He is an experienced public speaker, bestselling-author and moderator and TV anchor in the fields eBusiness and IT security. Moreover, Cole is a blogger, motivational speaker and moderator at various tech forums all over the world. As the former editor of “Net Investor”, a business magazine, as well as a contributor and columnist for a number of leading European newspapers and magazines, he has a proven track record for objectivity and for critically evaluating the impact of technology on business processes and markets.

In his latest book “Digital Transformation” he describes the impact of the digitalization on the economy and urges the companies speed up their transformation if they want to be successful.

Chris has over 25 years experience in strategic sourcing and was Director of Professional Development and Standards at the Global Sourcing Association until 2017 and remains a GSA Council member.  He was responsible for the development of the first full range of professional qualifications for strategic sourcing, delivering training to more than a thousand strategic sourcing professionals.

His focus now is on improving relationships between buyers and suppliers in the strategic sourcing world to increase the quality and value of the arrangements for all parties.

where she is responsible for managing a team of 500 insurance professionals who issue policies and adjudicate claims, along with the supporting functions.  Previously, Christina was the Asia Pacific Claims Operations Officer based in Tokyo, Japan, where she led a team of over 300 staff with responsibility for standardizing and simplifying claims operations across Asia.  Before joining AIG, Christina managed several large transformational projects at Deloitte in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America with clients ranging from Deutsche Telekom to the White House.  Christina is an alumna of Leadership Miami, which connects public and private sector executives in the Miami area to promote economic growth and development in the city.

She has extensive experience in helping companies from differenet sectors to identify and atrract the right leadreship talnets for top and midle management roles.

Darina is experienced in HR consulting, selection, competence assessment and trainings as well as in identification and development of personality and leadership potential. In the beginning of 2006 she took the challenge to start up the business of Stanton Chase in Bulgaria and during the years she has been actively involved in the expansion of the business as well as in building up and developing the local team.

Darina holds an MBA degree in General Management from New Bulgarian University, Sofia and a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, Sofia. She is a certified PI Analyst and is accredited in Facet5 and the A&DC Methodology. She is a part-time lecturer at the MBA program in Human Resources Management of NBU, Sofia.

Since April 2016 Darina has been holding the role of a Chairperson of Bulgarian Executive Search Association (BESA). In 2018 she was nominatde to reprsent Europe in Stanton Chase’s global FMCG Go to Team with main focus on the development of the key accounts in the sector. Additionally, Darina is recognised within Stanton Chase group as one of most experience consultants in CEE in ITO and BPO sector.

Joining in January 2016 Dobromira becomes a part of the leadership team with focus on development and growth of Experian in the country, as well as increasing the brand awareness, attracting talented professionals and positioning the employer image on the market. For embedding the learning and brand innovation programs, Experian has been presented B2B media employer branding awards in January 2018.

Prior to Experian Dobromira was the HR Director for VIVACOM, where she managed organizational transformation and restructuring of functional units, outsourcing and insourcing projects, retention and development programs, such as the Key People program for retaining and developing know-how and skills, Sales Experts for enhancing and recognizing top sales and customer service skills, education initiatives, amongst which the Technical Academy in cooperation with TU-Sofia University developing for 8 years already, and others.

Dobromira is a member of the Board of Bulgarian Association for People Management (BAPM). She holds a master’s degree in “Economics of Human Resources” from the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) and an MBA in International Management from the University of London.

He has 27 years experience in location consulting and assisted over 550 clients with international site selection and corporate restructuring. In the last 10 years, he assessed off/near-shore operating and cost conditions for over 110 SSCs and more recently GBS, conducting fieldwork in 45 countries around the globe.

Elias has spoken and led seminars on topics pertaining to manufacturing, high-tech and customer service locations, global location strategy, outsourcing, offshoring, Central Europe, Russia, Asia, future trends and foreign direct investment promotion.

Elias lectures on International Business Strategy, Offshoring and Outsourcing at KU Leuven University and Brussels University College. He is has been part of Deloitte’s Shared Services Leadership team and a member of the Site Selectors Guild, the only association of the world’s foremost professional site selection consultants.

http://www.aiidatapro.com/

Iva Todorova is a Member of the Board of AmCham. She has over 20 years of experience in the public an private sector.Committed to ensure the optimal positioning of IBM towards public authorities and institutions through continued dialogue and positioning IBM values and business drives for smart societal changes and growth. Within the Global Government and Regulatory Affairs network she has developed international experience with specific focus on EU and company policy priorities in the fields of Workforce, Digital Single Market, Cloud, Cognitive Computing and others. Prior to occupying that position Iva has been Public Sector Leader for IBM Sales Department, recognized as member of IBM 100% club and other business rewards in the sales area.

Ivaylo specializes in modern implementation methodologies and system design techniques, including Design Thinking, Agile Delivery Processes and Patterns. He focuses on delivering innovative solutions for key Concord clients in energy, healthcare, telecom, and finance.
Ivaylo has a strong background in geographically distributed system implementations and has been instrumental in developing the Concord near-shore and offshore delivery capabilities through a focus on relationship building, communication, process maturity, and continuous value optimization.
Do you have any fun or exciting hobbies?
Road and mountain biking, rock climbing, skiing and snowboarding, and yoga.
Tell us one thing no one knows about you.
I can hold a head stand for a long time.
If you could be any superhero who would you be and why?
Iron Man: does good, operates under cover, invents radical technologies, runs a big corporation and has a lot of money that he applies to the common good.
If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
Everest Base Camp because of the physical challenge, the unique culture of Nepal and the rag-tag band of travelers you meet. My second and third options for similar reasons are New Zealand and Patagonia in Argentina.
Have you ever been told you look like someone famous? If so, who?
Tom Cruise. But he is shorter, better looking and way more weird.
If you could have unlimited storage for one thing, what would it be?
Body fat.
What is your favorite summer activity?
Spending time in big mountains.
What is your favorite TV channel?
National Geographic
What is one thing you did as a kid that you should have gotten in trouble for, but never caught?
Not telling.

Joe Lazarus is the Global Head of Louis Dreyfus Commodities’ Business Service Organization, prior to this, Joe served as GM of IBM’s Global Process Services business in Sofia. He has over 18 years of International experience in Service Delivery, Client Relationship Management, Business Development in new/growth markets, Strategic Outsourcing, Strategic Planning & Project Delivery involving both start-ups and major corporations. Over the course of his career, Joe has lived and worked in 7 countries & has gained extensive experience in client engagements involving working with Key Client Sponsors & Senior Executives.
In his role as Global Head, Joe has overall responsibility for global Business Services strategy design, creation and implementation, P&L for the all global delivery hubs, accountability for delivery of all Global Business Services accounts/processes & vendors currently spanning full scope of services. Before Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Joe worked with IBM where he was involved in the implementation & delivery of their global process services delivery across multiple LOB’s.

He is the author of Colliers’ CEE regional review of BPO/SSC sector, published in November 2017. Mark has 24 years of equity investment, stock broking, capital markets and real estate research experience in Emerging Markets. He has 15 years of expertise in stock markets of Eastern Europe, 8 years as an equity fund manager, specializing in Eastern Europe, and 7 years as a Head of Research/Equities.

He has 20 years of experience in providing accounting and payroll outsource, audit and transaction advisory services to clients operating in various industries including shared services, IT, manufacturing, financial services, pharmaceuticals, energy. He has led projects for clients in more than 20 European countries.

In the last five years Naiden has been leading the development of strong EY practices for full outsourcing of accounting, payroll and tax compliance functions in Bulgaria FYROM, Albania and Kosovo.

Naiden has delivered financial analysis training programs to Bulgarian banks. He is the author of several media articles on outsourcing, investment analysis and working capital management.

Born in Bulgaria he graduated Mathematics and joined a multinational company as Data Analyst. He quickly became IT Manager for Bulgaria and gradually worked his way up to IT Services Manager for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. Peter recognized the growing importance of the teams in multiple locations and developed an innovative method for leading Virtual teams.

In 2007 the Team led by Peter won the “Best of the Best” award for outstanding Project management in establishing global Shared services.

In 2012 his Team won the “Global IT Connect Award” for excellent Engagement in a global cross-functional environment.

In 2013 Peter founded “Virtual Power Teams” and started new career as Keynote speaker and Executive coach on New Leadership.

Peter is a passionate athlete and World Senior Champion in Discus. He actively supports young Talents in the fields of mathematics and sports.

In his dynamic keynote speeches and master classes, held in English, German, Bulgarian and Russian, Peter uses the experience he has gained as Manager, Athlete, Entrepreneur and, yes, the father of five little girls, to show you how to build up and lead your own successful Virtual Teams.

As an expert in New Leadership Peter supports managers to retain the gravity of their Team despite the geographical distance, age and cultural differences, and deliver Top business performance!

He is responsible for the overall corporate success and drives the strategic development of the organization. Plamen is managing the relationship with key customers and partners, the company’s growth initiatives and new market strategies.

Tsekov has strong background in the IT sector with more than 14 years of professional experience in the software area. He has in-depth technical and business knowledge in the core aspects of IT outsourcing and successful delivery models, gained from a large variety of customers and organizations – SMEs and multinational companies.

PhoneArena, the first of the two projects, was started in 2001. It is one of the largest mobile phone-dedicated websites which offers its readers extensive information and editorial content about mobile phones and the surrounding ecosystem by means of news, reviews, articles, technical specifications, featured stories, etc.

Pressian’s experience as a publisher made him aware of the real challenges publishers face which resulted in an idea for the successful monetization of ad space. Thus, the second international project PubGalaxy came into existence in 2013 and since then PubGalaxy has been taking care of publishers’ monetization needs.

Pressian Karakostov together with his team strives to establish the company as a key player in the global ad tech industry investing their time to follow and execute the ambitious strategic plans in order to bring the company to a different level thus making a difference in the digital advertising ecosystem.

In his role, Radek manages the CE5 TTS Sales Teams (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) towards delivery of the full TTS platform of solutions to our Corporate and Public Sector clients. He is also responsible for marketing actions, combining global themes and local context.

She has an MBA/MIM degree from Weatherhead School of Management and The Thunderbird School of International Management in the USA.

Creative Shower is a design thinking agency that helps companies move forward by transforming people, processes, products and services for better business results. The main purpose of Creative Shower is to be able to capture the insights of company’s customers and employees and turn them into actionable innovations and value added services and products.

Rene has been a marketing, business and retail director at Mtel since 2002 till 2012 and was responsible for major strategic and tactical decisions in the company, establishing CRM capabilities and leading the retail division’s customer experience efforts. She has been known for her unorthodox approaches and innovation practices.

For the last five years Rene has been working with startups and companies helping them tackle their innovation challenges. Her last project is about an innovative way of learning through analogies and accelerating the knowledge of successful Bulgarians – the masterclass series Moving Forward by Design.

As one of Concord’s founders, Stu has at one time or another led recruiting, sales, R&D, and marketing. Not so much operations or finance (he’s “not good with detail and even worse with numbers”). He leaves the math and consulting to the other smart, capable people hired at Concord. In fact, the reason he took on Concord’s sales department is because of these very people solving big, messy challenges for clients. The end game is to be more proactive in providing solutions that help our clients instead of waiting for them to ask for help.
Do you have any fun or exciting hobbies?
Archery hunting and taxi driving for four children.
Tell us one thing no one knows about you.
Yeah, right…
If you could be any superhero who would you be and why?
Mr. Fantastic. Aside from it being one of the coolest names for a superhero, the guy is so darn flexible. I currently cannot touch my toes without bending my knees. God gave me unusually short hamstrings.
If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
Aspen, Colorado. Because it’s the only place I can go for a week and still not be ready to go home.
Have you ever been told you look like someone famous? If so, who?
Yes, Val Kilmer.
If you could have unlimited storage for one thing, what would it be?
Warm clothes. Minnesota winters suck.
What is your favorite summer activity?
Fishing.
What is your favorite TV channel?
The Outdoor Channel.
What is one thing you did as a kid that you should have gotten in trouble for, but never got caught?
Shooting my brother with a BB gun. At long range of course. It never penetrated the skin, but it sure stung a lot!

Tom Quigley’s career spans some 31 years, mainly in two large UK financial services institutions; Aviva and Prudential.

In March this year, Tom assumed the role of CEO for the Emerging Europe Alliance for Business Services, Innovation and Technology.

Tom keenly regards himself as a market-level operator and regularly arranges European trips specifically to meet with buyers, service providers and support organisations in order to better understand market forces.
He also frequently speaks internationally on the subjects of marketing and outsourcing, and has engaged audiences at events in France, Sweden, Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, South Africa and China to name a few.

In his new role Tony is responsible for the day to day operations of the +1,000 employees, driving strategic business partnerships with key internal stakeholders and creating a strong brand to attract and retain great talent.

In his 20 years at Ingram Micro, Tony has taken on positions of increasing responsibility including working across Europe as the Regional Financial controller, heading up Six Sigma Projects as a certified black belt and more recently as the Finance Director of Ingram Micro UK overseeing all aspects of finance for the $1.5 Billion operation.

Tony is a qualified CIMA Accountant and during his time as Finance Director for Ingram Micro UK he successfully transitioned a number of key finance functions to Sofia, developed a robust finance business partnering team and established himself as a well-respected member of Ingram Micro’s global finance community. As an early adopter of the shared service model, he worked diligently to develop good communications and align team efforts between both countries to create a strong business partnership. Tony left the U.K. operation with a cost-efficient finance function, with the Sofia and U.K. teams feeling they are both an integral part of ONE Ingram Micro.

Additionally, Tony has been an active promoter of talent and community relations, participated in mentoring programs for women in business, and has been an ambassador for the U.K. Alzheimer’s Society, where he helped raise more than $100,000 through a variety of fundraising events and challenges.

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