Mr. Stanimir Nikolov was appointed for Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association in March 2017. This comes as a natural continuation of his active involvement as a Board Member for in the association for two years. Since September 2014 Mr. Stanimir Nikolov has been the Managing Director of EPAM Systems Bulgaria, a global leader in the software engineering industry. His professional path includes senior management positions in Concentrix and IBM. Mr. Nikolov’s background and experience in the BPO and ITO industry are a valuable asset for the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association, aligning with its mission and vision for a leading role of the sector in the country’s economy, to guarantee its growth, reliability and corporate social responsibility.

Krasimir Stoychev is Deputy Mayor of Burgas Municipality. He graduated in Burgas’ affiliate of Varna University of Economics, specialty “Accounting and Control”, Law at Burgas Free University. He has successfully completed a top management course in transport in Gent, Belgium. In the period 1986-1997 Krasimir Stoychev worked at the Port of Burgas, occupying the positions of Deputy Accountant, Chief Assistant Accountant, Finance and Marketing Director, Deputy Executive Director and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors. Since 1997, he has been developing private business in the areas of wholesale, construction, transport, shipping and forwarding.

Аn experienced leader with almost 20 years of leadership experience in Human Resource Development, Sales and Financial Services, where he has proven his ability to manage, motivate and influence others through strong and effective communication skills and a commitment to realizing individual and team success.

As Managing Partner for TACK and TMI in the USA, Canada and the Middle East, Edward Matti’s responsibilities put him in front of clients from all industries and with wide-spanning challenges. From effective talent management strategies to the design of complex progression models set to instill behavioral change, his team consults on end-to-end solutions for their clients. TACK and TMI focuses on aiding clients in building branded customer experiences, culture shifts and capability building.

Еdward currently delivers keynote speeches focusing on customer experience, employee engagement and leadership essentials. He has also personally delivered over 1000 workshops and has co-designed several interventions on organization culture and memorable customer experiences. Moreover, he is an accomplished public speaker and TV commentator in Canada (for the national news station CP-24).

Haitao Qi has over 15 years of experience in service outsourcing industry both domestic and abroad. In the outsourcing industry, he is known as an expert with deep understanding and abundant practical experience. Prior to Devott he managed software and software outsourcing business in a listed IT company, working as a vice-president. Then he became a vice president & CEO in China in a large American outsourcing company, managing the offshore BPO business. Now he is the CEO of Devott Co., Ltd. & Chnsourcing.com.

Having rich experience in service outsourcing industry for many years both domestic and abroad and an expert in ITO, BPO and KPO, Haitao Qi is familiar with overseas market and domestic enterprises. He has participated in many drafting work for the regional service outsourcing industrial development plan.

Maia Milanova is Member of the Board of Directors of the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association and Site Operations Manager at Experian Bulgaria.

Stanimira Pashova joined Forton after 6 years at Zabar Management – a group of Israeli corporate and private investors. She was a country manager, implementing the investment strategy of the group – selection and purchase of real estates, application and obtaining of bank financing for purchase and development of projects, receiving of construction permits, organization and management of construction process. She has more than 17 years experience at mainly managing positions at large Bulgarian and International companies.

Among her major clients are Mobiltel, Unicredit Bulbank, Credit Agricole Bulgaria, BNP Paribas Personal Finance, Abbott Products, CMS Reich Rohrwig Hainz, Investor.Bg, Paraflow, Obecto, Platinum Brands.

Stanimira Pashova holds a Masters degree with Major International Business Relations from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia and Completed doctor degree study at Project management at same University.

Jean Bayon de La Tour is the Cyber Development Leader for Continental Europe since 2016. Before, Jean was responsible for Cyber Risks Development in France. He joined Marsh in 2012 and was in charge of dedicated insurance programs (D&O, PI, Crime, Cyber) for large financial institutions (banks, insurers, asset managers, Private equity, brokers) and stock exchanges. Before joining Marsh, he worked three years at the Group Internal Audit (“Inspection Générale”) of Crédit Agricole & 3 year in the private banking sector at HSBC France.

Andon Simeonov currently occupies the position of a Country Manager at SoftServe Bulgaria. Mr. Simeonov has over 15 years of experience in people and project management in a dynamically changing environment. Prior to joining SoftServe Bulgaria, Andon held a number of managerial positions in the telecommunication sector – in the structure of Eurocom, Megalan, Mnetwork, and in Mobiltel as Director of Fixed Services Directorate. In 2003 Andon graduated from the Technical University of Sofia with a Master’s Degree in Telecommunications. In 2013, he completed his Executive MBA degree at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and the University of Minnesota.

 Zhulieta Mandazhieva, Attorney-at-Law, is a co-founding partner of Tocheva & Mandazhieva Law Office (“T&M”). She has an expertise in banking and finance, M&A transactions, energy and computer and communications law. Listed in Chambers &Partners as a leading lawyer in Banking and Finance and Corporate and Commercial. Zhulieta co-founded T&M in 2004 after a career in the financial services sector.

She has been the project leader of a number of M&A transactions acting together with the legal teams of international law firms (Magic Circle inclusive). Zhulieta is a frequent speaker on conferences and seminars focusing on the legal aspects of technology driven sectors; she is one of a few lawyers in Bulgaria who keep their finger on the pulse of cutting edge development of the digital and financial world and constantly builds on her experience and knowledge in the sectors of Fintechs, regtech, data protection and regulation of big data, IoT, MAR and CTF, and new generation payment services .

Zhulieta graduated from the Law Faculty of Sofia University in Sofia in 2001 and became a member of Sofia Bar Association in 2004. In the beginning of 2013 she was certified as a qualified mediator under the Bulgarian Mediators Act. In addition to her native Bulgarian, Zhulieta speaks fluent English and German.

Otto Paul Brand has over 25 years of experience in the consulting, IT and Business Process Outsourcing industry working for companies as Deloitte, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, IBM and Computer Sciences Corporation in the Netherlands, UK, Eastern Europe, Middle East, South Africa, Australia and the United States. For IBM Business Process Outsourcing Otto spent a considerable time in Bulgaria and was involved in setting up a new delivery centre in Sofia.

Otto now works for DPA Professionals, a large expert staffing company in the Netherlands, listed at the Dutch Stock Exchange and runs a newly established business unit on Intelligent and Robotic Process Automation. This business unit aims to serve companies with expert staff to help them run Automation project or provide robotic solutions. 

Sean Canning is currently Senior Vice President, Head of Service Delivery, EMEA, China & Malaysia at Sutherland, a leader in the Business Process Transformation industry. Sean has been with Sutherland since 2013 and has been focused on supporting the company’s growth and expansion plans throughout the region. Under Sean’s leadership the Sutherland team in Bulgaria has growth to 4 sites across 3 cities in Sofia, Burgas & Varna with further expansion in the pipeline.

 Michaela is managing partner and CEO of Forton, Alliance Partner of Cushman & Wakefield for Bulgaria and FYROM. She is member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, RICS Registered Valuer and RICS Ambassador for SEE. Michaela joined Forton as Head of Investment Consultancy & Valuation department after a five-year career at UniCredit Leasing, part of the largest financial institution in Bulgaria UniCredit, where she headed the department of large corporate clients and real estate. While at Forton, she helped to attract and retain as clients key international investors and developers. At her initiative, Forton opened up to the banking sector. Michaela also worked as General Manager at Jobs USA, acting as mediator in finding jobs abroad for Bulgarian professionals. She gained international experience at FFAA, Chicago, Illinois as Program Director and Program Manager.

Michaela holds a Master’s Degree in Financial Management from the City University – Washington and Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Doug Gilbert joined Sutherland in 2016 as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Sutherland Global Services, with responsibility for Sutherland’s worldwide technology operations, product development, innovation roadmap, and expanding intellectual property footprint

As a driver of strategic vision, one of his roles is to create an environment of integrated systems and processes to support both rapid organic and acquisition growth for all service lines.   Doug has extensive experience leading product development, Mergers & Acquisitions integrations, ERP implementations and technology transformations.

Prior to Sutherland, Doug served for 8 years as the CIO for ABM, a NYSE Fortune 500 company and one of the largest global facilities management companies with over 120,000 employees, as well as the CIO of OneSource, a 28,000 employee management company that was acquired by ABM in 2008.

Doug has also held senior level positions at various technology companies including Sony Research Labs, VeriFone and Panasonic leading development teams for each company.

Routinely recognized as one of the top CIO’s in publications such as Information Week, Computerworld and others, Doug also routinely speaks at various CIO and technology forums and has been published in several online and print magazines including CIO.COM, Forbes and Microsoft.

Doug belongs to several technology groups including George CIO Leadership Association, CIO.COM IDC Horizons, Forbes CIO’s and Techbridge.

 Kanth Krishnan is a business strategist and technology professional, with a long track record of helping companies innovate on operating models, business processes & technology solutions.

Kanth is a co-founder of Intrigo Systems a global consulting services company, where he is the Chief Customer Officer responsible for solutions delivery, talent management and customer success. Intrigo headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, operates across the globe, with offices in USA, Germany and India. Intrigo helps its customers achieve enterprise transformations by leveraging digitization, IoT, automation, predictive analytics and managed services. Intrigo’s customers includes global brands such as Levi’s, Chevron, Nvidia, Clorox, Corning, Fossil, Mylan and HP Inc., among many others.

Kanth specializes in the extended supply chain domain, spanning planning, procurement, manufacturing, distribution, logistics and customer interaction. He has worked with companies in a multitude of industry sectors such as retail, fashion, consumer products, semi-conductor, hi-technology, industrial manufacturing, chemicals, and oil & gas, helping them drive business value and operational excellence through technology & process innovation.

His professional life includes leadership roles at SAP, a global business software company and Applied Materials the largest semi-conductor equipment manufacturing company and other startup companies. Kanth founded Xpaseo in the early 2000’s, a software company leveraging Internet of Things (IoT), big data and predictive analytics to drive automation and decision support for asset management, safety and security applications.

Kanth is a thought leader in the area of digital transformation. He participates in a number of industry and leadership forums. Kanth was recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive Magazine as a 2016 ‘Provider Pros to Know’ winner for his contributions in supply chain management.

Kanth mentors budding entrepreneurs and advises early stage startup companies in enterprise solutions, collaboration and mobility.

Kanth has a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arizona, USA and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Madras, India.

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.

Plamen has a passion for customer focus and performance excellence. Being “the captain of the ship”, he is setting the company’s long-term growth directions and the pace of achieving them. Under his leadership, ScaleFocus has become quickly a well-recognized and trustworthy organization that delivers great experience and outstanding value.

Dr. Pradeep K. Mukherji is President & Managing Partner at Avasant and heads the firm’s Global Strategy Practice and Asia & Africa operations. He brings to Avasant over 25 years of rich experience and expertise as an international management consultant for governments, development institutions, trade bodies and the private sector. He is a recognized thought leader in the fields of Industry Promotion and Capacity Building, Public Policy Advisory and e-Governance, ICT Strategy and Digital Innovations and Export and Investment Strategy. He regularly advises and works on initiatives with development institutions such as The World Bank, United Nations, The Commonwealth Secretariat; donor agencies such as The Rockefeller Foundation and Governments in the emerging economies of East Africa, Ghana, Albania, Haiti and so on. Moreover, Dr. Mukherji has advised leading enterprises in US, Europe and ASPAC on strategic aspects of global expansion, services globalization and business transformation.

His insights and understanding of the Impact of ICT investments and Broadband policy on economic growth, citizen centric empowerment, employment generation and trade promotion has recently aided in the execution of critical and future defining initiatives in Rwanda and Uganda and has led to World Bank shortlisting Avasant as a preferred partner for its Digital Dividends initiative.

Dr. Mukherji holds a Masters’ degree in Operations Research and PhD in Management Science & Expert Systems. He has been active in the education field and has been a visiting faculty at leading Management Institutes in India & USA. He is a sought after speaker in global conferences, which includes World Bank Conferences, IAOP (USA), NASSCOM, NOA, Commonwealth Secretariat, and various industry conferences in China, Africa, Middle East, Europe and the USA. He is also a prolific writer and regularly publishes articles and papers in his field of specialization.

Ryan is the Head of Research covering the IT, development, and marketing industries at Clutch. Clutch is a B2B ratings, reviews, and research platform with a purpose to help businesses connect and be more successful together.  Their research includes service providers across the world, one of the largest concentrations includes hundreds of Eastern European IT companies. Ryan has been an integral part of pushing forward Clutch’s Eastern European research. Clutch recognizes the outsourcing talent in Bulgaria and looks forward to growing their coverage of Bulgaria-based firms.

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.

Ivaylo is Concord’s Chief Technology Officer responsible for defining and leading our core Technology Capabilities group. 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.

Ivan Mihaylov is general manager of Visteon Electronics Bulgaria since 2012. He has more than 12 years of experience in IT management in the field of Information Technologies, Telecommunications etc. In 2013 Ivan Mihaylov acquired master’s degree in innovations and technologies from the University of Texas at Austin – The Red McCombs School. He has master’s degrees in business administration from the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, and in computer systems and technologies from the Technical University of Sofia.