Speakers

Csongor Biás

Csongor Biás has worked for the past few years on boosting Budapest’s startup scene and helping early stage tech companies to find product-market fit and growth. Earlier he was on the management team at iCatapult, and he is currently working on Design Terminal’s upcoming incubation program for tech startups. As a part of Design Terminal, Biás organizes workshops, meet-ups and conferences that feature well known industry experts, in addition to running special programs to help start-ups discover international events such as SXSW or the Northside Festival.

 

 

Eveline Buchatskiy

Eveline Buchatskiy is the Director for the premium startup accelerator Techstars in Boston, USA.  Prior to her position at Techstars, Buchatskiy was a founding Managing Partner for Eastlabs accelerator in Kiev, Ukraine. She is a founding member of the Board for UAngel business angel investment network in Ukraine. Buchatskiy was former CEO of leading media company Ekonomika, and CEO of high-tech startup APCT, winner of the second annual "Silicon Valley Open Doors" contest in 2006. She received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from University of California at Berkeley, a Master of Engineering degree from State University of New York, and an executive MBA from INSEAD.

 

Luka Burilović

Luka Burilović was elected as President of the Croatian Chamber of Economy in April 2014. In his career he has occupied many important positions. From 2008 to 2014 he was Chairman of the Board “SLADORANA d.d.” Županja. In 2004 he served as Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Croatia. Mr. Burilović was a Homeland War volunteer (Croatian army member) from 1990 to 1996 and he was Honored with the Homeland War Memorial as Croatian Army reservist. At that time he worked as Manager/Owner of “AGROTEHNA“ Lipovac and he served as Deputy Chief, Municipality of Nijemci. He also currently serves as a member of Board of Directors - EU Members for Eurochambres and Board Member of the Foundation of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

 

Mersed Čamdžić

Mersed Čamdžić is a founder and General Manager at Mistral Technologies, a software development company from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In order to share knowledge amongst IT students and experts, Mistral, together with two other companies, established HUB387 as a networking hub, and Academy387 as an educational arm to improve IT skills within Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

Caron De Mars

Caron De Mars is the Director of the Global Entrepreneurship Program at the U.S. Department of State; she leads a team to grow entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world through connecting private partners with U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide.  GEP supports Entrepreneurs in Residence; organizes pitch competitions and angel investor training worldwide through partners; leads delegations of American entrepreneurs and investors to share best practices with foreign counterparts; and identifies speakers to travel to promote entrepreneurship.  Caron has been a Foreign Service Officer since 2001 serving in Brazil, the Philippines, Jordan, and Washington.

 

 

Gordana Deranja

Gordana Deranja is the President of the Croatian Employers' Association and President of the Board of Tehnomont Inc.  Deranja graduated from the Faculty of Economics. Her career began in 1987 in TEHNOMONT, where she is currently President of the Board. She has received many awards, including Manager of the Year in 2008 and 2013 from the Croatian Association of Women in Business. In 2011, Deranja received the award as Manager of the Year from the Croatian Managers and Entrepreneurs’ Association. At the Third European Congress of Small and Medium Entrepreneurs in Katowice in 2013 and was named an honorary Ambassador of Women’s Entrepreneurship of Poland.

 

Andrea Di Anselmo

Andrea Di Anselmo is Vice President of META Group, where he is responsible for the Consultancy area. He also sits in the Board of Directors of Zernike Meta Ventures (ZMV), the management company operating the Ingenium seed funds in Italy, Slovenia and Poland and EURADA, the European Association of Regional Development Agencies and of several companies. He is the President of INSME, the International Network of SMEs.   Di Anselmo has a background in civil engineering and research experience in materials science at the Storrs University in Connecticut, USA. He set in the Board of Directors of ISRIM (research institute on advanced materials), Sviluppumbria (regional development agency), TII (European association for TT) and of many SMEs. He is an author of several papers published in international journals.

 

 

Andrea Doko Jelušić

Andrea Doko Jelušić is the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia and has been responsible for operations of the American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia since 2010. Prior to joining AmCham Croatia, she worked on managerial positions in pharmaceutical industry as an Area Manager for CIS countries and in telecommunication industry being responsible for Customer Operations. In that role she led several company-wide CRM implementations including customer analytics, operational and collaborative CRM. She holds a Master of Science from University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics, and graduated in Economic Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integrations.

 

Mindaugas Glodas

Mindaugas Glodas is a Partner responsible for investment and operational management at Nextury Ventures, an early stage VC focused on mobile and internet technology investments. Glodas has 15 years of prior experience in International ICT industry and has held multiple executive positions at IBM and Microsoft in the Baltics and Central and Eastern Europe. Glodas is an active member of society and currently serves as a board member at Kaunas Technical University, as a member of the Business Council at the International School of Management in Vilnius, and as a member of UNESCO "Information for All Programs" committee for Lithuania.

 

Adrian Ježina

Adrian Ježina assumed his position on Vipnet`s Management Board after Vipnet acquired B.net in August 2011, where he had previously served as President of the Board and CEO since 2006. In 2014, he also accepted the position of Chief Multimedia & Fixed Services Officer at Mtel, Bulgaria. In July 2014 he assumed the position of Vipnet`s Chief Technology Officer. Ježina graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Naval Architecture at the University of Split, received his MBA at the Cotrugli Business School, and received a master’s degree at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Zagreb. The Croatian Managers’ Association granted Ježina the “Manager of the Year” award in 2010, and in 2013 he was appointed as a President of the CEA - ICT Association.

 

Vedrana Jelušić Kašić

Vedrana Jelušić Kašić is the EBRD Director for Croatia responsible for business operations and policy dialogue. Prior to her current position, Jelušić was managing EBRD investments in food, drinks, retail and packaging in CSEE, completing over 40 transactions exceeding EUR 1 billion. Prior business experience includes Raiffeisen Bank (Zagreb), Merrill Lynch Private Client Group (Boston), the Croatian National Bank and Monte Titoli (Milan). As a Ron Brown Fellow, Jelušić completed her MA in International Finance at the Brandeis University, USA in 1997. Jelušić is the holder of Non-executive Director Diploma by the Financial Times, London, UK.

 

Matija Kopić

Matija Kopić is the CEO of Farmeron, a cloud-based farm business management software company with offices in United States and Croatia. Coming from an agricultural background and after growing up on a farm in Croatia, he founded Farmeron with a vision to integrate different disconnected farming data sources, allowing producers across the world to consolidate their databases and become more efficient managers. Mr. Kopić is an IT engineer but today runs the company's expansion to different markets around the world. He graduated in 2010 from University of Zagreb. He graduated from music school and has written a musical book.

 

Gordan Lauc

Gordan Lauc is Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Zagreb. He authored of over 100 research papers published in international journals and six international patents. He was invited to lecture at numerous international conferences, elected for visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Edinburgh. In 2011 he was inducted in the prestigious Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. In 2007 Lauc established Genos Ltd, a private research organisation that currently has 28 employees, including 17 researchers. Genos was ranked as #1 in the 2013 survey of The Scientist magazine for “The best place to work for researches” in the category “Industry”.

 

Burton Lee

Dr. Burton Lee lectures on European Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Stanford School of Engineering, and is a recognized global expert on technology startups, university-based innovation, and the silicon valley and European innovation ecosystems. Lee concurrently serves as Managing Director of Innovarium Ventures, a financial, technical and strategic advisory services firm with clients in Europe, Latin America and the USA. In 2007 he cofounded Space Angels Network, the leading source of seed-stage capital for space and aviation-related startups, and in 2009‐2010 he served as the sole non-Irish member of Ireland’s national Innovation Taskforce, which drew up Ireland’s new national innovation strategy. Lee holds a PhD in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from Stanford, and an MBA in Finance from Cornell University.

 

Maja Ljubić

Maja Ljubić is the Assistant Director and Programme Development Coordinator at the South East European Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (SEECEL).  She has over twenty five years of professional experience with lifelong learning, educational reforms, development of learning outcomes, national qualification framework and national curricula, training of teachers, and policy development for education with a special focus on entrepreneurial learning and inclusive education.  She has been a teacher, teacher advisor and trainer, policy analyst and advisor, senior international education expert. She holds a BA, MA and an MSc in Inclusive Education from the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation at Zagreb University.

 

 

Gordan Maras

Gordan Maras became Minister of Entrepreneurship and Crafts in 2011.  He was the business manager of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) from 2004 to 2010.  During that time he also held several leadership positions in the party, including City of Zagreb SDP vice president in 2009 and Vice president of the Committee on Finance and State Budget of the Croatian Parliament in 2008.  In 2007, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1st electorate district.  From 2000 to 2008 he was a member of SDP Main Board.  Maras was executive manager of Maksim komunikacije, d.o.o. from 2003 to 2004 and sales and business manager of the Croatian Olympic Center Bjelolasica, d.o.o. from 2001 to 2003.  Vice-president of the SDP Youth Forum from 1998 to 2000, Maras has been a member of SDP since 1997.  He holds an Executive MBA from Cotrugli Business School and graduated in 1999 from the Zagreb Faculty of Economics.

 

Kenneth Merten

Kenneth Merten, the United States Ambassador to Croatia, joined the Foreign Service in 1987, and has been posted to Paris, the U.S. Mission to the EU, and Bonn.  He served three tours in Haiti, most recently as Ambassador.  He also served as a Deputy Executive Secretary to U.S. Secretary of State Clinton and earlier to U.S. Secretary of State Rice. He was awarded the 2011 Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Leadership in Expeditionary Diplomacy for his extraordinary leadership in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.  In July 2012, Merten was decorated by Haiti’s President, Michel Martelly, with the Grande Croix.

 

 

Jure Mikuž

Jure Mikuž has established the first Slovenia-based VC Fund, raising private commitments mostly from domestic industrial investors. He serves on several boards of the investee companies, including Celtra, Degordian and MountVacation.  Mikuž is actively promoting entrepreneurship and regularly holds lectures on finance and fundraising procedures for the start-up communities in Slovenia and across the Balkans. Prior to establishing RSG Capital he had served as a deputy head of asset management in KD Group and stock broker on the Ljubljana stock exchange. Mikuž holds MBA from the University of Ljubljana.

 

Antonija Mršić

Antonija Mršić has more than 10 years of experience in entrepreneurship and innovation support, focusing on various policy aspects. She currently serves as Head of Sector for International Cooperation and Innovation at Croatian Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Crafts, working on making policy framework more conducive to entrepreneurship. Her expertise is in international network building, drafting strategy documents and incentive schemes for supporting high-impact entrepreneurship, as well as assessing projects and startups applying for funding at national and international competitions. She serves as a member or delegate to international institutions and committees, such as Startup Nations, SEECEL and Horizon 2020 “SMEs and Access to Risk Finance”. Mršić holds a MA in Information and Communication Science and is working on her PhD thesis in Public Policy and Development.

 

Tina Lee Odinsky-Zec

Tina Lee Odinsky-Zec is the Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management.  ZSEM is one of the top-rated business schools in the region and is the only one with AACSB accreditation.  Tina has been a leader in the start-up ecosystem with multiple pioneering social, youth and female entrepreneurship projects. Her activities include teaching, researching and mentoring startups through courses like Entrepreneurship and Applied Creativity and Innovation as well as through community and regional programs such as Startup Weekend and Invest for the Future.  She has been a part of the Brown Forum since its inception.

 

Vensa Pusić

Vesna Pusić is First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia.  She is the president of the Croatian People’s Party (HNS).  Elected to Parliament in 2000, Mrs. Pusić was Deputy Speaker from 2003-2007 and Chairperson of the National Committee for Monitoring EU Accession Negotiations (2008-2011). She graduated from the University of Zagreb and after earning her doctorate in sociology, worked at the Institute for Sociology in Ljubljana and the Department for Sociology of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, where she became full professor in 1988. Mrs. Pusić has lectured at many universities, including Georgetown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, and Cornell University, and is the author of university textbooks and more than fifty scientific articles.

 

 

Mladen Radišić

Mladen Radišić is an Assistant Professor at the Department for Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Novi Sad, Serbia where he teaches in the area of Financial Management. During his professional career, he was involved in numerous academic and commercial international projects. Currently, he is Project Officer at Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) Serbia, where he acts as EEN National Cluster Contact Point for Serbia. In addition, he is Head of Project Office at Vojvodina ICT Cluster. His fields of interest are financial and strategic management, international projects management.

 

Carmen Sandu

Carmen Sandu joined the City of Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology in 2014.  As Managing Deputy CIO, she is charged with making sure all IT strategic initiatives align with the City’s mission, culture, and long-term goals. She is responsible for IT-related issues ranging from policy and resource allocation for enterprise applications and systems to protocol and organization, and she represents the information technology interests regionally and nationally. Sandu comes from University of Chicago where she garnered a reputation as a strategist and technology innovator, and she is a strong supporter of technology entrepreneurs, women in technology, and youth STEM programs where she volunteers time.

 

Julia Spicer

Julia Spicer, as director for the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA), represents the unique interests of hundreds of company leaders building high growth enterprises and more than 300 investment professionals from across the private investor spectrum. She was previously with private equity firm Columbia Capital, and has served as corporate vice president of strategic planning and communications for GTE Corporation as well as president of the GTE Foundation. With early entrepreneurial roots, she founded two boutique services companies, and today serves on the Board of Advisors for Summit Executive Resources and the Washington DC Advisory Board of the Network of Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), which assists disadvantaged children through chapters in 33 countries.  Spicer graduated from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill with a degree in Journalism and Film.

 

Ivo Špigel

Ivo Špigel is a co-founder and Board Member of Perpetuum Mobile (www.perpetuum.hr), an IT software and services company based in Zagreb, Croatia, founded in 1989.  He was a long time CEO of the company until his partner Mr. Blerim Sela became CEO in 2008.  Spigel is a writer for Mreza (Croatian IT monthly) and the Croatian edition of Forbes, as well as writing a forthcoming book of interviews with European high tech founders “The European Startup Revolution”.  He is active within the Croatian startup community as a cofounder of the ZIP incubator / coworking space in Zagreb, long time Seedcamp mentor and has been recognized as one of the top 5 European startup mentors by The Europas awards in 2011.

 

Jacqueline Vanacek

Jacqueline Vanacek is a Silicon Valley Executive who advises on cloud, mobile, social and big data to advance entrepreneurship and streamline government. With 28 years in corporate multi-nationals HP, Fujitsu and SAP, she is the first business woman sponsored for a Fellowship in one of China's Ministry of Transport Research Institutes; an industry advisor for Eisenhower Fellows chaired by General Colin Powell; and an international speaker, writer, student/startup coach and Board member in the United States and China.  A leader in the U.S. Cloud Commissions for Government, Vanacek was also active in the European CloudUP Consortium, produced a high-level cloud roadmap for Republic of Kazakhstan and achieved special White House recognition for SAP, Stanford and NCT in the U.S. Federal Big Data Initiatives for technologies to advance precision medicine.

 

Ivan Vrdoljak

Ivan Vrdoljak has been Minister of Economy of the Republic of Croatia since 2012. Prior to this appointment, he served as Minister of Construction and Physical Planning from December 2011. From 2008-2011, Mr. Vrdoljak was Deputy Mayor of the City of Osijek, responsible for social activities and the economy of the city. His prior working experience was in the field of various engineering businesses and projects, including NEO Inženjering, NOVA LIVANA, ATO Inženjering (one of the founders) and RPM Engeharia in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Mr. Vrdoljak graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Osijek.  Since March 2012 he has served as Vice-President of the Croatian People’s Party.