Future of Work Summit: Creating change

Gary A. Bolles

Author of The next Rules of Work, Chair for the Future of Work, Singularity Group

Gary A. Bolles writes and lectures around the world on the future of work, learning, and the organization. He is the author of "The Next Rules of Work: The mindset, skillset, and toolset to lead your organization through uncertainty," your guide to the brave new world of work for the post-pandemic era. He has over 1 million learners on LinkedIn Learning, with courses such as "Learning Mindset," "Learning Agility," and "Leading Change."
As adjunct Chair for the Future of Work for Singularity Group, Bolles helps people understand the impact and opportunities of exponential change for individuals, organizations, communities, and countries. As a partner in the consulting agency Charrette LLC ("Initiatives With Impact"), he helps organizations, communities, educators and governments develop strategies for "what’s next." As co-founder of eParachute.com, he helps job-hunters & career changers with programs inspired by "What Color Is Your Parachute?", the world’s enduring career manual.
Bolles is the former editorial director for six technology publications, a serial entrepreneur, and a former Silicon Valley executive. He is a co-founder of SoCap, the world’s largest gathering of impact entrepreneurs and investors. Bolles is dedicated to helping individuals, organizations, communities and countries to collaborate on effective strategies to ensure that all people can have access to meaningful, well-paid work and lifelong learning opportunities. 

Lisette Sutherland

Director, Collaboration Superpowers, speaker, author, workshop facilitator

She is a remote-working German-born American living in the Netherlands and she is totally jazzed by the fact that it's possible to work from anywhere. In fact, it's not just possible; it's completely, productively workable—if you do it right
From extensive research and first-hand experience, as well as from interviews with hundreds of workers and manager/owners, she has collected a treasure trove of advice & action lists, pitfalls & solutions, and personal reports of individuals and teams engaged in doing great things—successfully—from wherever they happen to be.

Stella Kasdagli

Co-founder of Women On Top

Stella Kasdagli is a gender expert, an award winning author and a trainer with a focus on issues of social change and awareness. She is the co-founder of Women On Top, a non-profit organisation in Greece for the professional development of women and for gender equality in the public sphere. She is the recipient of multiple awards for her social and creative impact. She lives in Athens with her husband and two daughters.

Claire Daniels

CEO at Trio Media, Award Winning Digital Marketing Agency, Most Influential CEO of 2021

Claire Daniels is the CEO of Trio Media, an award-winning digital marketing agency based in the UK. Claire's background is in strategic marketing, particularly in the tech sector, and she is passionate about people; driving several initiatives in previous roles around encouraging women to work in tech. Now running her own business, Claire continues to innovate with trying new ways to stand out; most recently joining the 4 day week trial. 

Miro Miroslavov

Co-founder and CEO, OfficeRnD

Miro Miroslavov is a software engineer turned into a tech entrepreneur. In 2015 he co-founded OfficeRnD - a leading flex space and hybrid work management platform. As a CEO at OfficeRnD, he grew the company from inception to a global company with 4 offices that serves thousands of customers worldwide. He is a big fan of flexible working and is on a mission to "Making Flexible Working the Way of Working

Dima Peteva

SiteGround brand guardian

Dima is SiteGround brand guardian, taking care for all marketing initiatives in one of the world’s largest independent hosting companies, founded in Bulgaria. She is an integral part of the SiteGround team and spirit from the very beginning, playing a key role in different departments such as Project Management, Product and Creative Marketing, as well as in the strategic planning and development of a couple of sub-brands in the past 18 years.
In the past couple of years, Dima’s strategic focus is settled on maintaining SiteGround’s signature voice both as a product and service provider, and as a top employer in the dynamic field of tech and digital services.
SiteGround powers over 2 800 000 website domains of clients from all over the world and is one of the most recognised names in its field. In Bulgaria, the company is continuously voted among the Best Employers in the IT sector, thanks to its strong company culture, consistent brand values and focus on team wellbeing.

Ivan Zhitiyanov

CEO, Telelink Business Services

Ivan Zhitiyanov’s career started when he was 15, working as a Java software developer. After four years of developing software in two companies, he decided to follow his passion for networking that he had for many years. To expand his networking knowledge, he started working at Orbitel, the biggest incumbent challenger in Bulgaria in the first years of liberalization of the telco market. Ivan began working at Telelink in 2006, searching for diversity of projects and customers, eager to learn more in various fields.  Although for the last 12 years he has been managing different segments and functions in Telelink, he has kept his passion and involvement in the technical side of the business. 
His journey at Telelink led him through almost all steps in a mid-sized company career ladder. In 2012, he took responsibility for the whole System Integration business unit. During the following five years, the business unit was growing stellar, which led to its spin-off under the brand Telelink Business Services with Ivan as executive director. In July 2019, Telelink Business Services became a group of companies operating in seven countries with Ivan Zhitiyanov as a CEO. 
 

Borislava Dyakova

HR&Legal Director, Modis Bulgaria (soon to become Akkodis Bulgaria)

Borislava has more than 10 years’ experience in the HR area, 4 from which as HR&Legal Director for Modis Bulgaria managing the HR and Legal Teams – L&D, Talent Acquisitions, HR Business Partnering, HR Administrations, HR Information System, Legal & Compliance. 
She managed fully to reorganize the entire HR work in the last 2 years fully remotely due to the pandemic and emergency situation. She also covers the legal and privacy, data protection for the entities in Romania and supports the integration process for Akkodis. 
Her achievements have been recognized with 2 Awards in 2021:

•     Golden Stevie Awards – International Awards for HR Executives of the Year
•     B2b Media (Employer Branding Awards) – Business Leader of the Year

Nevena Kovacheva

Partner Tax Practice and People Advisory Services Leader, EY Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo

Nevena Kovacheva is Associate Partner in the Tax department and the People Advisory Services Leader for EY Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo. She has more than 16 years of professional experience.
Nevena is experienced in advising multinational companies on cross-border assignment structures and in consulting and compliance expatriates services, ensuring optimization and compliance in line with personal income tax, social security, labor and business immigration legislation in cross border situations.
Nevena graduated in Business Law from the University Utrecht in the Netherlands. She holds a Master degree in Fiscal Economics from the University of Amsterdam, as well.
How Nevena is building a better working world: "In my daily work I focus on building up long-term relationships with partners based on trust, common lifetime values and joint excitement of creating a better Now and Future for our teams."

Margareta Sailer

Founder of Mondaysquares Ltd.

Meggy is the Founder of Mondaysquares Ltd, a consultancy service for founders that focuses on all people related matters. In her capacity, she works strategically with founders, ensuring that their business can thrive and scale efficiently.
Her experience comes not least from global tech startups such as Tesla as Senior Recruitment Manager EMEA and Lilium Aviation as Global Recruitment Director. Meggy played a significant part in successfully building and scaling both these companies from less than 100 people to hundreds and thousands within a short period of time.
Meggy is the Author of Culture Up. Born and raised in Vienna, Austria she now lives in Hampshire, UK

Petar Torneff

Director ATC Accenture Bulgaria

He has been working in the IT field for over 15 years. He graduated from the Technical University of Varna with a degree in Computer Science and became a Harvard Business School graduate after completing the university's Program for Leadership Development in 2015. In 2020 Petar Torneff successfully finished his studies at the EMBA Program of the American University in Bulgaria.
His interests include transformation in education and the improvement of the leadership potential in Bulgaria. With his work, he contributes to the development of strategies and innovative solutions in cloud technologies, cybersecurity, the online marketplace, and the implementation of policies related to the cultural, age and gender diversity in companies.

Tanya Kosseva-Boshova

Managing partner at Lion's Head and Park Lane Developments

 Tanya Kosseva-Boshova is a managing partner at Lion's Head and Park Lane Developments. She has 20 years of experience in the real estate market in Southeast Europe. Her name stays behind some of the biggest projects and deals on the real estate market. She was a long-term managing partner at the consulting company Colliers International, the executive director of the European Trade Center office complex and the Landmark Property Management property fund. Tanya Kosseva-Boshova is the founder and president of the Association of Commercial Building Owners in Bulgaria (ACBO). She is a board member of the Bulgarian Forum of Business Leaders.
 

Anna Gabrovska

People & Culture Country Manager, Philip Morris

Anna Gabrovska has 18 years of professional experience in the field of human resources in large international companies such as Coca-Cola HBC Bulgaria and Deloitte Bulgaria. She is a sociologist by education, but has started her career as a journalist. In 2019 Anna became Manager P&C, People & Culture in Philip Morris Bulgaria and since then has been successfully helping company's employees go through an internal transformation in fulfillment of Philip Morris International's mission to achieve a smoke-free future.
 

Milena Karailieva

Chief Human Resources Officer of Kaufland Bulgaria

Milena Karailieva is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Kaufland Bulgaria. She works for the company since 2014. Milena is a competent HR professional with more than 15 years of work experience. In her current role, Milena is responsible for the strategic management and further development of the human resources in Kaufland and strengthening Kaufland’s leading position as an employer in the Bulgarian retail industry as one of the Top employers in the country. 

Ilia Krastev

Chief Executive Officer, A Data Pro

As CEO of A Data Pro, Ilia has built a world-class management team and successfully led the company for more than 10 years.
Ilia has a strong passion for entrepreneurship and innovation with wide-ranging business interests and advocates for sustainable and innovative business practices and supports the startup ecosystem in the SEE.
He holds an MBA from Cotrugli Business School, certification in Global Management and Leadership from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, and specialised in SME Human Resources Development at Tokai University.
Since 2017 I've been part of the Managing Board of the Bulgarian Association for Innovation, Business Excellence, Services and Technology (AIBEST, formerly BOA), and since 2019 - its Chairman.

Marc Clemens

Founder and CEO of CodeControl and 9am

Marc Clemens is the founder and CEO of CodeControl and 9am. He is a serial entrepreneur who studied at University of St. Gallen and HEC Paris. In 2016, he founded CodeControl, a curated marketplace and a community of the best tech freelancers in Europe. With 9am, he has created a platform that enables smooth collaboration between freelancers and companies.

Liubov Kirilova

Co-founder of Happiness Academy in Bulgaria

Liubov Kirilova is one of the co-founders of Happiness Academy in Bulgaria. She has over 22 years of experience in corporate business and entrepreneurship. She has worked in telecommunications, fintech industry, has been involved in creating technology solutions for employee engagement and motivation, both in business and social projects. In 2017, together with Valia Dankova and prof. Raj Raghunathan, they launched Happiness Academy with the main goal to teach people what is not taught in classrooms - how to live a life of happiness and fulfilment. Liubov is also the co-creator of the Happiness Accelerator mobile app, which offers programs about happiness at work, stress management and development of the character strengths. Happiness Academy team has translated and is distributing two positive psychology bestsellers in Bulgaria: "If you are so smart, why aren’t you happy?" a book by prof. Raj Raghunathan and "The Power in Character Strengths - Appreciate and Ignite your positive personality" with authors prof. Ryan Niemiec and prof. Robert McGrath.

Ann-Kathrin Henning

Interim Director of Darwin Local, Mercer Marsh Benefits

Responsible for heading up the Darwin Local Team that drives the strategic growth and development of our locally-tailored employee benefits technology offering across a variety of markets. We help our local MMB teams to create robust, relevant and client-driven local technology offerings, delivered on the Darwin software. 
Ann-Kathrin has a strong background in Saas platform delivery as well as spending the last 1.5 years working in the solutions architecture of our MMB Local propositions and localisation strategy. 
Ann-Kathrin is passionate about technology and the impact it has in the world today.
Previous experience delivering similar content includes the MMB Romania Total Remuneration Survey Results conference in September 2022, to an audience of around 200 HR stakeholders.

Malina Chavdarova

Senior Manager Human Resources, VIVACOM

Human Resources expert with over 15 years of experience, mainly built at Vivacom. Throughout her professional career, she has held various positions from specialist to senior manager, building her expertise and her development and leadership skills.
Participates and leads the processes of staff selection, structural reorganizations, development and retention programs, benefits policy, performance evaluation systems, headcount and staff cost budget and analysis, employee engagement survey.
Graduated from SU "St. Kliment Ohridski", Master in Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

Zlatina Kushkieva

Managing Partner, HR Consulting Partners

Zlatina has more than 22 years of experience, having held Sales management, HR management (both local and regional), and Management Consulting roles for countries in Central Eastern Europe. She has previously worked as a human capital advisory manager for Deloitte Management Consulting, Lee Hecht Harrison; and as a regional and local HR manager for Procter & Gamble, Merck Sharp & Dohme (Merck & Co.), Avon Cosmetics. Zlatina is a Managing Partner at HR Consulting Partners | U Matter Corporate Wellness since 2019. Zlatina is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and Senior professional in HR (SPHR) by the HR Certification Institute (USA). 
Zlatina has strong track record in business and HR strategy transformation, change management  and leadership development for companies from the financial services, telecommunications, technology, media broadcasting, FMCG, pharmaceutical, energy, real estate, industries and the government sectors.  She has led organizational re-design and workforce transformation activities; navigating clients in setting up business strategy, business processes, plans, structures from scratch, or in reorganizing their business processes and organizational structures to support better the achievement of their business strategies. Zlatina has designed HR strategies that support the achievement of the business strategy and has been improving the effectiveness of HR processes for clients from various industries.

Yasen Yankov

VP of Product Development, Nexo

Yasen Yankov has over 15 years experience in software development in the fintech industry. Prior to joining Nexo, he was Head of Engineering in a global fintech company and led over 20 teams in the Crypto & Consumer Digital Wallets division. Currently, Yasen is VP of Product Development @ Nexo, leading the institutional trading products as well as managing both engineering, product & infrastructure teams. Co founder of MindHub, an innovative programming academy for kids.

 

Marcelo Lebre

COO and co-founder of Remote

Marcelo is the COO and co-founder of Remote. Marcelo was previously VP of Engineering at Unbabel and has held several CTO positions. He frequently speaks at events about leadership and managing remote teams. Marcelo is also a startup advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs. He is a passionate engineer, proud dad, and sci-fi nerd.

Denitsa Stoyanova

HR Lead for the Balkans Cluster, AstraZeneca

Sirma Penkova

Journalist, Capital Weekly

Metodi Terziev

CEO, Betahaus

Lachezar Ivanov

Human Resources Executive at emerchantpay ltd

Alicia Dean

Head of People and Organizational Effectiveness, Sola

Ben Munn

Global Lead, Flex Space at JLL

Desislava Stoyanova

Journalist

Veronika Stavreva

Corporate Sales Manager - Capital, Economedia