1. Dragoljub Damljanović Dragoljub is an Electrical Engineer by education, graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade. He started his career as a teacher at the Polytechnics Academia in Belgrade. Afterwards, he became a designer at Power Utility in Belgrade, where he designed substations, power lines and public and decorative lighting. His career continued in the public lighting department, where he became department manager, in charge of maintenance and the development of the public lighting system for the city of Belgrade. Soon after, he moved to the position of director for Investments and planning, at Power utility in Belgrade. There he coordinated network development with city authorities and private investors, managed investments and design biro. Eleven years ago, he began his career in Schneider Electric in Serbia. From a sales position he advanced to sales management of partners and consequently, projects and services. Different positions inside Schneider electric gave him the opportunity to understand different business models and customers in very different markets. Three years ago, he took over the position of General Manager in Schneider electric in Serbia and Montenegro. He is a member of the board of directors of French Serbian Chamber of Commerce. He is also passionate about people, their development and growth. He loves history, philosophy and good music, jazz, classics, etc.
2. Dario Bartolović Dario is Electrical Engineer by education, graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade. He started his career as a teacher in Electro technical School Rade Koncar in Belgrade. Afterwards, he became an engineer at Power Utility in Belgrade, where he was working in Planning Department for 10 kv and 1 kv objects. Following this, he spent two years of his career as Project Manager in Trizma, first Contact Center Outsourcing company in Serbia. Eleven years ago, he started his career in Schneider Electric in Serbia. He began as sales representative for Power Utilities in Serbia and Montenegro. From a sales position he moved to marketing management, and then in service and energy efficiency. Different positions inside Schneider Electric gave him the opportunity to understand different business models and customers as well as different people inside company. Two years ago, he took over the position of Partner Business Vice President of Schneider Electric in Serbia and Montenegro. He loves literature, music and sports.
3. Vladislava Furtula Vladislava is Electrical Engineer by education, graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade. She started her career as a teacher in Technical high school Nikola Tesla in Belgrade. After a short experience in technical departments of JAT and Telekom, her career continued at Power Utility in Belgrade, where she was responsible for making internal standards and certificates for substations based on IEC and national standards, writing proposals for new equipment acceptance according to company regulations, including validation of electrical design according to technical conditions given by the Planning Department. Ten years ago, she started her career in Schneider Electric in Serbia in the Marketing department. Over the years, responsibilities were upgraded from product management to market development, which enabled her to understand business as a whole. Last year, she took over PR duties in addition to the existing ones. She is passionate about creative thinking and loves fine art, good music and food.
4. Anica Zagorac Anica is Electrical Engineer by education, graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade, Department of Electric Power Systems. During her education, she was also president of Student Association of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and PR manager of Student Association of Belgrade. Both organizations are in charge of improving the quality of Higher education at the Belgrade University. Three years ago she joined the Schneider Electric team. Different positions inside Schneider Electric gave her the opportunity to understand different business models and meet a wide partner network in retail electrical market. She is working on launching and positioning new electrical products, researching the market, following competition, and promoting existing products. Privately, Anica likes traveling, reading and photography.
5. Milan Petrović Milan Petrović is the President of the Serbian Association of Managers. He has 18 years of experience in Sales and Marketing Top Management leading projects. He received his B.S. in Operation Management from the Faculty of Management. From 1996 to 2000 he was a Sales Director at Allied Domecq Yugoslavia as the youngest on this position in 68 Allied Domecq countries, including Pepsi Beverages Serbia from 2002 to 2005. He was also Marketing and Sales Director at Strauss Adriatic (Doncafé & Lavazza coffee) from 2005 to 2007 and CEO from 2007 to 2010. He demonstrated his strong affinity for HR and people development by working as Coach at Dale Carnegie Training Serbia from July to December 2010. He completed his international management role at Zepter International in Switzerland from 2010 to 2012. Being back in Serbia, he took over the position of the CEO of Cento Stampa Holding, a business with TO Eur300mio/year and 4.300 employees. In only 15 months he was leading the team which successfully transformed and reconstructed a company with heavily negative results into a positive business. He received the Award for creativity and businesses - Manager of the year 2007 from the Serbian Business Journalist Association. He is also a specialist in Business Strategy, Change Management, Branding, FMCG management, General management and M&A.
6. Nataša Đurđević Nataša Đurđević is Shopper Marketing Director for Central South Europe business unit in the Coca-Cola Company. She has 20 years of experience in Strategic Marketing Research, Planning and Executing leading projects in FMCG industry. She received her Master s degree from the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, with a major in Marketing. Currently, she is attending PhD studies at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. Nataša started her career in Mark-Plan agency and later worked as Strategic Planning Director at Publicist. In 1997 she moved to the Coca-Cola Company. Her responsibilities within the Company were various from marketing research, strategic planning, marketing and operations management, covering mostly Southern European markets. Her current position covers responsibilities for Shopper Marketing for 23 countries of Central South Europe, including the delivery of shopper marketing content to selected European charters. Nataša was President of International Advertising Association in Serbia between years 2011-2013 and teaches International Marketing at IAA s Advertising and Media specialist studies. Her expertise includes: Marketing Research and Planning, Branding, Shopper Marketing, FMCG Management and Strategic Marketing.
7. Jelena Šarenac Jelena Šarenac has been working in Henkel Serbia Company for eight years as Head of Corporate Communications, in charge of internal and external communications, public affairs and brand communications. Since July 2014, she is also responsible for corporate communication for Henkel Adria region (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina). She gained business experience at the Mercedes-Benz Company, i.e. at the DaimlerChrysler Company, where she spent nine years as Marketing and Communications Director in charge of all brands. In 2006, she left DaimlerChrysler and worked for a short period of time in a marketing agency as Planning Director, responsible for the Coca-Cola brand. During her studies, she lived in Moscow, where she got her BA in management from the Moscow State University and received additional training in London and in Germany. She took a number of professional courses and trainings in sectors of communications, marketing, leadership and planning. She holds Master s degree at the Faculty for Media and Communications of the Singidunum University in Belgrade. She is fluent in German, French, Russian and English and has basic command of Italian. She is married and mother of two children.
8. Igor Kordik Igor Kordik graduated from Mechanical Engineering at Niš and Belgrade University. Presently, he is completing his President s MBA studies on IEDC Bled School of Management in Slovenia. He has more than 18 years of professional experience, primarily in the field of Sales. His career began in 1995 as Sales Representative in a printing company OLA in Belgrade. After one year, he became Sales Director there, primarily cooperating with clients coming from big international businesses. In 1998, Igor continued his career as a Sales Representative in Velux a Danish company producing and selling roof windows: he had an opportunity to meet with the sales of premium product & premium service for premium price in a building material market, where the lowest price is usually the best argument for sale. He gained additional knowledge in sales and improved his analytical and negotiation skills there. He took his next professional step in 2002, as Technical and Sales Representative in Ursa Insulations, first a member of Pfleiderer Group from Germany, afterwards a member of Uralita Group from Spain, where his success and abilities were soon noticed by a recruiting agency from abroad: he was offered a challenge with a position in Xella Company (subsidiary of Haniel Group from Germany at the time) as a Sales Manager. After 9 months, Igor became Managing Director of Sales & Marketing. In 2005 he accepted an offer to work with ACO Group (founded in 1946 in Germany with companies in almost 50 countries worldwide, on 4 continents) as Managing Director for Serbia and Montenegro, where he is still holding this position. His professional fields of interests are Strategy, Sales, Marketing, International Business and Project Management. Igor is married for 14 years - he and his wife have a daughter and two sons.
9. Slađan Liješnić Slađan Liješnić is Deputy Executive Marketing Director in Mercator-S. Prior to taking over his current position in Mercator-S, Slađan gained extensive experience in retail and FMCG industry with particular focus on marketing. His previous responsibilities included being Marketing Director at Konzum Bosnia & Herzegovina and Marketing & Development Director at Sarajevski Kiseljak. His responsibilities and areas of expertise include Marketing Management, Market Planning, FMCG, Marketing Strategy, Market Research, Marketing Communications and Brand Development.
10. Miša Lukić Miša Lukić is one of the most prominent leaders in the Marketing Communications Industry in Serbia and CEE. Currently he is President of the Management Board of Publicis Group Serbia/MMS Communications, encompassing world-renowned communication agency brands Leo Burnett, Saatchi&Saatchi and Publicis. Miša Lukić is also a Board Member at the American Chamber of Commerce Serbia and Vice President of the Management Board of Serbian Association of Managers (SAM). Miša Lukić has received the Life Achievement Award (UEPS) as the youngest laureate, as well as the Marketing Person of The Year in Serbia 2010 (World of Marketing). In 2012 and 2013, he received the National award Kapetan Miša Anastasijević leader of creativity in Serbia 2012 and was recognized as a manager with a vision to continue the implementation of public relations in the South-East Europe area (the PRO.PR award). Last year Miša Lukić received two awards - Award for the recognition for the contribution to the creative industry development in the countries of the Danube river basin (CEDEF / Media Invent 2014.) and Award of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia for achievements in the development and improvement of the economy in 2014. In the last two decades he successfully led five communication agencies in four countries on two continents. Under his leadership Leo Burnett Belgrade was the most successful Marketing Communications Agency in Serbia according to number of employees, profit and agency net revenue for the last seven consecutive years. Furthermore, Leo Burnett was awarded as The Best agency in the Adriatic Region (2010). In addition, in 2012 Leo Burnett was recognized by the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce as the best creative and innovative company in Serbia (Kapetan Miša Anastasijević Award). In 2013, Leo Burnett Belgrade was recognized as The Employer of the Year 2013 by the Serbian Association of Managers.
11. Veronika Tasić Vušurović Veronika has been working as a management consultant for almost 10 years now. She has worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) since 2011 where she is leading the Financial Services group for South East Europe (SEE) region. She was a consultant with A.T. Kearney for 5 years. Prior to that, she worked on a non-for-profit agenda of UNICEF and UNOPS. Veronika works with clients in the Financial sector and Telecommunications but has also advised companies in other industries. Veronika advises CEOs and management boards on how to achieve growth with focus on strategy, sales and marketing, change management and she gets particularly excited around everything that has to do with customers. She has a wide international exposure and has worked with clients across SEE and in Russia. Veronika graduated from the University of Nis (Linguistics) and then obtained an Executive Master in Economics and Management in a joint program of Belgrade Faculty of Economics and HEC from Paris. In addition to that she took an MBA in International Business from Consortio MIB in Trieste, Italy. Veronika is fluent in English, Italian and Greek. Outside work, she spends time with her son and husband on the Sava and the Danube, horse riding or tasting and promoting (Serbian) wine.
12. Sanja Grabež Sanja Grabež is General Manager of Galerija podova, the first and leading flooring and home decoration retail chain in Serbia which belongs to a worldwide flooring leader Tarkett Group. Sanja began her business career in 1999 when she joined Sintelon on the position of Product Manager after finishing Master studies at the University of Novi Sad. After the acquisition in 2002, she has started working for Tarkett on various positions on the level of South Eastern Europe connected with marketing and sales of products for commercial usage, B2B sales, and projects execution with contractors and investors. She initiated, developed and implemented Tarkett Academy educational center in SEE and ran it for three years. In 2007, she took the position of Sales and Marketing Director for residential, home, products. In 2010, Sanja started working in Galerija Podova, the retail part of the company, with more than 40 stores in Serbia and Montenegro. Her expertise includes general management, strategic management, B2B and B2C sales, and marketing and distribution strategy development. Sanja completed her Executive MBA studies at Cotrugli Business Academy in 2010. Her main focus today includes retail management, business processes optimization, change management, motivation and competency development.
13. Aleksandra Drecun, J.D., MPA Aleksandra Drecun is President of Harvard Business Club in Serbia. She was the Director of the Center for the Promotion of Science, a Serbian national public body. She is a member of the European Commission COST GenderSTEManagement Committee, member of the managing boards, regional and country leader of several European Commission FP7 and other international projects in the fields of STEM, research and innovation. Aleksandra is the President of the Program Committee of the South Eastern European Science Promotion Conference (SCIPROM), the Co-Chair of the Woman s Government of Serbia and a Member of the Managing Board of Harvard Club Serbia. Drecun was also Secretary General to the President of Serbia (2004-2006), Special Advisor at the Government of Serbia for the National Investment Plan (2007/2008), Secretary General of the Ministry for Finance and Economy and the Government of Serbia Anti-corruption Coordinator (2001-2004). Aleksandra also served as the President of the Board of the Belgrade Philharmonic and Children to Children Charity Fund. Drecun graduated from the Belgrade University Law School and got her Master s degree at Harvard University.