Summit 2021

Michael Cklamovski serves as Managing Director and Market Leader with CIBC Bank USA in San Francisco. Cklamovski works closely with business principals, leading a team built to provide tailored banking solutions to strategic clients. He is attuned to client’s personal and professional interests and helps business owners, entrepreneurs, senior executives, and multigenerational families navigate significant crossroads in their financial lives, providing them with the resources and counsel required to make sound decisions.

Prior to joining CIBC, Michael held roles of increasing responsibility at Bank of America in Chicago. Before his career in finance, Cklamovski was a litigation attorney focused on tax and real estate issues appearing in both state and federal court. Michael earned a B.A. with dual majors in Political Science and Communication from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as well as a Juris Doctor with Honors from the Northern Illinois University College of Law. Cklamovski is the Chair of the Macedonia2025 Board of Directors.

Prof. Dr. Nikica Mojsoska-Blazevski is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Macedonia2025. Nikica’s prior experience was in academia, where she served two terms as dean of the business school, as well as in public administration where she held the positon of Head of Macroeconomic Department at the Ministry of Finance of Macedonia.

Nikica has extensive experience of over 19 years in research, consultancy and advisory in economic policies, labour markets, social systems and education in Macedonia, as well as the Western Balkan region. She has worked with major international economic organizations and institutions, such as the World Bank, ILO, RCC, UNDP, UN Women and the European Commission. She has served as an economic and labour market advisor to the government institutions in the Western Balkan region. Mojsoska-Blazevski is author of many journal articles and several book chapters, and member of the world-renewed research associations.

Nikica is a member of several professional organizations, including the Management Board of the Economic Chamber of North Macedonia, Audit Committee of the Sparkasse Bank-Macedonia, and Board of trustees of the Macedonian Foundation for Enterprise Development, as well as of several academic networks.

Stevo Pendarovski is the President of the Republic of North Macedonia. He graduated in 1987 at the Faculty of Law “Iustinianus Primus”, University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius”, Skopje and obtained M.A. and Ph.D. from the Institute for Political, Legal and Sociological Research, University “Ss. Cyril and Methodius”.

For the past 11 years, he was a Professor at the UACS School of Political Science, teaching International Security, International Relations, Introduction to Politics, Globalization, Geopolitics, US Foreign policy, EU Foreign and Security policy, and Small States in World Affairs.

In the period 1998 – 2001, he was Head of Analytical and Research Department in the Ministry of Interior and ministry’s spokesperson.

From 2001 to 2004, he was National Security Advisor of the President of the Republic of Macedonia. From 2004 to 2005, he was President of the State Election Commission. In the period 2005 to 2009, he had position Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the Republic of Macedonia. From 2016 to 2017, he was Member of Parliament. From December 2017 until May 2019, he was National Coordinator for preparation of the Republic of North Macedonia for NATO membership

Mike Zafirovski is Founder, Chairman, and President of The Zaf Group, a family office investing and advisory firm. The Zaf Group acquires and operates well-run family businesses with revenues between $50-300 million, with intention of owning in perpetuity.  The Zaf Group platform companies are unified by a common set of core values of high values/impeccable integrity, high expectations for results, commitment to people and leadership development and meritocracy. Currently, the two platform companies are ACP CreativIT, focused on IT products and services and ABCO Systems, a systems integrator for material handling equipment for warehouses and distribution where Mike serves as chairman.  Mike’s wife Robin serves as co-chair of The Zaf Group and as a board member of ABCO Systems.

In addition, Mike is an executive advisor to The Blackstone Group (since 2011), and he sits on the boards of Stericycle (since 2012), Apria Healthcare (since 2011), and evolve24 (since 2016). He previously served on the board of directors of Boeing from 2004 through April 2020.

During his corporate career, Mike served as President/CEO at Nortel, Motorola, and five GE businesses. In 21 years of P&L responsibility, revenue growth exceeded 8% per year, annual productivity averaged over 6% and EBITDA margin increases averaged 350bps per year.

From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Zafirovski was appointed by the President of the United States to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), providing recommendations to the president on a wide range of policy issues related to telecommunications, IT, cybersecurity, and other national security concerns.

The Zafirovski Family Foundation (established in 2005) activities focus primarily on education, healthcare, faith-based ministries, and economic development. A native of Macedonia, Mike is co-founder of Macedonia 2025 (www.macedonia2025.com), an organization dedicated to enhancing the country’s economic and democracy development. He established the Zafirovski Executive Development Program, where in partnership with the Kellogg School of Management, Macedonia 2025 is seeking to accelerate development of 100 future CEOs and CXOs in the country. Mike is also the Chairman of the board of AUSL (www.ausl-chicago.org), an organization that is successfully driving education equity at 31of the most challenged public schools in Chicago (each of these formerly failing schools has moved up in performance ranking, with 81% in good standing). In 2009 Mike co-founded the Faith at Work ministry at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois.  His other involvements include: Council of Chief Executives (Chairman), American Enterprise Institute (member of Midwest Council), The Halftime Institute (completed the Fellows Program in 2017), The Economic Club of Chicago (member, former director), and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs (member).

Mike holds a B.A. in mathematics from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania where he captained the soccer and swimming teams. In 2002, Edinboro University awarded him an honorary doctorate degree in public service.  He is a visiting lecturer at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He and his wife, Robin are on Duke University’s Parents’ Committee (former national chairs).

He received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2004; the Distinguished Leadership Award from the NY Hall of Science in 2008; the Medal of Honor from the President of Macedonia in 2013;and the inaugural John L. Bitove Philanthropy Award in 2018. In addition, The Navy Seal Foundation bestowed on Mike and his wife, Robin the “Patriot Award,” in recognition of their extensive philanthropic contributions to society, commitment to the Navy Seal community, and spirit and example of Patriotism in 2018.

Mike and Robin, married for 37 years, have three sons, all of whom are married, and four grandchildren.  Mike’s hobbies include anything with family, mentoring, friends, travel, and sports (he completed the Kona Ironman Triathlon in 2018).

Andrew Wrobel is the Founding Partner of Emerging Europe, a London-based intelligence, news and community platform, and the leader of the Tech Emerging Europe Advocates initiative, a member of the Global Tech Advocates network.

Trained as a journalist, he specializes in technology and innovation, foreign direct investment, nation branding and soft power, and cross-cultural communications. Andrew regularly interviews political and business leaders and speaks at or moderates international political, economic and technology events, where he promotes discussion about emerging Europe. He is also a juror at various international business-related competitions, a media coach, a location promotion trainer and a media commentator.

He has authored and contributed to a number of international business, investment and trade-related publications.

Naser Nuredini is the Minister of Environment and Physical Planning of the Republic of North Macedonia.

He was born in Tetovo, North Macedonia. He moved to Vienna as a child and was educated at the Vienna International School before completing his higher education in the United Kingdom.

Naser built his career in finance in London and Vienna, first as an analyst and then as an investment manager for the central and eastern European markets. His core goal during this period was to drive good quality, clean and green investments in his home region, to use his cross-border experience to be a bridge between the west and the east.

This awakened his passion for green economics – a modern approach to environmental management that creates jobs while looking after the health and long-term wellbeing of its residents.

Nikola Ljushev is the Chief Executive Officer of Makedonski Telekom AD as of 1 July 2018. He gained his extensive experience in the telecommunication industry holding some of the highest management positions in Deutsche Telekom Group, in Cosmofon, as well as in the Telekom Austria Group.

Currently, Nikola Ljushev is an Executive member of the Board of Directors of Makedonski Telecom AD, board member of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia and a Board Member of AmCham Macedonia.

Before he becomes a CEO of Makedonski Telekom AD, Nikola Ljushev has been the Chief Executive Officer of Crnogorski Telekom.  Also, from 2007 to 2015, Ljusev was in the top management of Telekom Austria in Macedonia as Chief Executive Officer of Vip, and after the merger of Vip and One, he was a CEO of one.Vip, from 205 until 2016. Ljusev was also the Chief Technical Officer at Cosmofon from 2003 to 2007.

He started his career in telecommunications in Makedonski Telekom AD in 1997.

He has a degree in Electrical Engineering from University “Sv.Kiril I Metodij” in Skopje, N. Macedonia and additional education in corporate management at many foreign universities, including Harvard Business School, INSEAD and University of Chicago. and others.

Gorjan originally comes from the small country of Macedonia, but moved to The Netherlands in 2015 after getting his bachelors Computer Science and Engineering degree in Skopje. He graduated “cum-laude” as a Master of Software Engineering at the University of Amsterdam in 2016 and has worked as a developer and manager at Booking.com in Amsterdam.

Being involved in the 3000 strong eco-movement in Macedonia since 2014, he actively looks for ways on how technology and data can contribute towards the battle against air pollution. Following this passion, he built AirCare, the air-quality tracking app, which is being used by over 500.000 people.

The desire to spread Macedonia’s story together with his love for public speaking, Gorjan has held both tech and motivational talks at numerous conferences, even being invited to hold his own TED talk in 2018 under the name “The Data I Breathe”.

Since 2020, Gorjan has focused all his efforts on building AirCare as a brand for activists and citizens in areas of high pollution around the world. He was awarded the 2020 Macedonian Quality award by the President of the republic, the Europe’s Best Young Entrepreneur award for 2020 by the World Summit Awards, as well as a global award by the UN for his efforts with AirCare.

He also co-founded Green Humane City (Zelen Human Grad), a coalition of activist and eco organizations that have been fighting for a better Skopje since 2020, and is running for an independent Skopje city council member in the local 2021 elections.

Aleksandra Anić Vučinić was born on December 19, 1970 in Hilversum, the Netherlands. In 1995, she graduated at the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, majoring in biochemical engineering, and was awarded the Rector’s Award for the best student work in 1995. She obtained the title of Doctor of Science on April 10, 2008 by defending his doctoral dissertation on “Optimization of the technological process of wastewater treatment in constructed wetlands.” Since 2011 she has been employed at the Faculty of Geotechnics, University of Zagreb, where she currently holds the position of Head of the Department of Environmental Engineering and holds a number of courses in undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies in Environmental Engineering.

She devoted her primary scientific research focus on waste management and the circular economy. She is the author and co-author of more than 100 scientific and professional papers. She has led and / or participated in a number of professional and scientific projects in the field of environmental protection and waste management. She articipates in the establishment and implementation of special waste management systems at the state level.

She is the president of the Croatian Association for Waste Management (HUGO), which is a member of the International f Waste Management Association.

Social entrepreneur, business leader, international speaker, and book author. Isabella is on a mission to humanize the world by leveraging the power of technology. From her expert knowledge of digitalization to her visionary work on her debut book, The Digital Mind of Tomorrow, she is paving the way for sustainable business in the new digital world.

Isabella’s forward-thinking approach to digital transformation is also demonstrated in her work as COO at the Creative House and as Board Member and Operations Director at the New York Marketing Association. With years of experience working and building business communities, Isabella is dedicated to supporting ambitious individuals and businesses to unlock growth in a world of change through game-changing marketing strategies, thought leadership, technology, and resource sharing.

When she is not replying to emails, you’ll find her enjoying outdoor activities, meditation, and smoky red wines.

Ville Korpela is Executive Director at Impact Innovation Institute in Finland and a Fellow at the Dubai Future Academy in the United Arab Emirates. He advises governments, multinational corporations and investment funds on megatrends, strategy, foresight and emerging technologies. Ville is a regular contributor to Arabian Business and serves as an expert member in several World Economic Forum projects focused on sustainability and long term value creation. Ville is currently writing a book on impact investing strategy and how emerging technologies are shaping the world of tomorrow.

Kosta Petrov is an international entrepreneur with 15+ years of global experience in startups & business development and strategic communications.

Currently he is Managing Director at North Macedonia’s Fund for Innovation and Technology Development, a government organization managing a EUR 86 million investment portfolio & responsible for positioning North Macedonia as the region’s startup and innovation hub. During his term as a Director, Kosta has introduced various initiatives for the transformation of the Macedonian startup ecosystem including: the country’s first ever “National Startup Council”, the Fund’s first ever “Corporate Innovation Program”, and a brand new investment portfolio with focus on Aggrotech, supply chain for startups and impact businesses. During his term, the Fund also finalized the launch of the government’s first ever EUR 27 million Investment Fund.

Kosta is the Founder of P World (www.thepworld.com) a leading events & comms agency, (with offices in North Macedonia & Canada) operating in 40 markets across Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and North America.
Kosta is also a bestselling author in North Macedonia and editor of the “Little Black Book of PR”.

Dr Monastiriotis is Associate Professor of Political Economy at the European Institute, London School of Economics. He is Director of the LSE Research unit on Southeast Europe and holds affiliations with LSE’s Department of Geography and the Hellenic Observatory. His research focuses on economic policy and performance at the regional, national and supra-national levels, with emphasis on labour markets and economic development. He has published numerous articles in economics and regional science journals, including Regional Studies, Urban Studies, the Journal of Regional Science, the Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society, the British Journal of Industrial Relations, the Journal of Common Market Studies, the European Journal of Political Economy, Oxford Economics Papers and others; has strong media and consultancy experience; and has received various distinctions including the Moss Madden Medal in Regional Science (2008). He has a PhD in Economic Geography and MSc and BSc degrees in Economics. He is Co-editor of Spatial Economic Analysis (Taylor & Francis).

Dr Peter Sanfey is Deputy Director for Country Economics and Policy within the Economics, Policy and Governance Department at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London. Between 2017 and 2020 he was also a Senior Visiting Fellow at the LSEE Research on South Eastern Europe group within the European Institute, London School of Economics. He holds a BA in Economics from Trinity College Dublin and a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University. He was a lecturer in economics at the University of Kent at Canterbury prior to joining the EBRD. Dr Sanfey has published widely in academic journals and edited volumes on various topics, mainly covering transition economics, macroeconomics, labour economics, and subjective measures of well-being. For more than two decades he has been analysing economic developments and reform challenges in south-eastern Europe and he has co-authored two books and numerous journal articles and book chapters on this region. Since September 2018 he has been leading an initiative on developing a Knowledge Management framework within the EBRD.

Prof. Trajko Slaveski was born in Ohrid in 1960. He is Full Professor at the Faculty of Economics – Skopje, Sts. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. He has studied at the same university and has completed graduate work in the USA (California State University -1986/87, and Harvard University -1989/90).

In the past. Prof. Slaveski has served as a Minister of Development (1999-2000), and Minister od Finance in the Macedonian government. While in Government, he has initiated and led numerous reforms in the economic and financial systems of the country. He has also recently been elected as a member of the City Council of Skopje. Prof. Slaveski has been a long-time active participant in the domestic public policy debates regarding economic and financial issues.

He is also a prolific author of 8 books (several co-authored) and numerous articles in domestic and foreign academic journals, and popular press as well. Earlier this year he has co-authored the book Left-Right: The Economy through Two Perspectives (in Macedonian, Matica, 2021) with his colleague and predecessor in the Ministry of Finance, Prof. Nikola Popovski.

Stefan Ivanovic is CEO of the Center for marketing strategy ePlus and President of CEARS (Central European Association for Development and Cooperation). ePlus is a specialized agency for development of B2B and B2C marketing strategies. With 23 years of experience in the CEE region in leadership capacity, Stefan’s role was focused on development of international and local brands in the region: McDonald’s, Audi, Doncafe, Centroproizvod, Nestle Ice Cream, Lesaffre, di-go, Don Don, LePons, Jasen, Mega Užice and tens of others. In the last couple of years, he led the team which had developed the branding and global communication strategy for touristic regions Starogradsko polje, Island of Hvar (2020); and Cetinska Krajina (2019), both of them in Croatia.

Stefan Ivanović is often engaged as a Consultant u in different programs which support the competitive position and export capacities of local Serbian SMEs. He is the author of several specialized business trenings intended for SMEs, in programs that were financed by USAID, EU funds and the Development Agency of Serbia (RADEI). Stefan Ivanović regularly writes analytical articles for specialized B2B magazines on trends in the industry and sales and marketing issues.

Adriatic region is the focus of Stefan’s interest, since he has lived in 4 markets, working for one of the most prominent global marketing agencies DDB Worldwide:

Regional Account Director CEE @ DDB Worldwide, Bucharest (Romania)

Managing Director @ DDB Worldwide, Sofia (Bulgaria)

Executive Director @ DDB Worldwide, Skopje (Northern Macedonia)

Account Director @ DDB Worldwide, Belgrade (Serbia)

After the agency experience, Stefan Ivanović had gained important experience on the client side, developing notable brands in local and international markets:

Marketing and Export Director @ Doncafe (Strauss Group), Belgrade

Marketing Director @ Nestle Ice Cream, Belgrade

Marketing Director @ Centroproizvod, Belgrade

COO @ Jasen, Belgrade / Kraljevo

Director of Marketing and B2C Business Operations @ FK Crvena zvezda, Belgrade

Brummell aims to disrupt the motorcycle gear industry, transforming it to meet the needs of the modern world. They created the world’s first blazer for motorcyclists. The Brummell Blazer looks like a classy blazer from the outside with the protection and performance of a racing suit from the inside. For the first time ever, the motorcyclists will be able to arrive at their work, meeting, or at any other event both suited up and protected at the same time.

Nino is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of CodeWell a company specialized in Conversational AI and digital assistants.

He is named Entrepreneur of the Year for 2019 by the European Business Awards.

He has also been honored as a successful alumnus of Boston University (Boston, Massachusetts).

I was born on 22 November 1987 in Kicevo, R.Macedonia. I completed elementary school in my home town in 2002 and technical high school in Bitola in 2006. Wanting to further explore I  signed for BSc studies in computer science at the Technical University of Sofia – Branch Plovdiv. Feeling that I am not learning enough, I decided that I will need a MSc degree from one of the top European universities. After some research I settled on the Technical University of Munich (TUM) because it was one of the highest ranked in Informatics and had the lowest tuition fees. Meanwhile I did a 4 months Work & Travel working student program in the USA and in 2011 I started my MSc Informatics at this university. Munich is a wonderful city with an amazing student culture, accommodating thousands of international students and literally offering everything one needs to successfully complete their studies. Being among all those smart people further inspired me to be hardworking and ambitious towards achieving my goals. In my third semester I got to know about the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) which was offering a supplementary honors program in technology management supported by the two biggest Munich universities TUM and LMU. This interdisciplinary and international program enables students to become innovators and is characterized by interactivity, team orientation and an entrepreneurial spirit. Through that program I obtained very valuable knowledge in entrepreneurship as well as access to an amazing network of alumni, many of which are very successful entrepreneurs and founders of great companies. After my graduation I moved to Berlin and I joined a startup called Foodora as a first employee and a head of mobile engineering. The company was building a digital platform for last mile food delivery, enabling restaurants without delivery service to deliver food to people’s homes within 30 mins. Within my 1.5 years there the company grew to 400 employees and 2500 bicycle food delivery riders in 12 countries around the world. My task to build the mobile department was accomplished and I felt it was time to move back to Munich with all the learnings that I had and start my own company. As a result, in 2017 I started my current company Climedo Health with my two co-founders Sascha Ritz & Veronika Schweighart both of whom I had met earlier at CDTM. With our company we are aiming to enable better healthcare and bring the best treatment to every patient by empowering healthcare professionals with intelligent software solutions. Our SaaS clinical validation platform enables pharma companies to run decentralized clinical trials and shorten the time that is needed to bring validated and effective medications on the market.

General Manager of IT Labs, a software development company delivering excellence for more than sixteen years. Kostandina began her career as an engineer and has spent the last twenty years journeying in the tech industry, focusing on executive roles in the last ten years. She leads large teams in varied industries, including insurance, finance and gaming. She also provides leadership to teams with her unique combination of experience and knowledge in both technology and business, and thrives in highly innovative environments.