Director "Markets, Industries & Business Development", Ernst & Young Bulgaria EOOD (EY)

Julian Mihov is Director "Markets, Industries & Business Development" at Ernst & Young Bulgaria EOOD (EY) since 2013. Prior to taking his current position, Julian was senior tax manager. He has considerable experience in consulting multinational and regional foreign investors with regard to setting their activity in Bulgaria and other countries in Eastern Europe. In particular, he has substantial experience in consulting and planning investments in real estate, retail and wholesale, transport, technologies, entertainment industry (media and professional sport).

Senior Brand Manager Premium brands, Zagorka AD

Hristina Georgieva has over 12 years of marketing and sales experience in the FMCG sector within various international companies.
She has worked in Unilever, initially responsible for the portfolio of home and personal care brands of the company in Bulgaria, then she became part of Dove brand regional marketing team. She works and specializes in various countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Great Britain, Russia and others. Subsequently she migrated to Unilever food division where she took care of the culinary brands of Unilever Central Eastern European markets: Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania.
Hristina began her career in ZAGORKA in 2010 where she took care of the development of the brand "Zagorka" and significantly contributed to the realization of various innovative products on the market.
In 2016 she assumes the company's premium portfolio, which includes the brands Heineken, Amstel, Stolichno, Desperados, etc., as well as the development of the cider category.

Co-founder and CEO A4E

Hristo Hadjitchonev, co-founder and CEO in A4E, has over 25 years in the software development industry. Spending his earlier days as a freelancer, in 1994 he co-founded Taurus - a company established to develop business software for Apple. In 1999 he moved in the start-up Rila Solutions, at that period being the first foreign investment in the IT sector in Bulgaria and for long years the most successful software development countrywide. Meanwhile, he finished his MSc in Analytical modeling of Economic systems building on top of his interest of Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Mining solutions. As a Senior Developer and Architect, he delivered several products in the BI space. At this time, he had his successful stories in project management as well. In 2006, he joined HP as a Program Manager in HP Global Delivery managing some silver and gold deals for client such as Anglo American and KONE. In a short time in 2007, his passion for the BI and the Data Mining led him to Experian Decision Analytics targeting at that moment to settle development division in Bulgaria. As a Head of the Development he built a team that reached 100 software specialists delivering products with annual revenue of 80 million USD for mathematical modeling for a decision-making and risk management, financial scorecard development, fraud prevention, debt collection and customer management. In 2013, he took the challenge, on top of his duties, to establish and manage a global team of 20+ Business Analysts responsible for the definition of the roadmap of the entire portfolio of software products in Experian Decision Analytics with annual revenue of 300 million USD.  In 2015, he was invited to join the Experian DA senior management team as Director of Projects and Operations.

Director in-charge of Tax practice, Deloitte Bulgaria

Georgi is the Director in-charge of Deloitte Bulgaria’s Tax practice. Georgi has extensive experience in the provision of specialized tax advice and assistance on an ongoing basis in all fields of taxation as well as assistance in tax audits and tax litigation.
He has taken part in various tax advisory and compliance projects including tax due diligences, tax reviews, tax planning and compliance for a number of local and multinational companies operating in various industries.
Prior to joining Deloitte Bulgaria in 2005, Georgi acted as a legal adviser to the Ministry of Finance.
Georgi obtained a Master of Laws degree from the Sofia University with Magna Cum Laude distinction. He is also a registered member of the Sofia Bar Association. Georgi is Chairman of the Tax and Legal Committee of the Confederation of the Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria.

Strategic director at Saatchi Brandworks

Rosen Terziev is a strategic director at Saatchi Brandworks – a team within Saatchi & Saatchi focused on the creation, building and consulting of brands. He’s been at the agency for 5 years, the last three of which working primarily towards the strategy behind the ads. His education is in the area of Business and Management in the UK, where he also worked as a market researcher in the retail team at TNS/Kantar (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, etc.). He’s also one of the lecturers in the joint master’s degree of Saatchi & VUZF University in "Advertising, Innovative Marketing and Brand Management".

Lyubo Cholakov manages the eCommera, Linked by Isobar, e-commerce delivery organization in Bulgaria. The 170-strong eCommera team of software engineers, strategists, project managers and support engineers in Sofia is implementing, managing and innovating multi-channel commerce platforms for major international brands and retailers including Clarins, Speedo, Asda Direct, House of Fraser and many more. eCommera, Linked by Isobar is part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, a  leading provider of media, digital and creative services globally.
Prior to joining eCommera, Linked by Isobar, Lyubo Cholakov has lead software development and system integration operations in Eastern Europe for companies like SAP, S&T, Printec and Infragistics. He has an EMBA from Cotrugli Business School, M.Sc. in International Business and M.A. in Linguistics. 

Marketing Director at Prestige

Ivan Stoev is a Marketing Director at Prestige since December 2015. He is responsible for the marketing strategy of the Company, including existing portfolio development, as well as entering in new categories and markets. 
Ivan has gained his sales and marketing experience at companies such as Coca Cola HBC, Globul, Germanos, Bella Bulgaria and Sandoz. Prior to joining Prestige he was part of the OTC team at Sandoz. At Bella Bulgaria he was responsible for the culinary brands of the company for a number of markets incl. Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. 
Ivan has a Diploma in Strategic Leadership and Management at The Chartered Management Institute UK, Diploma in Marketing Management at The Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK and MA in macroeconomics at Plovdiv University "P. Hilendarski".

CEO at Bulgarian Food Bank

Tsanka Milanova has over 15 years experience in organizational development, strategic planning and management
She graduated "International Economic Relations" and "Finance".  She holds a Master's degree in International Business and Marketing, as well as an MBA degree in Finance and Banking.
Tsanka Milanova knows the worldwide experience in the field of food banking and has worked for the piloting and development of the model since 2004. From June 2012 to July 2013 Tsanka Milanova played the role of Chairman of the Advisory Board to the Bulgarian Food Bank. From July 2013 Tsanka Milanova joined the management team of the first and only organization in the country for food banking - Bulgarian Food Bank as Executive Director.
In 2015 Tsanka Milanova was selected as one of 40 innovative young Bulgarians in the prestigious ranking of Darik Radio "40 to 40".
 

Marketplace Manager, eMAG.bg  

Ognian Lahchev has been eMAG.bg Marketplace Manager since 2014. Ognian has been working in the ecommerce industry since 2009, having held different positions at Aukro.bg, the biggest online transactional platform in Bulgaria at that time, before joining eMAG in 2013. 
He is managing a team responsible for merchants selling on eMAG.bg’s Marketplace. Since the launch of Marketplace in January 2014, over 570 companies have started selling on eMAG’s Bulgarian platform.
Ognian holds a degree in International Economic Relations. He is currently continuing his education at the Maastricht School of Management.
Ognian’s wide online expertise and experience are the main reasons for him to be a frequent presenter at various ecommerce events.

Founder and CEO, Prospecto Group JSC

After more than 10 years of living and working for various leading marketing agencies and companies in Belgium and The Netherlands, in 2013 Ognyan Popov decides to move back to Bulgaria and focus his efforts on his own company. The idea behind this new venture goes back to 2009, when he first launched an online platform for digital leaflets for the Retail sector in Belgium.
3 years later, Prospecto Group JSC is present in over 15 EU countries and in some more exotic markets like Mexico and South Africa. In Bulgaria, the company operates the platform under the popular brand Broshura.bg, receiving close to 2 million monthly visits and currently working closely with over 20 retailers such as IKEA, Mr.Bricolage, Fantastico, ZORA, BAUHAUS and many more.
As from July 2016, Prospecto Group JSC has sold a minority stake to Nova Broadcasting Group / Netinfo, which emphasizes the ambitions for rapid growth in the following years, not only in Bulgaria, but also internationally.
Ognyan Popov is a well-known guest during various marketing events and seminars, where he shares his vision about the future of Retail marketing on a global and European scale. He is a firm believer and supporter of the development of the startup scene and entrepreneurial spirit and strongly insists that businesses must work closely together, give chances to starting entrepreneurs and companies and must always be open to the opportunities, which the Digital era presents on a daily basis.
 

Chief Economist of the Institute for Market Economics 

She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of National and World Economy, a Master’s Degree in Economics from the Central European University, a MA in Economics (Major: International Economic Relations) from the University of National and World Economy and a post-graduate research diploma from the University of Oxford.
Her professional interests and expertise lie in the fields of macroeconomic analysis, monetary policy, currency crises, exchange rates, behavioural and experimental finance and econometric modelling.

Before joining the IME, Desislava Nikolova has worked as Macroeconomics Analyst at the Investment Banking Department of Raiffeisenbank Economic/EU Advisor at the British Embassy in Sofia and Senior Analyst and Editor at Internet Securities, a subsidiary of Euromoney.

She is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. 
Desislava is a member of the Bulgarian Macroeconomic Association.

CEO "Lidl Bulgaria" 

Milena Dragijska-Dencheva joined Lidl in 2002 as regional sales manager in South Germany. She continued her career working in different positions in Administration and Expansion for Lidl International.
She is in charge of the management of Lidl Bulgaria since its establishment in 2005.
Milena Dragijska-Dencheva graduated Law at Sofia University, LL.M. in Law from Tuebingen University and MBA International Marketing from The Business School in Reutlingen, both in Germany. 
Since June 2013 she is a board member of the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. In 2015 she became member of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria and also a board member in the Association of Modern Trade. 
In 2 popular annual rankings for the most influential (business) ladies in Bulgaria she got top places - Capital newspaper in 2012 (32nd place) and Forbes in 2015 (Top 20). 
Married, with 2 daughters.

Managing Director at SAP Labs Bulgaria

Radoslav Nikolov has been workingin SAP Labs Bulgaria for 13 years. Radoslav is Managing director of the strategic development center in Sofia and at the same time holds the position of Senior Vice President "Research and Development" in SAP. The company has over 650 software professionals who are working in the field of software development and the latest SAP in-memory and cloud technologies. Radoslav has graduated in "Mathematics" at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski ". He has Geometry and Information and Communication Technologies specialization, andalso has graduated the leadership program in one of the leading university in Business Administration - INSEAD.
 

Born in Athens on May 9th 1958 , educated in Greece, England and Scotland he has spent his entire working career living in Greece but not working for the Greek market! For 10 years he was the Export Marketing Manager of the largest Greek cigarette manufacturer (Papastratos, now part of Philip Morris group). Under this capacity he managed to travel widely and work on projects in more than 50 countries around the globe! He started promoting cigarettes in markets where real advertising or media agencies had not even emerged yet (including Bulgaria) and hence he jumped to the other side and started building agencies from scratch. He formed five DDBs (Romania, Croatia, Ukraine, Cyprus and Serbia), worked closely with a regional network (New Moment) and managed another regional network (Ashley).
He was the President of a network of independent agencies around the world (in') and has now established an alliance with advertising agencies in the region, the AdAlliance Group - a group of independent local agencies sharing the same values and passion for creativity, growth and results. This truly cosmopolitan man is married, has one son and (un) surprisingly still lives in Athens, but frequently travelling to sunny Sofia!

Managing Partner at Interpartners Communications Jsc.

Katya has a Masters’ Degree in International Economics from the University of National and World Economy /Sofia/; followed post graduate trainings in the field of MarCom in Belgium and Germany. Works passionately in public communication for more than 20 years.
Mrs Dimitrova is currently the Chair of the Bulgarian Association of PR agencies BAPRA; Member of the Board and image advisor to the Belgium – Bulgaria – Luxembourg business club; Member of the Executive Board of the Bulgarian Association of Industrial Capital and a regular member in many other professional organizations. Married with 2 children – a daughter and a son at 15.
Interpartners (www.interpartners.bg) is established back in turbulent 1992 as a full service advertising agency, and is – as per today – a holding company with 3 focused units : Interpartners Advertising; InterImage PR and TVLowcost Bulgaria – an expert company in publicity for SMEs. Staffed 20 enthusiastic professionals, the company proudly works for clients such as Nedelya pastry; Eurofootball; Deichmann; Intersport; the National Revenue Agency; the European Commission etc.