Speakers
Yordanka Fandakova
Yordanka Fandakova was born in the town of Samokov. She finished the 35th Russian Language School in Sofia and graduated Russian Philology at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski".
Yordanka Fandakova has been teaching foreign languages at "Vladislav Grammatik" - Sofia between 1985 and 1995 at 73rd secondary school and in 1998 she became its director.
From 2005 to 2009 she was Deputy Mayor in the Municipality, specialising in education, culture, sport and prevention of addictions. In 2009, she entered as a lawmaker in the 41st National Assembly, then Mrs Fandakova was appointed Minister of Education and Science.
Since November 2009 she has been Mayor of Sofia.
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Lubomir Hristov
Lubomir Hristov, born in 1975, graduated from the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) in Sofia.
He has worked in the Ministry of Defense - National Coordinating Centre for logistical support in passing through the territory of Bulgaria troops of KFOR and NATO, operation "Joint Guardian" in the province of Kosovo. He was an expert in the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Communications in the previous National Assembly.
From 2006 to July 29, 2009 Mr. Hristov served as Deputy Executive Director of the "Automobile" agency and from July 29, 2009 to December 2009 he was director there.
Since December 2009 Mr. Hristov has been Deputy Mayor in charge of transport and transport communications in the team of Yordanka Fandakova.
Petar Dikov
Architect Dikov graduated from the Higher Institute of Architecture and Construction in Sofia in 1978. He is the Chief Architect of Sofia.
His previous positions include: Deputy Executive Director of the National Center for Regional Development, head of design studio "Proarch" (2000-2003), Research and Design Institute for Regional and Urban Planning and Architecture (1978-1990).
Petar Dikov is a member of the Union of Architects in Bulgaria and has an estimates license by the Bulgarian Privatisation Agency.
Arch. Dikov's international experience is associated with his work on various international projects, participation in several international competitions and an urban planning project in Angola, Libya, Syria and Vietnam, participation in various international conferences and seminars within the UN and other regional conferences both as a moderator and a participant.
Victor Manov
Victor Manov is country manager for Bulgaria at the Lighting division of General Electric.
Mr. Manov has experience as a designer and sales presenter in the lighting industry. He graduated from the Technical University of Sofia, Electrical industry equipment, with an additional qualification in Managemen at the Free Faculty of TU-Sofia.
For five years he participated in projects for facade architectural and decorative lighting, street, industrial, office, tunnel lighting, and specialized sports under the guidance of Prof. Vassilev, then worked as a designer and retailer at a specialized distribution company in the same industry.
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Dr. Gábor Demszky
Dr. Gábor Demszky was born in Budapest in 1952. He studied at the Law and Sociology Faculties of Budapest University. In 1988/89 he spent ten months in the United States where he was a student of the Columbia University.
Gábor Demszky was among those who signed the Act of Solidarity for Charta ’77 in 1979. He became founder of SZETA a Foundation to Help the Poor. Because of his political activity he lost his job, passport and his right to publish. In the spring of 1981 he travelled to Poland to study techniques of publishing in order to found a samizdat publishing house. At the end of 1981, together with present Member of Parliament László Rajk, they organized a publishing house named AB Independent Publishers. In 1984 the International Association of Publishers awarded him the Freedom to Publish Prize.
He is one of the founders of the Network of Free Initiatives and of Alliance of Free Democrats. He was elected into the Executive Board of this party in 1989. He is also the founder and one of the directors of the Association to Save Children.
At the first free election in the spring of 1990 he was elected Member of Parliament representing one of the constituencies of Budapest Capital.
On October 31st, 1990 he was elected Mayor of Budapest. With the assistance of group of specialists he worked out a comprehensive long-term program for the development of Budapest. He is Co-president of the"Budapest Bank for Budapest" Foundation, and president of the Budapest Sports Association (BE). He was elected vice-president of the Standing Committee of Local and Regional Authorities of Council of Europe in March 1992, where in May 1994 he was re-elected.
In December 1994, in October 1998, in October 2002 and in October 2006 he was re-elected as Mayor of Budapest. In June 2004 he was elected Member of the European Parliament but due to problems of incompatibility, he had to renounce on his mandate.
Sevdalina Voynova
Director of Programs, Sofia Development Association
Sevdalina Voynova is a democratization and good governance professional with over ten years of experience in CEE and Eurasia working with political parties and institutions, governments and business associations.
Sevdalina began her development career in the 90s, and her career summary includes the positions of Country Director for Bulgaria for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Government Affairs Director for the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, freelance expert and consultant with a broad variety of clients. She has designed and led workshops for NGOs, local administration, political parties, MPs and business associations across the nation, and has administered a combined total of over $1,500,000 in grants, working with a broad spectrum of donors and programmes including USAID, NED, OSI, OSCE, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, and foreign embassies, EU structural funds and horizontal programmes. Sevdalina has trained civil society organizations and politicians also in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Kosovo, Albania, Slovakia, Serbia, Macedonia, Armenia.
Sevdalina studied at Oxford University and she holds MPhil in Oriental Studies and Post-Graduate Diploma from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in Societies in Conflict. Prior to that, she graduated Sofia University with MA in English and BA in Mass Communications.
Sevdalina has authored several books, manuals and many articles. She was key-note speaker and has presented papers at numerous international summits and conferences.
Vladimir Zinoviev
Vladimir Zinoviev holds a PhD in international law and international relations and a master's degree in international economic relations and international relations. He started working at Siemens in 2010 as Business Development Manager, eventually holding the position of Regional Manager Siemens One. Since mid-2011 he has been acting as Head of Infrastructure and cities - Mobility and Logistics/Railsystems.
Before joining Siemens, Dr. Zinoviev was managing director at Smart Consulting Group - the regional advisor of the Austrian Economic Chamber in 2007, the German development banks KfW and NBANK, and some German government structures.