indira Gandhi, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Leh Walesa, Yasir Arafat, Muamar Ghadafi, ayatollah Mohammad Ali Montazeri, King Hussein of Jordan, Gen. Kenan Evren, Rauf Denktash, Shimon Peres, Butros Ghali, Lord Karington, to name just a few.

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Andrej Gruden

Andrej Gruden, is one of Serbia’s foremost information technology and financial payment system experts and policy advisors. Andrej was born on September 23rd 1969 in Belgrade, Serbia. He was educated in Serbian and American schools and holds a Telecommunications Engineering degree from the Technical University of Vienna.  His fields of expertise include the payment card industry and public finance. His three children are his biggest achievement in life.

Andrej worked for companies such as IBM and Accenture for close to a decade. He worked in the financial industry for clients such as Barclay’s Capital, NatWest, Commerzbank and Credit Suisse in the west European markets. He also worked in the telecommunications and retail industry for clients such as Telia and Sainsbury’ Supermarkets.

In 2003 he moved to Serbia, to assist the Serbian Central Bank in building a national payment card system – the DinaCard. The DinaCard system enjoyed great success, with more than $1 billion yearly turnover, and gained global acceptance through partnering with a US owned global card network. He also assisted the Serbian Ministry of Finance and several other institutions in Serbia responsible for managing the public finances.

In 2007, Andrej formed his own company, Information Technology Consulting Services, designed to help Serbian companies and public institutions improve their management and information technology infrastructure and governance.

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Giovanni Porta

Giovanni Porta, a passionate journalist, photographer, writer and blogger, was born in Rome in 1961. Graduating ‘cum laude’ in Political Science from Milan’s State University, his first job in 1998 was with the leading Italian weekly “Panorama” as foreign correspondent, reporting from Western and Eastern European countries, the Soviet Union and several Arabic nations, before becoming the magazine’s war correspondent in the Balkans till 1995 when he joined Italy’s leading independent news radio network as anchor of current affairs programs. In 1999 Rome seconded him to the OSCE Mission to Albania and in 2001 he was transferred to the OSCE Mission in Belgrade as Head of the Media Development Department. In 2004, he became the Director of Operations in Kabul for a French INGO, then moved to Nairobi to work as Regional Representative in charge of Kenya, South Sudan and Somalia for a leading medical INGO and was elected chair of the UN-INGO Consortium coordinating medical assistance to Somalia. In 2006, he accepted a managerial position with Doctors without Borders (MSF) in war-torn North Sri Lanka. In 2007 he led for a Dutch INGO their humanitarian programs in the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) territories where he faced several humanitarian emergencies. In 2009 Giovanni retired from active duty, moving permanently to South East Asia, where he works as a free-lance writer, journalist and photographer, regularly travelling to the Region’s countries. Giovanni speaks fluently several languages, is a passionate scholar of Asia’s history and cultures and the curator of the news blog “Guns n’ Spices”, a daily reasoned selection of South East Asia’s news and current affairs.

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Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister

Membership frozen – in active government service

Ana is the the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia. Until June 15, 2017, she was the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government of Republic of Serbia. She holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of Hull, England. Before being sworn in as cabinet minister she held the position of President of the Management Board of the establishment of the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED), Serbia’s most effective advocacy organization for businesses, local governments and civil society.

She used to work as Director of Continental Wind Serbia (CWS) and was authorized representative of the Serbia Wind Energy Association (SEWEA). She is the Executive Director of the PEXIM Foundation, private not-for-profit foundation which provides scholarships to talented students from Serbia and Macedonia to study at Cambridge so they can invest their knowledge and skills in building their country’s capacities for EU integrations and economic strengthening. In 2013 she won two important awards: The Most European (in the category of the Most European Project) and Business Woman of the Year (in the CSR category). 

From 2007 to 2009 she served as the Advisor to the Director of the Government of Serbia Coordination Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja Municipalities.  She is also one of the founders of Serbian consulting company Development Consulting Group (DCG).  Her regional assignments included serving as a Leader of the Regional Communications Group for Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), where she directed the efforts of Communication Advisors of three different USAID-funded local governance projects in Serbia, Macedonia, and Romania.  She also worked as an expert for the USAID Romania Governance Reform Program in Bucharest. During her studies in the UK, Ms. Brnabić worked in the Serbian Information Center in London.

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Filip Brković

In Memoriam 1986-2016

Filip Brkovic, 24, was the youngest member of the East-West Bridge. He was the head corporate social responsibility department in the biggest pharmaceutical company in Serbia, Galenika, and a PhD scholar at the European Commission’s joint doctorate programme in international political economy - Globalization, EU and Multilateralism. His doctoral research at the universities of Warwick (United Kingdom), Geneva (Switzerland) and Fudan (China) focused on global civil society, global development institutions, corporate social responsibility and fair trade.

Filip expressly finished his four-year bachelor studies in International Relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences (Serbia), in less than three years. Eight months later, he became the youngest Master of Arts in the history of the Faculty (MA in Political Analytics and Management). In July 2010, he graduated at the University of Cambridge as a Cambridge Overseas Trust – OSI/FCO Chevening scholar and became the Master of Philosophy in Development Studies. He was a member of the Hughes Hall and rowed for the college’s eight.

Filip was also an active member of national and international NGO sector, having worked on more than one hundred projects involving thousands of young people. He worked closely with the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime and became their representative for the Balkans. In March 2011 he founded the Balkan Centre for Development Studies and became its first president.

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Roland Schlesinger

For more than two decades Roland has advised governments as well as national and international organizations and universities on many issues of quality, especially on knowledge and technology transfer in health care, public health, and eHealth.

He is a member of the management board of Chemo AG in Vienna, Austria, and brings years of management experience in the chemical/pharmaceutical industry, with an additional focus on knowledge and technology transfer, risk management, and pharmacovigilance. He is the co-author of several books in the sector of industrial drug discovery and dual use in biotechnology research. Roland translates complex scientific findings into practical applications to foster and elevate the understanding of innovative drug manufacturing.

He is an Associate Partner of COMMVISORY, a Munich-based, partner-led strategic communications consultancy that advises investors, business leaders, and political decision-makers around the world on how to tap into new economic and media potential, political and communication strategies, as well as new dialogue formats and new networks that connect them with key stakeholders.

Roland has studied medicine and economics at the University of Vienna and Paris. He is associated with the Sigmund Freud University in Vienna, where he heads the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Health Law and Science. He is an active member of different professional societies in Europe and overseas.

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Đorđe Vučinić

A leading Balkans security and crime fighting expert, Djordje has impeccable credentials: a criminology attorney; finished postgraduate studies of management of defense (University of Belgrade) and a fight against organized crime course (US Institute of Peace and Center for Management). Djordje has vast experience in top positions in the Belgrade department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was also deputy director of one of Serbia's premier security companies - Progard Securitas.

Djordje is also a member of Professional security Management Association and the president of SCP International Committee,  chairman of a Serbian Chamber of Commerce department, and since 2010, the director of "Poslodavac" Employers Committee.

Currently he is serving as Chairman of the Serbia Securitas Services Board of Governors.

He is also one of the leading activists in Serbia's civil society promoting religious and ethnic tolerance, equality, justice,  human rights etc...

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Branimir (Barney) Simić-Glavaski

Branimir (Barney) Simic-Glavaski is the President/CEO of Bionic Information Technologies and of SimiTec LLC from Ohio, USA, but primarily a highly distinguished scientist. He graduated from University of Belgrade, Faculty of Electrotechnics and won his Ph.D. at the Physics Department, University of Kent at Canterbury, U.K.

Barney was a Professor, United Nations University for Peace & Development,  Lecturer, Electrical Engineering & Applied Physics, Instructor in the Department of Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University, Program Brain Coordinator, Case Western Reserve University, Senior Research Associate, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Departments Case Western Reserve University, Visiting Scientist, Laboratorio DI Cibernetica, Napoli, Italy, Consultant to the Chemistry Department, University of Southampton, U.K., Assistant Lecturer, University of Kent at Canterbury, Electronics Department and Research Scientist, Faculty of Technology, University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Barney thought Process Control, Biological, Control: Calculus and Electromagnetic Fields: Electrical Circuits

He owns 10 patents and is a member of the Institute of Physics, London: Electrochemical Society; Biophysical Society and the Sigma Xi Society.

He has won awards from the University of Kent at Canterbury; Royal Society Fellowship; NSF, The Cleveland Foundation, The Gund Foundation, NAVY AIR, and U.S. Department of Defense. He is the author of close to 70 publications and abstracts and has attended over 200 national and international lectures and seminars.  more...

Igor Kostic

Igor Kostic is a researcher, analyst, civil society activist, and Director of the Initiatives, a leading Serbian NGO. Born in late 1970s in Southern Serbia, Igor, educated in Serbia, Europe and the U.S., has over the past 20 years amassed a vast knowledge of strategic planning, project proposal development, and monitoring and evaluation. In 2007, out of hundreds of candidates, Igor got the opportunity to present his own work to the professors and master students at the Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University), and take back the necessary knowledge for his work.   

Igor’s activity in civil society began within the famous anti-Milosevic Serbian student movement “Otpor” (Resistance) at the end of the 1990s, and continued in the Initiatives, he co-founded. Since 2000, Igor has been working on designing local projects and actions. As a result of coordinated activities of the Initiatives, local and national government institutions, and international organizations, Igor established the Business Incubator Center and Regional Development Agency, the first two development institutions in Southern Serbia. These two institutions were launched as joint bodies (public, private and civil sector) to help local community development.

Igor has worked with many international organizations, private foundations, and institutions from Europe, former Soviet republics, and the USA.

Recently, Igor's focus is on exploring opportunities for cross-sectorial cooperation, development of programs based on long-term research and development of special projects for international bilateral donors in the field of youth employment, and effective programs for youth self-employment.

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Violeta Jovanovic

Violeta Jovanovic is the Executive Director of the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED).  She joined NALED in 2007 as its first full-time employee when the organization was only several months old.  Under Violeta’s leadership, NALED grew to the organizations that it is today: one of the most important think-thanks in Serbia, employing 20 people in its Executive Office, and gathering over 160 members amongst which some of the biggest local companies and investors present in Serbia, majority of local governments, and a number of civil society organizations. NALED is the only organization in the region which gathers businesses, local governments, and civil sector with the goal to work together and influence positive changes to the business environment in Serbia. 
Prior to NALED, Violeta established the Ethno Network with the goal to preserve traditional Serbian handicrafts and combine them with modern design and a luxurious packaging to fit the contemporary industry standards.  The Ethno Network was established in May 2005, with the help of USAID, and is today a self-sustainable organization which provides livelihood to women across Serbia’s rural areas and, since 2008, produces gifts for the protocol of the Serbian Government. 
Violeta is to this day the President of the Ethno Network. 
Violeta possesses over ten years of experience in managerial positions within USAID programs of democratization and economic development, within which she worked on different projects in an effort to secure long-term support for the business community at large.

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Vladimir Tatarevic

Vladimir Tatarevic was born in Belgrade where he graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts, University of Arts in 1997. After receiving his MA he traveled all over the world, visiting more than thirty countries working for “Trans Ocean Photos”.
In 2000 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, USA where he worked as a photographer for various companies. In summer 2002 he won the first prize in the “Life Touch” national competition of photographers in Atlanta. Towards the end of 2002 he returned to his native town and continued his career as a freelance artist.
Vladimir has had fourteen solo exhibitions and participated in several international exhibitions. His work has been published in many prestigious magazines such as National Geographic, Cosmopolitan, Men's Health and others.
He cooperates with leading advertising agencies in the development of advertising campaigns and is a member of numerous juries for artistic photography in Serbia.
Since 2005 he teaches photography as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade.

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Bojan Predojevic

Ranks among top Serb business experts in his generation, with excellent understanding of German-Serbian economic and political relations. He is the managing director for Profine Belgrade, a subsidiary of HT Troplast AG, Troisdorf, a German subsidiary company in the polymer industry.

Bojan is also the Vice-President of the German Business Association in Serbia, Member of the Executive Committee of the Forum Serbia – Germany and board member of the German school in Belgrade.

Born in East Berlin, he graduated high school in the then German Democratic Republic. Bojan studied economics at Hochschule für Ökonomie, Berlin, Technische Universität zu Berlin and Faculty for Economics, University of Belgrade, Serbia where he obtained his Master degree in Economics. Furthermore, he continued his education at the London School of Economics and Political Science in International Business Strategies.

He also completed the Advanced Management Program at the IEDC School of Management, Bled, Slovenia and the courses on Lead Management at Management Partner, Stuttgart, Germany, Management Assessment Workshop at People Invest, Munich, Germany, as well as the Assessment Center at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt.
He has attended dozens of international business, finance and energy conferences in Europe.  more...

Lidija Udovicki

Lidija is one of the foremost regional champions for renewable energy.  Until 2013, she was the Country Manager for Serbia of the US company Continental Wind Partners (CWP). She is the person who brought CWP as one of the leading multinational companies in wind farm development business to Serbia in 2009, when she established Continental Wind Serbia (CWS). Amongst its other references, CWP is the company which developed the biggest on-shore wind farm in Europe (600 MW Fantanele in Romania) and is currently working on the development of wind farms in Australia and Poland. CWP’s Serbian project, the approximately 150 MW Čibuk 1 wind farm in South Banat, will bring around €300 million of foreign direct investment into Serbia.

Lidija is also the founder of legal consultancy firm Udovicki & Associates which was opened in 2007 and operates to this day. Lidija’s principal expertise is in energy and commercial law, and until 2013 she participated in key legislative processes and changes to harmonize the Serbian energy sector with the EU.

Lidija Udovicki graduated from the School of Law – Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is a member of Madrid Bar Association since 2000. She also graduated from the BPP School of Law, in London, UK, and became a member of the Law Society of England and Wales in 2003. She did her training and became fully qualified lawyer in international law firms in London and Madrid in the field of corporate law, private equity, and environmental law. In 2006, she returned to Serbia where she worked for 18 months as Senior Associate in law firm Karanovic – Nikolic  more...

Dr Pavle Marjanović

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Đura Vlaškalić

Djura is a manager, political advisor and consultant. He has headed a number of prestigious private universities and faculties in Serbia. Djura was born in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, where he graduated from Law School. He received his MA at the Business Faculty. Djura has extensive experience in economy and his forte is forming and running institutions of high learning. He is also an expert in media and poltics.

He has started his career in the services industry. He was a co-owner and sales manager in a private company manufacturing wood processing machinery. Later he returned to the services sector and did marketing and organization of educational and cultural conferences and events. In 2001, when the Novi Sad Fair management and a group of prominent professors decided to form one of the first ever private universities, Djura was invited to kick-start the project. In 2002, he was appointed the manager of the Faculty for Services Business and he successfully managed the new institution for the next three years. Following this success, Djura also took part in the establishment of the new Faculty for Legal and Political Studies and later ran it. He also managed the USSE University. He was a member of the Vojvodina Commission drawing up the startegy for development of higher education in Vojvodina, focused on private education.

Djura started his political career in 2005 as the head of Vojvodina Parliament Office for Promotiing Vojvodina. He took part in forming the Centre for Promotion and Strategic Development of Vojvodina in Paris, France, and was its Cfirst oordinator. He was also a chairman and member of several Boards of Governors and Supervisory Boards of public institutions founded by the City of Novi Sad and Vojvodina. He is the Advisor to the President and Vice President of the Vojvodina Parliament for the political system.

Djura is committed to humanitarian work and faced with the growing problem of drug addiction in the Serbian society, he co-founded in 2001 the Civil Association for fighting drug addiction and is its Vice-President. He is also a member of several boards and societies for drug addiction prevention. He loves sports and is a fervent champion of healthy life-style. His family – wife and two sons - are his greatest pride and joy.

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Aleksandar Petrović, PhD

Aleksandar Petrović, D.Phil., Dipl.-Ing., an outstanding young thought leader and business innovator in the fields of medical devices and smart energy, was born in Serbia in 1985 and now lives and works in Switzerland. He combines expertise in strategic business expansion with background in engineering and medicine. Aleksandar established and managed Sensirion’s smart energy business unit and oversaw the world-wide expansion of microthermal flow measurement technology into natural gas metering. He is internationally active as a consultant for medtec and smart energy industries.

Aleksandar got his DPhil at Oxford University, Balliol College for utilising MR images of brain connectivity to compare anatomy of different individuals. He won his electrical engineering degree at the University of Belgrade (GPA 9.93/10.00) and further studied at K.U. Leuven in Belgium, lectured at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and at Oxford University, and worked with the Omron Corp, Japan and with Siemens Healthcare, Germany.

Aleksandar is a certified negotiator specialised in C-level negotiations involving public, private and governmental stakeholders.

Aleksandar was awarded numerous honours, including the Phizackerely Award for excellence in biomedical sciences at Balliol College (2009), Full Clarendon Award at Oxford University (07-10), Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Scholarship for the best electrical engineering student in Serbia (06-09), DAAD scholarship for attending an academic exchange program (06), U.S. Department of State Leadership Award; Serbian Youth Leadership Program (02).

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Marina Glamotchak, PhD

Marina Glamotchak, Phd in sociology, is a senior research fellow in several institutes and research centres in France: Institut français de géopolitique- Université Pariz VIII, Laboratoire d’Analyse des Systèmes Politiques – CNRS, Univerzitet Pariz X, Centre interdisciplinaire de recherches sur la paix et d’études stratégiques-CIRPES/EHESS, Centre des Études des Mouvements Sociaux-CNRS/EHESS). She lives and works in Paris. Marina won her Phd in Sociology at the prestigious École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Pariz, 2000. She qualified for assistant professor in 2001 at the Conseil National des Universités, France. She won her MA at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Pariz, 1994, winning an award for the best defended thesis. She has done her post graduate studies at the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy and the Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy where she studied sociology of religion.

Marina’s research is focused on geoeconomy and energy (Russian energy policy in the Balkans and its strategy of influence on EU policies), the sociology of transition (war transition, civil-military relationships and post-conflict situations), sociology of defense (stabilization of SEE; the new regimes and consolidation of peace; the state and legitimacy of the use of force in modern conflicts; the consolidation of foreign policy security of the EU; reform of the army; externalization of militarism, security and defense; players in private security), sociology of police (alternative security factors; private security agencies; democratization of the police; institutionalisation of violence), sociology of immigration (diaspora; political emigration) and the sociology of the state (desintegration of Yugoslavia, construction/reconstruction of new states in post-conflict situations; the state in the context of globalization; the phenomenon of overlapping of states). Marina is the author of six books and dozens of articles in scientific magazines and newspapers and has lectured worldover at prestigious institutions.

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Jovan Ratković

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Gradimir Dragutinović

Gradimir Dragutinović (1980) is director of Global Project Agency (GPA), with more than 10 years of active participation in development of European projects directed towards youth and students in Serbia. His professional interests include youth and education policy, technological innovation in youth and student services and youth tourism.
He graduated at Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. As student representative, he has participated in the development of many international projects like EYCA (European Youth Card), ISIC (International Student Identity Card), Cultural exchange projects such as Work&Travel USA, working on the awareness raising and improving students’ mobility.
Gradimir is one of the founders of Evropski omladinski centar (EOC), the largest youth organization in Serbia, member of European Youth Card Association. This organization received Hercules golden award for the best card development in Europe in 2005. From 2009, EOC has developed numerous projects for the youth population, which was recognized on the national level through signing Cooperation Agreement with Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2011. and Memorandum on Cooperation with Government of Serbia in 2014. EOC also received a prestigious award for achieving outstanding results and establishing successful cooperation between governmental institutions and non-governmental youth sector in Yaroslavl in 2012. and Special EYCA award for sustainability and development in Zagreb 2014.
He has participated in development of integrated multiple services on a single ISIC project with latest IT solutions, at University in Belgrade and student centers through Serbia and region with great success (Award for the Best five country in the world in Seoul 2014).
He promoted actively also in Rotary idea and participates in lot of international humanitarian events as Country representative and the Chairman of National board of Serbia.

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Aleksandar Krtinic

Aleksandar Krtinic, born in 1974, is a financial expert with 15 years of experience in the Banking Industry and Financial Markets. He was educated at the United Nations International High School, New York and graduated from the Bryant University, Smithfield, Rhode Island, USA.

He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Global Power Montenegro, and Finance Director of the Atlas Group conglomerate with HQ in Montenegro and Serbia. He is responsible for structuring and implementation of financial management strategies and proper application of all financial processes and systems in support of Group’s business objectives.

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Nebojša Spaić

In Memoriam

1961-2017

Nebojsa was the co-founder of “Farmer & Spaic” agency , today called “Kovacic & Spaic”, established in 2006. He was the Executive Director of NIN of weekly and its former editor in chief since 2010. He was also a coordinator of training in business management for media editors in Serbia, under the auspices of the BBC 2009 project.

At the age of 25, he graduated at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, Department for general literature and theory of literature.  After working as a young journalist in the newspaper “Student”, he started to work as a professional journalist on Radio Belgrade in 1985. He was writing for Index Radio Theater and he was editor of news on OK channel, the first independent television. When the multi-party system was formed, he was co-founder of the first private political newspaper in Serbia- the weekly newspaper Opozicija. Within project of Foundation for Peace and Resolution of Crises , which  he was representing in Belgrade in 1993, he started the first independent production, radio show “The Time of Reason” (“Doba razuma”), which was broadcasted throughout the 90’s and at the beginning of the new millennium in over 50 radio stations in ex-Yugoslavia. He was, in other half of 90’s and from 2003 to 2005, chief of press center and director of Media Center in Belgrade. In mid-nineties he was the deputy editor of magazine Europe, published by European Movement in Serbia, and in 2005 he was the co-founder of weekly newspaper Reporter.

He was teaching journalism few semesters on the Faculty of Political Science, media management on the Faculty of Art, and he gave lectures on other domestic and foreign schools. He organizes and conducts trainings for journalists and media managers for domestic and foreign organizations, in Serbia, in the region, Europe and Africa-such as MDI (Great Britain), Irex and Freedom House (USA), regional organization SEENPM and domestic organizations ANEM and Politea. During his career, he cooperated with the most of domestic, as well as with foreign media. He wrote six books on expertise, journalism and fiction.

 

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Ambassador Jorge Enrique Hernández

A tireless humanist and environmentalist, Jorge has devoted much of his life fighting for the right of humanity to enjoy a habitat justice regardless of class, gender or nationality. He was born in Venezuela in a poor family in 1942. An expert in the area of industrial relations, Jorge served for many years as chairman and CEO of several companies and institutions, national and multinational companies, among which are: State Telephonic of Venezuela (CANTV), Maintenance CA Fuller, Marriott in fligth Service of Venezuela, Rena Ware, Intergovernmental Committee for Migration (ICM), Bank Wheelchairs (BANDESIR) Jorcent Medical Suplies CA and United American Investment Corporation, Inc. (USA).

His association with different movements to defend human rights motivated him to write several essays on topics related to social and gender issues involving women in search of personal fulfillment and family. Jorge is the creator and promoter of the international project "Mothers Entrepreneurs", President of the Asociacion Civil Humanity, Ambassador in Venezuela of the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC), Ambassador in Venezuela of the International Human Rights Organization (IHRO), Cultural Ambassador of the Royal Sultanato de Sulu& Sabah, Member of the Global Compact of the United Nations, Ambassador of the Spmuda International Humanitarian  Organization, Adviser of the Global Unification International  (GUI), Ambassador and National Commander in Venezuela of the International Blue Cross (IBC), Representative for six Latin American Countries, Association Swiss Morning Star, Switzerland.

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Marko Milić, PhD

Sci. Маrko Milić MSc, born in 1984 in Belgrade, Serbia, is a lecturer at the College of Professional Studies, Academy of Football - " Management of the modern Olympic Movement, Olympism and Olympic education". While completing his PhD studies, as a an Olympian lecturer,  Marko "Kimi", committed to the idea of his ancestor  Sir Wiliam de Irby,  Lord Boston Irby, and his grandfather, the prominent academician, dr. Vasa Cubrilovic, devotes his time to spreading the Olympic spirit and ethics among the youth and students.

Having worked in many companies as the national and regional brand manager (Verano Invest Tehnomobil , Reafaelo , Hotel Serbia, Gattaric Group, etc.) Kimi moved in 2011 to the position of Senior Adviser to the President of Association Swiss Morning Star for the Western Balkans (MHB  and  Books Aid Project's). Marko is also Advisor to the CEO Studio Deadalus, (UK), CEO Beogradnja (Russia ), CEO of Caucasus International Ltd. (Georgia) etc. He is a member of: the Association of Serbian Sports Managers, European Association of Sports Managers, professional staff of the Faculty of Sport University "Union - Nikola Tesla" (Belgrade),  Board of Directors of the College of Professional Studies, Academy of Football, etc. Marko has participated in a several international  conferences and has published numerous scientific papers related to the sport and management. 

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Mario Luis Fuentes

In Memoriam 1981 - 2014

Mario Luis Fuentes, born in 1981 in Mexico, was an economic, financial and business expert. Mario worked as a Sustainability Manager at INFONAVIT, an autonomous organization with a corporate government that includes equal representation of the labor, employer and Federal Government sectors. Mario, who held a Master in Financial Economics University of Oxford, joined Pemex in 2006 where he remained for the next 5 years, moving from the position of Financial and Economic Planning Analyst to Deputy Manager as a member of the first Carbon Finance Office design.

Since 2009 he was a member of SePerú, a non-profit Peruvian environmental credit originator aimed to develop and sell Voluntary Carbon Units originating from avoided deforestation in the Buffer Zone of the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve.

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Abdulhaq Niazi

Championing for the women’s rights to work in Afghanistan, Abdulhaq has one of the most difficult, challenging and downright dangerous jobs in the world today. He is the business consultant to the Afghan Women’s Business Federation (AWBF) in Kabul, Afghanistan. He manages and oversees the technical aspects of the AWBF/FAIDA|USAID funded project by providing overall consultancy service, defining work plans, and ensuring achievement of all project activities and milestones, making recommendations for performance improvements, communications, and resource allocations for AWBF programs. His job is to design the framework for financial management advisory, prepare Business Development, management and leadership training manuals, conduct assessment survey and develop questionnaires to diagnose member associations (SMEs) and assess those who need AWBF capacity building services. 

Analyzing SME’s financial position, including their investments, debts and income for loans and development of their businesses.He Graduated in June 2010 as Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Amity University Uttar Pradesh (Noida - New Delhi) INDIA and won his BA in 2006 at Colorado Technical University, USA. Abdulhaq also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in International Human Rights (part-time program at Peshawar Campus) Thesis/Dissertation work on Education Environment in Afghanistan Qurtuba University of Sciences & Information Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan and has attended the Kabul Medical University & Ahmad Shah Abdali Medical University.  He also headed the Humanitarian Assistance Service for Afghanistan (HASA) Mission to Peshawar, Pakistan. HASA is a local NGO working for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country and reintegration of Afghan refugees.

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Santosh Biodari

Santosh Biodari founded the organization Peace for People in Nepal in 2009 to help steer the transition process in his country to one that is based on, justice, peace and sustainability.

He was only 15 years old started social work in a local social welfare youth society.

The turbulent times of the Maoist insurgency between 1996 and 2006 convinced him that the media is a key tool for the gathering and distribution of information that will especially benefit in understanding the roots, thereby the cure, of conflict. Bidari studied Mass Communication and Journalism in college, after which he pursued his journalistic instincts as publisher and senior editor at newspapers Vaskar Pakshik and Gadatantirk Bihani.

Peace for People conducts peace education, encourages reconciliation, tolerance and a culture of peace in cities. Bidari is also the Country Coordinator of Master Peace and Advisory Council member of International City of Peace.

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Igor Jovicic

Igor Jovicic is the Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Culture and Information since September 2013.

Igor was the State Secretary in the Serbian Ministry of Defense, June 2007- July 2012 (coordinating legislative activities under the jurisdiction of the MOD as well as the affairs related to personnel, social and pension insurance, veterans and the disabled care, housing education and training of the MOD and SAF personnel, conscription, work and material duty, democratic and civilian control, religious service, labor union forming by the professional members of the SAF, privacy, confidentiality and protection of personal information).

Served as Chairman of the Military Academy Board, Chairman of the MOD Personnel Committee, member of the Commission for decorations of the President of the Serbia, member of the Council of Relations with Serbs in the Region, member of the Serbian National Council for Co-operation with the ICTY, member of the Defense Planning Committee as well as the Scientific Research Committee, acted as the Republic Serbia representative at various international conferences and meetings in the relevant field of responsibility.

His various previous jobs include: editor for the social, economic and legal subjects and the assistant director of the legal department and human resources for commercial operations, Public Textbook Institute, Chief of Staff of DDOR ''Novi Sad'' a.d.o. CEO, Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, Deputy Secretary General of the Federal Yugoslav Government, 2000-2003, Federal administrative inspector, Ministry of Justice, etc.

Born in 1964 in Zagreb where he graduated at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb in 1989 (thesis: Loan contract) and got Master degree and the same Faculty. He passed the Bar Exam in Belgrade in 1996. His specializations include: Venetian Committee, Council of Europe: Control of executive government: judiciary, parliamentary and ombudsman, Trieste, September 2001, British Association For Central and Eastern Europe: Forum for New Serbia, Refugees Integrations, London, July 2002, US Department of State, USA: Responsibility in state administration and management, US , September 2004, and notably - Ecole Nationale d' Administration, Republique Francaise: Public government and human resources management, Belgrade – Paris, October 2005 – June 2006

Married, father of two children.

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Goran S. Jovičić

One of Serbia's foremost experts in civil aviation and security, Goran is a legal regulation adviser in the Civil Aviation Directorate. Goran was born in 1964 in Zagreb where he also graduated and won his MA in law. He completed his bar exam in Belgrade in 1996. His career includes Deputy Secretary General of the Government of Serbia and member of the Board for the Legal System and State Organs of the Government of Serbia (2000-2004). In the same period Goran was a member of the Serbian Election Commission. Security and Safety Manager of the Belgarde Airport Nikola Tesla (2004-2009) and Deputy Director General of the Civil Aviation Directorate of Serbia (2009-2013).

He participated in scores of international conferences pertaining to civil aviation including: FAA Washington, 2005, Tel Aviv 2005,  EFAA Salzburg 2005, Prague 2006, FAA-TSA USA 2006, Osijek 2006,  Israel 2007,  EFAA Brussels 2007, ICAO-ECAC Kiev 2008, ECAC Strassbourg  2009, ECAC Paris 2009, EUROCONTROL Brussels 2009, ICAO Montreal 2010,  COSPAS SARSAT Montreal 2010, Koeln 2010, 2011, Wisbaden 2011, Aranđelovac 2012, Ankara 2012, Brussels 2012, Albourg 2012. He represented the CA Directorate in ICAO, ECAC, EUROCONTROL, EASA, COSPAS SARSAT, EC, SES,  ISIS.

Goran also trained in state administration at the State Administration Academy in Vienna in 2001, election systems at the British Association For Central and Eastern Europe, state administration in the Czech Ministry of the Interior, Prague, State and Local Administration, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2003, Public Administration, US Department of State, SAD, 2003, Management of Aviation Security“ - IATA Aviation Training and Development Institute, Geneva 2005, Civil Aviation Chief  Executives Programme, Singapore Aviation Academy 2010.

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Dušan Vasiljević

Dusan, a Master of Science of Electrical Engineering, is an international environmental policy, renewable energy and environmental & energy security expert, with a profound understanding of environmental, social, economic, political and related problems in Serbia and the region. He has been deeply involved in socio-environmental issues for more than 15 years and has developed, implemented, managed a scale of different programs: from extensive networking, capacity building, public awareness rising, advocacy campaigning, up to work on strategic development of the institutional architecture, legislative documents for the national and international fora and versatile environmental and energy security expertise.

Performing the tasks of the OSCE Head of Economic and Environmental Department, Dusan has had the opportunity to manage complex programmes with multilateral stakeholders from the host country but also from the Region and International Community. The programs were designed primarily for the governments and governmental structures, however with strong emphasis on public, non-governmental organizations, media and local businesses involvement. He entered Media Reference Directory (REC) as an expert for the Environment and Health, Public Participation in decision-making process, Access to Environmental Information and Sustainable Development. He is also expert of Human Dynamics, Vienna, in the above fields as well as in environmental and Renewable Energy issues. He entered the European Data Bank from Dortmund, Germany, as Sustainable Development Expert. He was a member of Energy and Climate Issue Group of the European ECO Forum and was involved in activities within ReREP for the implementation of Stability Pact guidelines. He was part of a number of international multilateral and bilateral negotiation processes and initiatives under the auspices of the OSCE.

Dusan is the author of the unique legislative model implemented in Serbia 2001/2002 which was promoted throughout the whole OSCE area and among the participating states. He was the head of the team that created basic environmental legislative in Serbia in 2001/2002 and that introduced the Ministry of Environment and natural resources in 2001 and made the architecture of the Ministry for environment and spatial planning, re-established in 2007.  He is a corresponding member of the International Academy for Environment and Security, Sankt Petersburg, Russia, and has published a number of articles and interviews in local and international media since 1991 to date on relevant issues.

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Lidija Bartus Vasiljević

Lidija Bartus Vasiljevic is an experienced TV journalist, anchor and editor, specialized in international political analysis. She is currently the President of the Committee for the International Cooperation of the Chamber of Commerce of Green Serbia and spokesperson and media&marketing consultant - Western Balkans Consulting (WBC). From 2011-2013 she was a consultant at the Louis Berger Group.

Lidija studied at Sciences Po - L’institut d’Etude Politiques de Paris and she is a Master of Journalism and International Affairs. She developed, implemented, managed and conducted a whole scale of different TV programs. As International News Editor in Chief, she was in charge for the management of the International News Department-TV Studio B and responsible for contacts with the representatives of foreign and Serbian government, bodies, organizations, parliaments, individual experts, analysts. She interviewed presidents, ranking officials, diplomats, ministers including Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schroder, Romano Prodi, Miroslav Lajčak, Stefano Saninno, Pierre Richard Prosper, Gianfranco Finni, Erhard Busek, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Chris Patten, Baroness Helena Kennedy, Victor Bulmer-Thomas–Chatham House, Ted Galen Carpenter, Garry Dempsey-CATO Institute and others. 

From 2007 to 2008 Lidija worked as a Special Advisor for Foreign Policy and Media to the President of the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia. She provided advisory and inputs for the speakers at political meetings, public events and media appearances, analysed comprehensive data on the actual social, political and economic situation as priority elements for the planning process; monitored and prepared analytical reports on relevant political issues in Serbia

May 2005 Lidija was a Chairman at the United Nations’ 60^th Anniversary in SaM – Federal Parliament. From 2005-2007. She was a member of the Jury for the Project “Travelling to Europe“ (European Movement and Austrian Embassy in Serbia). She received an award for a contribution to European integration processes by the Belgrade Assembly and the Government of Austria. She also worked for the World Bank, British Council, and Oxfam. She is the owner of the production company CD News.

She is a member of IWC-International Women’s Club, Founder of Rotary Club Beograd Vracar and President 2012-2014, Rotary International Assistant District D2483 Governor 2013 as well as 2011-2012 Rotary International District 2483 Public Relations Chair-Board of Directors.  more...

Bojan Kostres

Politician from the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, which boasts of six official languages, Bojan is the Deputy President of the League of Socialdemocrats of Vojvodina (LSV).
Bojan is a member of the Serbian parliament, Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Home Affairs, member of the Committee for European Integration and member of the Committee for Legal and Political Affairs.
He is also member of the delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Region for Economic Cooperation.
Born in 1974, Bojan has a BS in economy but has been a politician and member of LSV all his adult life. He cofounded the LSV youth and LSV Women’s Forum. He founded and was the editor in chief of the LSV newspaper “Slobodna Vojvodina”. He was the chief of the elections campaign HQ in almost all election campaigns for the past 20 years.
Bojan moved steadily in the LSV ranks – from first secretary of a local chapter in Ecka, a little town in Vojvodina, within five years he became the LSV Executive Committee Chairman and LSV Secretary General. He was very active in the anti-Milosevic movement having been arrested 15 times in the 1999/2000 demonstrations.
He became a Serbian parliament deputy for the first time in 2000 and headed the LSV deputy club.
In 2004, Bojan became the youngest ever Speaker of the Vojovodina parliament saying his primary task is to “restore Vojvodina’s constitutional position” provoking anger in some rightist circles.
In 2008 he retuned again as deputy to the Serbian parliament and has been a member ever since. Bojan is staunch supporter of Serbia’s drive to become a member of the European Union. He is also very actively cooperating with other social democratic parties in former Yugoslavia and Europe.

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Simon Wilson OBE

After graduating in Modern Languages from Cambridge University, Simon briefly worked for the Bank of London & South America. In 1988 he joined the British Diplomatic Service. He had postings in Greece, Croatia, USA, Hungary, Oman, Iraq and Kuwait. He left the Diplomatic Service in 2012 and now lives in the Sultanate of Oman where he works as an adviser on government relations for a number of companies specialising in the Gulf. He also acts as an adviser to a UAE university. As well as English, Simon speaks Russian, Hungarian, Serbian, French, Greek and Arabic. His interests include the history of Eastern Europe after the Second World War and the relationship of the Gulf monarchies with the Western world. In his spare time, Simon enjoys fine wine, fine food, travel and books about the history of words. Simon was appointed OBE in June 1997.  more...

Borislav Miljanovic

Without any doubt one of the leading communications experts in the region. Borislav is the Managing Director and founder of Represent Communications, an affiliate of one of the leading global public relations agencies, Weber Shandwick. He is also the founder of Real Time Clipping, a leader in the area of new technologies and media monitoring.

Born in Belgrade in 1970, he graduated from the Faculty of Law and obtained a Master and PhD degree at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, where today he conveys his vast experience in public relations to post-graduates.

Borislav was a journalist and editor in numerous media outlets in Serbia for a decade. He also established the Public Relations Department in BK Group and the Royal Palace and was an official public relations representative of HRH Crown Prince Aleksandar II. He was one of the founders of the Serbian Public Relations Society, where he currently presides over the Supervisory Board. He was also a member of the Board of Governors in American Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of many other associations such as the Serbian Association of Managers,  Serbian Association of Corporate Directors, National Alliance for Local Economic Development, Serbian - British Business Club, and Serbian Society of Lobbyists. From the very beginning, Borislav has been setting new standards in the Agency in the area of public relations, and in the last four years the Agency has been No.1 in Serbia in regard to business results. In addition to the agency in Serbia, he has established a regional office in Montenegro.Borislav was awarded by the Serbian Public Relations Society for personal contribution in the field of communications

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Ambassador Zoran Basaraba

Current Serbian Ambassador to Israel, Zoran is a foreign policy and communications expert. He moved to New York city in 1982 where he initially pursued Ph. D. in comparative politics and later made a stellar career in marketing and corporate communications. He was part of the team which successfully branded the "Yugo Mania" - first ever sales of a developing world mass-produced car on the U.S. market. In early 1991 he moved to the U.S. pharmaceuticals company ICN with interests across Eastern Europe and China. When ICN's CEO, Milan Panic, became the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia in 1992 Zoran served as his chief of staff. Despite maintaining family residence in the U.S., Zoran has been active in Serbian political and administrative affairs ever since.

Zoran has held a number of senior government positions in Yugoslavia and later Serbia: Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, etc. His main area of expertise is political analysis and marketing; he was the manager for Panic's historic Serbian election campaign against Slobodan Milosevic. Zoran has proven himself to be an experienced hands-on manager with ability to communicate across cultural and hierarchical boundaries.

Zoran is also a resourceful negotiator and has advised a number of stakeholders on negotiating strategies involving cross-cultural sensitivities. He usually commutes between San Diego, Belgrade, Munich , Podgorica and now Tel Aviv. As of late 2011, he has assumed the post of Serbia’s Ambassador to Israel.

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Parvis Hanson

In Memoriam 1969-2019

Parvis Hanson is the President of The Manor Group. The Business Strategic Insights Community. Through The Manor Group, he is a Senior Strategic Advisor to the leadership of the leading corporations and governments from Asia, Europe and North America.

Prior to founding The Manor Group, Parvis Hanson was Senior Manager of the World Economic Forum, in charge of Asian affairs, Information Communication Technologies member corporations and the New Asian Leaders Community. During this time he has developed an extensive experience and knowledge on the world's economic, business and political scene and of its key players. Under his leadership, the World Economic Forum has expanded their presence in Asia and facilitated “Davos” Summits to exchange expertise between leaders in business, government, and civil society.

Parvis Hanson is also Managing Director to Book Hill Partners. Book Hill Partners provides strategic solutions to complex problems, extensive experience at the highest levels of government and business, in the United States and around the world.

Furthermore Parvis Hanson holds also senior advisory roles to United Nations, World Intellectual Property Organization, World Customs Organization, INTERPOL, International Chamber of Commerce, Monday Morning, Sustainia, Naissance Capital and Horasis.

Parvis Hanson is also the co-founder of the Princess Carina Organization an association partnering with selected charities and foundations, catalyzing social projects through focused fund raising.

He has lived, studied and worked in Europe, US and Asia and is fluent in German, French and English.

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H.R.H. Princess Karina Bagration-Moukhransky, PhD

Princess Karina Bagration-Moukhransky, PhD., has been contributing to numerous philanthropic pursuits since her late teens, at first, as volunteer for the Red Cross mission in Ukraine. Her current involvements range across areas of culture, education for sustainable social development, women's and children's rights protection .

The Princess is the author of various scientific articles in field of cultural anthropology and folkloristics with keen interest in rich Celtic heritage. She is also the author of 2 books”The Olympic Games” and “Indonesia: facts and figures” (under the direction of Professor Frederick Trowman, Cambridge University).

In 2011 Her Highness and her partners founded “Princess Carina Organization”(Switzerland). With the dream to turn Karina's personal life story into powerful tool serving social makeover, the Organization Team does various humanitarian projects. Since 2012 it also benefits from the High Patronage of Geneva Canton. Karina is also a brand ambassadress in luxury segment, an artists and an associate producer of “The Goddess” documentary (a media project, which aims at drawing attention to the modern role of a woman in society done by “DragonLion” Media, Hollywood). In 2014 Her Highness was decorated by H.R.H. Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky with the dynastic order for her ongoing service to society.

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H.R.H. Princess Anna of Georgia

H.R.H. Princess Anna of Georgia, Mba, is a Royal Princess of the Gruzinsky branch of the Bagration dynasty of Georgia.

Devoted mother of three children and a humanitarian, Princess Anna supports charitable projects connected to literacy, Georgian historic and cultural heritage, women rights. Her Highness supports humanitarian projects connected to sport and education, especially Olympic Games. Her Highness also patronizes The Public School for Blind Children №202 of Tbilisi.  

Since 2014 she is heading The International Charity Fund in Research of Georgian Anciency aiming to preserve Georgian legacy and culture.

The Princess is a Goodwill Ambassador of “Association Swiss  Morning Star” (Switzerland)  for Caucasus Countries with the aim to promote education and literacy worldwide.

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Professor George Popper

George is a security expert, committed to supporting youth and sport organizations and above all to helping the poor, the elderly and the vulnerable parts of the society.

After graduating economics and philosophy at the University for Political Sciences in Budapest, Hungary, Geroge moved to the US where he founded IBSAA Inc -the International Bodyguard and Security Services Association (IBSSA). IBSSA is the official international association of private security, manpower and technical resources, technological companies and individual members of the security profession. Today, IBSSA is a leading international association involved in organizing, coordinating, giving comprehensive assistance, technical help and development to its members worldwide in the field of security. In a meantime George was also a Senior Director of the field of Security at the Israeli College for Security and Investigations, Professor and active member of the International Informatics Academy, Deputy Rector and Professor of PRO-DEO State University (PDSU).

Today he is a President of IBSSA Inc (USA), Executive President of the International Budo Academy (IBA), Lieutenant General and Prime Minister of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, Federation of the Autonomous Priories (KMFAP) - Executive Grand Chancellor of the Sovereign Order of Cyprus Knights of Sword and Silence - Vice President of the Malta Cross Foundation International Florida, USA - Vice President of FEMERAID International - Member of the International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association (INEOA) - Honorary President of the International Protective and Security Academy (PSA) London, UK - Honorary President of the Diplomatic Institution Geneva, Switzerland and Honorary President of the Hungarian Karate Federation

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Zoran Naumović

EWB Legal Counsel

Born in Belgrade 1968, Educated in Belgrade, Faculty of Law, Belgrade University, 1992, Bar Exam, 1995, Intellectual Property Protection Specialist Exam, 1996, He is a founder of Law Office Naumović & Partners Attorneys at Law (http://www.naumovic-partners.com). He is an expert in different areas of law - Corporate law, Contracting law, IT and IP law. He is an active member of various professional and business organizations such as: Bar Association of Serbia, 1995, INTA (International Trademark Association), 2000, American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia (http://www.amcham.rs), 2003 and  Member of Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) in AmCham.

He is founder of Serbian Association of Managers (http://www.sam.org.rs), 2006 and member of supervisory board of Serbian Association of Managers from 2006-2015. Now he is a member of Board of directors of Serbian Association of Managers (http://www.sam.org.rs) He is a founder of Foundation “Good Name” which helps young talents in Serbia in the field of classical music and other fine Arts  (http://www.dobarglaszatalente.rs/). Also he is a mentor for legal affairs in ICT HUB business incubator for information and communication technology (http://www.icthub.rs/). Zoran is an arbitrator at Sports Arbitration of Olympic Committee of Serbia and member of Presidency of Sports Arbitration of Olympic Committee of Serbia (http://www.oks.org.rs), He is member pf EPI (Institute of Professional Representatives before the EU Patent Office), 2011 (http://www.patentepi.com) and he has a title of  European patent attorney in the front of EPO (European Patent Office http://www.epo.org) 2011.

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Marija Jelic

Marija Jelic, the youngest member of EAST WEST BRIDGE, is the President of  Network for Business Development (an NGO) and Director of its affiliated project School of Business Skills designed to enable students adapt to working environment and requirements immediately upon graduation and develop in-study relations with potential hiring companies.

She was born in February 1993 and she currently studying Faculty of Electrical Engeneering University of Belgrade, focusing on  Physical Electronics. Marija also graduated from the Belgrade Musical High School in solo singing and flute. She is a Director of Marketing and Communications at New Belgrade Opera. After graduating from Mathemmatical Grammar School, she became one of the Administrator Alumni organization for former students of Mathematical Grammar School “ALMAGI“. During 4^th year of High School, she worked as PR Manager at School for Talents in Commercial Bank. As a teenager she had initiative to lead couple of projects and one of them is: "Dealing with the Past-Building the Future" supported by European Christian Political Movement. She was awarded Vuk Karadzic diploma, scholarships City Hall for gifted students, the award "Dositej" Young Talents Fund of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Awards from the cast: short dramatic forms and theatrical performances in the monodrama "Upstart", "Miss Julie," "Master Class". Prize in the competition from the literature, organized by the Serbian literary society for young people, for the story "Life is full of obstacles when you are without support" (published in the book Shortcut). Third prize at the festival of poetry and short stories, "Dusko Trifunovic". Awards for scientific research Rutherford's experiment at the Institute of Physics in Belgrade.

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Ambassador Aleksandar Crkvenjakov

Former Serbian Ambassador to Bulgaria, Director General of RTS, the former state TV and now a PBS, journalist, national news anchorman, media producer, editor, director of documentary films, marketing guru, Aleksandar is one of the leading and most recognized media figures in the country.  He now runs the Democratic Party foreign relations department. 

Aleksandar is the co-owner and director of Zizgin Art, a marketing, events and media production company. From 2009 to 2013, he served as the Serbian Ambassador to Bulgaria. From 2004 to 2007 he was the New Director in the leading Serbian commercial TV - Pink Corp - anchorman of main TV news and educator of young journalists.

Aleksandar took over as Director General of the state TV RTS in 2001 with possibly one of the most difficult assignments in the post-Milosevic Serbia – he was to transform and streamline what used to be a cumbersome and bloated Milosevic propaganda machine into a mainstream Public Broadcasting Service. At that time, the whole system included 65 companies starting with three national and four regional TV and Radio, branches in every major Serbian city. Rest of the conglomerate included News production, current affairs, education, sport, documentary programs. The RTS system was responsible for the maintenance of complete network of transmitters, transport facilities, technical support and employed more than 8.000 people at the time.

Within a minimal time framework, infrastructure and TV equipment were restored completely and the public’s trust towards TV and Radio programs has been built up. At that time, the RTS became the institution with the highest ratings with the Serbian TV and Radio audience. Renewed cooperation with International Telecommunications Union and reestablished membership in EBU for Eurovision and EuroRadio. The ambitious program for restructuring of RTS into a PBS was done in cooperation with an international OSCE expert team.

Aleksandar has an MBA at Faculty of Architecture (University of Belgrade). Postgraduate studies: Organization at Faculty of Organizational Sciences (University of Belgrade), Development and history at Faculty of Architecture (University of Belgrade). He is also a visiting professor at several Belgrade faculties.

An avid sailor, Aleksandar is married to a Greek diplomat.  more...

Ambassador Ranko Škrbic

Ranko Skrbic, MD, M.Sc, PhD, is an expert in Clinical Pharmacology. During his impressive career, he was the Ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) to Serbia, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Government of Republic of Srpska (RS), BiH, Director of Institute for Health Management, Banja Luka, RS, Professor of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Banja Luka Head of National Drug Information Centre, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, established in collaboration with WHO and EU-ECHO, Chairman of Drug Committee, Ministry of Health of RS, Chairman of the RS Drug Registration Committee, EU PHARE Regional Coordinator for Pharmaceutical Sector Development in BiH, local consultant to Stockholm Care; Stockholm, Sweden, UNICEF Regional Coordinator for Essential Drugs and Rational drug use in RS, EU-CARDS  Regional Coordinator for Health Care Reform in BiH and local consultant to Maxwell Stamp, London, UK.

Ranko is a member of the Council of European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT), of the Serbian pharmacological society, of the Section for toxicology of the Serbian Medical Association, of the Section for clinical pharmacology of the Serbian Medical Association, of the Association of Clinical Pharmacological Societies with Sections of Clinical Pharmacists and Pharmacoinformatics of BiH. He also participated in the World Health Organization Assembly, Geneva, the Special Session of UN General Assembly on NCD, New York, and in WHO EURO Regional Committees: Copenhagen, Moscow, Baku, Valletta, as well as SEEHN meetings. He has published scores of papers in relevant local and international media and journals.

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Blažo Šaban

It, communications and security expert, Blazo has been tasked with setting up East West Bridge Montenegro. Blazo is the Wireless Montenegro Executive Director. Blazo graduated from the Electro-Technical Faculty in Podgorica, Montenegro, at the Electronics and Telecommunications Department. He later got his MA in IT Management.

His first job was in the Montenegrin Secretariat for Traffic and Communications, dealing with international communications and allocation of radio frequencies. He monitored the work of radio and TV equipment, telephone exchange systems and other PTT systems in his country. He was a member of the board of directors of Montenegro Post and of the state broadcaster, Radio-Television of Montenegro. He was also the state representative in the launching of the first mobile phone operator in Montenegro and the Chief Inspector for Telecommunications in Montenegro. 

His career also included a spell of four years as Executive Director of Montenegro Railways. He is currently involved in launching the TETRA security network in Albania, Slovenia and Republika Srpska, building of a small hydro-dam, building of a 20 million euro tourist complex Sea Garden, building of an international data center in Montenegro and setting up a call center for security companies.

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Gabriel César Dias Lopes, PhD

Gabriel is a  Director of California University (Los Angeles)  in Brazil and  Rector of  Logos University  in the city of Manhumirim - Minas Gerais (Brazil).  As a  Doctor he specialized in psychoanalysis and the traditional Chinese medicine. He used to work as for many years as the secretary of the city government of  Manhumirim in Brasil were he has organized hundreds humanitarian programs to help the children and youth. After he  got  his Ph.D in Psychoanalysis at Emill Brunner -Florida World University (USA) in 2012., Gabriel has developed a new model of E-learning  for Brasil, with a aim to help poor people  obtain a better education.  For all his efforts Gabriel was awarded a special consultative status with a Brasilian Government, in recognition of his professional and humanitarian work. 

Lopes is also the Honorary Founder of the World Academy of Human Sciences. - Diplomatic Corps Recognized by the UN / Director of DEIPS - Economics Division, Research and Health Prevention of L'Assemblée Citoyenne Européenne (France) / Member of the Association Française de Psychanalyse Evolutive (France) / Special Adviser to the exchange with psychoanalysis schools worldwide - Association Française de Psychanalyse Evolutive (France). He is married and has one son. Speaks fluently Portuguese, Spanish and English.

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Rza Aliyev

Rza is a private banker, Wealth Manager, at the ANDBANK, Escaldes-Engordany, Principality of Andorra, in direct contact with HNWI from Central Asia, Caucasus, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Greece and Lebanon. Rza is also the Deputy Secretary General of the influential Nizami Ganjavi International Center promoting Learning, Tolerance, Dialogue & Understanding whose influence has long since surpassed the Azerbaijan borders. The NGIC has successfully organized the Baku International Fora for the past three years turning it into a must-attend annual event on the world policy discussion agenda, drawing scores of current and former heads of state or government and hundreds of academicians.

After receiving his Master of Arts in Diplomacy and International Affairs in 2011 at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Baku, Azerbaijan (a double Major: Conflict Resolution and Security Studies; Caspian Basin Studies) Rza got his PhD in Economy in 2013 at the Academy of Public Administration. He won the prestigious Good Will Ambassador Award from the US Congress and Children Uniting Nations in recognition of international support to the welfare of children and the fight against trafficking. He is the Special Envoy of “Children Uniting Nations”, World Academy of Arts and Sciences – Junior Fellow and a very active participant in Club of Rome and Club de Madrid meetings.

He was previously a financial adviser, private banker at Credit Andorra SA, Andorra La Vella, Principality of Andorra, Founder and Director of ST Ventures LLC, Baku, Development Officer at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Baku, Adviser, Youth Delegate from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Nations, New York, during which time he had delivered a speech at the UN General Assembly Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC) and produced the Draft UN Resolution on Policies and Programs Involving Youth. He was also a Development Officer at the American University, School of International Affairs, Washington DC, Executive Assistant to the Dean of the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Baku, Intern at the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the USA, Washington DC, Research Assistant at the Atlantic Council, Washington DC, focusing on the energy issues, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and China. Rza, only 26 years old, speaks Azerbaijani, Russian, English, Spanish and Turkish.

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Nenad Bogdanovic

Nenad Bogdanovic is Serbian-born Cypriot cultural worker and musician. After the graduation from Kragujevac Music School, he studied accordion on the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kiev. He obtained MA in Cultural Managemet from Northumbria University (UK) in 2007. He is permanently resident in Limassol, Cyprus since 2001. Currently, he is the Executive Director of Cyprus Symphony Orchestra Foundation, managing national symphony and youth symphony orchestras of the island.

Nenad worked as CEO of Cultural Movement of Limassol EPILOGI – Jeunesses Musicales Cyprus and Dance House Limassol. He played major role in establishing the Euro-Arab Youth Music Centre, which is a joint venture of Jeunesses Musicales International, Arab Academy of Music (of the League of Arab States) and Cultural Movement "Epilogi". Nenad managed various projects for youth in music funded, among others, by EU “Culture” and "Youth in Action" Programmes, Anna Lindh Foundation, European Cultural Foundation and Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture. Nenad served as Board member of Jeunesses Musicales International (2008-2014) and from 2013  serves on the Board of the European Music Council.

Nenad is fluent in Serbian, English, Greek, Russian and Ukrainian languages. He is married and has two daughters.  more...

Maria Teresa Mauro

A renown human rights expert, an aid, legal and political worker, Maria Teresa has extensive international experience in management good governance; capacity-building, including training; political analysis; elections (legal & technical advisory roles); rule of law; human rights monitoring and investigations, in conflict, post-conflict and developing countries. She has worked for the United Nations (Department of Peace Keeping, and High Commissioner for Refugees); the Italian Foreign Ministry; the Council of Europe-Venice Commission; OSCE, IFES/USAID, Creative International/USAID, and the Graduate Institute of International Studies-Geneva/CH (Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC).

An exceptional analytical, negotiation and organizational skills; strategic and solutions-oriented thinker Maria Teresa currently works as a teacher at the European Inter University for Human Rights and Democratization in Venice Italy. Previously she worked as an International Electoral Audit Observer-Creative International/USAID, Kabul/Afghanistan, Senior Expert - UN High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR) Regional Representation-Dakar/Senegal, Senior Program Manager, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva/Switzerland, Legal Adviser, Juba, Sudan, IFES/USAID, Advisor to the Referendum Commission (RC) in Khartoum, Project Coordinator, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, International Legal Adviser, Council of Europe/Venice Commission, International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Human Rights Expert, Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Regional Political Directorate, Basra, Iraq, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Political Officer, United Nations Liaison Office, Belgrade, UN Protection Forces, Humanitarian Officer, Croatia, UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia,Electoral District Supervisor and European Union, International Environmental Legislation Instructor, Marsala,Italy.

Maria Teresa has also taken part in electoral related observer missions in Afghanistan, Italy, Sudan, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo, Croatia and Cambodia. She is a member of the International Institute of Sociology, International Women`s Club, Civil Voluntary Group, European Movement of Serbia, Pax Christi Netherlands- European Centre for Conflict Prevention.  more...

Robert Jovanović

Marketing manager and producer, Robert was born in Tuzla, 1969, and studied at the Tuzla faculty of Technology and the Economic Faculty, specializing in "Management - Business Process Management". He also actively played basketball in the former Yugoslav basketball league. In the early 90ties he was a basketball coach of Sloboda Dita club in Tuzla where he also ran a basketball school. After working for two years in his early 20ties as a machine technician in the Mramor coal mines, Robert went into private sector, mainly in entrepreneurship, marketing and production industry.  

In 1995 he went to Split to work for UNHCR and “Terre des Hommes” NGO from Swiss as the chief of logistics for the programme which was implemented across BiH until 1997 when he returned to Tuzla and set up with his wife their own media, fashion, marketing and production company, which also includes the “Miss BiH” pageant, licensed from London, and focuses mostly on promoting social values in BiH’s recovering post-war society. Its programmes appeal to the development of awareness through several socially beneficial themes that span both entities in BiH. His company also includes the ABC models agency which organizes school for young models, promotes and engages them in BiH and in the world.

Since 1997, twice a year, the agency ABC models traditionally organizes BiH Fashion Week in four BiH cities (Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Mostar and Tuzla), which certainly contributes significantly to the affirmation of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian fashion industry of culture and tradition, along with the young designers and other creative people who participate in the realization of this fashion event.

Robert was twice a candidate for Federal Parliament in front of the European Ecological Party. He is currently not a member of any political party, but is still very socially active. From 2006 to 2015 Robert was a board member of the America-Bosnia Foundation, and two years was the executive director of the Foundation for BiH. During that time, the Foundation has implemented many projects in BiH and the United States, with the aim of better understanding and strengthening friendly relations with the United States.

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Professor Kenan Ademović

Dr.sci.Kenan Ademovic, attorney at law, was born in 1971 in Sarajevo where he finished six grades of the Elementary School. He lived in Egypt where he finished Elementary School in CAC (Cairo American College). He finished High School in Ethiopia as he lived there at that time. He completed the Faculty of Law in Sarajevo, as well as his first Masters degree at the University of Sarajevo at the Faculty of Law. The second Master Thesis he obtained at the University of Bologna and London School of Economics.

He obtained his PhD at the University of Sarajevo, at the Faculty of Law and the theme of this thesis was: "European Constitution and perspectives of B&H towards European Integrations" and gained the title of the Doctor of Laws.Since 2007. he is working as a partner in the Law Firm Filipovic-Ademovic. The Filipovic Ademovic  Law Office is representing both national and international companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Kenan is the 5th generation of attorneys at law on his mother's side and forth on his father's side. Kenan's great-grandfather was an Attorney at law back in the late 1883. He is as well an Assistant Professor for scientific filed "Administrative Law", "Business Law" and "State and International Public Law" and gives lectures at several Universities. He worked as an legal expert in several projects of the European Commission. As well he worked in OHR in the Brcko District, in OSCE, then in Soros Foundation as a coordinator in the Legal Center of the Soros Foundation. Recently Kenan was involved in one of the USAID's projects "Justice Project in B&H" (2015). He was a elected representative in the Sarajevo Canton from 2010 to 2014. At the present he is not active politically. Kenan is fluent in English language and author of two books, many article regarding legal matters, etc.

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Sava Sajko

Sava Sajko, born in Belgrade 1983, is an independent TV& documentary producer, NGO activist and former Olympic triathlon champion of Yugoslavia and Serbia-Montenegro. Sava started his career at FOX TV Serbia as a presenter. After successfully completing several projects, he established his own company in 2009. One of his first projects as an independent producer was documentary series about ordinary people who had done something remarkable for their community and serve as a good social example. Project named “Moj Heroj” (My Hero), was about human virtues, courage, knowledge and success. Series were broadcasted on Serbian National Broadcasting Company (RTS), Radio Television of Republic of Srpska (RTRS) as well as on Bosnia and Herzegovina Federal TV (FTV). In 2015 he established similar project in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and produced regional series “Dobro u ljudima” (Intrinsic Good). This serial is broadcasted on CNN’s affiliate TV, N1.

In 2014 he produced the first ever made animated documentary about Michael Pupin - one of the greatest scientists of all times. Because of the educational and motivational mission of the film, Sava decided to distribute film within Serbia’s educational system as well as on Serbian National Broadcasting Company (RTS) for free. Documentary reached an audience of more than 1.1 million. This fact encouraged him to take larger steps on the well-known ground and to create an animated documentary about Michael Pupin’s in English and for the global audience. This new project is named “Toward the Light” and it was recognized by UNESCO’s initiative to celebrate 2015 as International Year of Light. Sava graduated from University of Belgrade in 2006, majoring history and Byzantium art. He was a founder and the member of the Governing Board of Treća Srbija political party. Sava now serves as the Executive Director at “Tesla Centar”, a Belgrade-based NGO, dedicated on promoting science, sustainable development and education. 

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Zoran Jovicic

A Serbian defense contractor, Zoran graduated from the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering in Belgrade, Department of Aviation. Zoran started his professional career at the Yugoslav Air Transport (JAT) at the Crew Planning Division and three years later he moved to a position at the Technical Support Unit at the Belgrade Airport. Zoran then worked for the next 18 years in “Belgrade Port and Warehouses”,   first as director of Technical and Technological Division and later on as the director of Integral and Container Transportation.

In 1992 in New York he founded his own successful company whose main activity are imports of industrial equipment and spare parts from the US, Canadian and Japanese markets to the ex-Yugoslav market and the markets of some African and Asian countries. In Serbia, the clients of Zoran Consulting & Trading Co. are primarily all factories operating in the field of defense industry, as well as Petro-Hemija Pancevo (Petrochemical Industry Pancevo), Zelezara Smederevo (Smederevo Steelworks), Copper Mill in Sevojno, “Lafarge” and “Holcim” cement plants. His company supplies laboratory and testing equipment and also electronic equipment from USA and Japan. His focus is also the modernization of existing equipment in several factories of Serbian defense industry.

In 2014 the Company has been incorporated and registered for sales of arms and military equipment. As a result, the Company signed an Agreement with the army and police of Sri Lanka for the supply of military equipment. Zoran attended and actively participated in the Conference on Regional  Safety of South-Eastern Asia held in Colombo in 2012. Likewise, Zoran participated in the development of two projects: “The Intact Organization – International Risk Security Group” and “Expert Consultants and Instructions”, developed for one Asian and two African states.

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Zoran Daljevic

Zoran is one of the leading business and financial experts in the region, specialized in the food, beverage and distribution sector. Born in 1961 in Belgrade, a Serbian and Slovenian citizen, Zoran is the Atlantic Group Director of Central finance for Serbia and Macedonia. The AG is the largest producer and distributor of snacks, savory, coffee, beverages and food products in this part of Europe.

In 2015 he was appointed Integration Manager for one of the leading Serbian food companies, Foodland, to oversee its smooth inclusion into the Atlantic Group. From 2008 to 2011 Zoran was PepsiCo Intl. (Marbo) CFO West Balkans and from 2005-2008 Pernod Ricard Srbija d.o.o. (former Allied Domecq Agencies) General Manager. From 2002 to 2005 he was Allied Domecq Agencies d.o.o. Managing Director and before that from (1997 to 2002) its Finance&HR Director. Zoran worked in the NEA d.o.o. company as Finance Manager, Kriko d.d. company, and the Komet company.

Zoran was the Project Manager of the BPS (Banking Payment Systems) VISA card, VISA International, and sales executive in Iskra Delta Computers, Ljubljana. Zoran graduated from the School of Economics, Department of economic statistics and cybernetics, University of Belgrade where he was also appointed its Vice-Chancellor of Belgrade in 1983-85. Zoran also attended professional training courses, including INSPIRE program for Leadership for Atlantic Group, IEDC Bled 2012/13, Finance consolidation trainings Paris Dec 2005, Dec 2006.  Finance training: Introduction of IFRS and differences to UK GAAP, Frankfurt 2005, Reporting in high inflation economies; Bucharest January 2001, Company trainings for Budgeting&Reporting 1998-2000, Bristol, Investment Projects, Brioni, 1989, Export Marketing, Brdo, Kranj 1987. Business communication, Nova Gorica, 1987. He is an avid mountain climber.

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Nikola Mijailovic

Serbian baritone Nikola Mijailovic has received accolades for his operatic and concert performances throughout the world. A versatile artists equally at home on both concert and opera stages, Nikola has collaborated with some of the most eminent conductors of our day including Giuseppe Sinopoli, Riccardo Muti, Leopold Hager, Zoltan Peszko, Stefano Ranzani, Arthur Fagen, Michail Jurowski, Nicola Luisotti to name just a few.

Mr. Mijailovic was bom in Belgrade, Serbia in 1973. After taking a diploma in piano, he continued vocal studies at the University of Arts with his mother, a renowned serbian soprano Radmila Smiljanic. He made a debut at the age of 19 as Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at the Vienna Conservatory in 1992.He holds a Bachelor's Degree from the Vienna Conservatory and Master's Degree from Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Galina Vishnevskaya, Edward Zambara and Michael Eliasen. In 1995 and 1996 he participated in Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA where he studied with Marilyn Horne. Nikola Mijailovic completed his studies at Academia di perfezionamento per cantanti lirici del Teatro alla Scala in Milano, under the vocal guidance of Leila Gencer and Luigi Alva in 1999.

Nikola Mijailovic is a World Winner of the 5th Luciano Pavarotti Intemational Voice Competition in Philadelphia in 1995, First Prize winner of Mario Lanza Competition in Philadelphia in 1994, and a Third Prize winner of Leyla Gencer Intemational Voice Competition in Istanbul in 1997.

Nikola Mijailovic made his professional debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow as Schaunard in Boheme in 1996, and sang Marcello next to Luciano Pavarotti's Rodolfo the same year in Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Since then, he appeared throughout the world in major opera houses of Milano, Verona, Venezia, Montreal, Hamburg, Hannover, Bonn, Dresden, Catania, Lima, Havana, Moscow, Rome, Vienna, Tokyo, Montpellier, Las Palmas, Malaga, Peking, Shanghai, Rotterdam, Raverma, Tel Aviv to name a few. Paralel to his singing carrier Nikola Mijailovic has been a full time professor at the Vocal department of the Faculty of Music at the University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia since 2003. Many of his students now perform regulary at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Carnegie Hall, Salzburg Summer Festival, Vienna State Opera, Plzen Opera House in Czech Republic, Koburg in Germany, National Theater in Belgrade and Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad, among others.

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Qemal Xhemaili

Qemal was born in 1967 in Preshevo, Southern Serbia, and is a leading Albanian peace activist.  For years Qemal promoted building bridges, confidence and trust between Serbians and Albanians and championed for multiethnic society there. Always against any radicalism he was and is dedicated to paving the way for prosperity and economic stability. His life moto is: „We need a peace, justice and a truth because of future generations“. In the 90ties Qemal was a founder and member of the Board of Serbian Liberal Party LDP for Southern Serbia. His main focus in the time of Balkan wars was on peace activities and trust-building between Serbians and Albanians.

After democratic elections Qemal left political life and concentrated his work on a  humanitarian and peace projects through Swiss Association Morning Star (ASMS). The results of his work are: local municipalities in a Preshevo and Bujanovac organized camps for refugees coming from Middle East and Africa to Serbia; support for education of local youth, he organized for more than 1,200 books to be donated to Preshevo by ASMS; building of several active „informal  dialogue circles“  between Albanians and Serbians, etc. After several armed incidents in FYR Macedonia between radical Albanians and Macedonians Qemal campaigned in public media all over Serbia for „the need to maintain peace“ – which contributed to lowering of ethnic tensions in Southern Serbia. Qemal, speaks Albanian, Serbian and Macedonian languages, is married and has two sons. 

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Karl L. de la Guerra

Karl L. de la Guerra, PPS, CLSS, is a leading world security expert, results oriented professional, highly-skilled in international corporate executive protection,  law enforcement related technical and tactical training, police tactical operations, counter-terrorism, antiterrorism, infrastructure protection, threat assessment/investigations, public relations, aviation security  management, hotel security management and criminal street gangs.

Before he founded in 2013 the Karl de la Guerra, Inc. company, Karl was Executive Vice-President of Capitol Guard & Patrol, Inc. Phoenix, Arizona, who has managed in a 137 state-wide security and private investigation agency. Karl attended training and education courses including: Community College of the Air Force (Criminal Justice), United States Air Force Security Police Academy (Law Enforcement), United States Air Force Non Commissioned Officers Leadership School with Honours, U. S. Army Special Forces Counter-Terrorism Course, U.S. Diplomatic Security Service terrorism awareness course etc...

From 2004 - 2010 Karl Made numerous appearances on the Phoenix, Arizona CBS television affiliate speaking as a subject matter expert on terrorism and security related topics. He is member in American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS), South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, South Carolina Gang Investigators Association, International Bodyguard & Security Services Association, FBI Infraguard and U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC).

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Faruk B. Günay

Faruk, born in 1983, is a computer expert, currently a research assistant in the Department of Computer Engineering at the Atatürk University, Turkey. He received his B.Sc. degree in the Department of Electrical-Electronic Engineering from the Erciyes University. Faruk was a transmission department engineer in Türk Telekom Corporation, 2007-2010.

He received his M.Sc. degree in the Department of Electrical-Electronic Engineering, at the Atatürk University. Also, he received his second M.Sc. degree in the Department of Computer Engineering, at the Karadeniz Technical University. Currently, he is a PhD student in same department. His current research interests are in the fields of hardware, wireless communications, optical communications and wireless sensor networks.

Faruk has served as Board member of Turkish Atlantic Council since 2012. Moreover, he is also a member of several Turkish and world-wide think tanks and foundations. He has published and presented scores of papers in scientific magazines and conferences at prestigious institutions all over the world.

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Simona Joveska

Simona was born in Ohrid, the Republic of Macedonia, (FYROM) in July 1986, and lives and works in Bitola. After her secondary education she enrolled on the Faculty of Biotechical Sciences in Bitola, where apart from her undergraduate studies in Animal products processing in 2009, she also completed her master studies in the field of Management in Biotechnology in 2013.

In addition to her formal education, Simona has received a variety of diplomas and certificates from non-formal education, including the Certificate of Implementer of HACCP. This diploma has helped her to become a member of the Macedonian Scientific Society in Bitola, where she worked from 2008 to 2010. Since 2011 Simona is a manager in Lootus J Center for consulting, training, foreign languages and computers in Bitola, where apart from her work as a manager, she also works as consultant and professor of mathematics to school children.

She has attended numerous seminars, conferences and training as a representative of non-governmental organizations of which she is a member. The most important training that she has attended is President Ivanov’s School for Young Leaders in 2015.  more...

Maurizio Folli

Folli is a professional lawyer from 1997, specializing in international law with a respectable international practice in many sectors: real estate, company development, children rights. Maurizio particularly dedicated his work for the social and human rights. He is the president of lawyers association in Florence. Maurizio is also a consultant for SUNIA which deals in real estate renting, for APU, the association of building owners, for SILP, the police workers association.

He is also a coordinator and consultant for many non-profit associations, helping people, especially families with children, navigate in the complicated bureaucratic procedures when they arrive from foreign countries. Maurizio is also a professional journalist, writing for various local and national newspapers, focusing on legal matters. Consultant for Studio Daedalus from the beginning, Folli manages all relationships between professionals and companies, helping to choose the right company for each project.

Most of the companies that Studio Daedalus Management follows in foreign Countries, need someone who is specialized in local laws and contracts. He organized a web of Professional lawyer staff in many countries to support and give legal advice. The research of the right partner for a Joint Venture, a precise contract and a sure guarantee on the work, is the most important step for a company who would like to work in a foreign country.

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Roberto Moriconi

Eng. Roberto Moriconi Engineer expert in electrical,  telecommunication, civil and plant security.

During the work for “Jubilee 2000” he was in charged as supervisor for construction of Notre Dame of Jerusalem Auditorium. Before the visit of John Paul II, Israeli Security he was a collaborator to provide to the systems and devices, necessary to Pope  Security.

In recognition of success of John Paul II pilgrimage to Holy Land, the Nuncio and Apostolic Delegate Archbishop Pietro Sambi gave to him me a special gold medal of the Pope.

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Mirza Ustamujic

Mirza Ustamujic is the Chairman of the Executive Board of the America-Bosnia Foundation. He was the youngest directly elected Member in the House of Representatives in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 2010-2014 mandate. During his mandate he was proclaimed as the one of the best MPs in the Bosnia and Herzegovina by the CCI, a leading NGO that follow activities of all elected MPs and ministers. His focus was on anti-corruption and especially the fight against system corruption, party influence and the de-politicization of public companies; as well as economic development and youth issues. He was also a member of the Expert Commission that led negotiations for a possible solution of the “Sejdic-Finci” case in Brussels with the European Commission, and he also proposed amendments to the FBiH Constitution to stop acts of corruption becoming outdated. Before his tenure as a MP Mr. Ustamujic was the Sales Director for the Nokia Authorized Distributor for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mr. Ustamujic holds a B.S. in Telecommunications Engineering from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering - University of Sarajevo. Since 2013 Mr. Ustamujic is an Alumni of the Schools of Political Studies of the Council of Europe. He has participated in numerous regional and international conferences as panels.

He is married with a one child.

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Rade Glomazic

Rade Glomazic, born in 1974 in Podgorica, Montenegro, is a development economist and global development professional. He is currently completing his Doctorate in Developmental Studies at the European Centre for Peace and Development of the UN University of Peace.  He has more than 15 academic publications based on his quantitative and qualitative research.  Mr Glomazic has a Masters of Law Degree and an M.Sc. in Economics, Master of Business Administration from Lincoln University and Postgraduate Degree in Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge. Postgraduate courses have also been undertaken at the Harvard Kennedy School, the University of Oxford and Stanford University.  Academic studies in globalisation and international security have been conducted with the United States Institute of Peace and through initiatives of the Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes. Mr Glomazic has specialised in Southeast Europe; European Union; Development economics; Security and Development; Sustainable Development; Entrepreneurship; Technology and Innovation; Political and Legal Environment of Business; Trade Networks and Fair Trade.

 Mr Glomazic's professional work experience includes more than fifteen years of engagement in Development and Co-operation programmes, of which twelve years involve institutional cooperation, economic development and participation in public administration reform projects. This work has been based in Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina; however he  has travelled extensively and worked alongside many international teams from the EU member states. In particular he has cooperated with teams from the FCG Finnish Consulting Group, Helsinki, Eurecna S.p.a, Venice and EPTISA, Servicios de Ingeniería S.A., Madrid. He has also worked with UK companies including West Midlands Enterprise as well as Region Göteborg, Confcommercio, the Antwerp Chamber of Commerce, the Polish Cooperation Fund and the Euro Info Centre and Innovation Relay Centres networks.

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Professor Kemal Yildirim

Kemal Yildirim, is a professor for international relations and conflict resolution specialist. He is now engaged at founding the Academy of Sciences of Mesopotamia.

Born in Turkey in 1963, he is an Ambassador of Goodwill for the International Human Rights Commission. Kemal is multilingual – he speaks English, French, İtalian, Finnish, Arabic, Assyrian, Kurdish, Hebrew, Turkish and his education has taken him across the globe. He earned his Bachelor degree (BA) in Polsci - University of Jyvaskyla – Finland in 1990 and Master of social sciences degree in Polsci,1992 - University of Jyvaskyla - Finland

Phd Dual degree (Doctor of social sciences) in Political sciences 2013 - University of Azteca – Mexico and the Central University of Nicaragua (UCN). Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Democracy and Human Rights – Law, Politics, History and Rights Centre (IGC) of the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. He is also a Doctor of Philosophy at the British American University – Georgetown, Corporate Republic of Guyana. Diploma of Honor –Fundacion Accion Social İnternacional – Argentine – Ambassador of international social action foundation for Turkey and Balkan region (Bulgaria EU) and holds a Scholar’s Degree (SD) in Diplomacy Honoris Causa (Hc) bestowed by the Regents of Saint Rene Descartes University

Doctor of Humanitarian Service – World organization of Natural Medicine and WONM Ambassador for Turkey accredited under İPSP – International Parliament for Peace and Security. He has published dozens of works on conflict resolution, gender rights, international relations, minority issues. He is a member of ESA - European Sociological Association and ISA - International Sociological Association

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Lazaro Emanuel Franco Salles

Lazaro, born in 1953 in Pacos de Caldas, Brasil, is a clinical analyst and Chief of Complementary Exams, Hospital Pedro Sanches in Pocos de Caldas (Brasil) and founder the Total Climepe Ltd. He was the Secretary of Administration of City of Pocos de Caldas, President of Liberal Front party, and member of the Board of Education of Pocos de Caldas. Lazaro is also the founder and president of Clinical Analyst Association, Pocos de Caldas, member of CONAMGE – National Council of Self- Regulation in Medicine, Director of CONDEMA – Board of Environmental Protection, Pocos de Caldas, founder, CONDECON – Council of Consumer Protection, Advisory Board member, Bank of Pocos de Caldas, member of the Council, Assocacao Atletica Caldese, member of the Council, Institute of Education, St John of Scotland,   President of the ASI-Sulmineira Press Association, of  Poçoscaldense Academy of Letters, the Masonic Academy of Arts International- Lisbon, Portugal.

He is also the Vice-President of the Masonic Academy of Sciences, letters and arts of the Confederation of Brazil-Masonic COMAB. As a poet, writer and journalist, he has published eight books and was a correspondent for several newspapers and magazines. He is the author of many musical compositions, well known all over the Brasil. He is married and has three children.

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Suki Medencevic

Suki Medencevic was born in Derventa 1964., Bosnia and Herzegovina, and studied at the renowned National Film School (FAMU) in Prague, where he earned his Masters Degree with Honors in cinematography. Since shooting his first feature film in the US in 1994, Suki has become a household name on feature length films, television projects and numerous commercials and documentaries. He keeps lecturing as an important part of his professional life and is currently teaching the art of cinematography at USC - School of Cinematic Arts, New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, and at the Global Cinematography Institute, a newly formed school founded by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC and Yuri Neyman, ASC.

As a cinematographer, he has earned many international awards including a nomination for The Golden Frog at Camerimage 2004, International Film Festival of The Art Of Cinematography, and “The Best Photography Award” at Mostra di Valencia International Film Festival in Spain. Suki continues to explore cutting edge technology on a large variety of locations all over the world. In 2010, Suki became a member of the American Cinematographers Society, and is currently living and working in Los Angeles.For Suki  Steven Douglas Smith, Director of Photography and Cinematographer  from L.A. says „ Experienced and very talented Director of Photography.One of the Best in the World“. Married with Catalina and has two children. Speaks English, Czech  and Serbo-Croatian.

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Özgün Akkaymak

Özgün Akkaymak, born in 1986, is a political scientist and political communication expert, currently the CEO of Victory Alpha Advertising and Communication Co.,Turkey.

He received his bachelors degree at  the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Yeditepe University. He graduated from subliminal sales and marketing program at the Sapienza Università in Italy.

He worked on several subliminal sales and marketing projects during his education in Italy. Akkaymak was hired by CNN TURK and Kanal D on the documentary desk, as an editor. During his career, Akkaymak did a lot of documentaries about national and international political issues. In 2010, he left the media industry and began  to work on political communication strategies and political campaigns. Through this process he founded Victory Alpha Advertising and Communication Co. in 2014.

Akkaymak is a member of several local and world-wide think-tanks and foundations. 

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Prof Dr Mathias Kunze

Mathias is an entrepreneur and consultant in international business with more than twenty-five years of specialist expertise in the fields of Business & Management Consulting, International Economic and Tax Law, Communication Consulting, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Marketing. He was born in Meissen in 1971. Having completed the Bachelor’s program in Law, he obtained a Master’s degree in International Management at the Comenius University in Bratislava, where he also successfully completed a doctoral program in Management.

In his capacity as Executive Business Consultant, with consulting mandates in Germany, Mathias also showed great expertise in accessing new markets in Eastern Europe. Especially during the periods prior to and following the EU accession of the Eastern European countries, Mathias took on various consulting mandates for German medium-sized enterprises in Poland in the areas of Organization, Marketing, Accounting, Rating, and Reporting. In addition, Mathias works as a Senior International Tax Consultant in matters relating to European and International Tax Law. Moreover, he is founder and CEO of a consulting firm in the United Arab Emirates, specializing in the design, development, and marketing of high-reach international web portals in the fields of University and Higher Education, Research, Career, Marketing, Finance, Tax, and Web Applications. Added to this is his managerial activity with a communication consulting firm in Switzerland.

Mathias holds a chair professorship in Business Administration at the Nan Jeon University of Science & Technology in Tainan (Taiwan). Also, he is Professor of Management & Business at the EIILM University Studies. Furthermore, he is Director of International Accreditation Council of Professional Training at the European and American International Culture Education Foundation. Mathias is author of more than thirty scientific papers and studies both nationally and internationally. He regularly organizes conferences and gives lectures on current scientific topics. He has been awarded with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. A German national, he is fluent in English, Polish, and Russian.

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Nikola Stojanovic

Nikola Stojanovic is an HR management and Organisational leadership specialist, educated on some of the world’s most prestigious universities. He holds an MSc degree in Organizational leadership from Northeastern University, and a Diploma in Strategic management from Harvard.

Nikola was born in 1984 in Valjevo, where he currently lives and works. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree from School of Sciences in Novi Sad, he moved to the US to start professional career at “Savory” while pursuing the two postgraduate programs in Boston. During studies, he became actively involved in several charitable organizations. Upon returning to Serbia, he did a short internship program with ECG, then moved back to his hometown and started working for “Publik”, one of the regional leaders in importing and distributing promotional material.

Being taught by some of the world’s best professors, he became fascinated by the power of marketing and its growing influence on modern business. Currently enrolling a PhD in Marketing and Branding, he plans to pursuit his career in promoting companies, organizations, and countries, and help them achieve their goals.

Areas of interest: Business strategy, Marketing, Corporate culture, Employee development, Business rhetoric, Crisis communication, Negotiation.

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Professor Lamija Tanović

Lamija Tanović has a long university career. She was Professor of Atomic and Nuclear Physics and Solid State Physics at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Sarajevo till recently (Dec.2013). She is working now at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. For many years Prof. Tanović has been intensively engaged in the activities for reform and improvement of the education in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In the period 2001-2004 she was head of the Department for International Scientific, Technical, Educational and Cultural Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia-Herzegovina. From 1994 to 2001, she was the Minister Councillor of the Embassy of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Kingdom of Denmark.

Prof. Tanović is a member of the European Academy of Sciences. She was Chair of the UWC-IBO Programme in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 2006 till 2012 and the founder of Education in Action Foundation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. She is also Chair of the Humanity in Action – B&H Foundation.

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Professor Zlatko Hadžidedić

Zlatko Hadžidedić, PhD, is an expert in International Relations, Political Theory and Nationalism Studies. Assistant Professor at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, at the Department of Political Science and International Relations. Also taught at the University of Sarajevo, at the Faculty of Political Science. Born in 1965 in Sarajevo. Obtained BA in Comparative Literature from the University of Sarajevo, at the Faculty of Philosophy (1988), MA in Society and Politics from the Central European University (1999), MPhil in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2006), and PhD in Political Science from the University of Sarajevo, at the Faculty of Political Science (2009).

Served as a Political Advisor to the Minister of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia-Herzegovina (2006-2010), the Minister of Civil Affairs of Bosnia-Herzegovina (2004-2006), and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (2002-2004). Also served as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia-Herzegovina (1994-1998). Cooperated with several political parties as an election campaign manager and provided political advice to several party leaders. Member of the Association of Free Intellectuals Circle 99. From 2006 to 2015, a board member of the America-Bosnia Foundation. Published four books,  „Istočnici Istog“ (poetry, 1989), „Pad“ (drama, 1993), „Bosnia Does Not Strike Back“ (international relations, 1996), and „Forced to be Free: the Paradoxes of Liberalism and Nationalism“ (political science, 2012).

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Professor Haris Huseinagić

Prof Dr Med. Sci. Haris Huseinagic, BHCM spec, interventional readiologist, is a veteran Head of the Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Clinic of the University Clinical Center of Tuzla and Chairman of the Chamber of Medicine of the Tuzla Canton of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He studied at the Medical University in Tuzla and Oslo. He specialized in diagnostic radiology in Sarajevo and intervention radiology in Norway.

Haris has lived and worked in 17 countries in the Middle and Far East and Europe. His core speciality is intervention neuroradiology. During his years in intervention radiology Haris has introduced or modified numerous new procedures. As Chief of the Clinic he deals with a multitude of daily organizational problems as well. This is his second term as Chairman of the Chamber of Medicine  of the Tuzla Canton. He lectures at several other Universities both at home and abroad. Haris was born in Tuzla. Married and father of one.

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Mirza Atić, PhD

Dr Mirza Atic is an expert in electrotechnology, specializing in the fields of quality electric power and management of electric rotational machinery by applying non-expressed logics. Mirza was born in 1965 in Tuzla. He graduated at the Electrotechnical Faculty of the University of Sarajevo and earned his MA at the Tuzla Electrotechnical Faculty within the framework of the CEFES programme in 2008. He won his Phd at the Josip Jurij Strossmayer University in Osijek, Croatia in 2014.

He ranks among the leading Bosnian business experts in his field and is well-versed in Bosnian-German economic relations. Mirza is currently the Director of the Gealan rep office for BiH. He has written a large number of scientific papers and has organized several scientific conferences pertaining to electric energy. He also writes and subs for scientific magazines abroad.

 

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Amela Pejdah

Amela Pejdah was born in 1966 in Tuzla, working as attorney at law in the Law Firm Amela Pejdah & Sanela Džanić. Law Firm mainly deals with civil, commercial and family law. She is licensed as an authorized intermediary between spouses before initiating divorce proceedings. During 2014/2015 she was engaged at the Law Faculty in Tuzla, as an practice expert, for scientific filed „Non-litigation procedural law“.

She has participated in numerous seminars and conferences, mainly from her fields of law: Completed three thematic cycles planned program of education on the acquisition of specific knowledge and continuous professional education and training of persons working in jobs juvenile delinquency and legal protection of children and minors, the organizer was the Bar Association of Federation BiH (April 2015), Refam Creative Solutions - REC, the Society for research and promotion of local and regional development, Collection of claims in terms of Litigation and Enforcement procedure (May 2015), DEPOCEI TEMPUS project, University of Tuzla, Training in the field of sector's policies of the European Union - Judicial cooperation in civil matters (June 2015), DEPOCEI TEMPUS project, University of Tuzla, Training in the field of sector's policies of the European Union - European citizenship (June 2015), DEPOCEI TEMPUS project, University of Tuzla, Training in the field of sector's policies of the European Union - Human rights - the level of respect of human rights (June 2015). She fluently speaks English and German languages. Married, mother of one child.

 

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Siniša Mitrović

Sinisa is an environment analyst, a passionate naturalist devoted to the preservation of the natural capital in Serbia and the Balkans. His greatest career contribution is to boost the development of Valjevo, the Serbian town where he was born, and its renaissance during which he helped build a modern gallery, the Petnica Nature Research Station and rally young people to boost economic growth in the region. His biggest successes were in saving and protecting rare bird species in Serbia, including salvation from extinction of a rare type of white-headed eagle in the Tresnjica canyon near Ljubovija. He has volunteered for the past 25 years as the leader of the NATURA Centre for Natural resources, the national organization for environment and natural resource protection in Serbia.

Sinisa was politically active in the 90ties and in the October revolution in 2000. Since 2001, he was a deputy in the Serbian Parliament and deputy head of the Democratic Opposition (DOS) parliamentary group. He chaired for three years the parliamentary Environment Committee.  Since 2005, he was advisor to several ministers and the Prime Minister of Vojvodina. Sinisa is now working in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce on issues pertaining to the green growth of the Serbian industry, ecological European integration and application of best technologies and waste and waste water management. He is one of the leading promoters of the doctrine of circular economy as a new tool of competitive economy, energy efficient and responsible towards local communities.    

He is an author of several studies for international organizations like ILO and UNOPS pertaining to the inclusion of the Roma community into the business sector. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Global Compact of the United Nations in Serbia and chairs the group for the promotion of the Millennium goals of sustainable development, adopted in New York in 2015. He is actively involved in including SMEs in the promotion of sustainable development of local communities, preservation of values of local resources and better quality of life in creating new jobs. He is one of the founders of the MISIJA Foundation, a think tank seeking answers to the challenges Serbia will face in the future. Sinisa also lectures at the FUTURA Faculty for applied ecology, married with two children.

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Professor Damir Marjanović

Professor Damir Marjanović is 42 years old, full time professor at Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo and Head of the Department for Genetic and Biotechnology at International Burch University Sarajevo.

He was also a long term scientific advisor at the Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Sarajevo. Damir is also a scientific assistant at the Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia. Between 2012-2013 he was the Minister of Education and Science, Canton Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He was also employed as an expert in the field of forensic genetics by OSCE (Kosovo), European Agency for Reconstruction (Serbia) and International Commission on Missing Persons (Bosnia and Herzegovina), but he also worked for the Institute Rudjer Bošković and Genos scientific company (Croatia). In the 2011 he won the prestigious Scientist of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina award. His main scientific field of interest is forensics, population and molecular genetics and molecular anthropology.

He published four books, eight book chapters, more than 60 scientific and review articles and abstracts in CC, WOS, SCOPUS journals and in total some 190 scientific papers and abstracts in other journals and scientific publications. He was invited to speak at more than 40 different scientific events all over the world.

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Professor Naida Ademovic

Naida Ademovic, born in 1973 in Sarajevo, is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Sarajevo. She is also working in the Institute for Materials and Structures of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Sarajevo, dealing with different projects like design of bridges, design of structures, revision of different projects, testing of different structures, structural elements etc.

Naida was educated in Sarajevo, Cairo and Addis Ababa. She graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Sarajevo, as the best student of the decade. She obtained her first Master of Science in Computational Engineering at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, as a DAAD Scholarship Holder. She was one of the three best students in her generation. Additionally, she received a scholarship from the European Commission for the Advanced Masters in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions at the University of Padova and at the University of Minho, Guimarães in Portugal. Currently she is the only person in B-H with such a Master Degree.

She obtained her PhD at the University of Sarajevo, at the Faculty of Civil Engineering.  Naida is the 3rd generation of civil engineers in her family. Naida worked as a local expert in several projects of the European Commission, B-H Bridges Reconstruction Unit, Sarajevo; Technical Assistance Unit for EC Assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina. As well, she was employed by the Delegation of the European Commission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Transport (Bridges, Roads, Airports, Railways and Border Crossings) and Energy Sector. She worked for a USAID project Private Sector Accounting Reform Project. Naida is an author of two books and many articles regarding civil engineering.

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Vedran Škoro

Vedran Škoro is in journalism for almost 25 years, since 1992 , of which he spent 20 years in editorial positions. He lives and works in Banja Luka, and is editor of the Alternative Television Banja Luka since 2007, first as an author, editor and host of the Amplitude show, and now the editor and host of the Apostrophe show, and editor of the Info and Political Program desk.

Born in 1965 in Mostar, where he graduated in 1990 in Civil Engineering from the University Dzemal Bijedic in Mostar. From 1998 - 2000, he was the director of the ITC East Sarajevo . After moving to Banja Luka he took over the job of Deputy Head of the Desk in the program sector of TV RS.

From 2002 to 2003 he was Director of the RTRS program. From 2003 to 2007, he moved to the Office of the General Director of RTRS, first to the position of manager coordinator and then he became the advisor to the Director General for production and marketing.

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Nemanja Jovanović

Nemanja Jovanović is a political analyst and legal professional, currently working for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo. Born in 1978, he graduated as a lawyer in 2005, and since 1998 has worked with various international organisations and diplomatic representations in the Balkans region – including the OSCE, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and British Embassy in Pristina.

In June 2012 he attended the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education programme for Public Leaders in South-East Europe, focussing on leadership and negotiation. The same year, he was elected as the vice-president of the association of Kosovo Serb lawyers. He also finished Foreign and Commonwealth Office trainings in Public Diplomacy and Media related work.

Between 2007 and 2015, he worked for the British Embassy in Pristina, where – among numerous other responsibilities – he monitored the developments and progress achieved in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia on the normalisation of relations. Since May 2015, in his current role with the OSCE, he continues to monitor political developments and other relevant activities in Kosovo, in particular focussing on the four northern municipalities. He assesses trends that may affect the political/security situation, including human and community rights, democratic functioning of institutions, and on public safety and security.

He is a native Serbian speaker, and is fluent in English and Albanian.

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Elmira Bayraslı

Writer, consultant and lecturer, passionate about foreign affairs, entrepreneurship, and writing, Elmira has spent the past two decades working on foreign policy, international development, and with startups worldwide. Today, she does both as a writer, speaker, consultant, lecturer, and co-founder. In 2013, she co-founded Foreign Policy Interrupted, an education and media startup dedicated to increasing female foreign policy voices in the written and electronic press. She is also a visiting fellow at the New America Foundation, and a lecturer at New York University. Her book, From the Other Side of the World: Extraordinary Entrepreneurs, Unlikely Places was released on September 8, 2015 (published by Public Affairs). It is a book that looks at the growth of innovation beyond Silicon Valley, focusing on talented individuals around the world who have overcome insurmountable obstacles to lead high-growth businesses.

In 2002, she left a cushy job in New York’s private sector for Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. There, she served as the Chief Spokesperson for the OSCE Mission. From 1994-2000 she was presidential appointee at the State Department, working for Madeleine Albright and Richard Holbrooke, respectively. From 2011-2013, she wrote about global innovations and entrepreneurship in a weekly column entitled, Entreventures, on Forbes.com. She has also contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Foreign Affairs, VentureBeat, The Huffington Post, and MIT’s Innovations Journal. In 2010, she co-authored a study for Pakistan’s Planning Commission on entrepreneurship, entitled: “Creating a Place for the Future.”

Proudly from Brooklyn, pre-hipsters, she loves yoga, Turkish simit, and the New York Mets.

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Ambassador Drasko T. Acimovic

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Aleksandar Buzanin

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Damjan Jugovic

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James Gunn

James Gunn has over 25 years’ experience working in technology, media, financial advisory and property as both director and shareholder. One of several consultancy positions and directorships, he supports from Belgrade export growth to the United Kingdom and British inward investment. A British citizen and since 2008 a Serbian resident, he was educated in the United Kingdom and lived extensively abroad, including Spain, southern Africa and southeast Asia.

From his team’s Belgrade hub, James leads emerging markets’ corporate affairs and investor relations programmes for companies and governments internationally, and provides company representation services for several inward investors to SE Europe. His sector experience includes defence, government and commercial diplomacy, pharmaceuticals, mining, technology and telecoms, media, financial advisory and property.  He has also worked and undertaken education in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Thailand and Spain where he lived for extended periods.

James commenced his management consulting career in South East Asia supporting infrastructure development and environmental projects.  In Serbia his mandates include European Union lobbying in the defence, infrastructure development, mining and renewable energy sectors for US, UK and Israeli companies; as well as issues management consulting for a Big Four audit firm. His professional delivery of advisory services has been recognised by several public, professional and academic bodies including the Criminal Justice Board and Public Relations Consultants Association in the UK.  He is a frequent guest lecturer at leading educational institutions; serves as chairman or director of several charities; and mentors several start-up businesses.  In 2015, James was appointed vice-chairman of the British Society of Serbia.

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Rovshan Muradov

Rovshan is the Secretary General of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, a  Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Sciences  and the driving force behind the huge success of the Baku International Forum which this year assembled some 70 current and former heads of state or government and hundreds of academicians from all over the world.

In 2012 Rovshan become a founding Secretary General of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, a leading international cultural organization based in Baku aimed to promote Dialogue, Understanding, Learning and Tolerance. Rovshan played an active role in organizing:  “Rebuilding Trust in Wider Europe” High Level Meeting of the Nizami Ganjavi IC and Club de Madrid 4-7 September 2014 Andorra, New Paradigm Consortium Meeting Baku, Azerbaijan (Nizami Ganjavi IC, Club de Madrid, Club of Rome, Green Cross International, World Future Council, UNESCO, Library of Alexandria, Partnership for Change), II Global Shared Societies Forum on Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda Baku, Azerbaijan 2014 (Nizami Ganjavi IC, Club de Madrid, Library of Alexandria, State Committee on work with Diaspora, Republic of Azerbaijan, World Academy of Art and Sciences). He also attended scores of major international events, including UN General Assembly 2007/2011.  

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Mithat Can Baydarol

Can Baydarol who born in 1958 graduated from Galatasaray High School in 1978. He first graduated from in Principal Sciences Faculty of Boğaziçi University and then International Relations Department of The Political Sciences Faculty of Ankara University. He also studied Political Sciences in France.
He worked as a research expert in Foundation for Economic Development (IKV), Director for European Surveys in Piar Gallup and wrote in Finansal Forum Newspaper.
He has given lectures on Turkey- EU relations, customs union, and basic principals of the European Law, European policies, consistency to acquis communitaire for candidate countries, European integration process and contemporary issues in Istanbul, Istanbul Bilgi, Galatasaray, Marmara, Istanbul Ticaret and Kültür Universities.
Can Baydarol wrote 10 books and several researches and reports published on EU issues, attended several conferences, panel discussions, study seminars, TV and radio programs on Turkey- EU relations and European policies. He speaks English and French.

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Sinisa Pepic

Born in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B-H), in 1978, Sinisa received his MA on "The impact of financial globalization on the European Banking" at the University of Business Engineering and Management in Banja Luka. He is an Alumni from the US Government Cochran Fellowship Program.  

From 1997 to 2000 he worked as Language Assistant to NATO (SFOR) in B-H and UNTAT trainer in Germany (Sennelager NATO Training Center). From 2000 to 2003 he worked for international NGO’s ICMC and UMCOR and was in charge of implementation on several projects funded by the United States Government focused on small and medium business and entrepreneurship in B-H.

From 2003 to 2011, he went into microfinance and banking industry and worked for UniCredit Bank Banja Luka, the capital of Republika Srpska (RS). From 2008 to 2011 he was the Regional Director of Raiffeisen Bank BiH. In 2008 he was selected by UniCredit Group to the pool of most talented young managers within the Talent Management Review Program.

From 2011 to 2014 he was Deputy CEO at the Modrica Oil Refinery and a consultant to Zarubezhneft, Moscow. Since 2015 Sinisa is an official representative and consultant to FinTech company Digital Finance International (member of Finstar financial group) in B-H. He is also Visiting Professor (Banking Management) at the University of Business Engineering and Management in Banja Luka.

Sinisa co-authored vital development strategies for the RS Government and the RS Ministry of Trade and Tourism. He was a member of several committees of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and the UNDP with the voting right, focusing on B-H economic development.

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Dragan Pajić

Dragan Pajić, born in 1995, is an HR Coordinator in EYP (European Youth Parliament) of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), Banjaluka. He is also a president and active member of several non-governmental organisations – „Zdravo da ste“, KKC, KOS, „Budi DRUGačiji“, EYP, KSS, Red cross. At 19, Dragan was the youngest informative program journalist on ATV (Alternative Television, BiH). During 2015, alongside his regular studies, he was reporting for central news, morning program and „Ovo je Srpska”. Some of his reports have over 20,000 views on You Tube. He is currently working as an Internet Marketing Consultant for some of the biggest companies in BiH.

Dragan is the Vice-President of the youth in the opposition party PDP (Party of Democratic Progress), Banjaluka and very often a guest at various shows like „Zabranjeni Forum, Pink“, the most viewed show in BiH.  Dragan was the youngest ever politician to attend the GB Fellowship programe in London, for most promising politicians in BiH. He was at the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation as a representative of PDP youth at parliamentary elections in Sweden 2014. He visited “Sveriges Riksdag” and addressed the members of Swedish parliament. He attended the jubilee PMA (Perpetum Mobile Academy for political leaders in BiH, 2016) and was ranked among the 20 most promising young BiH politicians.   

With a few of his colleagues he started a humanitarian action in 2014 to help his neighbors, sisters Gajić who were suffering from a serious illness called Lafora. He organized humanitarian soccer tournaments, a number for donations, parties, telops on all televisions and gathered over 50,000 Euros to save them. Dragan is very active on social media with a large following which he uses to motivate other people. Currently he’s making inspirational movies that he publishes on his Youtube channel and writing motivational blogs for several big websites and FB pages. He has thens of thousands reads on his texts and is launching a show, called Key to Success.

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Zekerijah Smajić

One of the best well-known journalists from ex Yugoslavia, Zekerijah is currently, since 2010 the Project Manager of the leading multimedia News Service «Sens Media Network, which networks more than 120 radio, TV and online media in the whole Western Balkans region (www.sens-tv.eu,) 2005-2008: General Director of the independent TV OBN (Open Broadcast Network) in Sarajevo and specialist-researcher in the field of European policy and practice, lecturer and analyst of the German regular national radio Deutsche Welle 1995-2002: European correspondent for the independent daily Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, as well as for the South Slavic Languages Service at Radio Free Europe, Radio Deutsche Welle and Radio WDR. September 1998: Founder and Chief correspondent of SENSE-South East News Service Europe.1992-1994: Staff writer and free-lance war correspondent for foreign press agencies STA Slovenia, APA Austria and for different daily newspapers and weekly news-magazines: Oslobodjenje (Sarajevo), Republika (Ljubljana), Feral Tribune (Split), Novi list (Rijeka), Puls (Skopje), Vreme (Belgrade) West Information (Gratz) and Radio and TV Slovenia. 1989-1992: Editor-presenter and deputy editor in chief the first independent Yugoslav TV channel „Yutel“. 1986-1989: Editor-Presenter of „TV Dnevnik“ at 19:30, TV Belgrade, the main evening news in ex Yugoslavia.  

Author of the book “European Union and the faith of Southern Slavic countries”, The Guide “European union for everybody” and numerous different educational brochures. He was won scores of awards, including the Special prize for the best media managers in SEEE – awarded by the Managers Association of South-East Europe; award "Journalist of the Decade" and "Golden Charter for contribution to Europeanization of the region and ethics in journalism" acknowledgment of the International League of Humanists; recognition of the Danube Business-Forum "Danube Flower"; Winner of the highest professional awards for TV journalism in the context of the then Yugoslav Radio Television – JRT; The Best TV journalist in 1989, The most authoritative TV journalist Yugoslavia in 1990, TV personality of the year 1990.

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Ambassador Vjekoslav Domljan

Nationally lauded as an economist and policymaker, Dr. Vjekoslav Domljan has over 30 years of experience in academia, private consulting, development banking, capital market regulation, administering and diplomacy. His distinguished work has been sought by the likes of the World Bank, UNDP, ILO, DFID, USAID, JICA and earned him a task-group membership at the World Economic Forum in 1999 and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in 2001.

He also represented Bosnia and Herzegovina as its respective Ambassador to Canada and Cuba from 2002 to 2005 and Member of BIH Commission for the Succession of the Former Yugoslavia responsible for financial assets and liabilities. In the past two decades alone, Dr. Domljan has authored and co-authored dozens of economic publications for LSE, JHU, ANUBIH etc. on topics including Bosnian economic development and export strategies, national labor and capital markets, and expert overviews of the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He holds a PhD and MBA in Economics from the Belgrade University, and has been trained at LBS (London); Bank of America (San Francisco and New York); SEC, Merrill Lynch and Capital Alliance (Washington and New York); JICA (Tokyo and Osaka), and IOSCO (Montreal). Dr.  Domljan is currently Professor and Dean of Economics Department of the Sarajevo Science and Technology School, and Member of Academic Council of the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD), the United Nations-mandated University for Peace.

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Professor Miodrag Živanović

Born in Belgrade in 1950. Professor of the Banja Luka University. Author of more than 20 books on philosophy and more than 300 scientific articles in national and international periodics. Lives and works in  Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Ilija Trninić

Ilija Trninić, born in 1974 in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), is an expert in the spheres of international cooperation, political education, and civil society development. Ilija gained his work experience in international and local governmental and nongovernmental organizations. He implemented projects related to community development, research projects, and youth related projects. Ilija earned his MSc in the sphere of political management and analytics. Moreover, he pursued additional knowledge, skills and experiences at universities and seminars in the EU and USA such as International Peoples' College, Queen Mary University of London, IVLP and others.

Ilija has a long term experience in providing training in the field of project development and management, public policy design, and business systems. He was selected as an official lecturer by the Directorate for European Integration in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of project management, strategic planning, and reporting. Ilija is an executive director of Perpetuum Mobile - Institute for Youth and Community Development, an organization that has been implementing the program of the Academy for Political Leaders in BiH for the past decade. The Academy represents a unique training program for young politicians in BiH, and until now it gathered more than 200 young politicians from BiH. Many of Academy participants are today successful politicians and decision makers in various levels of governance.

Until now, Ilija has published various publications, as an author and co-author, related to research in the area of political parties, project management, education of public servants, organizational development, and strategic planning. He is one of the founders and a member of the Strategic Committee of the Coalition “Pod lupom” - Coalition for free and fair elections in BiH. Ilija is a member of the Rotary Club Banja Luka, and also of the Mensa International in BiH. He is married and has two daughters.

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Aleksandar Jakovljević

Aleksandar Jakovljević, born in 1992 in Belgrade, is the President of the Organization of Serbian Students Abroad (OSSA). Educated abroad, where he finished B.A. and B.S. at St. Francis College in Finance and Business Management. Subsequently, Aleksandar graduated from Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany as Master of Law and Business. In addition, he is the member of the Diaspora Business Council of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

OSSA gathers Serbian students and young professionals who study and live abroad.  Currently it represents a network of approximately 10.000 members across the globe, organized through 15 local branches in 4 continents in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. Since the beginning of his involvement in the OSSA in 2012, the organization grew significantly and spearheaded multiple initiatives in the field of student affairs in Serbia. Aleksandar has personally led the team which wrote, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the by-laws for the implementation of the Law on Higher Education, concerning foreign diploma recognition. Major project under his leadership was the creation of the Brochure for Studying Abroad, which provides Serbian students with a comparative analysis of the educational systems of 21 countries in the world. Other activities include leading a team of nearly 100 people on daily basis and creating and implementing various activities both in Serbia and abroad.

Besides student affairs, Aleksandar served as an intern to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia. In 2013, he joined the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Serbia to the UN in New York during the 68^th UN General Assembly and worked at the boutique consulting company in New York, Yoswein NY in 2015.  more...

Duncan Bullivant

Duncan has been engaged with the Balkans for over twenty years. He has established business interests in the region as well as a wide network of contacts and associates.

A graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst he served as a British Army officer for twelve years and as part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for five. During his latter service from 2005 - 2000 he was attached to the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo and was part of the Kosovo Verification Mission under OSCE in Pristina.

Having studied International Relations at Cambridge University he continues to be a contributor to a variety of media organisations. He is the CEO of Henderson Risk Limited, a global security risk management provider operating primarily in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and South East Europe.

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Miloš Grujić

Miloš Grujić, born in 1984 in Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), and MS in economics, is the Secretary to the Audit Committee in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. He is responsible for preparing analytical, informative and other materials, preparing and organising committee meetings, preparing minutes and making committee reports, keeping the records of committee meetings etc. His objective is to make contribution to European integration process especially to the EU Enlargement Policy, system of government and economic structure.

He was also the Coordinator of the Twinning Project “Enhancing the Role of Parliaments in BiH in the EU Integration context” in the National Assembly of RS which is being implemented in four Parliaments in BiH (BiH Parliamentary Assembly, National Assembly of RS, BiH Federation Parliament, and Brčko District Assembly). Within this Project, he was in daily contact with local and foreign experts from 12 EU Member States. Grujić has license for conducting investment managerial jobs, issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Republika Srpska. He also has license from Ministry of Justice of Republika Srpska to work as the court expert in economic expertise.

He was a participant and lecturer at many seminars, conferences and other programs aimed at professional development in the area of capital markets and European integration process. Milos wrote 14 scientific and professional papers and more than 100 columns in the field of economy, investments, capital markets and financial management.

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Dusko Vukajlovic

Dusko, born in 1973, is a distinguished veteran reporter and Editor in Chief of the daily Alo, published in Serbia by the Swiss-German Ringier Axel Springer media consortium.

Dusko studied at the Faculty of Philosophy and Faculty for Culture and Media at the Belgrade University and graduated media management.  He attended numerous media and journalism courses of which most noteworthy to mention are the Thomson Reuters Foundation project and Aristotle University project funded by the Greek government.

He started his journalistic career in 1996 and was the Blic daily politics editor. He was also assistant Editor in Chief of the Kurir daily. He also hosts the Pravac political talk show every Friday on the leading Serbian commercial TV Pink Info.

Dusko focused his journalistic interest on security and internal policy affairs. He also lectured at seminars organized by the Serbian Ministry of Defense and Serbian Army on subjects including media-military relations, international military and peacekeeping missions, crises reporting, etc. He also lectured at scores of local and international conferences on the subject of media and the internet.

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Aleksandra Pavlovska

Aleksandra Pavlovska, born in Bitola – Macedonia in 1990, is a Global Leaf Agronomy Trainee in Japan Tobacco International, former member of the Macedonian women’s basketball team and an NGO activist. Having the dream of playing basketball in the USA, Aleksandra was recruited and awarded a scholarship to a private high school based in Asheville, North Carolina. Her athletic skills did not go unrecognized by the Prime minister of Macedonia who awarded her with the “Emerging Athlete of Macedonia” scholarship. Upon graduation, she decided to pursue her passion of agricultural production and environmental protection on a scholarship awarded by the A.G. Leventis Foundation. Aleksandra graduated from Cardiff Metropolitan University (Perrotis College, Greece) as the valedictorian of the class of 2013. In 2016, she earned her M.Sc degree in Organic Agriculture and Food Systems from Universität Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany.

Her aptitude and ambition were recognized by the Senior Officer of the UN FAO who offered her a volunteer/intern position in her department. In August 2015, Aleksandra participated in a leadership school organized by the President of Macedonia – Gjorgje Ivanov where she won an oratory contest. The desire to embark upon new challenges led her to Gambia, West Africa where she worked as a researcher for 3 months.

Although based in Trier, Germany, Aleksandra will spend the next few years working in several countries including Turkey, Serbia, Brazil, USA, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and other. She is also an active member of national and international NGOs.       

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Ognjen Tadić

Ognjen Tadic was born in Sarajevo in 1974. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, did his Master's degree at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Banja Luka.

He is a political activist since 1990 and a Chairman / Deputy Chairman of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is a Vice President of the Serbian Democratic Party and the delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM). Previously he held the positions of chief of staff of the President of Republika Srpska, the Advisor for Social Affairs of the President of RS, Political advisor to the President of RS, member of the National Assembly of the RS and the permanent parliamentary observer at the Assembly of the Western European Union (WEU).

He practiced law from 1999 to 2011. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Bar Association of Republika Srpska and the president of the Lawyer’s Assembly of the Region Banja Luka. As a lawyer he was mainly engaged in commercial law and was a legal adviser to the director of the Republic Customs Administration of RS, director of the Agency for Medical Products of Republika Srpska, legal adviser to the director TELEKOM of RS, legal adviser to the director of PETROL and numerous other public and private companies. He was a member of the Presidency of the Association of Lawyers of RS.

Ognjen Tadic was in journalism from 1990 to 1998. He was a fellow worker at RTV Sarajevo and SrpskaTV, and he cooperated with many other news stations in the country and the region.

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Nelson Lage

Nelson Lage has a degree in Political Science-International Relations and he is finishing an Executive Master in Management – Leadership Development, at Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics. With more than 10 years of professional experience in the public sector, he worked in several Ministerial Cabinets as senior adviser and senior specialist in areas such as strategic communication, innovation, technology, energy, sustainable development, European policies and international affairs. During that time he has lead several international business missions and official visits and participated in the drawing of national strategic documents.  At this time he is Senior International Affairs Adviser of the CEO/Directorate General at the Portuguese National Energy Agency.

Nelson was also volunteer at International Amnesty Portugal, Spanish Red Cross and Youth Red Cross. He was also member of the board of the NGO ADBES – Association for Development and Social and Welfare and he still is a member of the board of Lux Vitae Association. In the last years Nelson received several special recommendations from members of the Portuguese Government, diplomatic representations and recently a Certificate of Appreciation from the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr Gjorge Ivanov, for the contribution as lecturer in his 7th “International Training for Young Leaders”. Nelson is a member of the Board of the Foundation Alliance of Civilizations in Macedonia.

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Prof Dr Biljana Parapid

Biljana Parapid, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Belgrade and senior Cardiologist of the Division of Cardiology of the Clinical Center of Serbia (CCS). Biljana graduated top of her med school class in Belgrade, in 2001, followed by a masters’ program dedicated to research of risk factors for development of coronary heart disease. Biljana got her PhD in 2014, in the field of the metabolic syndrome. She continues to pursue female cardiovascular health research.

She spent 2010 and 2011 at the Bichat hospital of the Paris VII–Diderot University (Paris, France) where her work and fellowship thesis are focused on heart transplant patients, rendering her the first Serbian physician officially trained and certified for selection and early, post-operative follow up of the most complex cardiovascular patients. In cooperation with the world renowned cardiac surgeon Professor Patrick Nataf, Biljana helped re-launch the cardiac transplant program of the Clinical Center of Serbia in 2013.

As her current greatest achievement, Biljana considers being part of the World Bank and the national Ministry of Health Team in 2006-08 that ran the first cost/effectiveness analysis of drug eluting vs. bare metal stents and second, living up to the late Professor Nedeljković’s expectations, when he chose her to be 3^rd generation of investigators for SCS-Serbia in November 2005. She has full professional proficiency in French and English and fluency in Italian, Spanish and Portugese.

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Jovica B. Stojković

Jovica B. Stojković M.A., was born in 1972 in Leskovac, is a Director of Mitic-plast-a d.o.o from Kumarevo. The company start its operations in trade and subsequently have they commenced their own production. From a small family owned enterprise he has created a company which employs 150 workers, with the annual capacity of over 5000 t polypropylene twine and 15 million polypropylene bags. Their production is 95% export oriented. He is married and a father of two children.

Jovica graduted from the Faculty of Economics where he has also received his master`s degree and a title of "Industry Manager".

He is a recipient of an annual award for 2011 and 2012 by the Leskovac Chamber of Commerce. From 2013 he is actively participating in the Union of craftsmen and entrepreneurs of Southern Serbia. They have awarded him with a gold plaque for 2013 and 2014. For a company development, Mass Media International gave him a "Business Partner" award for 2014 and 2016. He has been devoted to humanitarian work in the Jablanica and Niš county and he is an academician candidate in the Royal Academy of Sciences in Belgrade.

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Milovan Peulić

Milovan Peulić, was born in 1976 in Prnjavor, Bosnia-Herzegovina. He currently works as a Head of Department for European Integration in the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining of the Republic of Srpska Government. He graduated from the Military Academy in Belgrade, Serbia and holds BSc in Engineering. Also, he holds a Master degree in the field of diplomatic and consular law from Faculty of Law of University of Banja Luka. He has extensive experience from the public administration, mostly in the area of European Integration. He performed different tasks in the area of legal alignment, public policy development, legislative drafting and strategic planning, EU integration coordination mechanisms, coordination of the Stabilization and Association Process, etc.

He has completed executive education at Diplomatic Academy of Vienna for young diplomats and civil servants on European Integration and Cooperation, as well as „Collaborative public leadership and policymaking" program at Queen Mary University in London. Milovan is member of many working groups, committees and bodies related to process of European integration of BiH in EU. As an attendant of the School of Political Studies of the Council of Europe he took part in the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, as well as at the Regional Academy for Democracy.

He is a certified trainer of Directorate of European Integration of BiH for EU related matters, certified trainer of the Civil Service Agency of the Republic of Srpska and conciliator of the Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labor Disputes of the Republic of Srpska. He fluently speaks English and French. Milovan is married and has two sons.

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Natalia Meylunas

Natalia Meylunas is an SME development expert. Until recently she was the Associate Director at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Head of Regional Programme of EBRD in the Western Balkans. Born in Russian Federation, Natalia graduated from Herzen State Pedagogical University, St.Petersburg, Russia in Spanish and English, followed by an MBA from Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School. Currently she is enrolled at UCL`s Cultural Heritage master`s program.

An international development professional with 15+ years of experience in private sector/SME development, including skills assessment and capacity building at SME and institutional level in Western Balkans, South Caucasus, Moldova, Ukraine and Russia. Led the EBRD business advisory support programme for SME in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro, effectively managing a team of 18 people and over 20 mil. EUR donor funds. Supervised development and financing of over 1,400 advisory projects and 40+ SME and consultants’ trainings, ensuring high quality and impactful delivery. Results include an average 35% growth in sales and nearly 50% increase in productivity. Contributed to the design of, and co-managed a €37 million EBRD Women in Business programme in Western Balkans. Coordinated the EBRD’s activities in SME development with external stakeholders in South-East Europe including World Bank, European Union Delegations in the region, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, South East Europe Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, etc.

Her native language is Russian, while she is fluent in Spanish and English.

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Stephan Breu

Born in 1965 in Switzerland, Stephan Breu was studied to be a banker. Working for one of the five big Auditing Companies he deepened his understanding of the financial markets and banking. He is a Certified Fiduciary and in 1995 he set up his own tax and audit company which as of 2011 is focused on private real estate investments in Switzerland.

Former active politician of CVP (Conservative Catholic Party) he served on local, state and national level. He was a former member of Junior Chamber International, a Board member of the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland-West Africa and member of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland-Cuba. Since 2014 he represents NGO’s with Special Consultative Status to ECOSOCS at the UNO Headquarter in Geneva and CoNGO, NGO Workgroup for Human Rights in Education and Learning.

Stephen and his wife founded the Associations “IPE-Global – Initiative for Global Progress through Education” and “Internationale Pestalozzi Gesellschaft/International Pestalozzi Society” His wife is the president and he is the Secretary-General. Both organizations are supporting the “Littlemore Nursery & Child Care Centre” in Hoima/Uganda through covering complete yearly costs for approx. 100 Children and preparing Clean Water Solutions together with the University of Kassel,  Germany.

In 2017 he was co-founder and became Secretary General of the Swiss Center of International Humanitarian Law, a Swiss think tank with international reputation. His philanthropy was honored worldwide.   

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Hristijan Ivanovski

Hristijan Ivanovski, born in 1979 in Macedonia, is a Research Fellow and a Research Assistant at the UM Centre For Defence and Security Studies (CDSS) & Associate Editor at Iaffairs Canada. He holds a B.A. (Hons) in Political Studies, specialization in International Relations at  Sts. Cyril and Methodius University, Iustinianus Primus Faculty of Law. Subsequently, he earned M.A. in Political Studies with an informal concentration in Strategic & Security Studies at University of Manitoba, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Department of Political Studies.

During his professional career, Hristijan has been predominantly involved in issues such as security, defense, immigration and EU integration. From 2005 to 2009 he was a Senior Coordination Officer at the Government of Macedonia, Secreteriat for European Affairs. Hristijan made a direct contribution to national policy achievements such as the 2005 EU candidate status and the 2009 EU visa liberalization. Among other things, he Co-administered the financial dimension of the process of preparing the national version of Acquis Comminautaire. From 2011 he is a Research Assistant where he runs a European security project at the University of Manitoba. Hristijan also prepared prepared a thorough analysis on Canadian defence spending 1945-2011. Hristijan published over a dozen of papers and peer-reviewed scholarly articles internationally and he is a certified translator for English to Serbian/Macedonian/Croatian.

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Sava Savić

Sava Savić, born in 1978 in Kruševac, Serbia, is a Deputy Minister in the Ministry of trade, tourism and telecommunication. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade, with a specialization in electronics.

During his professional career, he has predominantly focused on using information technology in public administration. From 2009-2012 he was a project manager for IT procurements in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in cooperation with the World Bank. In the subsequent two years he was the Deputy Director in the Directorate for Digital Agenda with the focus on planning, organizing and implementing IT projects financed by the EU funds. In addition, he was involved with the reform of the public administration through application of information technologies.

In the last two years as a Deputy Minister, Mr. Savić supervised digitalization processes of TV signal in Serbia and development of new services on government Euprava portal. His duties include international cooperation as well as dvelopment of plans in the information technology area. He is a president of the working group for creating new law on information security. He has attended numerous educational programs and seminars, predominantly on the issue of public procurement, preparation and impelmentation of IPA IV projects as well as modern project managment.

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Nina Velez Troya

Nina Velez Troya, is a CEO, founder and director of NVT WORLDWIDE ENTERPRISES LTD. She has graduated from Journalist school of Catalonia and Private Detective School of Catalonia. She is also a TV channel director with experience in communications and international public relations, personnel management and training, held training courses in a number companies. Run a series of workshops conferences in ESERP Business School and Management (Barcelona, Spain), dedicated to the TV luxury channels communication. Specialist branding and identity, team management excellent communicator, passionate work and innovation and international luxury services.

In addition, Nina is an Executive Business Developer at Anti-Aging and Nutrition, CEO and founder of Exquisit BCN & Exclusive Luxe Spain, Exquisit BCN TV Channel. During her professional career she was an executive in charge of marketing and sponsorship at Monaco Luxury TV and Brasov. 

Nina is the author of two publications. In 1989, she was a collaborator for "Tiempo para vivir", published by Difusora Internacional publishing.  Second publication, "Cosmética y Belleza", published in 1990 by Marin Publishing. She was a director at encyclopedia work, encyclopedia of cosmetics and beauty. She speaks Spanish, Catalan and English at high level. French and German on middle level, while Nina only speaks Italian at a middle level.

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Vladimir P. Petrović

Vladimir P. Petrović was born in Belgrade on 31st October 1974, married and father of one child. He finished the Experimental Primary School specialized for French language “Vladislav Ribnikar” and the 3rd Belgrade Classical Gymnasium. From 2007 he holds the Doctorate from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Archaeology and the PostDoc from the Sorbonne University, Paris IV, Paris (2008-2009). He is full time employed as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Balkan Studies of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He also worked as a part time professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, Serbia (2013-2016) and a visiting professor at the University Bordeaux Montaigne, France as the laureate of the prestigious IDEX program (2016). His research interests are: Roman Roads and Settlements, Latin Epigraphy, Ancient History, Roman Army and Religion and Balkanology. He was granted by large number of scientific awards and fellowships in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Greece and Russia, he is the author of four books and over sixty peer-reviewed scientific articles dominantly in French and English language and he participated in the large number of international scientific conferences in Europe and South America (Brazil, Chile). He is head or a member of several international scientific projects related with the Roman Archaeology or Epigraphy. In addition to his principal education he graduated at the Diplomatic Academy the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Serbia and at the Military Academy of the Army of Serbia as the infantry vice-lieutenant in reserve.

He is on of the founders of Belgrade based Rotary Club Beograd – Vračar and its past president.

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Vlada Trifunović

Vlada Trifunović, born in Ruma on 16.7.1977, a graduate econmist, is a Deputy director of the Šabac Free Trade Zone. After the conclusion of his studies, he moved into the political sphere of Šabac where he served at various political postings. As a member of the Democratic Party he was a member of the Main Board and the Vice President of the Executive Board in Šabac as well as a Deputy at the Šabac City Assembly and a candidate for a Deputy at the National Assembly.

In addition, we was working as a Branch Manager and a Regional Director of Winer Staditsche in Šabac and worked at Uniqa insurance. He performed the task of an Advisor to the Director at Šabac Roads Directorate. Vlada founded humanitarian fund "Humano srce Šapca". He was the President of the Board of Directors of folklore ensmeble "Čivija" in Šabac and the founder of the "Gospodar Jevrem" folklore ensemble. He is married and a father of two children, Anja and Andrija.

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Lazar Ivančević

Lazar Ivančević, born in Belgrade on 26.9.1975, an economist, is the owner of the LM consulting company. Lazar aims to fit current global trends in existing theoretical framework and help business owners and society in Serbia to bridge the gap between theory and practice.As a philanthropist, he initiated many humanitarian activities, both in Serbia and abroad.

Several years ago he founded a humanitarian fund "Humano srce" in Šabac. He is an advisor to the Swiss humanitarian organization ASMS with whom he participated in various programs throughout the world, promoting Serbian problem resolution model "unity of diversity". He is married and a member of the Centinel Lions Club Schnelldorf from Germany.

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Orlando Mardner

Mr. Orlando Mardner is the CEO and owner of Professional Security Academy (PSA) UK Ltd. In addition, he works in his own company as a Director of Training and Assessing/Security Specialist Trainer. He served as an infantry solider in the Jamaica Defense Force but also as Private Sig soldier in the Royal Green Jackets infantry regiment.

Orlando started his education in Jamaica, after which he graduated from College of North East London in Tottenham earning several certificates. Also, he attended the Academy of Professional Private Investigators in London and also Bucks New University where he received Level 7 certificate in Security Management. During his professional service and career, he earned numerous awards for his achievements. He is a member of many associations, including British Security Association and International Bodyguard and Security Services Association. His native language is English, and he has basic knowledge of Swedish and Spanish.

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João Carapinha

João Carapinha has a degree in Sociology and a Master´s degree on Human Resources and Sustainable Development. He has been working in the NGO sector for almost 20 years in several social intervention projects as coordinator and social worker (from primary prevention of drugs abuse to European adult education projects among others.) and also, as a trainer for NGO leaders regarding the design, management and evaluation of projects, leadership, team management and community development strategies. During his professional career he has based his intervention on non-formal education methodologies.

João was a volunteer at a few NGO´s on a local level and member of the board of the NGO ADBES – Association for Development and Social and Welfare. At the moment he is the educational programs coordinator for Reach Alliance, an initiative from the Foundation Alliance of Civilizations in Macedonia.
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Vildana Bijedić

Vildana is university lecturer, keynote speaker, and consultant, who delivers targeted strategy and performance improvement solutions to entrepreneurs and non-profits globally. Shortly upon completing high school in Munich, driven by her enthusiasm to make a positive impact on society, Vildana began her career at the UN in her home country Bosnia & Herzegovina. Furthermore, she broadened her skill set as a Business Consultant with Accenture,  here she was part of a team of experts supporting clients across Germany and the USA. Her multilingual abilities give her a significant edge when it comes to
managing diverse, multicultural teams and interacting effectively with stakeholders globally. Enthusiastic about educating others, Vildana has spoken about global citizenship at the UN World Merit 360 and women‘s empowerment and leadership at the Roland Berger Foundation. Vildana holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University, an MSc. from the Dept. of Management at the London School of Economics (LSE) as well as a Master in International Labor Studies from the University of Milan. Complementing her multidimensional experience is her involvement in charitable and social justice causes, including education and the environment. In keeping with her global outlook, she is fluent in several languages including German.  more...

Alexander Felsing

Alexander Felsing is the Founder and Managing Partner of Adamas Advisors, a company specializing in strategic consultancy, banking compliance, corporate and wealth structuring in Andorra. He has attained his M.A. at Cambridge University as an Army scholar and graduated as well from Royal Military Academy. He is a retired British army Captain.

During his professional career, Alexander has been active throughout the world, primarily on executive positions as well as in banking and portfolio management. Prior to establishing Adamas Advisors, he has been an Executive Director at Andbank Group, the largest banking group in Andorra. His primary focus were strategic clients as well as Russia and Central Asia. He was covering the same region at the position of Managing Director. In addition, he was a real estate investor, primarily focusing on Los Angeles, Mauritius and Barcelona for seven years. He left the banking industry in 2005 from a position of Managing Director at Deutsche Bank London. Previously he served as a country head of German private banking at J.P. Morgan Private Bank as well as portfolio manager at Baring Private Investment Management.

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Milan Milišić

Milin Milišić is the President of the Student Parliament at the University of East Sarajevo and a Vice President of the Student Union of the Republic of Srpska. He was born in 1993 in Sarajevo, BiH.

Milan is a student of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of East Sarajevo. From 2016 he served as the President of the Student Union of the Republic of Srpska, representing and protecting interests of over 40.000 students. He presided over the Student Union of the Faculty of Agriculture and was the Vice President of the Student Parliament at the University of East Sarajevo in multiple terms. Milan implemented a dozen youth and student projects which have contributed to the improvement of student conditions at both public universities at the Republic of Srpska.

He is the founder of NGO "Pravda" (Justice) through which he pursed to implement project in the field of supporting and promoting human rights in BiH. In addition, Milan is a successful entrepreneur by maintaining his family business, employing around a hundred young educated individuals.

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Andrej Balanč

Andrej Balanč is the Finance Manager at Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, founder and director at Association for Affirmation of Culture as well as Auditor at the Organization of Serbian Students Abroad. He has attained MBA at the University of Ljubljana as well as his Bachelor degree from Belgrade Banking Academy and he is currently preparing for Prince2 Foundation Certification.

During the several previous years, Andrej was very successful in balancing his professional career as a Finance Manager with his philanthropic aspirations. Prior to his career at Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, Andrej was a Team Leader in Risk Management at M-Hub Gaming Operations Ltd. in Belgrade. His skills as a Finance Manager were additionally developed at Children and Youth Support Organization as well as at the Institute for Sustainable Communities. Simultaneously, he is running the Association for Affirmation of Culture where he is helping hundreds of children in Serbia, through several annual festivals. Also, he is involved in the Organization of Serbian Students Abroad as an Auditor in order to supervise compliance with appropriate legislation in Serbia.

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Dr Craig Paterson

Dr. Paterson currently serves on the Advisory Council and the Academic Council of the International Pestalozzi Society, a Swiss based NGO with an international mission focused on children’s education. He was born in Glasgow, United Kingdom in 1965. He was educated at universities in Scotland, England and the United States of America. He holds an LLB law degree with distinction from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, an MA degree in philosophy for the University of York, England and a PhD degree in Ethics from Saint Louis University, Missouri, USA.

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Stewart Ross

The Honorable Col. Stuart W. Ross was an international banker before becoming an humanitarian and philanthropist. Ross was the Principal of Pinnacle Capital, a leading independent investor and financial advisory firm, based in Toronto and Calgary, dedicated to wealth generation and preservation. He is a Member of the Board of INSPAD Institute of Peace and Development, an international non-governmental organization incorporated in Brussels which has special Observer Status in the United Nations.

In 2016, Stuart co-founded a new global organization, the Global Resource Epicenter against Human Trafficking (GREAT) to combat human trafficking. Stuart is particularly committed to helping public health and treating women's cancer. He has made substantial commitments in this sphere. Stuart is an avid student of history and theology. In 2016, Stuart Ross received a commission and appointment of Colonel and courtesy "The Honorable" title from the Governor of Kentucky. 

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Katarina Jonev

Katarina Jonev, born in 1987 in Belgrade, is an expert on cyber terrorism and one of the rare who is educating children and parents about Internet and social networks security and protection in this region.

A graduate from the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade, at the age of 23, in international relations, she enrolled and completed her master studies of international public law at the Law Faculty in Belgrade. Since October, 2016 she has been PhD candidate at Faculty of Security Studies.

At the age of 10 she became the youngest ever journalist in Serbia. From 1997 to 2011 she worked for TV Studio B, Radio Television of Serbia, Radio Belgrade 202, Radio Stanka, wrote for daily newspapers Blic, daily newspaper Politika "Politika za decu", Voždovačke novine, Novosadski Neven, Sportski Žurnal, magazin "Samo Partizan", portal "Serbia Today", etc.

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Theodor Seitz

Born in 1968 in Switzerland Theodor G. Seitz runs his own law office in Zurich. He is specialized in Swiss and international company business and contract law as well as Swiss and international tax law. He passed his Lawyer and Notary Public examination in 2004 after finishing his law studies at the University of St. Gallen. Before opening his own law office he worked for several law offices in Zurich and Geneva. In 2011 he passed the LL.M. Program in International Tax Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU).

His military career ended as Major in the unit for International Relations of the Swiss Army. He is member of the IFA Schweiz (Swiss Association for Tax Law) and member of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce. He is fluent in German, English and French and also speaks Spanish and Italian. Since 2017, he is the President of the Swiss Centre for International Humanitarian Law. He is a member of Lions Club International.

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Nikola Kuzet

Nikola Kužet, manager, politician, writer and musician, was born in 1980 in Zadar, Croatia and lives in Banja Luka, B&H where he graduated before finishing postgraduate studies in Belgrade. He has bachelor of economics and master manager degrees (M.Sc. 300 ECTS). His projects and researches have been presented at conferences and published in professional magazines. Since 2003 he is employed in the French multinational company, Saint-Gobain as sales manager and technical consultant in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

A member since its foundation, Nikola was been elected for General Secretary of political party Narodni demokratski pokret (NDP) in 2016. He also writes a popular blog with economic themes at the web address: nikolakuzet.blogspot.ba and for other web portals.

He is a member of SWOT - Association of economists in Republika Srpska. He is an alumni of the Perpetuum Mobile Academy for political leaders, and an alumni of BLC. In 2016 he has participated in UK Fellowship programme organized from Foreign and Comonwealth office created for future leaders in BiH. He is fluent in English and solid in German. Nikola is cofounder, guitarist and composer in rock band Shanghai Street Fight. He works actively on the economical and cultural recovery of the Republika Srpska, B&H and the whole Balkan region.

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Ambassador Igor Davidovic

Lawyer by education and a veteran diplomat to key posts, Ambassador Davidovic holds a LLM degree in International Law and currently is a PhD candidate in international public law. After having served as a Chief of Staff to the Prime-Minister of the Republic of Srpska, Davidović, spent the largest part of his career as a diplomat – as the Ambassador to the USA, Ambassador-at-Large and the Chief Negotiator with the EU for the SAA, Ambassador to the OSCE and the UN Office in Vienna and the Ambassador-Head of Mission.

Currently, Igor is a Counselor to the Speaker of the Republic of Srpska Parliament in charge for foreign policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the EU in Brussels. He attended and completed numerous courses and professional training in country and abroad in areas of international relations, public diplomacy, international organizations and international contractual law. He is the author of scores of scientific articles published in various magazines and books in field of the international law and international relations. Married, father of two daughters. 

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Ljubisa Acimovic

Ljubiša Aćimović, computer design expert and student leader, a senior student at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Banja Luka, is one of the founders and the president of the Students' Club of the Faculty of Political Sciences Banja Luka, one of the leading youth organisations in the region. He is also heads the EU Café, a political café, which allowed the students of the University of Banja Luka to meet ambassadors of the countries of the European Union, as well as members of the European Parliament. He organized several youth summits and conferences in the region.

In 2013, as editor in chief, he established the youth newspaper Student Journal, under the auspices of the UNESCO BH as a regional youth magazine.  In 2014, he launched the international students conference Student's Model UN, under the patronage of UNESCO. He published several papers on sociology in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, as well as papers in the field of ecological safety. He is one of the editors of the book Global Empire of Evil and Export of Revolutions, the publisher and editor of the book Political Culture, Dialogue and Tolerance in BH and Unemployment and Migration of Young Talents from the Republic of Srpska. He is currently working on the realization of the project "Eco Students", aimed at strengthening ecological awareness among students and youth with special emphasis on the protection and importance of water. The project is implemented in cooperation with the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, UN-Water and the City of Banja Luka.

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Gulmira Rzayeva

Gulmira Rzayeva is a senior research fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies (SAM) under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Research Associate at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES) and Expert/Advisor of the World Energy Council’s Global Gas Center based in Geneva. She is also on board of directorate of the newly established Institute for Effective Governance and Stabilization based in Stockholm, Sweden, and the Trade Forest trading company based in London.

She is an expert on the energy policy of Azerbaijan and Black Sea/Caspian region energy security, Turkish domestic natural gas market, European gas market. She has worked at the Moscow Carnegie Center as a visiting research fellow and Finish Aleksanteri Institute of the Helsinki University. Ms Rzayeva is recognized worldwide for her reports and seminal articles about energy focusing on the region, as well as for her speeches in some of the most prestigious universities including Harvard University, think-tanks and prestigious international conferences world-wide. Having a BA in international relations from the Baku Slavic University and an MA in Global Affairs from the University of Buckingham, UK, Ms. Rzayeva has published several scholarly publications. She is an author of “Turkish Natural Gas Market: Policies and Challenges” and “The Outlook for Azerbaijani Gas Supplies to Europe” published at the OIES. 

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Sara Mitrovic

Sara Mitrovic, born in 1996 in Leskovac, Serbia, is currently pursuing a degree in Supply Chain Management and Information System Management with a minor in Finance at the Duquesne University. USA. Achievements include: Dean’s List, Director’s Circle Honor Roll, Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Lifetime Member of Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, Member of Association for Information Systems, and Vice President of Society of Modern Language Scholars.                         

In 2016, she was named a captain of Duquesne Women’s Tennis Team playing in the highly competitive Atlantic 10 Conference. In 2017, Sara started working at Acri Realty Corporation in Pittsburgh, Penn and together with their IT team completed a major project on developing & auditing more than 70 websites to ensure their compliance with the new upcoming Google safety standards. Since 2013, Sara volunteered in various organizations in Serbia and America, including Ecology Funds in South of Serbia, Nursing Home in Belgrade, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) in Pittsburgh, Shelter for Homeless-Wood Street Commons in Pittsburgh, and TreeVitalize. Also since 2014, she assisted in planning and organizing all ACEing Autism events. 

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Slavica Stamenic

Slavica is a Political analyst at the Embassy of People’s Republic of China in Serbia and President of the Foreign Affairs and Regional Stability Institute- FARSI.

The Sarajevo-born expert in International Relations and an Economics professional, Slavica holds an MBA degree in International Economics from Lincoln University, Oakland, USA, and is currently completing her PhD studies in International Relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. Slavica’s interests include foreign policy, international relations, EU integration, economic diplomacy and her PhD research focuses on the foreign political and trade relations between China and USA.

With more than five years of professional experience in public sector, she was engaged in different activities at the Government of Serbia, Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications. Also, she was a member and volunteer at several NGO´s, such as International Aid Network, Red Cross of Serbia and Public Relations Society of Serbia. Slavica attended numerous international and local conferences and published scores of articles.   

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Ahmet Dogan

Following his education in economics, Ahmet Doğan has worked in London in the financial sector and insurance industry for over five years and has gained experience in fund management, underwriting and risk analysis.

He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Sigma Business Services Corp USA, Sigma Media International, Sigma Insight Turkey and Sigma Risk Consultants, a multinational group of companies active in defence, security, media and digital publishing. Mr Dogan at the same time acts a senior advisor to a number of international organizations, corporations as well as government agencies.

For the last twenty-five years he has participated in developing, securing and managing the public affairs and government relations for projects in energy, defence, infrastructure, transportation, telecommunications and industrial plants and facilities.

Born in Izmir in 1968, he is a Turkish citizen and as of 2015, focuses on providing objective and fair news on political, societal and foreign policy issues of Turkey through an independent news portal at sigmaturkey.com.   more...

Nikola Rasajski

Oracle Cloud Platform Executive, Sales Manager and business development professional, Nikola has over 15 years of working experience, out of which 8 years in leading various projects, mainly IT Solutions related and both locally and internationally. Cloud solutions ambassador. Frequently involved in projects over 15M$.

Lead following key projects Oracle Cloud Day Serbia – project owner in charge of all aspects of the event resulting in over 300 attendees on invitation bases. Internally rated as the best Cloud day event in CEE region; E Justice project - resulting in increasing efficiency of Justice System in Serbia by connecting all courts (Basic, Higher, Appellation, Misdemeanor, Commercial, Supreme Court of Cassation) into “Judicial Network System” able to monitor and control court cases; Orion telekom CDMA project resulting in nationwide CDMA coverage and enabling Orion telekom to become first alternative (Triple play) telecommunication operator in Serbia; Orion telekom TV project (OrionTV) – Android/IOS/Windows based software application for Live TV watching resulted in 300.000 downloads in 3 months with average user’s grade of 4.6 out of 5.

Nikola has attended scores of training courses, conferences and seminar across the world, notably in USA, China, Germany, Spain and other. 

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Ambassador Zoran Vujic

Zoran Vujić, born in Chile in 1968, a veteran diplomat, is the Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Republic of Serbia.

Prior to joining the MFA in 2001, Zoran worked for Television Española in Madrid, BK Telekom in Belgrade and International Business Group in Belgrade, before returning to Spain and joining Grupo Da Nicola as an Assistant Director. His first junior diplomatic posting was in the FRY Embassy to Spain, after which he took a leave of absence to conclude his postgraduate studies in 2005, graduating from the Universidad San Pablo CEU, Madrid, with a MA in International Relations.

Zoran resumed his work at the MFA serving in the General Directorate for the EU, concentrating on general EU and specific CFSP/ESDP issues. He was then invited to join the Office of the President of Serbia, to serve as a foreign policy analyst, concentrating on EU-related matters.

In 2007, he was selected Chief of Staff to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, where he served until later that year, when he was appointed Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director General of the Directorate General for NATO and Defence Affairs and recently for Security Policy until 2013. Vujić took part in the Senior Executive Education in National and International Security and Executive Education Program for Emerging Leaders, at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In his role as Assistant Minister, Vujić was profoundly involved in Serbia’s EU security policy, NATO, ESDP and arms control related affairs. From 2014 until 2016 he headed the MFA Department for EU. During 2016 Zoran was Special Envoy-Campaign Manager for UN SG election process and Deputy Chief of the Permanent Mission of Serbia to the UN in New York. 

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Hasan Turunc, PhD

 

Hasan is Senior Advisor at Koç Holding A.Ş. and also represents Turkish Industry & Business Association in London.  He is Turkey expert and Faculty Member of the FT|ie Business School Corporate Learning Alliance. He was an academic fellow at University of Oxford and previously worked for the Turkish Prime Minister’s Office’s Investment Support and Promotion Agency in London where he dealt with UK-based international companies. Hasan holds a PhD and MSc from University of London and speaks English, Arabic and Portuguese.

 

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Marija Bogdanovic

Marija Bogdanović is an expert in strategic planning and institutional capacities development in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development. For the past 15 years Marija developed her professional managerial experience in programs as part of international development cooperation and implemented for the German Government by GIZ GmbH.

Born in 1976 in Belgrade, she studied at the Faculty of Philology at Moscow State University Lomonosov. In Italy she obtained a diploma as a lecturer for Italian language and literature from the University of Sienna. Marija then earned her MBA at the Faculty for Finances, Economy and Business Administration at the University Singidunum Belgrade, and another MA in Management and Organizational Sciences at the Faculty of Organizational Science at the University of Belgrade.

Her career was focused on reform processes and the development of public administration and local governments in different priority fields for the Republic of Serbia’s EU Accession. Marija is very experienced in networking and establishing partnerships among relevant actors in the region of South East Europe, as well as in the process of acquiring knowledge and technology transfer between EU member states and Serbia. She furthermore launched the initiative to assess the benefits of the introduction of circular economy for Serbia. Besides being a gender focal person for GIZ Serbia, she is actively involved in economic strengthening of vulnerable groups. Marija is fluent in German, Russian, Italian, English and moderate in Spanish and French, with academic specialization in Ancient Greek and Latin Languages. She also currently studies Japanese.

 

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Banu Yatagan

Born in 1984. Banu is Project Supervisor at Air Telecommunication, an electronics expert. She is self-motivated and result-oriented individual offering in-depth understanding person. Managing and evaluating project needs, timesframes. Ensuring that all projects are delivered on-time, within scope, and budget. Using appropriate verification techniques to manage changes in project scope, schedule and costs.Improving cost control by eliminating needless expenses. Preparing project status update reports and provided detailed completion estimates. Coordinating internal resources and third parties/vendors for the flawless execution of projects Developing project scopes and objectives, involving all relevant stakeholders and ensuring technical feasibility.Ensuring resource availability and allocation.Develop a detailed project plan to track progress Measuring project performance using appropriate systems, tools and techniques.

Banu received her B.Sc. degree in the Department of Electrical-Electronic Engineering from the Erciyes University. She worked in Huawei Technologies as  Also she received her MBa. degree, at the Bahçeşehir University. She worked in Huawei Technologies as a material manager at the department of PMO and worked actively in and VODAFONE’s projects; SWAP,IPMW,2G,3G. Moreover she is the member of IEEE and TOG Turkey

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Zivan B. Majstorovic

Živan B. Majstorović is attorney at law and the founding partner of Majstorović & Partners, a law firm that have been serving clients across the globe for more than half a century and throughout three generation of lawyers. He has over 40 years of experience advising corporates, financial investors and financial institutions on international M&A transactions, including private acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, public takeovers and restructurings.

Zivan was the vice president of the Bar Association of Vojvodina in two terms (1994-2001) and was a panelist in European President’s Conference of the European Bar Associations and Law Societies (Europäische Präsidentenkonferenz, Vienna, Austria. Živan had been appointed legal adviser for civil and criminal areas on implementation of the Final Award to the Supervisor of Brcko District - Principal Deputy High Representative, the Office of the High Representative (OHR).

His experience includes advising OHR Team working within the framework of the USAID project: Local Governance Assessment and Policy Recommendations, USAID, 2003, Bosnia and Herzegovina, developing legislation and supporting the judicial reform in Brcko District, Bosnia and Herzegovina, drafting a number of laws and regulations including but not limited to the Law on Weapons and Ammunition, EU Programme, Brcko District, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Violeta Sestic

Violeta, MA in economy, is the Head of Local Economic Development Department of City of Šabac, managing the section for local economic development and entrepreneurship and the project management section. She is in charge of resolving current business problems within the city, preparing business offers for and negotiating with foreign investors, giving one-stop-shop service for investors, cooperating with RAS and NALED. She is also tasked with preparing reports for the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia

Violeta is actively involved in the Regional business chamber Valjevo – Council Šabac and in the Business Council of the City of Sabac. She is also a member of Local Council for Employment, the Commission for monitoring investments of the City and of the Office for coordination of economic activities. She is also a consultant for the Free zone Sabac management company.

Her activities also include preparing promotional material and memorandums of understanding for potential investors depending on field of interest, preparing and implementing the Action plan for employment of the City.

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Branislav Majstorovic

Branislav Ž. Majstorović is attorney at law and the managing partner of Majstorović & Partners, a law firm that have been serving clients across the globe for more than half a century and throughout three generation of lawyers.

Branislav is the third generation of lawyers in his family, whose tradition of advocacy actually reaches to the early 19th century and heads the Corporate / M&A and Commercial practices. He is experienced in blockchain technologies, GDPR, IT outsourcing, clinical trials and IVF. Branislav specializes in commercial law across a range of industries, including the technology, media, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors. He regularly advises multinational clients on complex issues relating to commercial matters, regulatory risks and data protection/data privacy matters.

In addition to working with multinational clients, Branislav is also very active on the startup scene, working with emerging tech and web-focused companies. Another area of focus, in recent years, has been the harmonization of national legislation with EU law.

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Professor Giovanni Luchena

Associate Professor in Law and Economics, Giovanni teaches Law and Economics, Department of Economics and Finance, University of Bari Aldo Moro. He taught Regional Law, Economic Public Law and School Legislation, as well as at the Master on Economics and Administration of Local Authorities, Master in E-government (Law Department) and Journalism.

He took part in several national and local research projects, such as Economic Governance and European Integration (PRIN 2008), Federalizing processes, Multilevel Governance, European Law, Regional Law and Social Rights.

He was a member of the College of Teachers of the PhD in Public Law, University of Bari; of the College of Teachers of the PhD in Law and the cognitive Neuroscience, Niccolò Cusano University, Rome; of the Scientific Committee of the Diritti.fondamentali.it review; of the editorial board of the Diritti.fondamentali.it review; Coordinator of the Section of Public law of the economy of the review Osservatorioaic.it; of the editorial board of the journal European Public Law Online review, of the board of Directors of the University of Bari; of the Council of C.I.R.P. (Inter-University Council of Apulian Rectors); of the board of Directors of GeoProSys s.r.l., spin-off of the University of Bari Aldo Moro; of the board of Directors of Dabimus s.r.l., spin-off of the University of Bari Aldo Moro and of the regional Agency Board for the right to university studies (Puglia region) from October 2010 to October 2015. In This body he has served as a member of the Budget Committee.

He is author of several monographs and more than 80 essays.

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Professor Luigi Santacroce, MD, DDS

Luigi Santacroce is an Assistant Professor in the Ionian Department of the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, and senior  Consultant Microbiologist of the Lab Service of Microbiology and Virology of the Policlinico University Hospital of Bari.

He graduated top of his med school class in Bari, in 1990, followed by a specialization course in Cardiac surgery and in Digestive surgery. He became a Consultant Microbiologist in 2006.  Luigi also followed a master program in Emergency medicine.

From 90s’ he is dedicated to research of pathophysiology of human conditions, especially factors for development of oncologic and infectious diseases. During the last decade he started a cooperative program of research on regenerative medicine and stem cells.

He is a Principal Investigator in international research programs, in particular about the human microbiota. He served as speaker and member of the organizing committees in several scientific events, both national and international, and has written a number of scientific papers.

From 2010 he is the President of the Nursing degree course at University of  Bari “Aldo Moro”, and Erasmus+ Coordinator at the same university. He is also Member and past President of the Italian Navy-University of Bari Joint Commission for teaching activity. Luigi is also Dr. hc in International Relations at Logos Intl University and in Peace Education at Instituto Educando Paz

He has good professional proficiency in English and fluency in Italian and English

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Nafiz Özgür Rifaioğlu

Nafiz Özgür Rifaioğlu is the founding and co-managing partner of Verda Law Firm.  He is responsible for developing the firm in international arena and driving the vision of Verda law firm as a progressive service-orientated law firm.

He has been making substantial contributions to legal and commercial environment with respect to commercial disputes. His experience in the Turkish legal field allows him to shape the entrepreneurial profile of Verda Law Firm.  His deep knowledge of Turkish and international markets helps him to bring companies in Turkey together with foreign investors.

He is active in the Dispute Resolution in commercial law, banking law and real estate law.

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Petar Đukić

Petar, security expert and student activist leader, just graduated from the Faculty of Security Science at the University of Banja Luka, with the GPA 9.6/10 and won a distinguished award as the best graduate student of his generation at the entire University.

He is the author of many scientific and professional papers in the field of police organization and competence, security science, criminalistics and criminal law, and he is one of the authors of the monograph “Aspects of security in local communities in the Republic of Srpska”, published by European Defendology Center for Scientific, Political, Economic, Social, Security, Sociological and Criminological Research from Banja Luka. He was a participant of numerous national and international scientific and professional conferences and seminars in the field of security, criminalistics, legal and political sciences. 

He is a prominent member of the Students’ Parliament of the University of Banja Luka and a President of the Assembly of the Students organization of the Faculty of Security Science. He was a member of the Senate of the University of Banja Luka and a member of the Organizing committee of 10th scientific conference “Students encountering science” – StES 2017. He is an active member of the Center for Security, Investigation and Defence (DBA) from Serbia. Petar was born in 1996 in Prijedor, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Nina Kuburovic

Nina is an actress and TV anchor-woman, political activist, PR expert, winner of a prestigious award for successful women, writer and law school graduate.

Upon enrolling at the Law School in Belgrade, Nina and her friends established a Liaison Office to deal with bilateral relations between Serbia and Israel, with the support of the Jewish Community and the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade. This project was the reason why she won the “The Top Woman” award for her work in diplomacy, public management and business.  Nina is an avid advocate for gender equality and affirmation of successful businesswomen.

She worked as PR consultant in 2016 to 2017 and then moved to the Cabinet of the Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Issues. 

Nina is an anchor and producer of a prominent TV show which deals with issues ranging from light subjects from the world of entertainment, fashion, clubbing and youth trends and fads to serious topics like politics, business and arts.

Nina is politically active and having set up the Rotaract Club Vracar, for young future members of the Rotary Club in Serbia, she became its Charter President.  She is also a member of the E-Development Organization.  

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Samir Shalabi

Samir Shalabi, tourismologist, system administrator, translator and President of the Swiss charity BorderFree Association in Serbia was born in a prominent Middle East family in Syria. As someone with Syrian-Serbian roots, Samir is regarded as one of the best young experts in history, culture, social and religious relations in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. As such, he is dedicated to building bridges, multiculturalism and understanding between people from MENA and Europe.

After many years of work as the leading IT system administrator for Souccar for Electronic Industrias and Arab Revival Club, Samir moved to the Secretariat of the Arab Union in Damascus. After the war started in Syria, Samir went to Egypt to become in a short period of time one of the leading young tourismologists there.

Parallel with tourismology, he is engaged as cultural mediator in international organization ADRA. With BorderFree Association he managed to build four schools for migrant children from Syria in Greece and Serbia, a free mobile  dental clinic and a house for unaccompanied minors from the Middle East in Loznica, Serbia.

Samir holds numerous awards for humanitarian work and is a member of Rotary Club Belgrade's Old Town.

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Amir Jahangir

Jahangir is a thinker and an innovator, a leading strategic communication and media professional in the world. He was honored as the Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for his work on development initiatives to improve the state of media and governance.

He is the Founder & CEO of DBTV.live; Pakistan's first internet TV with an AI enabled newsroom. He leads Mishal Pakistan; a country partner institute of future of economic progress system initiative, World Economic Forum – managing the country portfolio on improving the state’s competitiveness. He advises leading institutions on public policy development.

He has served as Advisor to the Stanford Center of Innovation and Communication at Stanford University on Journalism and Media. The Festival of Media, Valencia ranked him among the top 10 media influencing personalities in the world. Earlier he has worked as CEO for SAMAA TV as well. He was also the board member and CEO for CNBC Pakistan. At the age of 31, Jahangir was the youngest CEO for any CNBC franchise in the world.

Jahangir is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the National Defense University, Islamabad on National and International Security. Jahangir is also been trained as a public policy professional from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Tufts and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore.

Jahangir is a frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum, World Bank, Harvard, Stanford, BBC College of Journalism and other national and international research institutions.

 

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Prerna Mukhayra

Prerna is the Founder of Outline India - a for-profit social enterprise in India that aims to create social impact through data. Outline has recently started operations in Nepal. Prerna was featured on Fortune magazine’s 40 under 40 list for her work with ground level data in 2017 and again in 2018. She was recently featured among the top 25 businesswomen in India by Forbes magazine in their annual issue featuring women leaders running profitable companies. She was also among the top 40 women changemakers in the 2018 annual list released by India Today.

Her research startup has changed the way data is collected and utilized for social schemes and programs by academics, policy makers, private stakeholders and the Indian government. Founded in 2012, with a strong presence across rural India, Outline India has worked across 26 states, over 7000 villages and interviewed over 4 million stakeholders. Prerna is now launching Track Your Metrics (TYM) – an easy-to-use tech tool for quick impact assessment by small NGOs and big funders, equipping the former with means to secure more funding and the latter to hold their grantees accountable. The Android app/web-based platform aims to change the way we track finance social programs at ~0 unit cost. TYM recently won at accelerator program competitions in India and California.

In 2018, she joined the prestigious league of Chevening Fellows at Oxford University. Awarded by the Ministry of External Affairs, Prerna was also declared a Raisina Fellow in 2017. She has prior research experience working at Centre for Policy Research and holds an MA in Economics from Boston University.

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Ibro Ibrahimovic

Ibro Ibrahimovic, born in 1970, is the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Novi Beograd, member of the Main Board of the SPS, member of the Council for Defense and Public Safety, member of the Laity Commission and member of the Board of the Partizan Sport Club. 

A graduate economist, Ibro started his career in the leading Yugoslav foreign trading company GENERALEXPORT (Genex), acquiring extensive experience in international and domestic trade, hotel and catering industry. Later he started working for Modiano international sales company from Trieste, Italy and followed by the Heinz Tröber company based in Germany. Currently he is the Executive Director of the Tibar trade company.

Among other certificates and diplomas, he has a Diploma of the Center for Business Education of the Serbian Chamber of improving trade and transport in South East Europe. Throughout his career he was also engaged in charity work, donations to the orphanages, investment in training and renovation of schools and kindergartens as well as sports fields and halls. 

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Zeljko Gajic

Zeljko Gajic, born in 1981, is a graduate economist, an expert on private security and business management. A member of the International Bodyguard Security Services Association (IBSSA), he has been engaged in professional private security for many years. IBSSA is present in 120 countries around the world, with over 50,000 active members.

IBSSA Anti Human Trafficking Project (IBSSA AHTP) was established in February 2017 at the regular IBSSA congress held in Sarasota (Florida). It now has 30 offices and bureaus in 26 countries across the world. Due to his outstanding results in the field of private security, Zeljko has been appointed director of EU operations IBSSA AHTP and currently manages the work of 18 European bureaus, including the one in Serbia which he founded. It includes prominent members from the field of government security, fight against human trafficking, as well as experts in the field of terrorism and anti-terrorism.

Zeljko is the owner of a private company, a Knight of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knight of Malta, Federation of the Autonomous Priories (KMFAP – Knight Commander of Magisterial Guard of the Sovereign Order of Cyprus, Knight of Sword and Silence), a Lieutenant Colonel of the Hungarian National Guard, a member of the Europolice Federation, and a former member of the military police.

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Dr. Atta Ur Rehman

Dr. Atta Ur Rehman is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, Sohar University, Oman. Prior to joining SU, he was the Director of National Cybercrime Forensics Lab Pakistan, Head of Air University Cybersecurity Center, and Conferences Chair of IEEE Islamabad Section.

Currently, he is serving as an Associate Editor of IEEE Access, Elsevier Journal of Network and Computer Applications, Associate Technical Editor of IEEE Communications Magazine, Editor of Springer Journal of Cluster Computing, Oxford Computer Journal, IEEE SDN Newsletter, KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems, SpringerOpen Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences, SpringerPlus, and Ad hoc & Sensor Wireless Networks journal.

Moreover, he is a Senior Member of IEEE and Steering Committee Member/ Track Chair/ Technical Program Committee (TPC) member of over 60 international conferences. He also serves as a domain expert for multiple international research funding bodies, and has received multiple awards, fellowships, and research grants. His areas of research interest include cybersecurity, mobile cloud computing, ad hoc networks, and IoT.

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Professor Haider Abbas

Professor at the National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan, Haider Abbas is a Cyber Security professional, academician, researcher and industry consultant, trained and certificated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, Stockholm University, Sweden, Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship, Sweden, IBM, USA and EC-Council.

Abbas has been appointed by Springer as full-time Regional Editor for the Neural Computing and Application (ISI-Indexed, Q1, IF 4.2) for all submission from Iran and Pakistan. He is also serving as full-time Associate Editor for the IEEE Communication Magazine and as an adjunct Faculty Member at Florida Institute of Technology, United States. He is the principal advisor for several graduate and doctoral students at Florida Institute of Technology, United States, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom, National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan, King Saud University, KSA, and Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan.

Dr. Abbas has received several research grants totaling US$180+ million for ICT related projects from various research funding authorities and has been working on scientific projects in US, EU, KSA and Pakistan. Abbas has received awards from National and International organizations including Research Productivity Award from PCST, Best researcher award from MCS, NUST, CyberPatriot from US Air Force Association, USA and Research Excellence from COEIA, KSA. He has been named as one of the youngest Fellows of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) UK; a Fellow of The British Computer Society (BCS), UK and a Fellow of The Institute of Science and Technology, UK. He has also been elected to the grade of Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA.

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Velimir Vezmar

Velimir Vezmar is the executive director for legal affairs of the public enterprise "Roads of Republika Srpska" Ltd, Banja Luka and a veteran political activist.

After graduating law at the University of Banja Luka, he started working as an intern at the „Post of Srpska“ and then as Postmaster of Kozarska Dubica. He then joined the Kozarska Dubica Municipal Administration as Chief of Cabinet of the Mayor, as a manager in legal affairs at HPK Inc. Draksenic, Kozarska Dubica, and later moved to the "Roads of Republika Srpska" as the Executive Director for Legal Affairs, Head of the Department of General and Legal Affairs, until his reappointment as Executive Director for Legal Affairs of the same company.

Velimir has significantly strengthened the postal network and postal traffic in Republika Srpska, promoting entrepreneurial initiative and employment. He was especially involved in resolving property-legal relations, as well as projects for the construction, reconstruction and protection network of a total of 4,132,102 km of regional, highway and local roads of general interest throughout the Republika Srpska.

He is a member of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and has served for many years as chairman of the SNSD Executive Board and Election HQ, as a member of the Statutory Committee of the SNSD Main Board, or a councilor and head of the SNSD councilors' club in Kozarska Dubica municipality. He is actively involved in all election processes and SNSD victories from local, republican to state level. Father of one.

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Branko Isakovic

Branko is a civilian and military pharma expert, businessman, humanitarian and member of the Rotary Club.

After serving 10 years in the military as a pharmacist, responsible for the management of medical supplies in general and clinical support, Branko turned to civilian life and business. He now co-owns and runs as CEO the Div Lek d.o.o. company. He owns several pharmaceutical Class 5 patents registered in Intellectual Property Office Serbia for Dietary Supplements.

Branko also established several educational centers for training doctors and pharmacists in the West Balkan region, Turkey, Hungary, Italy, etc. Branko is focused on developing cooperation between different fields of pharmacy and healthcare with the top local and foreign companies, civil societies and NGO's as well as Serbian authorities and companies. He is the trend-setter in the West Balkans in terms of innovation and promotion of new pharma products.

As part of his humanitarian work, Branko has supported more than 200 various charity projects, helping the poor and children in need. For this he has won numerous local and international awards. Father of three and grandfather of one.

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Edoardo Campanella

Edoardo works as global economist at UniCredit Bank and is a Future World Fellow at IE University in Madrid. Edoardo previously worked for the economic research departments of the World Trade Organization, the World Economic Forum and the Italian Senate. He is also a Trilateral Commission Rockefeller Fellow Alumnus.

Edoardo holds a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, which he attended as Fulbright Scholar. Edoardo regularly contributes to Foreign Affairs, Project Syndicate and Foreign Policy. In 2015, he was shortlisted for the Bracken Bower Prize that is awarded by McKinsey and the Financial Times to emerging authors below the age of 35 for a book proposal on Europe’s elite brain drain. He has just published, with Marta Dassù, the book “Anglo Nostalgia: The Politics of Emotion in a Fractured West” (Hurst Publishers and Oxford University Press).

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Života Janković

Života is a wood manufacturer and devoted environmentalist. He was born in Kragujevac in 1969. He went to schools in Kragujevac, Skopje and Priština. He also attended several specialized courses abroad. 

He founded his wood and lumber company in 1995 and his first contracts involved supplying wood to the Serbian armament industry and exporting to Italy and Southern Europe. In 2009 the company launched a special eco-friendly chemical wood treatment and protection line in Kragujevac, and it now spearheads the industrial environment protection efforts in the region. Rajan co is championing the preservation of Serbian wood resources and promotes long-term strategic planning and development of forrestry.    

Married, avid athlete, holder of Serbian shot put record.

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Djordje Visic

Djordje is a Project Manager Advisor in the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, International Department, focused on IPA Programs (Centralized and Decentralized Management). He has been employed in the Serbian government for more than a decade and project management is his forte.

After earning his BA in economics at the Faculty for Economics, Finance and Administration, Singidunum, in Belgrade in 2007 and later an MA in economics at the Belgrade Union University in 2009, Djordje had extensive training at European Training Academy, the National Academy of Public Administration Government of the Republic of Serbia, Human Resource Diplomatic Academy of Vienna on various aspects of working with EU projects, drawing them up and preparing technical documentation, tender processes,  etc. 

He also graduated from the prestigious Diplomatic Academy ''Koča Popović'' of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia where he trained outside his focus like diplomatic practice, international relations and foreign policy, international negotiations, diplomatic protocol etc. 

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Marijana Krunic

Marijana is an economic expert by trade, having earned her BA and MA at the Belgrade Faculty for Economy, Finance and Administration (FEFA) Faculty. During her studies, she interned at the Societe Generale bank in Belgrade, the Foreign Investors’ Council, FEFA’s Promo Team and the Innovation Fund.

Marijana coauthored public policy paper “How to increase traffic security and raise awareness among the young” and wrote a paper on socially responsible business for the Belgrade 2015 CSR Forum. She also worked as a manager for corporative relations in the Economic Forum of the Young and worked hard to make the biggest conference on entrepreneurship among the young in cooperation with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce such a success.

She is very active in the Rotary organization in Belgrade – starting from chairing the Rotaract youth to full membership in the Rotary Club in Belgrade where she has held several positions. Marijana is employed in the Serbian Ministry of Interior Affairs and is a member of the International Police Association IPA.

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Dr Massimo Max Ellul

Massimo Ellul (born December 20, 1970) is a Maltese businessman and active in the voluntary organisational and civil society development field.

Ellul is the chief executive of a group of companies in the marketing and management consultancy field operating in Malta, Manchester, Edinburgh, Sicily and Dubai. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the European Forum for Urban Security under the aegis of the Council of Europe. He represents Malta in the European Disability Forum and the European Union of Supported Employment. In Scotland, Dr Ellul was very involved with the Friends of Rosslyn [Chapel], and has lectured extensively in the region. He was admitted as Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors of the City of London and in 2005 was granted the Freedom of the City of London, being proposed by the late Sir Paul Judge, with whom he worked on a number of initiatives within the City.

He is a published author in Malta, the US and the UK on subjects varying from medieval and modern history to social independent living. He occupied various senior posts in the Malta Labour Party and  chaired a number of important party committees. Ellul was elected as the Honorary Secretary of the Malta Federation of Organizations and Persons with Disability (MFOPD) and President of the Malta Association of Supported Employment.

His firm has been solicited on various occasions to give marketing and management consultancy services to a number of government ministries and entities in regions as diverse as Malta, Dubai, Al Ain, Hungary, Slovenia, the Sultanate of Oman, UK and others. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Companion of the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management. 

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Ivan Ivanovic

Ivan, a security expert, was born in Krusevac, Serbia in 1973 and studied Philosophy at the  Belgrade University. He lives and works in Mexico City since 1999 as CEO and Owner of Ayax Global Security Group which is specialized for VIP Protection, Anti–Terrorism, Anti- Kidnapping and Dangerous Human Behavior. Ivan is a member of ASIS International, ASIS Mexico and IFPO. He is certified CPO and CPOI by International Foundation for Protection Officers and has specialized in Dangerous Human behavior by ESI International. Ivan has given numerous lectures and conferences about VIP Protection, Anti- Terrorism and Anti-Kidnapping in Mexico, South America and USA. He is the author of scores of articles on the same subjects in specialized security magazines.
He was the Chairman of the Executive Protection Committee of ASIS Mexico from 2002- 2005 and has received numerous awards for significant contributions in improving Executive Security in Mexico.

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Glen Hodgson

Communications and European Union policy expert, think tank founder, Nordic and Baltic partner, author, moderator and coach.  

With over twenty years’ experience in communications, public affairs and lobbying, Glen is the founder of the think tank Free Trade Europa, which focuses on promoting free trade, liberalization and the rule of law within the European Union and internationally. Glen was previously responsible for the Nordics, Baltics and Central & Eastern Europe within a leading international communications agency. Prior to this he worked for the European institutions as well as governments, blue-chip international companies, startups and NGOs as a lobbyist, strategist and communications advisor.

Glen was also the Secretary General of a European trade association for five years. Today, Glen is based in Stockholm and a respected commentator on European affairs, as well as a frequent presenter, moderator and panelist at European policy events. Glen is also a trainer and coach on policy and communications techniques for the public and private sectors.

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Mark Martin

Mark Russell Martin is the Secretary of State of Arkansas. He was elected to his first term in November 2010 with a promise of secure elections and a more fiscally conservative approach to state government. He was re-elected to a second term in November 2014 with the vision of making Arkansas the best American state to start a business, continuing to build on the successes of his first term. He is a former three-term member of the Arkansas House of Representatives.

After service in the United States Navy as a submariner and nuclear technician, Mark earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He since held numerous technology-oriented positions in private industry, prior to the launch of his career in public service. Martin is involved in several professional engineering organizations, is a past board member of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

As Secretary of State, Martin serves as Chair of the State Board of Election Commissioners and the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Information Network of Arkansas, and the State Board of Apportionment. He has also become a sought-after diplomatic resource, due to his knowledge of engineering, agriculture, and governmental operations. Martin has served on numerous diplomatic and trade missions, working with senior officials in the United States Departments of State, Commerce, and Agriculture on missions to destinations such South Korea, Pakistan, Ghana, China, & Turkey. He also actively participates in international Christian missionary activities.

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Igor Radojičić

Igor Radojičić is the former President of the People's Assembly of Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and following the death of President Milan Jelić, was acting President of Republika Srpska from October 1, 2007 to 28 December 2007. He was the Mayor of Banja Luka, the capital of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska of Bosnia-Herzegovina running on the ticket of the ruling Bosnian Serb Alliance of Independent Social Democrats SNSD party from 2016 to 2020.

Radojičić, born in Banja Luka in 1966, holds an M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and has published numerous works on the subject.

 In the late 1980s, Radojičić was a member of the leadership of the Association of Socialist Youth of Bosnia and Herzegovina and SNSD Secretary General, He was elected to the People's Assembly at the 1998 elections, and has held the office of Chairman of the National Assembly since the 2006 elections. He held the office until presidential elections in 2007.

Radojičić is married and father of two.

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Rudolf Tot

Rudolf Tot is an expert in renewable energy sources, focusing on geothermal power, multi-level analyses and environmental decarbonization. After joining the "Srbijagas" public gas company team designing the South Stream gas pipeline, Rudolf was later appointed assistant secretary for energy, construction, and transport in the Vojvodina provincial government. From 2011 to 2014, he participated in negotiations and preparation of documentation for the South Stream main gas pipeline from Russia via Serbia to Austria.

During his work in the government Rudolf managed investments and energy sector, the mineral resources sector, supervised the traffic sector, coordinated cooperation with SAI (state audit institution), promoted the program "Cleaner and greener schools". He was also a member of several EU’s IPA programs for biofuels, biomass. He was also a member of the working group for gender equality.

After completing two master studies, Rudolf is now doing his PhD on renewable energy sources at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad. Born in 1983, in Sombor, he is an avid reader and has written a book: George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior, 2020, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

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Slobodan Vukicevic

Slobodan Boban Vukicevic is a successful private entrepreneur, advisor, and humanitarian activist from Skopje, North Macedonia.

Holding a Msc degree in economics and management Boban manages his own company TRANS PLAM Skopje for the past 20 years. It ranks among the best in its field of activity: trades and transports dangerous substances - gases, chemicals, precursors for the chemical, metal and food industries as well as water supply systems.

He is well known in the community for his humanitarian activism, mainly as a Governor of Lions District 132 Macedonia in 2016-2017, Coordinator of the Provisional Region Bulgaria and International Advisor for the establishment of special Lions Clubs, both in 2017-2020. For his activism, he has earned a number of Presidential Medals, Certificates of Appreciation, Excellence Awards, and Certificates from several Lions Presidents. He is proud of being one of the four founders of the independent civil association Tree Day - Plant Your Future, which involves planting 35 million seedlings on an area of 13,000 hectares over five years.

Boban has many years of experience in working and cooperating with people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds and is a big supporter of ecology projects and project for socially vulnerable groups in society.

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Dr Ivan Jovanović

Ivan Jovanović is one of Serbia’s most outstanding young plastic surgeons. He works at the Clinic for Burns, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the University Clinical Center of Serbia.

Before that he was trained at some well recognized institutions such as Temple University Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and Emergency Center General Surgery department of the University Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade.

Ivan was born on August 8^th, 1983 in Belgrade, Serbia. He was educated in both American and Serbian schools and holds an American high school degree from state of Pennsylvania, USA, an undergraduate B.A. degree in Biology from Hamline University, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA as well as graduate Medical degree M.D. from Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. Currently pursuing PhD degree in reconstructive surgery with focus on burn injuries at University of Belgrade.

Beside the hospital and medical curriculum, Ivan is a very active member of several charity and philanthropic organizations in both the USA and Serbia. Speaks English, French and Serbian. Married, one child, lives in Belgrade.

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Sergej Dojcinovic

Sergej Dojcinovic, born in Belgrade, is a political advisor and lobbyist based in London. He holds a joint degree in Economics and in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and in Politics and Political Communications from the London School of Economics (LSE).

He began his career in the global private intelligence sector working for Vantage Intelligence, an international intelligence consultancy based in London. His role encompassed providing strategic counsel and actionable insights to both state and non-state entities across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, focusing on advisory in areas such as dispute resolution, asset recovery, and high-profile arbitration cases.

Presently, Sergej is a consultant in the PA Group, a prestigious London-based international political advisory firm. He offers political, diplomatic, and communication guidance to heads of state, governments, multinational corporations, as well as private individuals and offices across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

He advised multiple heads of state in the Balkans, aiding in their election and re-election campaigns while assisting governments in navigating Western media landscapes effectively and connecting them with key stakeholders in London, Paris, and Brussels.

He is the Co-Founder of London-based humanitarian organization Srpsko Dobrotvorno Drustvo (Serbian Charity Society).

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